Cindy Giago announces run for OST Vice President

When a vote in tribal council to rescind the COVID-19 curfew ordinance for the Oglala Sioux Tribe ended in a tie breaking vote from vice president Tom Poor Bear, Cindy Giago decided that she was going to run for the vice president of the tribe.

Giago is currently the chief of staff for the Oglala Sioux Tribe and she has worked extensively with the COVID-19 task force. When the curfew ordinance was rescinded she was frustrated. “People seem to think that our ordinances aren’t working,” she said. “They seem to think that if they were working then we would have 0 cases, but our cases are currently low and manageable right now because of the ordinances.”

Helping youth is also something Giago wants to focus on while in the vice president’s office. As the chief of staff, Giago is in charge of over 60 programs on the Pine Ridge Reservation and she knows that there are few resources for youth. “As far as our youth in their growing years, from adolescents to teenagers, there are not any programs at the tribal level that address behavioral health issues like suicide or mental health or going to school and participating in activities,” she said. “I feel that the vice president’s office has the ability and flexibility to push agendas for the people.”

Giago was also the first head of school for Anpo Wicahpi, an all-girls school on the Pine Ridge Reservation that roots its classes in Lakota language and culture. Anpo Wicahpi will have its first high school graduating class within the next two years.

Giago stresses that she, as the current chief of staff who oversees over 60 programs and around 700 employees, knows how to effectively work with tribal council members to accomplish tasks. She said that the other candidates for vice president have not worked with tribal council before except for Bryan Brewer, Giago’s uncle, who is the former tribal president.

When asked what she wanted voters to know about her, Giago said “I want people to know that I come from the same place they come from. I have lived in extreme poverty. I grew up in a house with no lights. I want to bring an aura of hope. Even if we have experienced these negative things in our lives and had trauma in our past, that trauma does not define our life today.”

Giago is 25 years sober and believes in the Lakota like wars and language.

The other candidates for vice president are Alicia Mousseau, Bryan Brewer, and Ricky Gray Grass.

 

(Contact Travis at travisldewes@gmail.com)

The post Cindy Giago announces run for OST Vice President first appeared on Native Sun News Today.

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