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Showing posts from January, 2020

Triumph of Inclusivity

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Speaker Haugaard (l) and Crow Creek Chairman Thompson . This story appeared in January 2020. For more on topics like this, see my book,  American Apartheid: The Native American Struggle... . “S outh Dakota is a people not a place,” Chairman Lester Thompson of the Crow Creek Sioux Tribe told the South Dakota legislature at the start of his January 16 State of the Tribes address. “Together, we are all Dakota strong.” Thompson’s stress on important Sioux social values followed a dramatic presentation by two Crow Creek groups—a color guard of military veterans and a drum group with members ranging in age from youngsters to elders. Patriotism and cultural continuity were on display. Thompson thanked several state officials and departments—among them, the state police for helping his tribe when its law enforcement was stretched thin and both police and Game, Fish, and Wildlife officers for helping the Cheyenne River Sioux find a young woman gone missing on their reservation. He th