"A report by the Morton County Sheriff's Office states that your agency, I presume through Colonel Henderson, authorized them to exercise jurisdiction on this land and arrest unarmed peaceful demonstrators for criminal trespass. If this is true, I require an explanation from the Corps why it has deputized North Dakota law enforcement agencies to spray unarmed people with mace, shoot them with rubber bullets, and terrorize them with guns and helicopters on federal property. Additionally, what other U.S. Army Corps of Engineers or Department of Defense officers approved the Corps deputizing state law enforcement officers to enforce federal law? The Morton County Sherriff's Department, who has been proven to repeatedly engage in unreasonable use of force and has only escalated tension in the area, are now federal actors."
Sovereign Nation to Sovereign Nation
GN: Are you getting the respect and attention you are due as leader of a sovereign nation when you communicate with these agencies?
CF: No. I think with some agencies we do, I get respect from the DOJ, The Department of the Interior, but with the Corps, no. State governments, definitely not. Local, no. Even the county commissioners, to me, I think they think they have as much power as a tribal chairman.
GN: Can you define a sovereign nation for people who read this interview?
CF: To me a sovereign nation has the ability to develop their own laws and enforce their own laws within their country. I think that's number one. I think we should be allowed to live our way of life based on our own laws. The only thing that really harms us is not having our own currency and not having our own economy as far as import and exports. That limits us in that we have to rely on the federal government. To them, we are getting handouts. To us, what we receive are the treaty entitlements they owe us for the lands they have taken from us.
Thoughts on Trump
GN: Have you any thoughts about President-elect Trump?
CF: We really do not know what kind of a President he will be. It is all speculation. I think dealing with Indians; he thinks he knows better than us. He will tell us how we need to live. I think historically, he has been against Indian people based on casinos. He did not want an Indian casino because it would impact his casino. So I think we are pretty leery about him. But you know on our reservation we do not have a casino (Standing Rock does operate the Prairie Knights Casino). We are the only tribe in South Dakota that does not have a casino. Our people didn't want a gaming pact because under the Indian Gaming Act you have to have an agreement with the State. Our people feel that by us having a compact we are giving up our sovereignty.
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