'How dare the governor!': Kristi Noem now banned from all tribal lands in South Dakota
Every tribal nation of South Dakota has formally banned admitted puppy killer Gov. Kristi Noem from their territories.
The Flandreau Santee Sioux Tribe joined eight other Oceti Sakowin tribes to shun the state's Republican governor following a meeting on Tuesday to answer inflammatory statements she made suggesting tribes are "personally benefitting" from Mexican drug cartels.
During a May 17 press conference, Noem accused tribal governments of flourishing from drug cartels on their lands and forsaking their youth.
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“I ask them .... Why have they not banished the cartels," she asked. "Why have they not banished the cartel affiliates? Why have they only focused their attention on me, who has offered them help, and not gone after those who are perpetuating violence?”
The 52-year-old politician who at one point was being touted as presumptive Republican nominee Donald Trump's potential running mate — also blamed Native American parents during a May 13 town hall in Mitchell, South Dakota, saying tribal children don’t have any hope. "They don’t have parents who show up and help them,” she said.
“How dare the governor allege that Sioux Tribal Councils do not care about their communities or their children and, worse, that they are involved in nefarious activities,” Oglala Sioux Tribe President and chairman of the Great Plains Tribal Chairmen’s Association Frank Star said of Noem and, like other tribes, demanded an apology.
He called her out for her comments grazing over the work being done bring broadband services and invest in dams and infrastructure to the tribal communities.
Attempts by tribal leaders to find an olive branch with governor’s office apparently didn't do enough to change their insulted state. So the next day the executive council voted to ban Noem.
“The Executive Committee calls on the governor to reconsider the effectiveness of the liaisons she has appointed and whether or not they truly have an understanding of the issues affecting tribal nations as well as their ability to foster a cooperative relationship between the Tribes and the State of South Dakota,” reads a May 21 Tribe press release.
While she has yet to speak on the final ninth tribal ban, Noem did speak out after eight of the tribes said she was banned.