The IRA constitution is not what we think it is
By Ivan Star Comes Out
Native Sun News Today Columnist
nativesunnews.today
Who is best qualified to assume leadership of U.S. Congress’ Oglala Sioux Tribe? Is it someone who is inclined to adhere to the Department of Interior’s officious policies? Is it a highly educated person? Is it a culturally proficient Lakota language speaker? Is it someone who endured the economic and social hardships of our home land?
As reservation voters, we have gone to the polls for eight decades with the hope that a certain candidate is going to make life better for us. Every two years we endured disappointment, denounced our candidate (s), and waited for the next election with another prospective who will take us out of the oppressive poverty we have endured for decades.
We wasted 80 years on this pipe dream. This futile optimism has repeatedly proven itself to be false. I believe life on the homeland will not evolve until we rid ourselves of this so-called “constitution” that was shoved down our throats in 1936. Regardless of the person we elect, educated and/or culturally proficiency, or both, we will continue to spin our wheels.
The only way we will see a genuine improvement to our existence here is to renovate that document the federal bureaucracy calls a “constitution.” It is the cause of all our problems and for that it is a culprit. It was written by U.S. Congress as a means to dismantle our ancestor’s sovereign status, the ancient Oceti Sakowin (Seven Fires). We continually struggle under national authority and jurisdiction.
Ivan F. Star Comes Out.
Photo courtesy Native Sun
News Today
This document is a culprit because, unlike an egalitarian constitution, it has not unified the Oceti Sakowin descendants. For a significant portion of this “constitution’s” constituency, inner peace-of-mind or harmony is non-existent. Instead, it created a dominant entity (tribal council) to continue the federal government’s 19th century divinely justified doctrine of discovery and expansion.
It is a culprit because it obviously does not provide for the fair application of law regarding nearly all aspects of its jurisdiction. Rights for natives are granted while it promotes autocracy. It openly stimulates nepotism and cronyism. It does not provide adequately for basic needs, health, prosperity, safety, comfort, and happiness for a significant percentage its voters.
It is a culprit because it extends Congress’s power and authority over the Pine Ridge Reservation and its residents, non-natives excluded. Congress drastically reduced the Wheeler-Howard Act’s voting bloc before enacting it. It is now “lawful” for only one third of all eligible voters to participate in elections. Our ancestors were deceived if not coerced into voting on it in 1935.
Today, we have a tribal council empowered with absolute federal power and authority. Voter concerns and complaints have been repeatedly ignored and even ridiculed. It is not a joking matter when this council ignores the results of a referendum vote with the reasoning that it knows what is best for the people and they have no legal recourse at all.
We are allowed to elect a “tribal” president, yet this elected official has no power and is subject to the tribal council’s beck and call. We cannot technically call this position an executive branch because it cannot check the council or the courts. The vote of the people is contradicted with this position. The omnipotent “tribal” council may as well elect its own president from among its membership.
Then we have nine districts whose voter-residents have little representation in this government. Initially, the districts had a constitutional system that was authority from the bottom up, not top down. It had the potential to develop into true representative governments. In 1997 though, an amendment to Article VI of the “tribal” constitution replaced this system with a new bureaucratic committee system.
Now, the district voters must elect their district executive committee officers every two years. These committees are directly under the control of the tribal council. The officers don’t get paid and therefore must volunteer their time for two years or quit to tend to their personal lives or families. In effect, the district vote is accepted but their authority is negated.
Before any discussion on what an ideal constitution would entail, we must tear ourselves away from the xenophobic indoctrination that democracy is strictly a Euro-American invention. For us natives, it is important to realize that democracy is primarily native. In other words, the “Founding Fathers” found these principles here on the North American continent, specifically among the Iroquois.
Ivan F. Star Comes Out can be reached at P.O. Box 147, Oglala, South Dakota,
57764; via phone at 605-867-2448 or via email at mato_nasula2@outlook.com.
Copyright permission Native Sun News Today
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