Tribal citizens stuck with an act, an IRA constitution they didn’t support

Gather around the fire.

The Indian Reorganization Act, or IRA of 1934, and its resulting Constitution of the Three Affiliated Tribes was, according to my tribal elders, imposed upon our people rather than accepted by them. They said the crooked federal Indian Agents had a departmental mandate that the IRA be passed and enacted at any cost.

I was told that a large majority of our Mandan, Hidatsa and Arikara Nation relatives voted “no” to the new form of government, and then there were those who chose not to vote, or simply abstained. After all, we were doing fine and dandy living along the Missouri River, living modern but in the old way, with culture and tradition remaining intact. It was only a minority who voted “yes” for the new IRA constitution.

Our tribes were somewhat sheltered during the Great Depression that was plaguing the rest of the United States. The old-timers used to say that, despite the yes votes received, the Indian Agents still didn’t have enough “yes men” to pass the document. In retaliation, the skunks counted the abstentions as votes in favor instead. I can still recall my relatives calling the IRA “communism.” Especially the ones who fought in World War II, Korea and Vietnam. I call it a social experiment led by the Eastern Ivy League.

Meanwhile, the Indian agents accomplished the task they set out to do, albeit under a cloud of suspicion, deceit, electioneering, and other questionable tactics. They threatened landowners to withhold income generated on my elders’ own, but restricted, Indian land if they didn’t vote in favor. My elders needed that income to feed their young families—especially those who were lucky enough to have children in their household.

Many, including my grandparents, had kids who were stolen by the federal government and shipped off to Carlisle Indian School or some other hell hole.

I have often wondered what elders on other reservations thought of the IRA. Close to 200 other tribes also adopted the IRA form of governance. Did it fit their needs? How is it working for the ones still alive today?

One answer came to me from men who had already journeyed to the Spirit World. It was a joint statement made by Oglala Lakota Chief Frank Fools Crow and Frank Kills Enemy on behalf of the Traditional Lakota Treaty Council. Out of respect, I call these men grandfathers, although not related by blood. They gave a speech to the Congressional Sub-Committee on Interior and Insular Affairs on September 10, 1976. It is the speech where Chief Fools Crow made the famous proclamation, “The Black Hills are not for sale.”

Grandpa Fools Crow made the following statements, some 42 years after Congress enacted the law, in his speech regarding tribal councils operating under IRA. I was told he spoke only Lakota, as Grandpa Kill Enemy interpreted:

• On all our reservations today, tribal councils are operating under the 1934 Indian Reorganization Act.
• These councils, were placed on the reservations by the U.S. government to replace our traditional councils.
• These governments are often the most corrupt around and bring out the worst in the white-man system of governments.
• Councilmen in these puppet governments often represent the view of the white man because the white man indoctrinates them to act like this.
• These people are on the council because very few of our traditional people vote in these white-man elections.
• I am told that only 30 percent of our people vote.
• These councilmen do not represent the majority of the people on the reservation.

According to the current Constitution and Bylaws of the Three Affiliated Tribes, Article III, Section 2, the current Tribal Business Council structure consists of seven members. Only the Chairman of the Business Council is elected at-large by a majority of all votes cast for the office. The other six council members are elected from districts known as segments.

According to the latest report posted on the MHA Nation, or Three Affiliated Tribes, website, dated Friday, February 7, 2025, by the Office of Enrollment, there are approximately 17,554 enrolled members of the Three Affiliated Tribes. Of that statistic, it can be calculated that 12,397 of those members are of voting age. The census data shows that the total voting age population who are residents of the reservation is 3,689 members, or only 30% of the total eligible voters. In contrast, statistics show that the majority, or 8,708, or 70%, of the voting-age tribal members live off the reservation.

During the 2022 election for chairman, a contest between Tex Hall and Mark Fox was held, resulting in a total of 2,603 votes cast for the position. A measly 21% of the total eligible voters participated.

Mark Fox won the final, tribe-controlled voting machine tally by securing 1,521 votes to Hall’s 1,082. No matter who won, it is safe to assume that the chairman of the Mandan, Hidatsa and Arikara Nation does not represent the majority of tribal citizens, not even close. The total votes cast for Tribal Council seats are even more dismal.

Take, for example, the latest primary election for the Mandaree district. It only took 63 votes to advance to the general election. That is not a knock on the candidates, but an illustration that on Fort Berthold, we aren’t even meeting the 30% threshold touted by Chief Fools Crow. But it does raise another question about the Tribal Business Council. Who do they really represent?

It’s evident. Tribal citizens, at Fort Berthold, and likely elsewhere, need full and immediate reform of the Indian Reorganization Act if Native people are ever to have a truly representative form of government.

Matse’ Ishiadz

Mi Agawa Dux Baga Etse’

Gowitz