Santee Community News
May 17th
During the pandemic we talked a lot about tele-health and about getting WIFI and internet access to all tribal homes throughout our tribal lands. Internet access is starting to become a necessity and a basic right much like clean water, affordable, reliable, and durable housing. We have our own federally licensed Telecommunications internet/voice over company. In the past year we have taken steps to expand this company and install high speed internet to all tribal members. We hired an engineering firm, Olssons, to apply for a large Fiber Broadband Grant. A committee was created, and this firm worked with our people to get the grant completed and submitted. This grant would give our company the funding to install fiber cable to every home on the reservation. It would also give us the opportunity to install fiber into every tribal member home in surrounding communities such as Niobrara, Center, Bloomfield, Crofton, Verdigre, and Creighton. Fiber is much faster speed than wireless internet, and it’s estimated monthly price for a household is $75-$80. Of course, this is a competitive grant and we are going against 160 other applicants, but there is a large pool of money available. Many of these other applicants do not have an internet company like we do. Our grant made it to the next round, and we are starting to feel confident that we may be awarded. We won’t find out the result until later this summer or fall. This could be a game changer for our internet company as it would allow us to compete against other companies such as Great Plains Communications. We would also have the potential to lay fiber communities outside of Knox County. For now we just need to get high speed internet into our tribal members homes. There are tremendous advantages and benefits of having Fiber Broadband in your home. We will keep you updated on the progress of the Fiber Broadband grant in the coming weeks.
The SSN Dakota Language Program ran by Redwing Thomas has been going since January of this year. Redwing was approached by the tribal council and we asked if he could take on this crucial task of teaching tribal members to speak Dakota. As you all know, our language is in very real danger of becoming extinct. There is only one tribal member left in this community who was surrounded by people speaking Dakota, and grew up speaking Dakota. While this program is great to have, we need our people to join this effort and make our language survive. We come from a long history of survivors. Losing our traditional lands in Minnesota, being starved, fighting the United States Military, imprisonment, and removed from our ancestral land, and then being physically forced to abandon our language and customs. Our ancestors survived those atrocities, and through all of that our language is still here although barely hanging on. We should honor our ancestors, learn our language, and speak it daily to our friends and family to ensure that is survives for future generations.
I know that’s easier said than done. Myself, I often have guilt that I missed language class, or that I’m not making the effort to take language classes in this program or at NICC. I know that its uncomfortable for us to try something different. If we do not act as a community, as a tribe, and do our part we could lose our language forever. Then it’s possible we could only have ourselves to blame. I implore everyone to take advantage
of this program, or to sign up at NICC and take the Dakota language class. I also tell this to myself, I cannot say these things to whoever may read this, and then not try to make the effort to learn myself. Redwing once said in a class I was in. At least speak Dakota words and phrases that you know. If we are not using what we know at home, at work, or around friends and family then we are contributing to the collapse of the Dakota language. We need to get over being uncomfortable or afraid to speak. Now that is out of the way. I can tell you all the tribal council will keep this program going far beyond the initial six month period that Redwing was hired for. Dakota Language is a priority for us, and we want this program to be here for years to come. Thank you all and I continue to encourage everyone to participate in these classes. To conclude this; I wanted to explain a little more about what this newsletter is about. Myself and Kenny Derby Jr wanted to create a news or media site for not only the tribal membership, but for anyone wanting to know more about the tribe. We plan on having video, personal interviews, news about current events, issues, and our tribal history. We are excited about the beginning of this , which we call Dakota Nation Media, or newsletter. It will take us a little bit of time to work everything out. But at some point in the near future we will have more to offer in this platform. There will be a site for people to read, watch, or listen to some of the information that goes out. Again, thank you all and I hope these articles help you gain an understanding of some of the current issues the tribe is facing, and a direction the tribe is heading to.
Written by Kameron Runnels
May 14th 2024
On April 15-19 the four executive officers of the tribal council traveled to Washington DC to meet with US congressional and Senate delegates from Nebraska and South Dakota. The council officers mission was to convince our senators and congress to support our tribes pursuit of clean water and new housing. The first day we met with United States (NE) Congressman Adrian Smith office and staff. Congressman Smith has been a strong supporter of our tribe recently. He helped secure funding to construct the new youth gymnasium/rec center in our community which is very much needed. He also secured funds for planning and environmental studies for the pipeline water project from Randall Water District. In total Congressman Smith has secured nearly $3 million from federal spending bills in the past two fiscal years. Our message to him this for this coming fiscal year was to try and help us again with construction of a new housing development project. This project is in two phases. Phase 1 would construct 25 homes along a new street called Red Banner Rd. This road spans from the Wood Brothers housing area, and ending near the ATV and Snow Removal building by the community college. This road has been engineered already with home lots, sidewalks and gutters. We also had home plans drawn by an architect with 3,4, and 5 bedroom homes. These plans were given to Congressman Smiths office, and we explained to him the desperate need for new homes. Any given time
there is a long waiting period for families to get a home from the SSN housing authority. As many as 20-30 families could be on this waiting list, and many more families who have not completed a full application. We explained many of the homes were built in the 1970s and 1980s, and are very small. Some of the homes may house extended family
members, or there could be muli generation families living in one home. A home that couldonly be a 3 or 4 bedroom house. This can cause insecurity in households, or health issues. We refrenced the pandemic where covid was spread very easily especially in crowded homes. We asked Congressman Smith for his support once again by submitting another “earmark” request in this years federal spending bill to construct 25 new homes. The congressman stated they would do everything they can to help. Some of you may recall, last August Congressman Smith toured the Santee Sioux Nation facilities and community of Santee. We gifted him a star quilt at that time for helping secure the $3
million dollars for our tribe. Mr. Smith had stated at that time he would do everything he could to help citizens of Nebraska with basic needs, and that housing is a basic necessity. I repeated those words back to the congressman, and explained the dire need for housing is nearly in line with the need for clean drinking water.
