Press release share from Oglala Sioux Tribe, Office of the President, Frank Star Comes Out
May 30, 2024
THE OGLALA SIOUX TRIBE WILL NOT PARTICIPATE IN GOVERNOR KRISTI NOEM’S TRIBAL PUBLIC SAFTETY CRISIS SUMMIT ON JUNE 24, 2024 AT PIERRE, SOUTH DAKOTA.
(Pine Ridge, S.D.) Oglala Sioux Tribe President Frank Star Comes Out announced today-that
the Oglala Sioux Tribe will not participate in Governor Noem’s Tribal Public Safety Crisis Summit
in Pierre on June 24, 2024. Instead, we will be celebrating Victory Day of the Oceti Sakowin of
The Battle of Little Big Hom on June 25, 2024. Star Comes Out stated, “This is nothing more
than a divide and conquer tactic on the part of Governor Noem to deflect from her false
accusations that a crisis exists because drug cartels are operating on the Sioux reservations.”
He said that:
“We recently met with the U.S. Attorney’s office in Rapid City and we were told by an Assistant U.S. Attorney that there are no drug cartels on our reservation.”
Oglala Sioux Tribe President Frank Star Comes Out
“The Sioux tribes and their governments are older than the State of South Dakota and have
been exercising sovereignty over the territory long before .South Dakota became a state in
1889.”
“Noem contends that South. Dakota has no jurisdiction over the Sioux tribes and their members on their respective reservations. However,- the tribes that had to fight legal battles with the State of South Dakota for decades, especially after the enactment of Public Law 280 in 1953 when
Congress allowed states like South Dakota to assume criminal and civil jurisdiction on their
reservations without their consent.”
“The Sioux tribes eventually worked together to sponsor a state referendum, which defeated
state, criminal and civil jurisdictions on all Sioux reservations ‘in South Dakota in 1964.”
“Public Law 280 was amended in 1968 and now requires a referendum of tribal members on
reservations, conducted by the Secretary of the Interior, before South Dakota can assume civil,
criminal jurisdictio–n on the Pine Ridge and other reservations.”
For more information contact:
Valerie Adams, Public Relations Coordinator.
Oglala Sioux Tribe
vadams@oglala.org