Re: Sioux tribe rejects South Dakota governor request to remove Covid-19 checkpoints

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"Ignorant statements and fiery rhetoric encourage individuals already under stress from this situation to carry out irrational actions," he said. "We invite you to join us in protecting the lives of our people and those that live on this reservation. I regretfully decline your request."
The purpose of the tribe's actions, Frazier said, is to "save lives rather than save face." - Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe Chairman Harold Frazier
Good for him/them. If they don't protect themselves, the state they live in sure as hell isn't going to. I can't offer anything more than moral support, but I'll be keeping an eye on this.
If liberals interpreted the Second Amendment the way they interpret the rest of the Bill of Rights, there would be law professors arguing that gun ownership is mandatory. - Mickey Kaus, The New Republic

Re: Sioux tribe rejects South Dakota governor request to remove Covid-19 checkpoints

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I spent time on the Cheyenne River Reservation at Eagle Butte in 1994, as I participated in a Habitat for Humanity build there; and even applied for job as Construction Manager that the local Habitat chapter was looking to fill a year or two later. The reservation covers over 4200 sq.mi. with roughly 8000 residents, and as with many reservations, little opportunity, high unemployment, and substandard housing, ect.. I knew one nurse, who if I remember correctly drove 190 miles to work, although she stayed there Monday through Friday, while her farmer husband and son were at home. A while back I used Google to look at some of the 30 houses that the volunteers built while I was there and they were looking pretty worn; enough had changed that I could only guess, which was the house I had helped to build. In my estimation it would be a huge problem for them if they were to become a even a small hot spot, for the virus, I believe the clinic/hospital in Eagle Butte has roughly ten beds for acute care.
"it's a goddamn impossible way of life"
"And so it goes"

Re: Sioux tribe rejects South Dakota governor request to remove Covid-19 checkpoints

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I think they have the right idea considering events like these are happening and not likely to get any support from the State or Federal Governments.
Navajo Nation marked a grim milestone on Sunday, recording more coronavirus cases per capita on its reservation than any of the 50 U.S. states.

At least 3,122 cases have been reported on Navajo Nation ― the largest and most populous American Indian reservation in the U.S. According to 2010 census data, about 173,776 people (including both Navajo and non-Navajo) live on the reservation. This means the reservation’s rate of infection is roughly 1,798 per 100,000 people.

By comparison, the states with the most known cases ― New York, New Jersey and Massachusetts ― have reported 1,751 cases per 100,000 people, 1,560 cases and 1,129 cases, respectively.

There have been at least 100 virus-linked deaths on Navajo Nation. Four U.S. states have more deaths per capita than the reservation: New York, New Jersey, Connecticut and Massachusetts. The number of confirmed cases on Navajo Nation has nearly doubled in just two weeks, from 1,716 reported on April 26.

The relatively high rate of testing being done on the reservation may help explain the record rate of known infections.

Navajo Nation on Sunday reported 18,153 tests had been conducted on the reservation, or about 10,452 per 100,000 people. New York state reported over the weekend that 1.2 million people have been tested, or 6,081 per 100,000 people.

As of Sunday, about 40 U.S. counties had higher rates of infection than Navajo Nation. Trousdale, Tennessee, where an outbreak has infected hundreds of inmates and staffers at a private prison, has by far the highest number of cases per capita, with 14,175 cases per 100,000 people.

Experts have warned that Indigenous populations are particularly vulnerable to COVID-19, given their high rates of diabetes, heart disease and other underlying conditions. What’s more, an estimated 40% of homes in Navajo Nation are without running water, making essential hygiene practices during a pandemic extremely challenging.

“It’s no secret that in Indian Country, we have one in five that have diabetes and they’re in that vulnerable category so if they were to catch this virus, they are highly likely to have complications from the coronavirus,” Navajo Nation President Jonathan Nez told HuffPost in an interview late last month.

What’s more, many homes on Navajo Nation contain multiple generations of families, making it difficult to curb the contagion, he said.

“When someone gets sick, it is hard for them to self-quarantine or isolate because of the shortage of housing here on the Navajo Nation,” Nez said. “Those are federal obligations to provide infrastructure, including water.”

More than five weeks after President Donald Trump signed into law the CARES Act, which designated $8 billion to tribal governments to assist in their responses to the coronavirus, the Navajo Nation announced it was set to receive $600 million of the funds.

During a news conference Thursday, Navajo officials outlined their plans for the money, which includes funding for health care and educational needs as well as improving water, power and telecommunications infrastructure.

