Native Sun News Today: COVID-19 checkpoints on reservations to remain

Friday, May 22, 2020  

EAGLE BUTTE -- The Cheyenne River Sioux and Oglala Sioux tribes are refusing to bow to an order South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem sent the two tribes on May 8. The order states the tribes must remove coronavirus traffic checkpoints from reservation borders or face legal action.

The top elected leaders of the state’s largest tribes argue that Constitutional and treaty law establish their tribal sovereignty and authority to protect their people by operating the roadside stops within their boundaries. 

“I regretfully decline your request,” Cheyenne River Sioux Chair Harold Frazier said in an immediate response letter to Noem. “I stand with our Councilman Ed Widow that the purpose of our actions is to ‘save lives rather than save face’.” He added, “We will not apologize for being an island of safety in a sea of uncertainty and death.”  

The Cheyenne River Sioux Sioux and the Oglala Sioux Tribe are refusing to bow to an order to take down #Coronavirus checkpoints on their reservations. What's a Republican state governor to do? #HonorTheTreaties #COVID19 #SouthDakota #Sovereignty https://t.co/Iyu58iJsWS

— indianz.com (@indianz) May 19, 2020

The checkpoints are necessary partly due to South Dakota’s slow and ineffective response to the Covid-19 pandemic, according to Oglala Sioux Tribal President Julian Bear Runner.

South Dakota is one of five states that hasn’t issued a shelter-in-place mandate, despite a steady increase in confirmed cases of Covid-19.

“Due to this lack of judgement and planning of preventative measures ... , the Oglala Sioux Tribe has adopted reasonable and necessary measures to protect the health and safety of our tribal members and other residents of the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation,” Bear Runner wrote to Noem in another May 8 letter.

The governor’s missive threatened: “If the checkpoints are not removed within the next 48 hours, the state will take necessary legal action.” However, at her weekday pandemic media briefing three days later, she mentioned no specific action in answer to reporters’ questions about the issue.

Grassroots response to her order was swift and concerted, as tribal members joined their law enforcement at checkpoints in showing solidarity with the public safety measure.

At the Allen eastside checkpoint on Pine Ridge Indian Reservation, the Mato Ota Tiospaye mounted horseback to escort their matriarch and grant her Mother’s Day wish to deliver a statement to Noem.

Despite freezing wind and snow, 89-year-old Unci Emma Waters pulled up her wheelchair with a handprinted sign reading, “This is our land!” She spoke through a handmade mask into a microphone to say, “This is our land, so you cannot say anything!”

Her granddaughter stood beside her, also masked against contagion, to read a longer prepared statement, citing years of case law to establish that “the Oglala Sioux Tribe is a sovereign nation.” It was shared on social media with the message:

“Keep our border patrol here, keeping safe against Covid19! Oglala Lakota Nation, stand strong! This is our land! Since March 13, 2020 our family went into lockdown -- no visitors. We made homemade masks, smudged night and day, boiled water, boiled medicine, protected our homes with prayer, prayed for the people...keeping our unci safe, our children safe.

“But there comes a time when enough is enough, so on this day May 10, 2020, with the threat from Gov. Kristi Noem ... we stood behind our unci as she made her stand to support the border monitors who have been keeping her and the Oglala Lakota Nation protected!”

"Dear President Trump": First Kristi Noem made a legal threat. Now Republican @govkristinoem of #SouthDakota is asking the White House for help in taking down #Coronavirus checkpoints on two reservations. #COVID19 #Sovereignty #HonorTheTreaties https://t.co/I7j8FPVU62

— indianz.com (@indianz) May 21, 2020

Governor Noem and Bureau of Indian Affairs Director Darryl LaCounte have asserted that the checkpoints must be removed because they are in violation of a BIA memorandum declaring that tribes must consult with state officials before “closing or restricting travel on state or U.S. highways.”

Both Chairman Frazier and President Bear Runner insist they have not closed any roads and are using the checkpoints to mitigate and track the spread of the coronavirus.

“Non-residents whose travel is considered non-essential are advised to pass through the reservation without stopping,” wrote President Bear Runner to Noem. “It is not our intent to deny them passage through the reservation, including on U.S. Highway 18 and State Highways 44, 391, and 407.”

At the heart of the debate is the scope of tribal authority on state and federal highways that run through tribal territory. Chairman Frazier and President Bear Runner argue that the law supports the tribes. 

Contact Justine Anderson at justinekanderson@gmail.com

Copyright permission Native Sun News Today