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Jan. 16 a group calling itself the Grass Roots Oglala Lakota Oyate entered the Red Cloud Building and declared a takeover of tribal council headquarters. They met no resistance as they seized financial records and installed their own tokalas, or scouts, for security. They sealed off part of the building containing critical files, locked down the computers and called in the FBI to remove all financial records. That they summoned federal law enforcement was in sharp contrast to the famous Wounded Knee uprising of 1973 in which three people were killed.

This takeover, planned for nine months, was a desperate measure by a group who claim their tribal council has embezzled millions of dollars, that mismanagement of funds has forced the Oglala Sioux into the depths of poverty, and that they had no recourse but to sieze the seat of power.

Pine Ridge lies in the poorest county in America, with 75 percent unemployment and an average family income of $3,700 per year. The life expectancy for men is 48 years, 25 years below the national average. The infant mortality rate is the highest in the country. Bad health, disease, drugs and alcohol have ravaged the Oglala Sioux. Their culture has been diluted by television and their language is gradually dying out.

"Millions are being embezzled and nothing's being done," says Floyd Hand, one of the leaders of the Grass Roots movement. The group points to personal loans to councilmen as high as $126,000 in one month (despite a $500 cap), countless job placements made to council members' families and a complete disregard for the tribal constitution. The group has demanded the resignation of treasurer Wesley "Chuck" Jacobs and immediate suspension of all council members, pending a referendum vote. They are also calling for a complete overhaul of the current form of government. Hand insists that the only way to expose the truth is through a full forensic audit, and the only way to accomplish that was through a takeover.

Regardless of whether the takeover was justified, it seems to have broken years of stalemate. The occupation has forced the Bureau of Indian Affairs to intervene in what Robert Ecoffey, BIA superintendent for Pine Ridge, claims is an "internal matter," and an independent audit of the general fund is under way. Jacobs has been suspended pending a hearing. Other council members have been sent into a frenzy defending their actions, and Harold Dean Salway, tribal president, has been forced to document the spending of $30,000 in federal aid given in the wake of last year's devastating tornado.

While people on the reservation may disagree on the Grass Roots movement's methods, they agree that the tribe's funds are chronically mismanaged, that nepotism rules job placement and that a handful of people are getting rich while the rest of the tribe struggles to survive.

Next page | Tribal autonomy equals no accountability