<\/p>\r\nThe complaints about Tribal Governments go on even as we witness the destruction of so-called democratic ones like the U.S. mire itself in endless chaotic\u00a0debates from the citizens of states like Michigan wanting to abolish the state\u2019s civil rights commission.\r\n
<\/p>\r\nWho thinks that\u2019s a good idea?\u00a0Well,\u00a0with people carrying automatic rifles into the capitol building in Lansing,\u00a0nothing surprises us.\r\n
<\/p>\r\nFrankly,\u00a0one of the things that surprises me about our little world here in Rapid City is that the destruction of the historic Sioux San Indian Health Service hospital<\/a>\u00a0as we\u2019ve known it, is really going to happen!\u00a0 Somehow, I had always thought such an edifice\u00a0would\/could stand the test of time. <\/p>\r\nLike a lot of others who have been clients there for most of our lives, I didn\u2019t want to face the reality. But now that the Tribal Chairmen\u2019s Board is in charge and they have hired Charlie Abourezk, the son of a long-time and well respected Lebanese-American Senator from our state to advise them,\u00a0I guess we clients will just stand by and let it happen. \u00a0\r\n <\/p>\r\nSome\u00a0may wonder what the Lebanese have to tell us Indians about good government, but I am being too cynical. My efforts at humor sometimes turn bad.\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0\r\n <\/p>\r\n <\/p>\r\n <\/P>\r\nI am told that letters have gone out to certain state and county organizations that they are invited to participate in the dismantling of certain items from the Sioux San that\u00a0might interest them.\u00a0\r\n <\/p>\r\nThe looting goes on, doesn\u2019t it?<\/em>\r\n <\/p>\r\nAll of this brings up the reality that laws in America are made up of property concerns and have had as their main agenda, the protection of property.\u00a0You thought laws were made to protect the people?\u00a0 \u00a0 <\/p>\r\nOn the contrary,\u00a0the protection of property has always been the aim of the law. Why and how do you suppose we Americans organized the law for decades to say women, blacks,\u00a0and Indians were property<\/em>?\u00a0\r\n <\/p>\r\nI\u2019m told, as we move on from the history of the Sioux San\u00a0historic edifice, that materials from the old hospital will be distributed as they are of interest to church and community and civil repositories. It is property,\u00a0after all,\u00a0not memories nor tradition.\u00a0\r\n <\/p>\r\n Support Native media!<\/P>\r\n Read the rest of the story on Native Sun News Today: Endless debates and good ideas <\/A><\/P><\/DIV><\/DIV>\r\n <\/p>\r\n<\/IMG><\/DIV>\r\n
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NATIVE SUN NEWS \r\nTODAY<\/A><\/H4>\r\n
Professor Elizabeth Cook-Lynn writes a column for The Native Sun News Today, in Rapid City, South Dakota, She is a retired professor of Native Studies and has taught at Eastern Washington University, University of California-Davis and Arizona State University. She is a member of the Crow Creek Sioux Tribe in Fort Thompson, South Dakota.<\/em>
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