Last week the South Dakota Democratic Party called on Governor Kristi Noem to repudiate her friend rookie Representative Joe Donnell’s (R-1/Sisseton) crazy claim that Mount Rushmore is a demonic portal for communism. Governor Noem has remained silent on the topic, perhaps choosing not to dignify Donnell’s dingbattery with a response.
Representative Donnell’s tribal leaders did react to their kooky compatriot’s conspiracy-theorizing last week with a pretty quick press release deeming Donnell’s remarks free speech but distancing the tribe from the statements:
Sisseton-Wahpeton Sioux Tribe is just like any State or Nation. It is comprised of many individuals with different views or [sic—on? of? o’er?] the world and spiritual beliefs.
Many Tribes take issue with Mt. Rushmore based on the sacredness of the Paha Sapa (Black Hills) and the legal issues surrounding the 1868 Ft. Laramie Treaty that gave those lands to the Great Sioux Nation. We also acknowledge that like other tribal nations Sisseton-Wahpeton has veterans or Akicita that has served this country and protected the freedoms America and Mt. Rushmore are said to represent. One of the most important being the “Freedom of Speech”.
Representative Donnell’s views are not based on any traditional Dakota teachings. His beliefs are his own and are not reflective of anyone else around him nor a reflection of Sisseton-Wahpeton Sioux Tribe [Tribal Chairman J. Garret Renville, Vice-Chairwoman Alexandria Fancher-Lincoln, and Tribal Secretary Curtis Bissonette, press release, 2023.06.29].
I’m not sure what’s worse, the Governor’s silence or the tribal leaders’ vague hand-waving. As some puzzled comments under the tribe’s Facebook post make clear, the press release fails to state clearly for newcomers to the issue what Representative Donnell actually said. The press release should open with some simple summary, as I do at the top here with a single sentence, so people know what the tribal leaders are talking about and understand why the tribal leaders would want to publicly distance themselves from such nuttery.
The Sisseton-Wahpeton press release also avoids showing any reading from the tribal moral compass. It’s fine (and tautological) to say Donnell’s beliefs are his own; it’s good to say they don’t reflect those of the tribe. But why simply shrug and gloss them as free speech? Why not clearly condemn Donnell’s speech, not merely as wrong in itself (because, sure, one could argue that Donnell’s statements about Mount Rushmore serving Satan are so obviously crazy that we shouldn’t all have to pause and say so) but as a distraction from important discourse about genuine issues surrounding the white man’s colonial stamp on sacred Indigenous land? Such condemnation would make the perfect rhetorical segue from individual nuttiness to more important social concerns. Consider this revision of the tribal statement:
Representative Donnell’s view that Mount Rushmore is a demonic portal of communism does not align with any traditional Dakota teachings, not to mention Christian doctrine or historical fact. His beliefs are his own, and in this case, his beliefs are nuts.
More importantly, Donnell’s wild and false claims distract from an honest public discussion of the complicated history, legality, and morality of Mount Rushmore. The carving of white Presidents on a sacred mountaintop in the Paha Sapa raises genuine issues of treaty rights, race relations, and historical justice. Mount Rushmore raises thorny issues of cultural identity for our people, who stand apart from the invaders who have seized our land yet who stand for the principles of liberty and equality that those invaders say their sculpture represents. Foolish mystical claims about Mount Rushmore spreading communism only distract us from the conversations we should be having about real problems we Indians and our white neighbors must solve in South Dakota and the United States of America [alt-universe press release from tribe that knows what to say about dumb things a member says, CAH-DFP, 2023.07.08].
Kristi Noem won’t say anything about Joe Donnell’s nutty statements about Mount Rushmore. Sisseton Wahpeton tribal leaders said something, but they didn’t say the right thing.
How Tamara St. John is a member of the Earth hater party remains a mystery.
Think of all the money, both state taxes and private investments, that is getting spent this year to promote the Mount Rushmore National Memorial to the nation’s 49 other states. What are people going to remember about Mount Rushmore this year? Hopefully, not Donnell’s premeditated, insane nutjob statement.
The reaction from Noem and the tribe speaks volumes of the values and mind control by the most insidious arms of the Republican Party. Expect more of the same and worse until the GOP self-destructs.
Progressive socialism advocates for equity and justice, intertwining the threads of solidarity. It deems it necessary to uplift the masses, to forge a path unyielding to the greed that perpetuates inequality.
It envisions a world where the powerful elevate the weak, where the collective spirit surges forth, dismantling the walls that divide us. In this union, lies the promise of a better world, a world of harmony and equity, echoing the timeless ideals of humanity’s noblest aspirations.
Shocked. By all of it and how, seemingly, all contributors, thus far, have made bold statements leaning toward one extreme or another. Silent or otherwise. No one is right, nor, sadly in this case, is anybody wrong. Go figure.
We somehow expect more leadership and moral virtue from the nine tribal governments in our State than we do from our state government, established press and media outlets, churches, and civic organizations. In this instance, Representative Donnell is only tangentially a member of the Sisseton-Wahpeton tribe, but was speaking in a political forum as a member of the South Dakota House of Representatives. It would seem to me, we should be expecting the Speaker of the South Dakota House and the Chair of the Republican Party to be issuing condemnation statements. I would also like to see responsible people coming forward and dispelling the myths Representative Donnell sets forward regarding the Masonic Order and by association, my local Masonic Lodge.
