PINE RIDGE, S.D. (AP) - Warren Blue Bird walks down the row of signs hanging from a chain-link fence at the busy intersection of Highway 18 in Pine Ridge, forecasting each election.
“Peri Pourier, she wants to be in the district house in Pierre,” he yells out, over passing semi traffic. “Red Dawn Foster, I campaigned for her last year, but I don’t think she got in. Carlow is just right up the road. And there’s Julian Bear Runner. He’s my relative.”
The Bear Runner banner reads: “Common Man with a Plan.”
As with state and municipal races across the country, elections for tribal candidates on the Pine Ridge reservation are in full swing for the Nov. 6 election. The most visible sign is, well, the colorful, often handmade campaign signs dotting the ditches, hanging from post office walls or painted onto stacked hay bales across the reservation.
“We do what we can with what we have,” said Peri Pourier, a Navy veteran and Democrat running for the Legislature in District 27, which stretches from the reservation up to ranch country west of Philip and then nearly to the Missouri River. “Being Lakota, you make do.”
After Pourier announced her candidacy, her father found some recycled plywood, a pail of red paint and began making 12 signs that were labors of love, the Rapid City Journal reported.
“He’s a one-man wrecking ball,” said Chase Iron Eyes, campaign manager for Julian Bear Runner, who is running for president of the Oglala Sioux Tribe.
Near the post office in Porcupine, Pourier gets out of a truck. She’d driven up to Rapid City - roughly 90 minutes - for an interview with the public radio station.
“My father is on limited income. He can’t work. He actually has a bone disease and has a hard time getting around,” she said. “But he believes in this so much. There’s one on a back road near Slim Buttes, one near Chadron, and way out in Wanblee. He was feeling inspired.”
On the road to Wolf Creek School, a white sign in black paint reads, “Vote Tom Poor Bear Vice President.” Near some horses on the highway, “Vote Duane Syrup Big Crow Wakpamni Council.” North of Pine Ridge, there’s a hay bale with candidate Maggie Ross for District 27 House,” which includes a painted turtle.
Most are for Democrats, the dominant political party on South Dakota’s reservations. But at Big Batt’s, a gas stop in the heart of Pine Ridge, a banner is up for the two Republican candidates for the Legislature - Elizabeth May and Steve Livermont. They’re digitally printed.
Out toward Wounded Knee, Bear Runner, the 33-year-old presidential candidate who made a name during the protest at Standing Rock nearly two years ago, pulls over his truck - the back is filled with candy for kids and an empty backseat that he says is for hitchhikers - and he points to his big sign along the highway.
“We hit the clearance aisle at Menard’s to pick up the spray paint and the plywood, and I got those Christmas lights at Walmart (in Rapid City),” he said.
Rules for campaigns are different on Pine Ridge. There are no campaign finance laws, and candidates often rely on small donations. There are also no laws against placing signs in roadway right of ways. The only rule is signs can’t obstruct motorists’ views and can’t be near memorial sites.
“That’s why you won’t see any in Wounded Knee,” said Pourier. “Not near the memorial, at least.”
Down a cul-de-sac inside the village of Wounded Knee, Bear Runner’s sign-making operation is going strong with Savannah Begay and Smudge Bear, who both came to the Dakotas during the pipeline protests and have remained as residents, churning out red, white and blue signs reading, “VOTE Bear Runner O.S.T. President.”
“I’m an artist if that’s what’s needed,” said Begay, whose flower scarf gets pulled up over her face when she uses spray paint. Beneath her on the grass, near a pine shelter used by the family for butchering, Begay has set out 2-foot by 2-foot plywood slides.
“It’s going to be like the Hollywood sign,” she said. “We’ll just have to find a big hill for it.”
Begay said she heard Bear Runner speak and was drawn to the way he spoke practically about the tribe’s issues. A puppy, Stewie, tracks muddy paw prints over the plywood slabs painted white and then trots over to lap up water from a divot in the driveway, while Bear Runner smokes a cigarette and talks about the support he’s received.
“I heard from a grandfather in Wanblee. He said, ’Julian, when you get in there (to the president’s office) you need to help with housing. We’ve got nine families living here. Will you help us?’”
Bear Runner’s opponent - Richard Zephier - is in his 70s and has a deep background in tribal administration, serving previously as executive director for OST. Most of Zephier’s signs are printed and feature his smiling face. Bear Runner worries about having some of his signs torn down by opponents, so he’s waiting until the campaign’s last week to “bombard” the countryside with his name.
In recent weeks, national news has followed the decision by the U.S. Supreme Court to not take up a court case out of North Dakota requiring voters show an address when voting - an arguably prohibitive voting requirement for many residents of reservations who often use P.O. boxes and sometimes move from residence to residence. Voting on Pine Ridge, as well, is complicated by the fact that the tribal precincts don’t jive with state precincts.
“If you live on the west side of Wounded Knee, you may need to drive all the way up to Singing Horse Trading Post to vote for the state election,” which is roughly eight miles from the voting precinct in Wounded Knee for the tribal elections. For people with limited resources, Pourier said, these barriers just make voting that much more difficult.
Driving, however, is a staple of life on the reservation, which makes the election signs an effective way to campaign.
“We have to drive everywhere,” Pourier said. “If you want medicine, you need to drive to Pine Ridge. If you want to go to the grocery store, there are three on the reservation, which is roughly the size of Connecticut. You need to drive. We’re always in our cars. That’s why these signs go where people can see them.”
“It’s strategic,” said Bear Runner, “I put my signs up where they’ll get the most attention, usually on the roadways.”
At the house in Wounded Knee, where the sign-making operation will continue up to election day, Begay’s aunt has cooked soup and made fry bread. Friends come and go, saying hello to Bear Runner, who would be one of the youngest presidents of OST if elected. As Begay pulls back the painter’s tape covering the white plywood, the bright red “B’’ spray looks almost orange.
“That’s what you get for shopping the clearance aisle,” said Bear Runner to laughs. He tells the visitors to drive toward Porcupine, where one of his signs is draped in Christmas lights with a lantern pointed toward it, so it stays lit-up at night.
“I just want to give people something to be inspired in,” said Bear Runner. “On the reservation, you’ve got to see to believe, you know?”
He briefly lifts up one of the arsenal of posts that’ll hold the signs high in a grassy ditch and talks about the color scheme.
“I chose red, white and blue because they’re patriotic colors,” said Bear Runner, an Army veteran, who keeps an Oglala Sioux Tribe stocking cap pulled down just over his eyes. Asked whether he means “patriotism” of the United States or of Oglala Sioux Tribes, he doesn’t flinch for a second.
“Both.”
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Information from: Rapid City Journal, http://www.rapidcityjournal.com
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