News & Commentary

After school ended last semester, I wanted to find a summer job for the usual teenage reasons: spending money for clothes, a cell phone, going out with friends, and maybe even save up a little too. I applied for a crew member position at the Taco John's in my town – Yankton, South Dakota – in early June, interviewed the next day, and started working the night shift the day after that.

Congress passed the Indian Child Welfare Act (ICWA) in 1978 in an effort to stop American Indian families from having their children removed by state and local officials for invalid and sometimes even racist reasons. Yet 36 years later, Indian children in South Dakota are 11 times more likely to be removed from their families and placed in foster care than non-Indian children.

Next week, the South Dakota legislature is expected to pass HB 1162, a bill that stereotypes Asian immigrants and restricts access to abortion.

A letter to the South Dakota House of Representatives

This week, the ACLU won an important battle on the road toward protecting the rights of American Indian children and their parents and tribes. Chief Judge Jeffrey L. Viken of South Dakota's federal District Court ruled that a lawsuit filed by the ACLU in March of 2013 can go forward, rejecting motions filed by the defendants that sought to have the case dismissed.

Justified. That’s how the Pierre Police Department described an incident several days ago where an officer fired his Taser at an 8-year-old girl after receiving a report that she had stabbed herself in the leg and appeared suicidal.

Every election, South Dakota voters have 46 days when they can vote early, which makes it easier for people to take part in our democracy. But the rules appear to be different for American Indian voters living on reservations in the state—at least according to recent actions by the South Dakota's Secretary of State, who is stonewalling a request for early voting sites in three American Indian communities.

hree Indian parents and two tribes in South Dakota today stood up against these unlawful and disgraceful practices by filing a class-action lawsuit in Rapid City, South Dakota. The ACLU filed the complaint on their behalf in order to put an end to this unconstitutional process, which has unfortunately become standard practice in the state.