The women of Wasagiya Najin and the Warrior Women Project celebrated Mother’s Day in true Warrior Women style. On May 8, 2020, South Dakota Governor Kristi Noem wrote a letter to the tribes in her state and ordered them to remove health border checkpoints issued by tribes in order to slow the spread of COVID-19. South Dakota is one of the few states that has yet to issue a stay-at-home order and Governor Noem refuses to take critical actions to keep South Dakota citizens safe. The letter written by Governor Noem was not actually delivered to the tribe leaders but was instead sent to media outlets.

Tribes like the Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe have taken action to keep everyone within their reservation safe. Many people are looking to Tribal Chairman Harold Frazier for his leadership in this time of need. Chairman Frazier released a statement in response to Governor Noem’s letter stating that “We will not apologize for being an island of safety in a sea of uncertainty and death.”

What Governor Noem fails to recognize is that not only is her order unconstitutional and grossly unethical; it is potentially genocidal to Native people and deadly to non-Native folks alike.

Mother’s Day marked 48 hours after Governor Noem sent her letter which stated that tribes had until then to remove the checkpoints at their borders.

Meanwhile, 17 state legislators from both the Democrat and Republican parties sent a letter to Noem reinforcing the fact that the state has no jurisdiction over highways running through tribal lands due to both the Fort Laramie Treaty of 1968 and a federal ruling by the United States Court of Appeals fo the 8th Circuit in 1990. “We do not wish to be party of another lawsuit that will ultimately cost the people of South Dakota more money. We wish to work with all parties involved for a reasonable, legal, and appropriate solution that address the concerns of all sovereigns involved,” said the congressmen.

Thank you for joining Indianz.com for an interview with Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe Chairman Harold Frazier, who is currently fighting to protect his tribe's homelands after SD Gov. Kristi Noem ordered the tribe to shut down its checkpoints on Friday.

Given that the state of South Dakota is one of, if not the, most conservative and red states an action that brings together Democratic and Republican legislators is incredibly significant. It should not be such a shock for lawmakers to follow the law but considering the persistence with which Congressionally ratified treaties are set aside for political and corporate interests, this action is truly worth noting and leveraging. The “frontier mentality” is still heavily rooted in the relationships between the original Native caretakers of the land and the settler colonizers—and that’s the trick folks—both groups of people are still here in 2020. We can play a part in breaking the cycle and instead of being complicit in what amounts to contemporary acts of genocide, we recognize Native sovereignty and the ways in which our continued existence on earth is tied to the leadership and wisdom that can be learned from land-based people.

Our history as a country is directly related to the systemic oppression Indigenous people face today. As our founder and historian, Dr. Beth Castle notes, “we talk about these things as if they happened in a specific historical moment in the past and it’s now over—but that’s not how history works, it is absolutely intergenerational.”

Showing Support for the Tribal Border Patrol

Women of Wasagiya Najin including Madonna Thunder Hawk, Marcella Gilbert, Amy Robideau, Andria Robideau, and Lisa Skye went to the East End of the Cheyenne River Reservation to deliver food and show support for the tribal border patrol. The women have delivered food to the tribal border patrol every other day through sponsorship by the Warrior Women Project. “We want them to know that the community appreciates them and that they’re here to protect us in spite of the ignorance of South Dakota’s governor,” said Madonna Thunder Hawk.