It’s always good having dinner with friends. Canupa Gluha Mani, founder and leader of the Strong Heart Warrior Society, and me, Samuel Vargo, the writer of this piece, have become pretty good friends over the past few years and I’ve written several articles on him and the Strong Heart warriors, a very active group that helps not only those who live on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation, but many other nations, tribes, and bands of American Indians, too.
I got a call from Canupa Tuesday, March 21, and he said he was 80 miles from my city and that he was headed to Washington D.C. with two other members of the Strong Heart Warrior Society and that he wanted to have dinner with me and tell me about the trip. Now with Canupa, an invitation to dinner isn’t really an invitation, but more of a direct order, so of course I agreed to meet with him and Jabril Salam and Cleo Ross, two African-Americans from Detroit who each are also mixed-blood Native Americans.
“Samuel, I’d like you to meet Jabril and Cleo,” Mani said as we all walked across the parking lot together. “They’re two of my hardest working Strong Heart warriors. Man, these guys are workhorses. I don’t know what I’d do without them.”
After a hearty dinner at a local Denny’s, it was time for the main course — an interview. “We’re going to Washington, D.C., and we’ll be having meetings with the U.S. Senator from South Dakota, Michael Rounds, along with South Dakota’s other U.S. Senator, John Thune, along with U.S. Rep. Kristi Noem,” he said.
“It’s some heavy stuff we’re laying on these political leaders,” Gluha Mani continued. “We’re telling them about the tribal police abusing their authority. They have been pulling their weapons on animals and human beings — especially tribal members who live on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation.”
Gluha Mani complained that very recently, a tribal police officer even pulled a gun on his dog. “All my dog was doing was barking. All dogs bark,” Canupa said. This dog, by the way, is big but a friendly beast. The last time Canupa visited me, the monster had free rein of my abode. Although the big, black leviathan of a canine is ominous and his sheer size cuts a daunting and somewhat frightening presence, it has all the playfulness of an Irish terrier. It’s no more of a threat to any human than a gold fish or a canary. The big mongrel’s running mate is a pit-bull that Canupa rescued many years ago along a stretch of interstate highway. The poor pup was emaciated, bleeding and badly wounded, and left to fend for itself in the most harsh and dangerous of conditions - obviously orphaned by a cruel owner. Gluha Mani nursed the little dog back to life and today, it’s large and robust, having a very sweet temperament, too.
“This abuse by our tribal police has really been escalating since 2013,” Gluha Mani continued. “And although this abuse is a lot more heavy and reckless now, it’s always been a problem — the police have never been fair and just to our tribal members on Pine Ridge.”
The worst case in the recent past involved Donna Scout, a married Native woman who was found by a search party of the Strong Heart Warrior Society on a stretch of lonely country road on the Pine Ridge Reservation.
Canupa Gluha Mani, spearheading the search party, said they found Ms. Scout’s body on the week of Feb. 7. Covered in about a foot of snow, Cunapa told me that she was frozen and dead for days. Scout was reported missing by her husband the next to the last day of January.
According to Gluha Mani, the family of Donna Scout and her husband contacted the Strong Heart Warrior Society through another Strong Heart Warrior Society member, who Canupa called “a sister”. Donna Scout’s husband, Francis Red Wolf, contacted this longstanding, 22-year-member of Strong Heart, a woman by the name of Mary Horse Felicia.
“Francis notified the tribal police the day Donna went missing,” Mani told me. “The police said it all was the result of a ‘lover’s quarrel’. The tribal cops told Francis Red Wolf to just let things cool off.”
Canupa got a very angry look on his face, took a swig of his soda, and muttered, “Well yes, now Donna’s cooled off alright.”
According to Gluha Mani, Donna Scout was drinking alcohol and was inebriated the night of Jan. 31, when law enforcement made a call at her residence. Her condition was a sad one — she was drunk enough to merit a public intoxication charge and the fact that she hit her husband with a heater was more than enough to warrant a domestic disturbance charge, too. The police did nothing to detain her during this time when she was a threat to herself and others, Mani said.
“So they told the family just to let things cool off. . .There is a ‘Catch 22’ to this story,” Canupa said. “Considering the fact that alcohol is banned from the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation and Donna was very drunk on Jan. 31, the police are responsible here. At the very least, we want her death thoroughly investigated. The police said she died because of exposure to the weather.”
But due to the fact Donna Scout was found a rather far distance away from her residence, along with the fact that there has even been some talk that she visited a bootlegger after leaving her home, Gluha Mani said the Strong Heart Warrior Society sees these nebulous and alarming facts as red flags — a full criminal investigation is required, he insisted.
According to an article published in the online edition of the Argus Leader, “The body of a missing Lakota woman was found on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation Tuesday.”
“Donna Scout was found near her mother's grave around noon Tuesday at Lakota Mennonite Church in Porcupine, according to the Strong Heart Warrior Society,” the article continues.
“Scout, 49, was last seen in Porcupine County in the last week of January.
“Scout had left her home several days ago to visit family, said acting chief of Oglala Sioux Police Harry Martinez. She wasn't reported missing initially because she was supposed to be on her way to her family's. After her family learned she hadn't made her destination, the search began, he said.
“Initial investigation shows she died from cold exposure. No foul play is suspected.
“The Bureau of Indian Affairs is investigating,” the article concludes.
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However, another report published online on Feb. 8 of Donna Scout’s death in the Rapid City Journal leaves some question marks and even red flags. Here is the short article in its entirety:
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Woman's body found in Pine Ridge, apparent victim of exposure to cold
By Mike Anderson Journal staff
PORCUPINE | A missing woman’s body was found Tuesday morning in Porcupine, according to acting Oglala Sioux Tribal Police Chief Harry Martinez.
