Governor Kristi Noem has been banned from the reservation of a seventh Native American tribe in South Dakota due to remarks she made earlier this year suggesting that drug traffickers profit from tribal leaders.
The central South Dakota Crow Creek Sioux Tribe acknowledged on Tuesday that it had voted unanimously to forbid the Republican governor.
Peter Lengkeek, the chief of the Crow Creek Sioux Tribe, declared after Tuesday’s vote, “We do not have cartels on the reservations.”
“We have cartel products, like guns and drugs. But they pass over state highways getting to the reservation,” Lengkeek stated. “So, putting us all together like that and saying that all tribes are involved in this really shows … the ignorance of the governor’s office.”
Out of nine tribes, the Crow Creek Sioux Tribe is the eighth to forbid the governor from entering their reservations, which make up 20% of South Dakota’s total area.
The tribe now comprises the Oglala, Rosebud, Standing Rock, Cheyenne River, Sisseton Wahpeton Oyate, and Yankton Sioux tribes in addition to the former.
“When the state and tribe respect each other, both our flags can fly high. The tribes are not cartel havens and our people are not the gangs that threaten your communities,” Yankton Sioux Tribe council member Ryan Cournoyer stated. “Our parents want a better future for their children. Our leaders seek economic growth and hope.”
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