As South Dakota hurdles towards the anachronistic member of this union they want to be, the President of the Oglala Sioux tribe, Cecilia Fire Thunder, [a former nurse and healthcare giver] had this to say:
To me, it is now a question of sovereignty… I will personally establish a Planned Parenthood clinic on my own land which is within the boundaries of the Pine Ridge Reservation where the State of South Dakota has absolutely no jurisdiction.
Now that’s some leadership.
via Pesky’Apostrophe
Now, what will W do with this notion of a sovereign nation building a Planned Parenthood? Remember what he said about tribal sovereignty?
Question: What do you think tribal sovereignty means in the 21st century, and how do we resolve conflicts between tribes and the federal and the state governments?
President Bush: Tribal sovereignty means that; it’s sovereign. You’re a — you’ve been given sovereignty, and you’re viewed as a sovereign entity. And, therefore, the relationship between the federal government and tribes is one between sovereign entities. [what a fucking idiot]
***The Indians were not given their sovereignty. It was mostly taken away from them.
Update [2006-3-23 10:16:16 by albert]: Support President Fire Thunder’s vision [via Pesky’Apostrophe]:
If you want to mail donations to the reservation, you may do so at:
Oglala Sioux Tribe
ATTN: President Fire Thunder
P. O. Box 2070
Pine Ridge, SD 57770OR: and this may be preferred, due to mail volume:
ATTN: PRESIDENT FIRE THUNDER
PO BOX 990
Martin, SD 57751Enclose a letter voicing your support and explaining the purpose of the donation. Bear in mind, the Pine Ridge Res is not exactly dripping with disposeable income, so do consider donating funds directly to the tribe as well as specifically for this effort.
Make checks out to OST Planned Parenthood Cecelia Fire Thunder. This will ensure that the funds get routed properly.
And follow this link to send her an email of support.
Awesome! Absolutely friggin awesome!
Now my question is…are any other reservations gonna follow suit? Would be quite interesting to see.
as rounds’ approval ratings in free fall over this. booyah!
and your man’s bootrib handle is pretty damn groovy too, while i’m in here.
Hello Cthulhu!
Now that would be interesting, having reservations across the US do the same. But what a sad state of affairs it would be if reservations were the only place within the continental US where a woman could have this procedure performed.
It is pretty logical and predicable. These are civilized nations, a road the US did not choose to take. I guess that is kind of sad, come to think of it, but so are many choices made by US.
Go, Ms. Fire Thunder! And I love W’s quote. Yep, he makes it totally clear. Sovereign.
Fuck Yeah!
I’ll second that!
Maybe, just maybe it will take the REAL AMericans(Indians)to take back our country one flippin state at a time. Gotta love this one!
albert, sorry to detract from the substance of your post, but I can’t get beyond the question “do you mean ‘hurdles’ or ‘hurtles’?” What hurdles is SD jumping over? 😉
i was going back and forth on that one. hurtles as in speedily doing so fits. and i thought hurdles as in jumping over SCOTUS precedent and the equal rights movement fit as well. i chose the latter.
my goodness!!!
amazing and brilliant!!
and I asked him this very question. He thinks there isn’t a clear answer as to whether the tribes would have to follow state law on this. But it will be very interesting to find out.
i thought that on the reservations they basically make their own laws. when you step onto their soil, it’s stepping into another country with their own laws.
Tribes have the right to govern themselves in much the same way as municipalities do. They have their own courts and police and can determine exactly what penalties they’ll apply to say, jaywalking or public indecency. They are defined as “domestic dependent nations” and subject to federal law. It’s not exactly a separate nation.
So they couldn’t, for instance, declare that marijuana possession is legal on “Indian” land anymore than California could. Casinos are okay because there are no federal laws against gambling. And as long as there is no federal law against abortion they may be able to defy the states where it is outlawed.