A statement issued by the Strong Heart Warrior Society, an activist group on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation, identified the deceased woman as Donna Scout, 49.
Scout’s body was discovered around 9:20 a.m. lying beneath a few inches of snow near her mother’s grave in the cemetery of Lakota Mennonite Church, according to Canupa Gluha Mani with the Strong Heart Warrior Society, one of the organizers of the search party that found her.
“It looks like she succumbed to the elements and exposure,” Martinez said. “No foul play is suspected at this time, and her body has been released to the funeral home.”
The Bureau of Indian Affairs and the Federal Bureau of Investigations are assisting tribal authorities in the investigation, Martinez added.
Francis Red Wolf, who identified himself as Scout’s husband, said in a phone interview Tuesday morning that he had reported his wife missing on the evening of Jan. 30.
“She left that night. She got angry and left,” Red Wolf said. “She was intoxicated. I called the cops on her around 7 in the evening, but there was no response from the police.”
Gluha Mani said the search began at Red Wolf’s request at 8:45 a.m. Tuesday, with community and family members going on foot and by snowmobile, looking in abandoned buildings, along the roadsides and wooded creek bottoms in an area near Scout’s home.
Both Jabril Salam and Cleo Ross agreed that although the death of Ms. Scout was horrible, it’s all part of much bigger problems the Lakota on Pine Ridge are forced to live with - horrid poverty, high unemployment, alcoholism and drug abuse, an epidemic and extremely high percentage of youth attempting suicide, inadequate housing, job opportunities and educational enlightenment, along with a general feeling of hopelessness that seems to pervade everything.
“This is really fucked up," Ross said in a mournful tone. "The elders aren't eating. The kids are hungry and dirty. Food and housing and the prejudice regular tribal members face at the hands of authority, especially the tribal police - are sickening. Even though these are tribal police, they always seem to be against Indians. But really, they're against everyone."
“The struggle will continue on Pine Ridge - really, it's never stopped," he said.
“We're doing something good," Jabril Salam interjected. "We're on our way to Washington, D.C. to talk to some of the state's leading political representatives about these problems. We're particularly concerned with the struggles that Pine Ridge Indians face who are elders, children, youth, and disadvantaged people."
“We have every intention of trying to get law enforcement on Pine Ridge to act more responsibly and investigate things of real importance, like Donna Scout's death. Criminality, drugs, alcohol, poverty, are the big issues that are bringing about this societal disease. And the teen suicide rate is at an alarming percentage. Domestic violence is bad, too," Salam added.
“I visited Pine Ridge five times last year, delivering clothing, food, and other types of aid to people who really need help. It's good to offer some relief to tribal people. Large donations were given by The Muslim Center of Detroit, along with other organizations in the city that are poor. The poor take care of other poor people in this country," he said.
Both Salam and Ross live in Detroit but are very active members of the Strong Heart Warrior Society. Salam is the administrator of the Nutraceutical Research Institute, a manufacturer of natural supplements that aid in health. His company donates a large number of supplements to the people of the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation, as well.
The trip to the nation’s capital taken by Mani, Salam, and Ross turned out to be a good one, with some good things accomplished. According to the Strong Heart Warrior Society’s official website, The Cante Tenza Okolakiciye, on Wednesday, March 22, members of the U.S. Congress who represent South Dakota at the federal level agreed to a meeting with grassroots Lakota people on Pine Ridge Reservation in the next 90 days to investigate long standing complaints of mass corruption and abuses within the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) funded Oglala Sioux Tribe Government (OST).
Wednesday’s meeting, initiated by the Strong Heart Warrior Society on behalf of the Independent Lakota Nation and grassroots Lakota elders, highlighted the latest evidence of corruption, money laundering, and abuse against the Lakota people within OST law enforcement and court system as well as the lack of explanation how $64 million in RAMAH Settlement money has been spent by the tribal government, The Cante Tenza Okolakiciye continues.
“The Independent Lakota Nation sent Strong Heart to deal with issues pertaining to Pine Ridge on the grounds of law enforcement and the Judiciary abusing their authority and the OST Tribal Council unable to account for previous money that was spent during the RAMAH distribution,” explained headman Canupa Gluha Mani on his organization’s official website.
Senators Mike Rounds and John Thune, as well as U.S. Representative Kristi Noem attended Wednesday’s meeting. Senators Thune and Rounds accepted the official complaint from Strong Heart headman Canupa Gluha Mani, Cante Tenza Okolakiciye explains.
For years, promises have been made by United States Congress members and agency officials to investigate the mass corruption and abuses within the Oglala Sioux Tribe Government. A year ago, Strong Heart spent nearly 60 days in Washington DC seeking accountability from Congressional members and agency directors for OST abuse against grassroots Lakota elders within their elderly meals and other social service programs, the Strong Heart Warrior Society’s official website adds.
“There is theft, misappropriation, and abuse against the Lakota people by the OST tribal government at every level and in every agency,” Gluha Mani said in the article that was posted on the website March 22.
“Strong Heart wishes to thank Jacqueline Juffer in Mike Rounds office for a tremendous job as well as warrior members Jabril Salam and Cleo Ross who attended and initiated meetings on behalf of people in Flint, Mich., struggling for clean water. Thanks also to Big Dog for his courage,” Gluha Mani said.
“This was a great accomplishment today by the Independent Lakota Nation and the Strong Heart Warrior Society,” Mani said in the article.
The OST was created and illegally imposed on the Lakota Nation in 1934 and is funded by the U.S. Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) through various appropriations and 638 Contract agreements. Additional money flows through the tribes through court settlements like RAMAH. But often there is little accountability for how these funds are used resulting in a continuation of corruption and abuse that furthers the poverty conditions on Pine Ridge and other reservations, the Cante Tenza Okolakiciye article concludes.