Our next meeting was with the US Senator from Nebraska Pete Ricketts. The senator is the former governor of Nebraska, and had once came to the Ohiya Casino to meet with tribal officials after the 2019 flood. As governor in 2022, he helped stop state legislation that would have given Nebraska tribes $10 million for water quality and infrastructure. The funding in this bill would have been divided between three land based tribes in
Nebraska with Santee receiving $6 million. Myself, and former Council Secretary Stuart Red Wing had testified at the Appropriations committee hearing at the state capitol in support of the bill. The legislation had successfully made it out of that committee, and was approved by the state senate. Only governor Ricketts made the effort to kill the bill,
and it was told to us that the federal government should be helping us not the state. Given that history we had concluded the conversation with Senator Ricketts would have to be more delicate around the subject of helping our tribe with funding. Unfortunately, the senator could not make time to meet with us in person. We met with his staff, and explained the housing and water situation. We only asked for support from the senator by way of a letter when Congressman smith submits the earmark request for the housing project mentioned earlier. The topic stuck to mainly the housing project, and to get the senators staff to convey the message to the senator that his support is needed.
We feel one of the most important meetings of the trip came when we met with Senator Deb Fischer. She was the only congress or senate person to actually meet with us in person. We spoke for 30 minutes, and this conversation centered around water quality and the project we are trying to build here. The senator had a lot of questions and comments, and we asked if she could secure funds for our tribe in the next federal spending bill. We explained the total cost of this project, and how we would need a number of funding sources to help reach our goal. Support from Senator Fischer would be huge for us in reaching this goal. We can confidently say the senator will place a request into the federal spending bill this coming year for the tribes water project. Another issue I had brought up was the lindy road. In the past decade our tribe has applied multiple times through the Raise Grant, to pave the Lindy gravel road. This grant application has been denied every time. We explained to Senator Fischer this gravel road is the alternate route or exit out of Santee. In 2019, the highway 12 and 54D roads were flooded, and we had no choice but to take the gravel road. During the rain and snowmelt at the time of the 2019 flood, the Lindy Road became very hazardous to drive on. We will continue to rely on the gravel road whenever the 54D/hwy 12 is flooded or closes. Our request to the Senator was to look into why our grant is denied every year, and perhaps write a letter of support with our grant application when we submit it for this year.
Senator Fischer told us she would do what she can. We did give an invitation to senator Fischer to visit Santee anytime. The senator stated she appreciates the invitation and we can possibly work something out later this year. We feel this meeting was very productive, and in the days after we stayed in contact with her office on how they exactly will help with the water quality funding request. During the course of the next day all other meetings were with staff and personnel from South Dakota senators office, representatives from USDA Rural Development, and Department of Interior. We had asked the interior department to help who oversees the Bureau of Indian Affairs, for assistance with purchasing bottled water. Currently, the tribe pays $7,000 every 2-3 weeks for a shipment of bottled water. At this rate the tribe would pay hundreds of thousands of dollars a year on bottled water. At one time the BIA had awarded us with a grant to purchase bottled water. We asked the BIA for help in this matter once again. I had explained that this is not a new issue for the interior department or Secretary Deb Haaland. In December 2021 I hand delivered a letter to Secretary Haaland briefly explaining Santee’s water crisis and asked for their help then. This situation will not be resolved for at least another two years, what can these federal agencies do to help us until we have the funding needed to make the water line from Randall Water district. The federal government has a responsibility to live up to the treaties they signed with our ancestors years ago. We need to continue pressing federal agencies and our congressional/senate delegates to help fund and solve this years long crisis. The health and welfare of the people is the utmost priority. Clean water for us today and in the years to come, and more homes to avoid crowded and cramped housing conditions. In 2050, its estimated Santee may have a population over 1000 people. That’s 25 years from now. We need housing, and we need this water infrastructure done and finished. While those topics are very important, there are still many more issues health related and non health related that have to be addressed. We can look at economic development and what that will look like in the future. How are we going to keep our language from going extinct? What about mental health, substance abuse and addiction, food sovereignty, and I am certain there are many more issues that need to
be addressed. I will continue to say this just like I have told the tribal council and community many times. We need a written document with tribal member input, that details what are short term and long term plans and goals are with a path to accomplish those goals.
