Facebook Twitter Email
THURSDAY, JULY 10, 2003

The Oglala Sioux Tribe of South Dakota is backing a boycott of businesses in the city of Martin, president John Yellow Bird Steele said.

The city is removing itself from a shared funding and law enforcement agreement with Bennett County, which is 52 percent Indian, mostly tribal members. Lakota activists see it as retaliation for their election of Charlie Cummings, the county's first Indian sheriff.

Yesterday, activists held a march on Martin that reportedly drew about 300 people. Cummings addressed the gatherers, saying he ran for office because Indians were treated unfairly by police.

Get the Story:
Indians protest, call for boycott (The Sioux Falls Argus Leader 7/10)
Martin protesters promise to boycott businesses (The Rapid City Journal 7/10)

Related Stories:
March to support S.D. county's first Indian sheriff (7/9)
Native voters in S.D. county make history (01/08)
S.D. county elects Native leaders (11/08)
Indians mobilize to defeat white leaders (10/31)