The first testimonial Governor Kristi Noem solicits to promote her marketing efforts to claim credit for South Dakota’s population growth and perhaps save the state from white people’s decreasing interest in reproducing, recently rebranded “Freedom Works Here”, comes from a state employee who bounced here from another place that practiced apartheid via Seattle:
Alex moved to the United States from South Africa in 1995. He had lived in Seattle ever since – until the COVID pandemic and violent riots changed the city. In 2021, Alex decided that he’d had enough of the soaring cost of living and diminishing quality of life on the West Coast. He packed his bags, moved to South Dakota, and never looked back. And Alex says that moving to the Mount Rushmore State is one of the greatest decisions he’s ever made.
“I decided to go to South Dakota because I wanted to improve my situation and my life,” Alex said. “Moving to South Dakota was one of the best decisions of my life. And I can honestly say there isn’t a day that goes by where I don’t think about how thankful I am to be in South Dakota.”
Today, Alex is a dedicated job advisor with the South Dakota Department of Labor & Regulation. And with our new “Freedom Works Here” nationwide workforce recruitment campaign, he’s busier than ever [Office of the Governor, press release, 2023.07.21].
Hmmm…the changes caused by Black Lives Matter protests in Seattle in 2020 appear to have included the election of a more diverse Legislature, more inclusive conversations about systemic racism in policing, greater civic participation, and some serious police reforms, none of which are happening in South Dakota. Seattle also beat South Dakota’s economic growth in 2022 and had one of the hottest metro economies in the nation.
But hey, in South Dakota, Freedom™ means working in a cushy government job in Pierre where you guarantee your taxpayer-funded paycheck by parroting what the Governor wants to hear.
A SD State employee from South Africa? Ever seen black citizens covered with auto tires filled with gasoline and set on fire by the apartheid government? He loves his Government job.
First, no way in hell did Noep write that blurb, yet she took the byline.
Second, when your #1 boss says she’s going to produce a press release with your name and photo on it saying how much you like working where you work and live, I believe the answer can only be yes. Go ahead.
Is Kristi really that craven and stupid? Answer: Yes.
As I commented on Nascar article. South Dakota is hopelessly RED. Getting a new neighbor from PURPLE states like for our ‘Freedumb’ simply raises the BLUE Hue where they ‘comed from’.
Our 3 Electoral Votes wont change if 20,000 REDs moved here, but their absence could easily flip a purple state or 2 with 15 electoral votes each. GOP nationally gains NOTHING by having their Purples move to SD..
Mark B; now you are entering the “thinking world” –that place where sane voters ponder their future vote picks with a certain hefty amount of that old American thought process of ” what’s MAGA hatred and suspicion of anyone who looks different from me, talks different, and “just don’t belong here with us ‘Merican Patriots”!
That press release was authored by an individual who is inexperienced in writing said press releases. I believe Noem wrote it.
Alex. Duped.
I wish the press release had shared this state employee’s last name so we could check Noem’s campaign finance reports for a donation.
King County (Seattle) is about the size of Pennington and in the last thirty years has gone from 1.5 million to not quite 2.3 million. Pierce and Snohomish have added another 800,000 in the past 30 years. In essence almost two South Dakotas
It is true that King has reported a decline in the last two years. I would guess proprty values play a part. I know property assessments are up in SD but unlike those aessments, I believe the ones around Seattle.
This guy would disagree with life in a red state….
https://www.rawstory.com/madison-wisconsin/