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March 3, 2000
Sioux Elders Hold Peaceful Takeover of Tribal Council Building

By DeAnna Rivera

Pine Ridge Reservation is yet again in the midst of making history for itself. Young children, their parents, and traditional Tribal elders are in their 47th day of peaceful protest against the Oglala Sioux Tribal Council. On January 16th, the Grass Roots Oglala People walked into the Red Cloud Tribal Council Office, the office in charge of administering funds to the people on the reservation, and occupied the building, an action which stands as their legal right under the Fort Laramie Treaty of 1868. An American flag flies upside-down outside the building as a distress symbol. The Traditional Oglala Tribal members who decided to occupy the building initiated the stand in order to call attention to and protect certain files held in the office, files that are said to incriminate the Treasurer of the Oglala Sioux Tribal Council, Wesley "Chuck" Jacobs.

The problems the Oyate (The People) face now, in the year 2000, are in no way new to the traditional people on the reservation. The takeover at Wounded Knee 1973, 27 years ago, resonated the same message: end the corruption and distribute the funds needed for the people to survive. Today, the current OST Treasurer, Jacobs, is accused of, but denies, grossly mishandling and mismanaging Tribal funds allocated for the members of the nation. Many people are going without food and sustenance because of this mishandling and to thwart his continued mismanagement, the Grass Roots Oglala Oyate came together to show their disapproval. Without any weaponry or firearms, they have maintained closed control over the building, allowing in only a few Tribal Council employees over the past forty-six days so that the daily workings of the reservation may continue. According to the Occupation People, they will stay inside the Red Cloud Tribal Council Building until all of their nine demands are met.

Foremost on the list of demands is the permanent removal of the current OST Treasurer. Through Jacobs's removal, the Oyate believe reform can take place. Yet, in order truly to understand the totality of their demands, there must be an understanding of an important moment in Native American legal history.

The moment is 1934. The law is the Indian Reorganization Act (IRA). Also known as the Wheeler-Howard Act after the two senators who drafted this specific piece of legislation, the Act completely denies the validity of indigenous forms of government prior to Anglo contact. In an effort to make communication between the hundreds of Native nations and the U.S. government more uniform and less arduous on the U.S. politicians, these senators imposed a whole new, essentially homogenized form of government onto the Native peoples. The Act gave the U.S. the jurisdiction to enter the reservations and create governments that were modeled after its own and therefore markedly more understandable to the U.S. The Federal government appointed Native people on the reservation who they believed would serve well as liaisons between the U.S. and particular Native communities and worked with these appointees to set up branches of government that replicated that of the American branches. Over the past 65 years since the onslaught of IRA, the traditional peoples on most reservations have outwardly protested its existence due to the fact that it ignores any claims the Native nations have to their status as "domestic, dependent nations" and therefore their national sovereignty.  It is in the spirit of this protest against the IRA that the Oyate now at Pine Ridge have created their list of demands. They have vowed to recreate their traditional form(s) of government to provide a brighter, more independent nation for their children and grandchildren.

Other demands, besides the removal of Wesley "Chuck" Jacobs, include the removal of all OST Council members until a full review of the files in question can be completed. They insist on a five-year, full forensic audit of all governmental funds, which needs to be made public to all tribal members. The Oyate also require that the section of the OST Constitution that deals with the distribution of any income derived from unassigned lands be enforced. Most fundamentally, the People will not leave the Red Cloud Tribal Council Building until the United States concedes to its own Supreme Court ruling, one that recognizes the Oglala Sioux Tribe as a sovereign nation and the supreme law of its own land. Then, and only then, can the problems imposed by the IRA be resolved.

As of February 24th, the OST President, Harold Salaway, did suspend thirteen tribal council members without pay after independent auditors, Arroba & Associates, found that the members committed at least ten violations, including two violations of the Oglala Sioux Tribal Constitution. Wesley "Chuck" Jones also has been suspended, though not permanently removed from office.

Although these successes are certainly strides in the right direction, the Oyate have not gone without their difficulties during, what is at this point, the forty-seven-day takeover. At 6:40am on February 3rd, the Occupation People received a phone call at the administrative office promising that a bomb would be planted in the building. The People, though they saw this call as an idle threat, did take all necessary precaution to maintain the peaceful protest. So far, every possibility of physical violence has been averted. At times, utilities and telephone communications have been cut off to the building, but each time the Oyate have had it returned. The Oyate are comprised of traditional, peaceful men, women, children, and elders. They only want to be heard and to have their demands met; they do not want any violence to threaten their People or their protest.

As more and more of the Peoples' demands are met, other tribes are taking similar actions to eliminate the IRA system on their reservations. On February 22nd, a group of Sisseton-Whapeton Dakota Sioux veterans took control of their tribal offices to protest corruption within their tribal government. Visitors from the Rocky Boy Cree Reservation in Montana came to talk to the Oglala Oyate to learn how they managed to take peaceful control of their council building.

These voices are coming together to build strength. Though the details may differ from reservation to reservation, the fundamental change that must take place is the same: the IRA form of government must release its hold over these communities. U.S. Department of Interior Assistant Secretary Kevin Glover said it well in a recent radio address:
". . . [I]t is the IRA system itself that was set up to fail, to destroy the land base of the reservation." The Department of the Interior, formerly known as the "War Department," still classifies Indian Reservations as "prisoner-of-war camps." The Pine Ridge Reservation is listed as POW Camp # 344. The People are coming together because they no longer want their children to live as prisoners of war.

With the Sacred Pipe present in the council building, the Pine Ridge Occupation People are maintaining their stance spiritually as well as physically - but always peacefully. In the spirit of those who came before them, the Oyate are fighting not with weapons but with their words, their traditions, and their lives. Though the U.S. has tried over the past two hundred years to defeat the Sioux in battle, in mind, and in legislation, the Sioux remain. And so they will remain until their traditions, their land, and their lives are given the recognition they need so they can offer their future generations what they need to survive as a People and as a Nation.

To send supplies such as food, warm clothing, cigarettes, batteries, and flashlights, please use the following address:
Grass Roots Oglala Lakota Oyate
PO Box 51
Pine Ridge, SD 57770
For day-to-day press releases, visit the Oyate website: http://members.tripod.com/GrassRootsOyate

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