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Reject Trump, Vote Sutton

A VIEW FROM LAKOTA COUNTRY



 

 

A few weeks ago, I was open minded about the possibility of a more Indian-friendly and experienced, Kristi Noem working to create a better relationship between tribal nations and the State if she was elected governor. I figured, with the network she had built in Washington D.C., and with her experience working on Native issues in Congress, she could have potentially been an advocate for tribal sovereignty. All of that was just a pipe-dream. It was a moment of humanity where I believed the best was possible for anybody, even republicans. That all changed the moment she failed to reject Donald Trump.

The White House announced last week that the current United States President would be visiting Sioux Falls tomorrow to attend at a closed-door fundraiser in Sioux Falls alongside Kristi Noem and others who are obviously ok being in the presence of a racist.

To attend the event a ticket for two will run $5,000. This will get you in the door and a picture with Trump. You couldn’t pay me to take a picture with Trump.

I have always believed that the unique political status of Native people is bipartisan. Our relationships with the federal government are bigger than this political divide and the promises made to our people in them must be upheld by whoever is in office. Both the GOP and the democrats can be effective at articulating and delivering our message. This race, however, is profoundly different and our willingness and enthusiasm to push Donald Trump and his racist policies out of Washington is of vital importance to all minorities in this country.

Of course, classifying Native American people as a “racial minority” is a misinterpretation of our status as citizens of independent and sovereign nation-states. For those who do not quite understand federal Indian law, citizens of tribal nations enjoy a dual citizenship status that is only possessed by us alone.

I feel like often times that attacks on other racial minorities by the White House have impacted us as racists have become more emboldened in everyday life and in Congress. This is why it is even more important that people like Kristi Noem reject this man who has so willingly labeled dark skinned people as something other than human.

Noem’s unwillingness to go to bat for every darkskinned person in this state is an absolute indictment of her character as a person and her fortitude as a lawmakers. I am not a perfect person, but I do not pretend to be, and I am not running for governor of a state where race-relations have always been rocky.

This November, it is time for those who believe in creating a place where diversity, innovation, progressiveness to reject the racist backwoods logic of the republican establishment and this White House by putting Billy Sutton in the Governor’s mansion.

*Brandon Ecoffey is the former editor of LCT and is an awardwinning journalist who was born and raised on the Oglala Lakota nation. Brandon is the founder of Bad Face Consulting and the cohost of the Bad Face Consulting podcast presented by Native Hope.

Brandon Ecoffey is the former editor of LCT and an award-winning journalist who was born and raised on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation. He is also the owner of Bad Face Consulting and a cohost on the Bad Face Consulting Podcast presented by Native Hope.

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