{"id":3804,"date":"2020-10-29T09:48:25","date_gmt":"2020-10-29T14:48:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.indianz.com\/News\/?p=3804"},"modified":"2020-10-29T09:48:25","modified_gmt":"2020-10-29T14:48:25","slug":"ivan-star-comes-out-reservation-government-plagued-by-incompetence","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/indianz.com\/News\/2020\/10\/29\/ivan-star-comes-out-reservation-government-plagued-by-incompetence\/","title":{"rendered":"Ivan Star Comes Out: Reservation government plagued by incompetence"},"content":{"rendered":" \"pineridgeagency\"\r\n
The Pine Ridge Agency of the Bureau of Indian Affairs in Pine Ridge, South Dakota. Photo: James Pendleton \/ U.S. Department of Agriculture<\/a><\/figcaption>\r\n
Incompetence in government planning leads to public mistrust and skepticism<\/div>\r\n
Thursday, October 29, 2020<\/div>\r\n
By Ivan Star Comes Out<\/DIV>\r\n
Native Sun News Today Columnist<\/DIV>\r\n
nativesunnews.today<\/A> <\/DIV>\r\n

<\/p>\r\nThe Ikce Wicasa (Natural Man\/Human) co-existed amicably on the North American continent. They maintained a balance of all creation by taking only what they needed for food, shelter and clothing. They developed a nature-based system of laws and a spirituality that has prevailed into the 21st century. I can only imagine their contentment.\r\n

<\/p>\r\nThen the colonizer came and wreaked discord and death on the native inhabitants. 300 years later, that pristine world our ancestors maintained for millennia is also dying. Today, geographically separated, Lakota people endure an uncertain existence on the remaining pieces of our once vast treaty territory, the Great Sioux Reservation, most of which congress \u201cappropriated\u201d illegally.\r\n

<\/p>\r\nOn and around the Pine Ridge Reservation, we cope endlessly with racial intolerance. Under the Indian Reorganization Act (IRA) of 1934, government corruption permeates our reservation experience. I know this is hard to swallow, but the IRA constitution actually advances greed and selfishness upon its elected officials. The result is an inhibition of a person\u2019s logic and sympathy.\r\n

<\/p>\r\nConsequently, human rights are denied in terms of physical and mental integrity, safety, and life. The IRA\u2019s voting criteria does not satisfy democratic principles but it has yet to be proven in a court of law. Having endured this oppressive system all of my life, I want an equitable government that will allow my grandchildren and their children to live respectably in a free and fitting community.\r\n

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Ivan F. \r\nStar Comes Out. Photo courtesy Native Sun News \r\nToday<\/A><\/FIGCAPTION> <\/DIV><\/DIV>

<\/p>\r\nA common definition of community does no justice for our existence on our homeland, \u201cA community is a group of people who share things in common, who work together towards a common purpose which they care about and who care deeply about each other.\u201d Instead, as a reservation community, we struggle endlessly (to no avail) to bring about need-based, favorable, and equitable, changes to our existence.\r\n

<\/p>\r\nRecently, the United Nations (UN) defined community development as \u201ca process where community members come together to take collective action and generate solutions to common problems.\u201d Our ancestors were living this lifestyle centuries before the UN was established in 1945. Today though, the notion wherein our ancestors were nothing more than \u201cmerciless savages\u201d roaming the plains aimlessly is firmly established.\r\n

<\/p>\r\nTo the contrary, our ancestors developed complex communities and called them tiospaye (extended family groups). All tiospaye members worked together to enhance, improve, and maintain the many logistical tasks involved. An overriding principle permeated their activities. They understood that whatever they did would impact their descendants \u201cseven generations\u201d into the future.\r\n

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