“We’re learning a lot from this current pandemic,” Nez said in a statement Thursday. “This is a prime opportunity to plant the seeds that will help our Navajo people for many years to come.”
https://www.huffpost.com/entry/navajo-n ... fbe30599d5

They are promised money but when will it arrive? Just like the loans for small businesses, no money left after it was gobbled up by big business.

We can also look closer to the south Dakota Sioux's Reservation to see how the agreements and big corporations treat them.
'Not Today. Not Tomorrow. Not Ever': Indigenous Campaigners Protest As KXL Pipeline Construction Begins Amid Legal Challenges

With the coronavirus pandemic keeping them from gathering to stop the construction of the Keystone XL tar sands pipeline, indigenous rights advocates displayed a "virtual banner" as oil giant TC Energy began placing pipes in the ground this week despite legal challenges to the pipeline.

"Not Today. Not Tomorrow. Not Ever. No KXL. Mni Wiconi," read the virtual banner, shared in a video posted to Facebook by the climate action group 350.org.

"We do not consent to their dirty tar sands KXL pipeline," the Indigenous Environmental Network (IEN) tweeted.

In an email to supporters late Friday, IEN explained how the construction was taking place less than a month after federal Judge Brian Morris ruled that the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers had improperly issued a permit to TC Energy—authorizing it to construct the pipeline at water crossings along its nearly 1,200 mile route from Alberta to Nebraska—without conducting a thorough review of the project's environmental impact.

Separately, wrote campaigner Joye Braun, "the Rosebud Sioux Tribe, Fort Belknap Tribe, and the Indigenous Environmental Network have ongoing lawsuits against the federal government regarding the approval of KXL, arguing that the international border crossing approval was illegal, that it violated treaty rights, and that construction during a global pandemic not only puts communities at risk of COVID-19 infection, but raises the risk of sexual violence perpetrated upon Native women."

A ruling has not yet been handed down in those cases, but hearings took place in April.

"Despite the legal challenges, pipe has been laid at the international border crossing between the United States and Canada—even while the drop in tar sands and oil prices makes tar sands inviable," wrote Braun.

IEN called on supporters to fight the construction of the pipeline by contacting TC Energy's financial backers including Chase Bank and Liberty Mutual, Alberta's Premier Jason Kenney, and "three governors who could force TransCanada to comply with federal and state permits and conditions: Montana Gov. Steve Bullock, South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem, and Nebraska Gov. Pete Ricketts."

"This pipeline will not be built," wrote Braun.
https://www.commondreams.org/news/2020/ ... l-pipeline

The oil companies Koch Industries along with TC Energy are hoping g they can get enough done they will be able to give the court a fait accompli and keep building.
Facts do not cease to exist because they are ignored.-Huxley
"We can have democracy in this country, or we can have great wealth concentrated in the hands of a few, but we can't have both." ~ Louis Brandeis,

Re: Sioux tribe rejects South Dakota governor request to remove Covid-19 checkpoints

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Doctors Without Borders dispatches team to the Navajo Nation

Doctors Without Borders is best known for sending medical professionals into international conflict zones in the midst of medical crises. The organization has teams in Afghanistan, Iran, Sierra Leone, Venezuela and 66 other countries. It did not, however, have a medical presence in the U.S. — until now.

Jean Stowell, head of the organization's U.S. COVID-19 Response Team, told CBS News that Doctors Without Borders has dispatched a team of nine to the hard-hit Navajo Nation in the southwest U.S. because of the crisis unfolding there. The team consists of two physicians, three nurse/midwives, a water sanitation specialist, two logisticians and a health promoter who specializes in community health education.

"There are many situations in which we do not intervene in the United States, but this has a particular risk profile," Stowell said. "Situationally, the Native American communities are at a much higher risk for complications from COVID-19 and also from community spread because they don't have access to the variety of things that make it possible to self-isolate… You can't expect people to isolate if they have to drive 100 miles to get food and water. "

Navajo Nation, home to roughly 170,000 people, now has more coronavirus cases per capita than any state in America. Due to a shortage in nursing and specialized medical staff, the most critical patients have to be airlifted to hospitals outside of the reservation. On top of that, Navajo people carry a high rate of diabetes and hypertension, rendering them more susceptible to infection. And as of early May, the region has a higher coronavirus death rate than that of 46 states. The new CBSN Originals documentary, "Coronavirus in Navajo Nation," explores the community's plight.

"I think it's difficult for Americans to realize how big this country is and how the needs are so different in each place," Stowell said. "You know, urban needs are very different than rural needs. And the needs of the Native American community are challenging because they look so different than the needs elsewhere, so they require a pretty significant coordinated effort."

The fact that Navajo Nation is a food desert, dependent on the U.S. government for nutritious commodity foods, has only intensified the situation. What's more, an estimated 1 in 3 residents lack access to running water.

