​‘Does he not consider us real Americans?’

BISMARCK – The day a U.S. Congressional House election subcommittee traveled to Standing Rock to hear Native leaders speak about being disenfranchised from voting in North Dakota, a state senator posted to social media saying they should abstain if they don’t like it.

“If they are denouncing our voting then they should obtain [abstain] from voting,” state Senator Oley Larsen, a Republican from Minot wrote on a story published online by KX News. “We do have rules.”

Larsen, who was the former vice chairman of the Tribal and State Relations Committee, which was dissolved and transformed into the Tribal State Tax Committee, said he believes in personal responsibility and less government assistance. His post prompted online criticism, with Nicole MontclairDonaghy asking why he insists on promoting the stereotypes of “us” vs. “them.”

“Cracks me up how you like to use ‘they’ and ‘our’ as if we’re not North Dakotans,” MontclairDonaghy said. She is an enrolled tribal member at Standing Rock and worked on the Native vote campaign during last year’s elections.

“You should really learn how things work between tribes and states over believing common disparaging stereotypes,” MontclairDonaghy said. “Does he not consider us real Americans? He needs a lesson in history and to take a course in basic tribal law.”

Barry Nelson of the North Dakota Human Rights Coalition condemned Larsen's online statement.

"Larson's statement is the worst example of white privilege, made worse by the fact that he is a so-called leader," Nelson said. 

“I honestly don’t believe there’s anyone in this state, Native or white, a citizen who can vote, who is not restricted by any means, they just need a little responsibility,” Larsen said. “So right now, after this big issue that blew up, that it was supposed to be so devastating, everyone should have one now.”

“There was a comment made at the hearing… that these laws are so oppressive, but you still had excellent turn out right?” MontclairDonaghy said. “I think that's a dangerous way of thinking about the cause and effect of this type of legislation. Do we not be proactive and work to educate and prepare our communities, or must we prove our own point and do nothing and not vote? We're so often the victims of our own cause in these types of cases.”

During last year’s elections MontclairDonaghy said the most significant problem was Natives trying to uphold the voter identification law, which stipulated that all IDs must contain a real address, and not a P.O. Box address.

“The state’s response to remedy that issue by sending citizens to the 911 coordinator,” MontclairDonaghy said. “It didn’t work. A colleague of mine and I tried to go through the process, the 911 coordinator was not in his office.”

Other issues that hindered voting last year included: 911 verified address system not working on reservations, Standing Rock ran out of ballots and Sioux County officials refused to send ballots over, and Dunn County residents were told to vote by mail, but tribal citizens use P.O. Boxes which led to two precincts in Fort Berthold closing down, MontclairDonaghy said.

MontclairDonaghy added that Larsen must not be familiar with rural communities where USPS doesn’t deliver mail directly to residences.

“That’s inappropriate for him to make a statement like that because it shows that he thinks all tribes are exactly the same,” she said. “Such a biased statement. We’re used to this type of treatment on reservations. We’re always forced to operate in crisis mode.”

Larsen, currently self-employed, was a former diesel technology instructor, according to his Facebook page. He lists himself as a member of the Kluane First Nation. He added a photograph as proof of his Native ancestry in October 2018 to his Facebook page.

‘So I don’t know why what I said caused such a stir,” Larsen said.

“We have laws right, we have voter ID, right? So what is so hard about it? They don’t have much leg to stand on. I let things go every once in a while with my affairs and I have no one else to blame but myself. And the ID doesn’t cost a dime, and I’ve had years to do it. There just trying to get news I suppose.”

“We can’t rely on government, we can’t rely on big groups of people to take care of us. We have to take care of ourselves.”

Waylon Don Pretends Eagle became the treasurer for the North Dakota Democratic-NPL over the weekend, succeeding longtime treasurer Colleen Popelka. He lives in Mandan, is a registered member of the Knife Clan of the Mandan, Hidatsa, Arikara Nation, and is the owner of Xhoshga Consulting, LLC.

“It’s a completely insensitive and ignorant view from folks who make decisions about our way of life as North Dakotans,” Pretends Eagle said. “His divisive comment speaks volumes about the real feelings some folks still harbor toward the original and first inhabitants of this beautiful land we call the United States of America.”

Representative Ruth Buffalo, a Democrat from South Fargo, and a registered member of the Mandan, Hidatsa, Arikara Nation, attended part of the hearing on Monday.

“They wanted to hear from people about barriers, and the discrimination against Natives at the polls,” Buffalo said.

Natives are disenfranchised at the polls in North Dakota, Buffalo said.

“There is a long history of silos basically, people not treating Natives as human beings,” Buffalo said. “I remember my first trip to the Heritage Center, we go into the Heritage Center and there are kids above us going ‘wa wa wa,’ making that noise. It’s been ingrained in the climate here. It’s something we’ve always had to deal with, and many of us had to deal with it in pre-Kindergarten age, and it does exist here and we have to deal with it.

“People who come from a place of privilege don’t understand. If they’ve never grown up there they have no grounds to speak to Native issues or about Native issues.”

Buffalo said statement’s like Larsen’s are dangerous.

The voter ID dispute attracted national attention last year spurring two federal lawsuits by tribes alleging current rules in North Dakota are discriminatory and work to suppress the Native vote. Although Natives had to work harder to procure a proper ID, travel longer distances to polls, and fight against what they called a rigged system last year, Native voters showed up in record numbers, according to Standing Rock leadership.