Get to the root of the problem.”Ĭhris White Eagle, left, gestures while speaking with Pennington county state’s attorney Mark Vargo at a Lakota cultural celebration sponsored by White Eagle’s youth empowerment program. We get to ask the questions the courts don’t ask.
“With Oyate court we look deeper into trying to heal them. “When people get in trouble, just locking them up won’t help,” said Chris White Eagle, a Cheyenne River citizen who sits on the circle of elders. Jones’s case was turned over to the elders. In Rapid City, those efforts include a new elementary school Lakota immersion language program and a grassroots volunteer effort to build an urban Indian center.
The effort is part of a wave of initiatives across the nation in Indigenous communities seeking to reclaim Native heritage and craft homegrown, culturally based solutions to the problems of poverty – and the host of traumas it nurtures – that have defined life for American Indians since they were forced to abandon their ancestral lands and lifeways for urban or reservation life. His file landed with Pennington county prosecutors as they were cementing a groundbreaking partnership with a group of Lakota elders to divert some cases into the new Oyate court, or people’s court, which employs a process based on Native culture and aboriginal peacemaking principles that stress healing over punishment. “That’s why people get so scared – feeling that something bad is going to happen.”īut Jones, 19, was lucky. This article first appeared on The Daily Yonder and is republished here under a Creative Commons license.“When you’re in the western courts, you feel like you are alone, that you don’t have anyone with you,” said Jones, a citizen of the Oglala Lakota Nation. Joel Belden is a writer and consultant based in Washington, D.C. They also need to realize that rural and small-town voters played a big part. Urban liberals everywhere may have spilled their Starbucks when reading about these overall Kansas results. In Atchison County, population 16,210, 50% of 4,939 votes cast were "no." But in 23 of those 40 counties, at least 30% of the votes were "no, do not remove the protections." In 10 of the 15 counties with the fewest votes, between 31 and 44 of the voters said "no." įor example, in Pratt County, population 9,647, 46% of the total of 2,811 votes were "no" votes. Īn examination of votes in all 105 Kansas counties showed that, in 31 of the 76 counties with less than 5,000 votes on the abortion question, 40% or more of the voters said "no, abortion protections should not be removed." In 74 of those 76 counties, the anti-choice voters won, but not by large margins in many places.įorty counties had less than 1,150 total votes cast on the question, and in all the anti-choice forces won. But rural and small-town Kansas helped in the pro-choice victory. In the 16 counties with at least 10,000 votes, the "no" side won in 14. In the largest cities in the state – Kansas City, Wichita, Topeka, and Lawrence – the pro-choice voters won by wide margins. Statewide, the "no" side – don't remove choice protections – won 59 to 41%, a resounding and perhaps surprising result for a deep red Republican state. Yet on August 2, 44% of those voting in the county answered "no" to a primary ballot question of whether the Kansas state constitution should be amended to remove protections of abortion rights. Hamilton County, Kansas, population 2,518, voted 81% for Donald Trump in both 20. RelatedĪnalysis: A Deeper Look at the Kansas Vote on Abortion ProtectionĪugAnalysis: A Deeper Look at the Kansas Vote on Abortion Protectionīy Joe Belden, The Daily Yonder August 23, 2022 In Atchison County, population 16,210, 50% of 4,939 votes cast were “no.” But in 23 of those 40 counties, at least 30% of the votes were “no, do not remove the protections.” In 10 of the 15 counties with the fewest votes, between 31 and 44 of the voters said “no.”įor example, in Pratt County, population 9,647, 46% of the total of 2,811 votes were “no” votes. An examination of votes in all 105 Kansas counties showed that, in 31 of the 76 counties with less than 5,000 votes on the abortion question, 40% or more of the voters said “no, abortion protections should not be removed.” In 74 of those 76 counties, the anti-choice voters won, but not by large margins in many places.įorty counties had less than 1,150 total votes cast on the question, and in all the anti-choice forces won.
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