Aftermath of the Northern Cheyenne Political Revolution

There were good intentions in the actions in the architects of the current political revolution at Northern Cheyenne: to re-instate traditional values and behavior into governance. Those architects included President Gene Small and the traditional Chiefs who hearkened the Northern Cheyenne people to remember the core values and act accordingly.

As a result of that, eight members of the Tribal Council, elected in 2024 under the provisions of an IRA Constitution, were physically removed from office, an unheard-of move. Then, a traditional government was convened. (For more information about that, refer to previous articles penned by this author, found in NSNT archives).

Their intent was benevolent, but they did not realize that revolutions can take on a life of their own. Perhaps they have not studied history to take a lesson from Louis 14, the King of France who wound up getting his Queens head cut off and lost his throne. Not to mention William, the hero of Ireland who tried get that country back, leading a heroic and gallant fight against the tyrant English, only to get beheaded.  The important thing about William was that his spirit lived on, inspiring future generations of Irish to accomplish that.

Thus, in spite of the good intentions of Small and the traditional faction, the financial results have not proven good for the Northern Cheyenne people. A primary reason for that is the BIA, the federal agency entrusted to look to trust responsibility – the overall welfare and best interests of the tribal peoples. In this case, that agency has chosen to take no action on the basis that these are internal tribal affairs.

What the BIA has done is to waffle: first, they recognized the initial impeachment of Small; second, they recanted to recognize the authority of the traditional chiefs; third, upon a tribal court decision which re-instated the original IRA elected Council, they are still waffling.  The BIA has re-acted in a boomerang fashion to this unheard-of tribal situation, consulting with Area and National offices: First, pleading ignorance; second, threw up their hands, basically saying, “We don’t know what to do!”; third, declined to sign off on any tribal resolutions, which ironically cannot go into effect without Federal determination and finally, have withheld funds. “Self-governance? Tribal member and activist Amada White Shirt, commented, “Yeah, as long as the BIA approves”. 

For the last year, the Tribal government has kept in business from General Funds (that is money earned from grazing fees, leases, etc.); and by appropriating funds from tribal entities which also make non-federal money such as the Tribal Rights Employment Office; the Tribal Casino; the Tribal Convenience Store, etc. As a result, those entities are also now in jeopardy.

Right now, the Tribal Court re-instated the old IRA council, a move resisted by Small and traditional forces and the first moves of that re-instated bunch were to impeach Small again and then provide themselves with a year of backpay. However Small and his forces are not recognizing that because it is technically not legal without federal approval.  The BIA is still standing firm in not approving resolutions and still withholding monies. As Small recently announced, the IHS is going to do the same which will drastically affect the tribal 638 programs such as the Board of Health; Recovery Program; the Community Health Representatives; security and housekeeping at the IHS clinic, to name a few.

Presently, everything is on hold pending a new election on November 4^th. That too, will face BIA approval. Thankfully both sides are in truce-mode, as to not encourage any more confrontations or violence which has occurred during this dilemma, due the dribbling audit results. One of those results which has been particularly disturbing to the tribal community is the example of Melissa Lonebear, tribal council member. She was married to a man who was half Cheyenne and half Cree, but enrolled up north. That Tribe paid for his funeral expenses. Yet, Lonebear gained a tribal check for $7,000 for the same thing, the evidence of that publicly posted on Facebook and fliers distributed. Would that be called fraud or outright stealing?

So, the question is? How does this affect the reservation bound tribal members? Here are a few examples. There are now no street lights in Lame Deer, because apparently the tribe can’t pay the electric bill; the Low-Income Energy Assistance Program is extremely limited on funds, at a time when most needed; the tribe is unable to assist with funeral funds, in the hole about $200,000 to Stevenson’s and Sons, the local mortuary; the Elderly Program, dependent to some extent upon General Funds is seriously struggling; college students dependent upon tribal scholarship funds are not getting checks; Headstart is financially impacted; there are zero charity monies, on and on. The tribe doesn’t even have the money to hire lawyers to defend itself in court.

As one tribal elder noted “Don’t mention my name, because I don’t want Trump after me, but if he ever stops campaigning he will come after people like us and we now have no defense.”

The conclusion of this article is that the Northern Cheyenne people are the ones calling for accountability.

(Clara Caufield can be reached at acheyennereview@gmail.com)

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