Articles

GIAGO: Why did so many Indian people forsake beliefs?

It is written (Niehardt, “Black Elk Speaks,” 1932) that in the end, Black Elk converted to Catholicism, and it is also well-known that Lakota Chief Red Cloud also converted to Catholicism, and this brings us to ask, “Why?”

• Tim Giago

GIAGO: Roundup is ironic reversal of SD race roles

There is a historic marker west of Custer that reads: “Historic Sites, Buffalo Rock – Site where the last buffalo was killed in the Black Hills in 1887 by Joe Humphreus, Bob Patterson – Charles Sager nearby is the site of the first lime kiln in the Black Hills”. As is turned out, this was not the last buffalo killed in the Black Hills.

• Tim Giago

GIAGO: Healing effort begins for boarding school alumni

The elder Winatchapam (Yakama) woman, Levina Wilkens, was puzzled. She was about to say the prayer to open the Boarding School Healing Symposium in Boulder, Colo., but she didn’t know which way was east because of the heavy cloud cover.

Opinion: Time to step aside, let young journalists lead

A retiring lawyer takes down his shingle, a boxer hangs up his gloves, and an old soldier never dies: He just fades away.
So what happens to a newspaper editor when he feels that it is time to make his last deadline? I suppose he just closes the door behind him and walks away from the smell of ink, the ink that has flowed through his veins for more than 30 years.

Opinion: Unsteady is the crown that can’t bear criticism

In response to a column I wrote last week about the lack of freedom of the press at Indian Country Today, Ray Cook, Op-ed Editor of This Week in Indian Country, ends his column of allegations with, “If those sound like sentiments of the easily manipulated, I’ll eat my hat.”
I wonder if Mr. Cook enjoys eating his hat raw, or if he prefers a pinch of salt and a little Tabasco sauce? He had better get out his knife and fork. His article had so many holes in it that I hardly know where to begin in response.

Opinion: Transition to city tough for reservation dwellers

RAPID CITY — Back in the days when many American Indian reservation families were moving to Rapid City, especially in the 1940s, in search of employment, the first thing they ran into was the inability to find housing.
The white landlords, and all of the landlords were white, did not rent to Indians. There were no civil rights laws to protect minorities back then.

Opinion: Naysayers invited to join in promoting unity

When the Unity Committee I formed this year approached Gov. Mike Rounds and requested that he proclaim 2010 as a Year of Unity, we did so knowing full well that there would be dissenters who find it preferable to whine and sneer rather than join our efforts to promote racial harmony in a state that really needs it.

Opinion: Native American disguises showed their cowardice

There are two words in the following paragraph that jump out at most students of Native American history, but are probably impervious to the ardent participants of the Tea Party movement.

Opinion: Choice is very clear

The ads are becoming more frequent and more vicious.
Kristi Noem, the Republican candidate for the lone House of Representatives seat in South Dakota, is the recipient of out-of-state advertisements that are using a scorched earth policy of attacking the incumbent Congress woman, Democratic Stephanie Herseth Sandlin.
The most effective way to combat horrible ads is for Herseth Sandlin to respond with ads that show her accomplishments, and she has many.

Opinion: Native Americans believe dual justice systems exist

There are disparities in the system of justice in South Dakota that can only be found in other states with large Native American populations.
The incarceration ratio for Native Americans in South Dakota is far out of proportion with the total state population. The main prisons in the state are top heavy with Native Americans. The prison in Sioux Falls reportedly houses a population that is 33 percent Native American. Since the total state population of Indians is about 10 percent, the number of Native Americans that are incarcerated should raise some concerns within the judiciary in this state. It does not.

Columns

GIAGO: Beware of the coming oil boom

The oil boom is coming to South Dakota, “not if, but when,” according to those in the know, including Gov. Dennis Daugaard.

• Tim Giago

GIAGO: When Leader Charge spoke, Costner listened

We’ve all had to send a “belated” birthday card in our lives, but today I am writing a “belated” column.

• Tim Giago

GIAGO: Native American issues with pipeline ignored

What is it that the South Dakota congressional delegation cannot understand about the TransCanada Keystone XL pipeline?

• Tim Giago

GIAGO: Churches have done much to erode Lakota culture

I was struck by an article by David Rooks in the Rapid City Journal on March 2. David Rooks is a nice guy. He was also a former employee of mine when I owned the Lakota Times.

• Tim Giago

GIAGO: Indians are humans, not sports mascots

“The dogs may bark, but the caravan moves on” is an old Arab proverb. I quoted this old saying more than 25 years ago when I first broached the subject of the use of Indians as mascots for America’s fun and games.

• Tim Giago

GIAGO: Thirty years later, Shannon County drops from No. 1 poorest

The old saying goes that “The more things change, the more they stay the same.” That, my friends, is the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in a nutshell.

• Tim Giago

GIAGO: Alcohol: A red flag that’s been waving too long

An emailer mentioned a comment I made in my last column in which I said I met with some old friends “over a glass of beer.” He wrote, “Honestly, I was shocked when I read those words.”

• Tim Giago

GIAGO: A public apology offered to two old friends

I have been writing a column nearly every week for 34 years. I started with a Montgomery Ward electric typewriter and graduated to a 1986 Apple computer that was more of a word-processor than a computer. We had not reached the age of the Internet yet.

• Tim Giago

GIAGO: Lakota consider Wounded Knee 1890 a day that will live in infamy

To this day, an all-inclusive peace treaty has never been signed between the tribes of the Great Sioux Nation and the U.S. government.

• Tim Giago

GIAGO: Big Crow died young, but her legacy lives on

SuAnne Big Crow was furious after she watched an NBC broadcast about the Pine Ridge Reservation in 1981. “They came here and showed all of the terrible things and did not bother to show any of the good things,” she said.

• Tim Giago