Now imagine all the nuts that hang out in front of abortion clinics gathering at the entrances to this reservation. The local county and state cops on the outside would, perhaps, be personally supportive of the demonstrators. Or if not, they would still be duty-bound to support their state’s anti-abortion law despite their own objections to that law. The Native American police on the inside would be confronted with the task of keeping the rabid demonstrators from invading and disrupting their community. Very ugly confrontations would result…
The tribal courts only have jurisdiction over tribal members. I’m not sure what would happen if the tribal police arrested a non-tribal member on the reservation for disturbing the peace. They might have to turn them over to the state police and I wonder if a demonstrator would be prosecuted for protesting a violation of state law…
As much as I admire this woman’s defiance, if she proceeds with her intentions it will open not just a can of worms but stir a nest of vipers.
South Dakota could pass an emergency law forbidding its citizens, or more specifically, its female citizens, from setting foot in the Sioux nation.
Otherwise, it would be too difficult to determine whether a woman was entering Sioux nation for the purpose of having a forbidden abortion, or just to have some fry bread.
Alternatively, they could require all females to submit to gynological exams upon returning to South Dakota, and imprison all those suspected of having received forbidden medical treatment, or pregnancy tests beore leaving South Dakota, and forbid only pregnant females from entering Sioux Nation.
Or the US could pass a federal law that mirrors South Dakota’s.
However, the nations are not subject to South Dakota state laws regarding state ownership of womens’ bodies.
The Sioux have always been the uppity type, I would not expect them to take up shuffling and scraping to Mr. Charlie at this point in their history.
even if everyone else has left this thread behind.
The Sioux have always been the uppity type, I would not expect them to take up shuffling and scraping to Mr. Charlie at this point in their history.
Applying this kind of descriptive language, which was invented to be applied to African Americans, is not appropriate for Native Americans, in my opinion.
My father’s full-blooded Apache father packed up his family in 1934 and moved from the Oklahoma rez to Charleston, SC where he passed for white. You don’t have to grovel before “Mr. Charlie” when you can blend. You get to grovel before The Boss like any other lower-class worker instead.
Tell me of one African family that’s been able to pull that off.
I was adopted so I’m not part-Apache; I’m part-Cherokee and about the only people who see that in my facial features are other Cherokee. Otherwise, I’m seen as “white.” Again, how many part-Africans have that option?
When I was ten, Grandpa told me his secret and I asked, “Are you ashamed of being an Indian?” He replied, “No, I just don’t see the point in suffering when you don’t have to.” Did he betray “his people”? Maybe. But his children grew up to have successful, college-educated, middle-class “white” lives. So he felt he did what was best for them.
Native Americans can leave the rez and avoid being called “uppity.” African Americans don’t get to leave their racial disadvantages behind. Do you see my point? One group is only uppity when they stay in their “ghetto.” The other group is uppity when they leave.
I just happened to pick your comment to make this one.
Sioux is a French bastardization of an Ojibway (I think) word for the people who called themselves Lakota, a word that means Allies. If we want to refer to the citizens of the Independent Oglala Nation how they refer themselves we would call them Oglala or Lakota.
I think we need to learn, in America, to call the indigenous people what they called themselves. The word Indian is the result of the European invention of Race as is the word Negro.
“Indians” in Americas were Lakota, Pequot, Vototasteneo, etc. “Negros” were Masai, Hutu, Watusi, etc. These tribal people didn’t think of themselves in the categories created by Europeans to rationalize their imperialism.
Let’s transcend our history by refusing to participate in its continuation. Language is a start.
Tashunka Witko lives in Ms. Fire Thunder
Thank you for the quick lesson!
Woplia Ceclia Fire Thunder. In the spirit of Crazy Horse She Walks.
Back in the seventies when times were bad on Pine Ridge under Dick Wilson, AIM and “traditionals” took back Wounded Knee and established the Independent Oglala Nation. A friend of mine was visting and learning from Peter Catches during that time and I remember sending him mail to Catches home with ION at the bottom of the address.
Sorry for the typo.. Wopila Cecelia.