Indians place Ben and Jerry’s headquarters on notice that the indigenous tibes want their stolen land returned to them.
https://www.newsweek.com/ben-jerrys-headquarters-vermont-indigenous-chief-stolen-land-1811532
I think the statement of the Sisseton-Wahpeton Oyate is OK. Not everyone in the Oyate has the same views, but everyone is free to speak. I suspect that there are few who agree with Donnell’s insaner pronouncements, just as I’m sure most of the Republican Party leaders cringe when they hear Donnell’s statements followed by the “R” behind his name. It would be sad if Donnell continues to spout nonsense like that, and sadder if there is no response from responsible leaders. At some point people everywhere have to stomp down the nutcases. It’s one thing to have the insane walking the streets because they’re homeless. It’s another to have a whole party bowing down to the insane in their party The same goes, by the say, with the RFK, Jr. acolytes, who are little better than Donnell, Trump or DeSantis supporters.
Tribal nations were successful in changing the name of South Dakota’s highest geographical feature so a campaign to change the name of a national memorial is certainly meritorious.
With the Oglala Lakota Nation as an interested party Chief Arvol Looking Horse submitted a request to the US Board on Geographic Names saying the words “Devils Tower” are a malapropism but Wyoming’s Republican congressional delegation is resisting that name change with every far white wing dollar they can raise. Local opposition has been able to obstruct name changes so far and the Wyoming Board on Geographic Names is notoriously slow in removing offensive designations from geographical features.
California has finally changed the name of its famous Squaw Valley Ski Resort to Palisades Tahoe. Colorado is renaming Chinaman Gulch, Negro Creek, Negro Mesa, Negro Basin, Negro Draw and Squaw Mountain but has deferred renaming a mountain bearing the moniker of a territorial governor with a role in the Sand Creek Massacre.
Veteran South Dakota reporter and columnist, Tom Lawrence agrees that it’s time to erase another war criminal’s name from South Dakota maps.
A state park, a peak, a county and a town in the Black Hills, a county and national forest in Montana are named after a murderer. During the Battle of Greasy Grass on the banks of the Little Bighorn River in Montana George Custer attacked the encampment where the elderly, women and children were hidden and during the Wash!ta Massacre he held a similar contingent as hostages and human shields.
George Custer, Phil Sheridan, George Crook and William Harney all committed crimes against humanity yet their names still besmirch numerous government and geographical features. Crook City near Whitewood and Crook’s Tower, one of the 7000 footers in the Black Hills, were named after a war criminal.
Revisionist history turned the Wounded Knee Massacre into a battle now Senator Mike Rounds (NAZI-SD) said he won’t vote for the Senate companion to the Remove the Stain Act that would rescind Medals of Honor for twenty war criminals responsible for the slaughter of children, women and men in 1890 at Wounded Knee in occupied South Dakota. But he and the South Dakota Republican Party are hardly the only racists in the colonized American West.
waiting for Chief Wah-Who to weigh in…
Some of you libbies will misconstrue this, but grudznick doesn’t care. Mr. Donnell is insaner than most and doomed to irrelevance in the legislatures.
Grudznick, dear friend, I implore you to reconsider your use of the term “libbie” when referring to American liberals. In the spirit of earnestness, I kindly request that you abandon this derogatory choice of words.
Let us remember that the pen can be mightier than the sword, and as wordsmiths, we have a responsibility to use language that promotes understanding rather than division. Derision and name-calling hinder productive discourse and prevent us from truly engaging with those whose views may differ from ours.
It is paramount that we approach our fellow citizens, regardless of their political stance, with a sense of respect and dignity. By doing so, we create an environment where thoughtful conversations can take place, leading to progress and unity rather than animosity. After all, it is through understanding and empathy that true growth is achieved.
Therefore, I implore you to embrace a more civil and inclusive language when discussing political matters. Let us build bridges rather than burn them, for the greater good of our democracy and the pursuit of a better tomorrow.
I don’t mind “Libbie”..I don’t find it negative at all. I was a Conservative moaner for years and it was no fun. It took Richard Nixon to turn me into a “Libbie”…bless his cold, cynical heart.
It’s a joke to confuse grudznichts, Arlie. I’m proud to be a tolerant, unprejudiced, broad and open minded, and enlightened liberal. He’s usually in the jar by this time Saturday and gets confused for days quite easily. 😂😂😂
Wow, a bunch of white people who live from addresses not 605 telling Indigenous peoples from SD what to say and do.
Give me a GD break!
Huh? What? Where’s the jar…
96, given Dave Flute’s position in the Noem Administration and the fact that both of the Sisseton-Wahpeton members of the Legislature are Republicans, what’s going on in Sisseton that makes that tribe more inclined to side with the SDGOP than any other?
Donald, I don’t think there’s any one statement in the tribal press release that is incorrect; the tribal leaders just don’t make comments that directly address the most important issues here.
