Two Native American tribes in South Dakota have banned governor Kristi Noem from their lands as she continues to make derogatory comments about tribal leaders and reservation life.
The latest bans add to existing exclusions on four other reservations this year. Ms. Noem is currently banned from nearly 1/5 of the state.
It comes after Republicans cut short a disastrous national media tour of the book.
Ms. Noem was the frontrunner to become Donald Trump’s running mate this year.
Less than three months ago, Ms topped a poll among the candidates running for vice president in the November election. However, a series of recent controversies, including the story of how she shoot a pet doghas drawn bipartisan criticism.
The Sisseton Wahpeton Oyate and Yankton Sioux tribes on Friday passed separate resolutions banning Noem from setting foot on their territory.
The tribes joined the Cheyenne River Sioux, Oglala Sioux, Rosebud Sioux and Standing Rock Sioux tribes in making the state’s chief executive an outlaw on their lands. That means six of South Dakota’s nine native tribes currently deny her admission.
Tribal governments have the sovereign right to exclude non-tribal members from their lands, and tribal law enforcement stands ready to take action if necessary.
However, a secretary of the Yankton Sioux clarified to local media that the tribe did not “officially” ban the governor by a vote of the general council, but rather a decision by the business and complaints by the tribe, the primary elected body.
As governor, Ms. Noem, 52 years old, often had conflicts with these authorities. While tribal and federal governments have criminal jurisdiction over reservations, she sought to expand state power.
She was expelled by the Oglala Sioux Tribal Council in 2019 after signing anti-riot legislation in response to Indigenous-led protests against the Keystone XL pipeline, and then again earlier this year today about rhetoric linking illegal immigration to crime on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation.
The governor also ignored tribal objections to the 2020 Mount Rushmore fireworks display and clashed with tribal leaders after they set up coronavirus checkpoints to control visits to their sanctuary.
Most recently, she accused Native children of “not having any hope” because of absent parents and argued there was no evidence that tribal leaders were “personally benefiting” from their controllers. drug gang operations.
Janet Alkire, president of the Standing Rock Sioux, said: “Governor Kristi Noem’s extravagant and irresponsible attempt to connect tribal leaders and parents to Mexican drug cartels is a worthy reflection sad about her fear-based politics, which do not help bring people together to solve problems.” wrote in a five-page rebuke in March.
A spokesperson for Ms. Noem told the BBC that “expulsion of Governor Noem does not solve any problem… she calls on all of our tribal leaders to expel corporations from tribal lands lost”.
