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| Cheyenne River Winter Count, White Horse, SD |
Got word yesterday. Wish it weren't so. Got told by the folks in charge at the Cheyenne River Reservation that my visit to help Marcella LeBeau, a 100-year old tribal member, finish her memoirs is off. They won't let me in.
Nothing to do with the color of my skin. If I were a tribal member living off reservation and wanting to come home to visit family, I'd be similarly barred; they wouldn't let me in either. The only traffic allowed through and into the reservation is that which tribal officials judge "essential." This visit may well have been my last, too. The project is just about finished.
But as wishes go, I've got another, a more-encompassing wish that Covid-19 somehow peters out. Doesn't even have to be magic. I'm praying, in fact, that it dissipates or disappears or just dies away with less than a whimper. A tally of 100,000+ is far more than enough death. Just guess how many people are grieving. Too many people out of work too. Too many businesses gasping for air or already belly-up. My trip to Eagle Butte, South Dakota, was ruled "non-essential" because it is. I can't go. God willing, it'll happen sometime, maybe soon.
South Dakota's Governor Kristi Noem has asked the White House and his cherry-picked Department of Justice to help her out. She thinks what the tribe is doing by locking up the roads into the reservation is flat-out illegal. The Gov has good friends in Washington, and they're in power. You may have heard of them. Yesterday, one of them enlisted the aid of God almighty by raising a Bible in front of St. John's Church. You may have seen this evidence of his deep and abiding faith in the Word.
Just in case you didn't, here he is. Aren't you proud of him? I guess he was just then coming from worship, and he's not even Catholic. Isn't that something?
Seriously, I'd much rather be able to drive out to Eagle Butte again than not go, but Cheyenne River has had only two cases of Covid-19 so far, and one of the afflicted, the first, is already out of trouble. If keeping the killer off the reservation by keeping me and everyone else "non-essential" out, I say lock the place down.
I have too many friends in McKinley County, New Mexico, on the Navajo Reservation, where the Navajo have one of the highest coronavirus infection rates per capita in the country right now. What's happening there is horrifying. If the Cheyenne River tribe can isolate itself, keep its members away from the contagion, more power to them, I say.
The book is almost finished. It'll wait. Marcella LeBeau will be 101 in October. She's healthy and sharp and thoughtful. Doesn't move fast or walk without a walker any more, but I'd just as soon things stay that way.
If the President acts toward Cheyenne River the way he advocated in yesterday's power show, I'd rather not think about what might ensue in the middle of South Dakota. There's a history to Indian people taking on Washington, and that history is all too clear: they lose.
But they don't easily throw in the towel.
6 comments:
Hi Jim; I just picked up your blog this AM in NW Iowa news. I lived in Hull from 1944 to 1950 and I liked the place, altho I am more in love with Harrison, SD where we lived from 1941 to 1944. That period of time is pretty short for a CRC pastor's stay in a church, but it was during the war and Father did a lot of other work in Harrison because of the war. Also Irene Wiersma my sister graduated from Harrison School and no High School. Then came the call from Hull and I guess we can say it was a "no brainer"
However, I must say I am unhappy with the way you portray our President DJT. Poor guy just can't seem to win with many of my CRC friends. He is a bit noisy at times, but I am very happy with his job performance and his attitude toward the Evangelical Christian Church and many other things he has accomplished. But we all see things differently.
Now on a sad note, I must tell you that Irene Hanenburg Wiersma is suffering from Covid 19. She is in a nursing home in Grand Rapids and I have no further information.
Somehow, I'd heard that your sister was having real health problems. Thanks for the news, even if it isn't good. My great-grandparents, the immigrant Schaaps, worshipped at Harrison, SD, in 1888-1891 (or sometime around then), during a brief stay there. I have plenty of pictures of the church--at least I think I do. It has now consolidated with the RCA church in town. Both are in tough shape because of the shrinking demographics of the region. I'm sorry you're not taken with my attitude toward our President, but what he did yesterday--or so it seems to me--seems a sacrilege. I would certainly disagree with you about his being a "poor guy." No one has done as much to destroy his own standing as he has himself. But, as you say, "we all see things differently." I happen to being putting together a little video about your brother-in-law for our local museum today! Jim
It was shown The President holding up a Bible in front of the Episcopal church within walking distance of the White House. Naturally, the military had to go before him to clear the place of protestors. While holding a Bible he was asked if that was his Bible. His answer, "It is a Bible". Didn't claim ownership. Read the news clips and see or hear what the Bishop of that Church had to say about the incident.
Awwwww...Stevie King goes down. Someone else will have to assume the mantle of the country's most racist member.
"Na, na, na, na -- na, na, na na -- hey, hey, goodbye!"
Can't wait to read your story of this dear lady.
Hello Dr. James Schaap,
are you making fun of the President hold a Bible? Would you rather this be a copy of the Koran or some other manifesto, so you could really vilify the man? Is there an exclusive club in you mind of who deserves to hold the Bible, and President Trump isn't included?
The Governor of South Dakota is a brave young woman who is trying to do what is best for south Dakotans. For refusing to abide by social distancing recommendations appropriate for New York City she was vilified and ridiculed. And now you join the worshipers of lord Baal in making fun of her sincere efforts too. The tribes took control of State highways that are used by all people, in their attempt to isolate their own from the virus, there simply is a much better way than to close down all access. That is a concept so simple, even a liberal should be able to get it.
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