Anyone who missed “Open the Heavens” in Rapid City can visit this coming August in Chicago when the Heavens are again anticipated to open. God only knows what revelations will then rain down upon earth. Special rates for those who attended in Rapid.
https://mericrouley.com/
Donnell’s alma mater allies well with Noem. So wonderful to have a medicating worldview that has figured everything out—and a direct conduit to revelations from God to boot. We’re it other than collective it might better be known as psychosis.
https://www.ctsem.edu/academics/
It’s been over forty years since attorney Mario Gonzalez filed the federal court case stopping payment of the Black Hills Claim award to the Oglala Lakota Nation. Gonzalez contends that the commission charged to make peace with tribes inserted language into the Fort Laramie Treaty signed in 1868 that Red Cloud had neither seen nor agreed to in negotiations. Today, the Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe has passed resolutions condemning what they say are abuses of the General Mining Law of 1872 that led to the Custer Expedition’s discovery of gold in the Black Hills.
The South Dakota Democratic Party should advocate for paying the tribes and settling the Black Hills Claim, dissolving the Black Hills National Forest, moving management of the land from the US Department of Agriculture into the Department of Interior in cooperation with Bureau of Indian Affairs Division of Forestry and Wildfire Management. Mato Paha (Bear Butte), the associated national grasslands and the Sioux Ranger District of the Custer/Gallatin National Forest should be included in the move.
Rewild it and rename it He Sapa or Paha Sapa National Monument eventually becoming part of the Greater Missouri Basin National Wildlife Refuge connecting the CM Russell Wildlife Refuge in Montana along the Missouri River to Oacoma, South Dakota combined with corridors from Yellowstone National Park to the Yukon in the north and south to the Pecos River through Nebraska, eastern Colorado, western Kansas, Oklahoma, New Mexico and Texas.
Rewild the West!
Long before I started my blog I have hammered on the absence of Lakota in South Dakota high schools and on Native language equivalents for geographical features on SDDoT highway maps. Now local journalists are catching up.
https://southdakotasearchlight.com/2023/07/09/lakota-critically-endangered-language-elder-retreats-preserve-revive-it-teaching-standards/
Custer and the prospectors were just peaceful tourists and never meant any harm to the occupants of the area.No reason to use violence against any of them since they were allowed to open carry by the future NRA.
Libbie was Custer’s pet name for his wife and we all know how that turned out. When Indians killed whitey it was termed a massacre. When whitey slaughtered Indian women and kids it was a great victory.
I don’t always agree with my tribal council like I don’t always agree with my Democratic Party. But as indigenous people, we live in two very different cultures and political realities from the second we are born. We also inherited a lot of baggage from our ancestors oppressed history and from your ancestors oppression. Just a fact. So when we walk this path and everyone of us do, we are always challenged by how we process or react to the consequences and collision of living in a tribal world and a white dominated world. I think our council issued an eloquent statement that embodies our responsibility to our tribal values and our gracious acknowledgement that Donnell has a right to his opinion. He did not say he was speaking on behalf of the tribe. And our official response stated that in a way that exemplifies our dual citizenship bicultural reality.
Hear, hear Ms. TallBear.
Curious, DB: how does my assessment of the failure of the SWO leadership to address either Donnell’s nuttiness or his distraction from real Indian issues at all constitute an incorrect or even an extreme position that should be dismissed as quickly as Donnell’s actual misinformed extremism?
Heidelberg’s statement “his(Donnell) distraction from real Indian issues” infers that Donnell was elected because he is an Indian and not be because he is a Republican. Frankly, “Indian issues” should be important to the entire legislature, Democrats and Republicans alike, and not just those with indigenous blood. That’s like saying German legislators or Norwegian legislators, etc. should also be held accountable for everything that impacts their cultural identity. As descendants of immigrants, all non- indigenous people should embrace native cultures in their adopted homeland and support it’s continued vibrant contributions to this multicultural democracy.
Hear, hear Ms. TallBear:
That’s like saying German legislators or Norwegian legislators, etc. should also be held accountable for everything that impacts their cultural identity.
Now we’re getting somewhere. My research project is in full support of your contentious, hypothetical assertion.
The only magat I have seen that shows any affinity for Natives is magat justice Go Suck of the Scotus and I don’t know how deep that goes. Dems, by and large, are interested in equality for all and magats want equality for the wealthy, imho.
That’s one of my new all-time favorite SD legislator comments. There isn’t much that can top that one right there. Ol lawmaker Donnell is on one.
I’d say Rep. Donnell was speaking in the capacity of his elected office, which to the outside world means he represents all of us in SD. You would have to admit he accurately portrays a good portion of us here. I don’t really consider any connection with what an individual says and their tribal membership, unless they are explicitly speaking as an elected official for the SWO. I think SD, as a whole (tribal and non-tribal members) lean towards the eccentric and Rep. Donnell done tipped clear over. Good for him.
https://www.cnn.com/style/article/lakota-nation-vs-united-states-streaming-ifc-center/index.html
New South Dakota documentary ouit and being streamed. Should be worth watching if you think Indians have been mistreated in dealings with whitey.