Yankton Sioux stand up to South Dakota troopers

A peaceful demonstration against a hog farm being built on Yankton Sioux tribal land in southeastern South Dakota was recently countered by over 70 armed law enforcement officials in riot gear.

Snipers positioned on top of a trailer near the Yankton Sioux demonstration.

In what some are justly describing as an occupation of the Native lands, the troopers—many of whom come from Iowa—lined their patrol cars near the Sioux camp on tribal property. Two snipers were set up on a trailer.

On April 16, the Yankton Sioux Tribe asked the South Dakota Peace and Justice Center to call for witnesses at the confined animal feedlot operation (CAFO) construction site near Wagner, S.D. At that time, 22 people had already been arrested by the sheriff’s department.
 
According to witnesses at the site, there were over 50 state troopers backed by another 22 in reserve, all dressed in riot gear to intimidate the protesters. The road blocked by protesters is under the jurisdiction of the Bureau of Indian Affairs, not South Dakota state police.

Despite the troopers’ terror tactics, the demonstrators remained peaceful and undeterred. Many residents have vowed to keep up the vigils seven days a week. As of May 6, 38 people had been arrested and subsequently released, including minors and tribal elders.

The construction began with no formal notice to the tribe and no environmental impact statement, despite the fact that Yankton Sioux Tribe children attend Head Start less than three miles from the site.

The farm being built by Long View Farms from Hull, Iowa, will house over 7,600 hogs. Industrial livestock is a major source of greenhouse gasses and water pollution. The site is only four miles from the Missouri River, a source of water for many communities. 

The treatment of Native Americans in the United States has many similarities to the colonial apartheid imposed upon the Palestinians by Israel. Treaties between the Native Americans and the U.S. government have been broken over and over by the latter.

The racist state police are on tribal land to “serve and protect” the hog farm company. Sheriff Westendorf’s son is the electrical contractor for the farm construction project. South Dakota law enforcement—like any arm of the capitalist state—exists to defend private property, not the community.

A Yankton Sioux Tribe Hog Farm legal defense account has been set up at Commercial State Bank at 204 S. Main Ave., Wagner, South Dakota 57380.