{"id":34203,"date":"2022-08-31T20:44:58","date_gmt":"2022-09-01T01:44:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/unitedresourceconnection.org\/cannon-ball-nd-58528\/jamie-smith-speaks-at-the-black-hills-forum-and-press-club\/"},"modified":"2022-08-31T20:45:12","modified_gmt":"2022-09-01T01:45:12","slug":"jamie-smith-speaks-at-the-black-hills-forum-and-press-club","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/unitedresourceconnection.org\/cannon-ball-nd-58528\/jamie-smith-speaks-at-the-black-hills-forum-and-press-club\/","title":{"rendered":"Jamie Smith Speaks at the Black Hills Forum and Press Club"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Gubernatorial candidate Jamie Smith at the Black Hills Forum and Press Club on Aug. 26 at the Hilton Inn. (Photo by Estella Claymore)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

RAPID CITY\u2013\u201cIf you have ever been made to feel not welcome in the state of South Dakota, you are welcome in the state of South Dakota,\u201d said Jaime Smith, Democratic nominee running for Governor of South Dakota. Smith was invited to speak at the Black Hills Forum and Press Club on August 26, 2022, to an audience of press, writers and concerned citizens.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have a current administration that seems to segregate, separate, try to divide people and not bring them together. I\u2019m not that guy. If you want somebody that brings people together, Jaime Smith\u2019s your guy,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Smith went on to talk about what he cares about most and what he\u2019s going to be doing about it when he\u2019s elected governor.<\/p>\n

\u201cFirst of all, we have a crisis in childcare in the state of South Dakota. It\u2019s a crisis. We need to figure it out and I don\u2019t have the answers,\u201d but if elected Governor, Smith said he would find the answers. \u201cI darn well say were going to put all the smart people in a room together that work with childcare and were going to figure that out.\u201d<\/p>\n

Smith noted how the Pre-Kindergarten program in Yankton found a way to make it work. \u201cThey have figured out how to get pre-k for every kid in the city of Yankton. They figured it out you guys. We can do that for the whole state of South Dakota, cause there\u2019s not one child in this state that shouldn\u2019t have the same opportunity as another child to be ready to go to kindergarten. Kids should be ready to go to kindergarten. If their families want to have them in preschool, they should be able to go.\u201d<\/p>\n

A former teacher and married to a current middle school teacher, Smith feels strongly about investing in our state\u2019s future and about the current changes in public education.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s been an assault on public education in the state of South Dakota. It\u2019s not even a veiled assault on public education, it\u2019s an assault,\u201d he said and that we need to respect teachers and let teachers teach. \u201cIt\u2019s a profession we need to respect.\u201d<\/p>\n

Smith stressed that South Dakotans do not need to go out of state to find a curriculum for their Social Studies standards. \u201cWe don\u2019t need to do that. We have qualified people in this state that actually did their job a year ago and it got thrown out and then they said there\u2019s nothing partisan about this hogwash. That\u2019s all it is. We\u2019re not going to do that. We\u2019re going to let teachers teach and we\u2019re going to trust the profession.\u201d<\/p>\n

Smith went on to say what he believes leadership looks like for South Dakota.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s a general overarching theme in my leadership style; It\u2019s to trust the professionals that are professionals in whatever area they are in. If you\u2019re a lawyer, you should help make decisions about what lawyers do, like maybe having to pass a Bar. Ok? They decided that maybe we didn\u2019t need to do that in the legislature this year, but we\u2019ve stopped it. If you\u2019re a doctor, you should be able to practice medicine in the state of South Dakota and if you\u2019re a woman, you should be able to get the healthcare you need and deserve. It\u2019s not the governors\u2019 job to be in that medical doctors\u2019 office deciding what kind of medical care you need. That\u2019s a patient and a doctors\u2019 right and privilege and I will stand up for that 100 percent.\u201d<\/p>\n

Smith ended his speech with these final comments on Native American\u2019s in South Dakota.<\/p>\n

\u201cI want to touch on one thing that really bothers me. When I heard of the passing of Tim Giago \u2013 I mean this man did great things for our state of South Dakota. What I want to say on this is the first people to ever be in our state of South Dakota should never be treated like the people that are last. They should never be treated like the people that are last. We\u2019re in a current situation where our governor can\u2019t even go on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation still because she\u2019s banned.\u201d<\/p>\n

Smith said when speaking to the President of the Oglala Lakota Nation Kevin Killer he asked, \u201cWhat can I do when elected governor to help you?\u201d Killer replied, \u201cDon\u2019t get banned.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cReally, it\u2019s that simple folks,\u201d he said and that he\u2019ll have an open-door policy with the tribes. Smith asked if there are issues are problems between the state and tribes, \u201cYou bet there are.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cHow do you solve problems? Talking about them, sitting down and having difficult conversations; but the door has to be open. That\u2019s on all issues,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Smith said that he wasn\u2019t talking as a Democrat or as a Republican or Independent, \u201cI\u2019m talking to you as Jaime Smith a South Dakotan. I\u2019m talking to you as a guy that cares deeply about the people of the state who want it to be better. I want to talk about civility in politics. We can agree to disagree on a lot of different things, but as long as we\u2019re willing to have the conversation, we\u2019re going to be able to move the ball forward.\u201d<\/p>\n

Smith answered a number of questions from the Press Forum after his speech and is looking forward to his debate with current Governor Kristi Noem that is currently scheduled for September 30, 2022, in Rapid City.<\/p>\n

Kirk Dickerson General Manager of Native Sun News Today asked \u201cIf you were elected governor, do you have the power to overturn the critical race theory that Noem has put out? Reason being mostly for people of color it takes away the history of how our state was formed.<\/p>\n

Smith gave an answer that seemed to please Dickerson as he nodded his head in agreement.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe governor has an executive proclamation because the legislature would not pass it actually. We worked hard to kill that and we did. We have an executive proclamation that says teachers can teach; again, respect the profession. One of the things that we discussed when that bill was brought to the floor is that they didn\u2019t want our kids to feel uncomfortable. So, we didn\u2019t want to teach anything that made our kids feel uncomfortable. I have taught quite a bit and I have worked quite a bit. When you are teaching about the Holocaust, people should feel uncomfortable. When you are teaching about slavery people should feel uncomfortable. When you talk about Wounded Knee, people probably should feel uncomfortable. Through that discomfort, you know what happens? People learn. People move, people change, because the discomfort says \u2018well, that wasn\u2019t right. We should have done something different,\u2019 and we learn from that. What happens when we don\u2019t know our history? We\u2019re doomed to repeat it. Right?\u201d<\/p>\n

For more information about Jaime Smith, please visit www.smithforgov.org<\/a>.<\/p>\n

(Contact Estella Claymore at estella.claymore@gmail.com<\/a>)<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

The post Jamie Smith Speaks at the Black Hills Forum and Press Club<\/a> first appeared on Native Sun News Today<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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Gubernatorial candidate Jamie Smith at the Black Hills Forum and Press Club on Aug. 26 at the Hilton Inn. (Photo by Estella Claymore) RAPID CITY\u2013\u201cIf you have ever been made to feel not welcome in the state of South Dakota, you are welcome in the state of South Dakota,\u201d said <\/p>\n

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