Nothing like getting a call from home only to discover that corruption has taken a nasty toll on your elders. That is what happened with me the other day when my cousin called and described what I thought to be the most reprehensible act of government meddling in tribal affairs. Imagine having an election where clearly a person was voted out of office only to discover the Supreme Court has decided to side with the looser. In this case the person was hopelessly corrupt, Darryl Flyingman of the Southern Cheyenne Arapaho Nation.
I know first hand about all the lack of care for my elders for this person canceled hot meals for the elderly as well as other critical aid for my clan as well as our village. This was the case across our rez as this person played favorites at the expense of our elderly and the suffering. I personally was paying for meals for my elders since the tribal government had ignored my village on more than one occasion. My other cousin with a big family was constantly denied aid and assistance for his kids forcing him to scrounge to survive. But on our own rez? Flyingman along with his select crew always pointed aid in the other direction. It was unbelievable that my cuz would be forced to come up with proof he was a tribal member by people he was blood related to. This was nothing more than an excuse not to give him aid.
What really torques my shorts is the fact this Flyingman refused to relinquish his position as chief even though the tribe voted him out of office. My elders went down to Concho Oklahoma to complain when they were forced to turn around at Cherokee. It is unclear if they were forced off the tribal bus or that they were told to turn around. The news is just breaking as of this writing and I was just informed that Dennis Banks, Russell Means and the Crazy Dog Society from Lame Deer were heading down later this morning in a show of solidarity for our plight. With CNN heading down as well I hope the issue of sovereignty is addressed since I believe the Supreme Court over stepped its authority. And if they get away with this they will pull the same crappola on other reservations.
One thing is for certain, there will be a peaceful demonstration held at Concho today (Nov 20) and the world wide press will be there to cover this event. Senior citizens from my village will be there so I can only pray they will not be ruffed up by this corrupt and morally bankrupt politician and his goons. Hopefully with the press there things will not go violent hurting my elders. But what was the Supreme Court thinking anyway? With what authority did they have to cancel legal election results from a sovereign nation? Truly this is an abuse of the bench and should raise some major questions about the ethics of the court. It’s been long since rumored that Flyingman had this federal judge in his pocket for quite some time.
Is this change we can depend on or more of the same old crappola from the non Native community? Why is it that the government would rather do business with corrupt and shady criminals rather than the traditional folks in the first place? This is more common than not in Indian Country and maybe this will offer more focus on the plight of us and other tribal nations across the US. Canada shares in this travesty as well I might add. The have’s continue to have while the have not’s continue to live in abject poverty. The outside world makes nice with examples from people who have all the loot saying all is well in Indian Country when in actuality it is not. There is greed and abject poverty on many nations and it is perpetrated by corrupt officials such as Flyingman. At least this dark secret of tribal life is out in the open now. But to be fair, not all tribes suffer this kind of corruption and there are honest and moral chiefs who actually do the bidding of their respective nations. Sadly this is not the case on my rez though.
With regard to “Turkey Day” my cousin had a more appropriate title for the coming holiday, he simply calls it, “Dog Day” since we will theoretically eat dog again for the holiday season since tribal funds were squandered leaving our village with only the dogs on the streets to munch on. Thanks Giving? Forget about it since what do we have to be thankful for? A US Government who sides with corruption? Oh boy. In any event I will have a blow by blow accounting from my people later on today. Hopefully peace will rein on my rez but truthfully I fear things will get much worse before they get any better. Hey Obama, how about fighting for human rights here in Oklahoma?
Your Devil’s Advocate
Buffalohair
