What to Know About South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem's Banishment from the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation | National News

For the second time as governor of South Dakota, Kristi Noem has been banished from the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation. Last week, the Oglala Sioux Tribe said the Republican governor was no longer welcome on tribal lands, and its leaders referred to her rhetoric linking immigration and crime as opportunistic and dangerous.

“Our people are being used for her political gain,” said Oglala Sioux Tribe President Frank Star Comes Out.

After Noem suggested last week that the state send razor wire and security personnel to Texas to deter crossings at the U.S.-Mexico border, Star Comes Out accused her of trying to garner favor from former U.S. President Donald Trump.

Noem also said drug cartels are responsible for murders on the reservation and that they're affiliated with a gang called the “Ghost Dancers” — which takes its name from a Native American religious ceremony. Historically, U.S. and state officials viewed the Ghost Dance as a threat of violence and sought to ban it, prompting a painful period of history.

Star Comes Out said the reservation has cartel and gang problems, but singling out a gang with that particular name and history felt like another insult to his people. Noem’s mention of the gang, he said, was the first time he had heard of it or its possible presence on the reservation.

Ian Fury, a spokesperson for Noem’s office, said in a Tuesday email, “All the Governor did was say the name of a gang that in fact exists and is in fact committing the crimes she referenced. She didn’t choose the name of the gang — they named themselves.”

Federal and tribal authorities have criminal jurisdiction on the reservations in South Dakota, and Star Comes Out wants more funding from the U.S. for law enforcement. Noem has previously pushed to expand the state's jurisdiction. In 2018, as a U.S. House Representative, she proposed legislation that would allow federal authorities to arrest people on tribal lands for state crimes. It was widely opposed by tribal leaders, who saw it as a threat to tribal sovereignty.

Here are key questions and answers about the governor’s contentious relationship with the tribe.

WHAT IS THE GANG THAT NOEM REFERENCED?

Tony Mangan, a spokesperson for the South Dakota Attorney General’s office, said the Ghost Dancers are affiliated with a motorcycle gang called the Bandidos. The office does not know if the group is connected to drug cartels, nor does it know if the Ghost Dancers are present on the reservation, Mangan said.

Noem has cited cartels as responsible for homicides on the reservation, though her office didn’t share recent examples. Fury, the governor’s spokesperson, pointed to a 2016 murder on the reservation that was related to a drug cartel, but he declined to provide any information on other gang or cartel-related murders or any connection to the Ghost Dancers.

“Murders are being committed by cartel members on the Pine Ridge reservation and in Rapid City, and a gang called the ‘Ghost Dancers’ are affiliated with these cartels,” Noem said last week in a speech to state lawmakers. “They have been successful in recruiting tribal members to join their criminal activity."

Star Comes Out, president of the Oglala Sioux Tribe, said he had not heard of a gang called the Ghost Dancers until Noem mentioned it in her speech, and that he was unaware of any presence by this gang on the Pine Ridge Reservation.

WHAT IS THE GHOST DANCE?

The Ghost Dance was a religious movement that spread across Native American communities in the U.S. in the late 1800s, after a Paiute elder had a vision that their homelands would be restored and they would be reconnected with their ancestors if they practiced it. He also foresaw the removal of white settlers, whose violence and spread of disease had devastated tribes.

For many, the practice represented resiliency in the face of the tremendous loss brought on by colonization.

The dance involves holding hands and moving in a circle while singing throughout the night. In the early 1890s, U.S. political and military leaders tried to outlaw the Ghost Dance, fearing the movement was a precursor to an uprising in communities it subjugated. Around the country, tribal nations adopted the practice, and in South Dakota it became part of one of America’s most infamous massacres.

In 1890, hoping to stop the spread of the Ghost Dance, federal agents went to the Standing Rock Sioux Reservation to arrest Chief Sitting Bull, who they believed was behind its influence there. After a dispute, agents shot and killed Sitting Bull and several other tribal members. Following this, a group of about 300 Lakota men, women and children left Standing Rock hoping to reach safety at the nearby Pine Ridge Indian Reservation. The group was intercepted by U.S. troops, who killed hundreds of Lakota people in what would become known as the Wounded Knee Massacre.