She “has been notified not to trespass.”
Multiple tribal nations in South Dakota have banned Gov. Kristi Noem from their reservations, taking exception to her rhetoric on immigration, crime and race relations.
Earlier this week, the Standing Rock Sioux Tribal Council became the third tribe to vote to bar Noem from its reservation. Noem may even be thrown off the three reservations if she violates the orders.
The pro-Trump governor has become persona non grata with South Dakota tribal leaders following a series of controversial statements. Relations between both sides plummeted following Noem's Jan. 31 so-called border speech before a joint session of the South Dakota Legislature. In it, Noem claimed that Mexican drug cartels were using reservation communities as hubs for narcotics distribution and had successfully recruited several members of the Pine Ridge Reservation to carry out murders.
In response, Oglala Sioux Tribe President Frank Star Comes Out banished her from the Pine Ridge Reservation. (RELATED: Governor ‘Banished' From Tribal Lands Following Border Remarks)
If the purpose of the banishment was to get Noem to apologize, it failed specatularly. At a town hall last month, Noem went further, accusing unnamed tribal leaders of “personally benefiting from the cartels being here, and that's why they attack me every day.”
At a town hall in Mitchell, Noem slung more accusations at Native American tribal leaders – and parents – while committing to help South Dakota's Native American youth succeed.
South Dakota Searchlight reported that Noem told town hall attendees in Mitchell that she's “only as good and doing as good a job as the kids that are suffering the most.”
Indigenous students in South Dakota have the highest rates of chronic absenteeism compared to other demographics. The percentage of students who are chronically absent on reservations went up from 31% in 2018 to 54% in 2023. According to the latest state data, one-third of reservation high school students fail to graduate, 84% are not considered ready for college or a career and only 7% take the ACT:
South Dakota Searchlight reached out to several Native American legislators and a tribal president after Noem's town hall comments, including some who were critical of her border speech. None responded with comments by the time of this article's publication. The Oglala Sioux Tribe banned Noem from the Pine Ridge Reservation after her border speech.
Lyle Miller, a Mitchell-based Native American artist and veteran who taught art at Crow Creek Tribal School for 20 years, told Noem during the Mitchell town hall that the problems Indigenous people face are connected to “trying to secure their identity.” Many tribal communities experience generational trauma from colonization and policies that stripped Native Americans of their culture, language and religion.
“There's a history between the United States government and the Lakota people and other tribes here in the Northern Plains,” Miller said. “Those students are struggling to understand American education, but it's hard to understand something that isn't very inclusive of who you are, who your identity is.”
The state passed standards in 2018, the Oceti Sakowin Essential Understandings, to teach South Dakota students about local Native American history and culture. But according to a 2021 survey by the state Department of Education, less than half of teachers taught the material.
Three Lakota tribes in South Dakota have declared their territories off-limits to Noem. The Standing Rock Sioux Tribe was the latest, following the Oglala Sioux on March 18 and the Cheyenne River Sioux on April 5.
“Noem has been notified not to trespass,” a representative of the Lakota People's Law Project told one outlet, after the governor was banned by the Standing Rock Sioux.
“Banishing Governor Noem does nothing to solve the problem. She calls on all our tribal leaders to banish the cartels from tribal lands,” a Noem spokesman fired back.
Unlike other states, South Dakota lacks criminal jurisdiction over its Native American reservations.
READ NEXT: Act Immediately: Trump Issues Ultimatum To GOP Legislature
