In the recent South Dakota Republican Congressional primary, state Senator Neal Tapio, who said most of the people living on Indian reservations are “victims of incest and molestation,” lost to former Public Utilities Commissioner Dusty Johnson, who also beat South Dakota state Secretary of State Shantel Krebs. Tapio called reservations “soul sucking welfare dependence” and said they should be broken up and replaced with federal block grants. He added, “What we’re doing now is completely broken. Tribal leadership is corrupt.”
In response, Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe Chairman Harold Fraizer said, “I am deeply offended by these remarks. Broken families do not need a desperate politician desperately trying to gain votes by pandering to the bigots and racists to remind them of their predicament.” He continued, “It has been a common tactic of the attacker and accomplices to blame the victims for the problem. Anything to take blame from themselves and justify the guilt they refuse to acknowledge.”
Regarding treaties, Fraizer said, “It is painfully obvious Mr. Tapio has not read the treaties. Because if he had, he would realize the treaties are not the problem. The problem is the United States has never honored any treaty they have made with us.”
He said Native Americans have been forced onto” reservations “and then systematically swindled out of these lands by illegal acts of Congress. The reservations have incubated our people as we come to terms with the genocidal destruction of our families and culture. But we have become stronger and smarter. Our forefathers did the best they could for our survival. It is an attitude we still carry with us today.” Fraizer noted, “Reservations are no longer a problem for us, but it appears they are for Mr. Tapio,” who, Fraizer pointed out, did not talk to him “or any other tribal leader.”
In summary, he said, “If we stand together we can vote to send what is the best of South Dakota to Washington D.C. and not what is the worst of South Dakota.”
Tapio said as he completes his term as state Senator, he will continue to support others who “share the same values like faith, family, freedom, and free enterprise. This is one of the most humbling endeavors that you can put yourself out there for. We gave a really good shot. We were a campaign about ideas. It’s just a long night but tomorrow’s another day,” Tapio said.