"The lack of running water complicates things," Stowell said, "but it's something that's really familiar to us and probably more familiar to us than other NGOs and nonprofits that work in the U.S. Back when we were first speaking to the Navajo leadership, I think they thought we would find that shocking. Obviously, we find it very surprising, but it's also work that we know how to do. Water sanitation and infection control go hand-in-hand, but it's something that we know quite a lot about, how to navigate those resources."

Stowell said that the Doctors Without Borders team currently has plans to remain in Navajo Nation until the end of June, but that their assignment could very well be extended as circumstances demand.

"When we're looking at the epidemiologic curves from the rest of the world, we know that this is a long haul," she said. "So, at this point, that team is planned to be there until the end of June. Whether that will continue really has to do with how effective the measures that are taken are in reducing the infection rate, and the capacity of other actors. You know, there is quite a lot of interest in responding to the needs of Native communities, but there are also enormous needs. And it's not so quick to mobilize things that you really have to start from the ground up. These were bigger problems long before COVID-19."

The elders of Navajo Nation, who are crucial to preserving the tribe's language and culture, are particularly high-risk due to their age.

"I'm scared for our languages, our culture, our people," Dr. Michelle Tom, a family medicine physician, said in the CBSN Originals documentary. "And I know it's happening all around the world. I get that. I understand that. You know, my time is limited on this Earth, it is. But our language and our cultures can continue to live forever, as long as there are Navajo people. I think that's what scares me most."
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/doctors-w ... d=88415817

It is a shameful situation when a group of American citizens has to depend on an international group of doctors and medical support people for their care instead of the Federal government.
Facts do not cease to exist because they are ignored.-Huxley
"We can have democracy in this country, or we can have great wealth concentrated in the hands of a few, but we can't have both." ~ Louis Brandeis,

Re: Sioux tribe rejects South Dakota governor request to remove Covid-19 checkpoints

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TrueTexan wrote: Mon May 11, 2020 9:45 pm
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/doctors-w ... d=88415817

It is a shameful situation when a group of American citizens has to depend on an international group of doctors and medical support people for their care instead of the Federal government.
but but but, they are their own sovereign nation and and and they get all that casino money why should we worry about them? :sarcasm:

Re: Sioux tribe rejects South Dakota governor request to remove Covid-19 checkpoints

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Where, oh, wear does one get that shirt?!. It’s priceless in the message it throws out there.
As posted earlier, interesting jurisdictional issues. Any bets on the outcome of any court actions against the tribe?
A sad state of affairs when greed is the winner... I know, nothing new.
"But who prays for satan? Who in eighteen hundred years has had the common humanity to pray for the sinner that needed it most?"
-Mark Twain

Re: Sioux tribe rejects South Dakota governor request to remove Covid-19 checkpoints

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Rayj wrote:Where, oh, wear does one get that shirt?!. It’s priceless in the message it throws out there.
As posted earlier, interesting jurisdictional issues. Any bets on the outcome of any court actions against the tribe?
A sad state of affairs when greed is the winner... I know, nothing new.
Picked mine up when visiting Crazy Horse a couple years ago. They had them in the visitor center.

Sent from my Pixel 3a using Tapatalk

No colon and still rollin'

Re: Sioux tribe rejects South Dakota governor request to remove Covid-19 checkpoints

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https://www.cnn.com/2020/05/13/us/south ... index.html
On Tuesday, Noem wrote a letter to the Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe's chairman, again saying no to tribal checkpoints on US and state highways. But she said the state would be fine with the checkpoints on tribal or Bureau of Indian Affairs roads.
So she's going to offer to "allow" what she has not authority to "forbid".

Anyone else seeing the deja vu of US authorities demanding Anglo ranchers possibly carrying a viral infection being given free access through Native lands?

Re: Sioux tribe rejects South Dakota governor request to remove Covid-19 checkpoints

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58Hawken wrote: Thu May 14, 2020 12:10 pm https://www.cnn.com/2020/05/13/us/south ... index.html
On Tuesday, Noem wrote a letter to the Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe's chairman, again saying no to tribal checkpoints on US and state highways. But she said the state would be fine with the checkpoints on tribal or Bureau of Indian Affairs roads.
So she's going to offer to "allow" what she has not authority to "forbid".

Anyone else seeing the deja vu of US authorities demanding Anglo ranchers possibly carrying a viral infection being given free access through Native lands?
Only if their last name is Bundy.
Facts do not cease to exist because they are ignored.-Huxley
"We can have democracy in this country, or we can have great wealth concentrated in the hands of a few, but we can't have both." ~ Louis Brandeis,

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