Its November!

Wisanpha waste!

We started the week with the RST Secretary's Office Trunk or Treat event. All Tribal programs were invited to participate and they had a great turn out. The trunks were decorated perfectly with themes and the kids loved it. Spider-man seemed to be a very popular costume this year among the children. There was also a lot of dinosaurs, a few Mirabelles (from Encanto) and even some Teletubbies. Thankfully the sun was out so the littles ones didn't have to Trick or Treat in the freezing cold, although I believe most kids don't mind; they just love the fun of it all!

Reminder: November is National Native American Heritage Month and with it comes significant dates for Indigenous peoples. Tomorrow, November 4th, was declared National Bison day in 2012 in order to pay respect to the animal that was essential to Native survival and spirituality. Next Saturday is Veteran's Day, a day to pay our respect to all Veterans for serving and protecting.

November 15th is Rock Your Mocs Day. It was created in 2011 as a week long event to celebrate Native American Heritage. People proudly Rock their Mocs and share pictures/videos/stories of their moccasins or regalia with the hashtag #rockyourmoccs.

One of the more recent awareness dates is Red Shawl Day, which is on November 19th. During the week of the 19th people are encouraged to wear Red Shawls to bring awareness and attention to Murdered and Missing Indigenous People and any and all acts of violence against Natives. The National Institute of Justice released a study in 2016 finding that more than 4 in 5 American Indian and Alaska Natives experience violence in their lifetime. Advocacy, awareness and attention is so important to these issues Indigenous People are facing.

This week RST President Scott Herman and South Dakota Governor Kristi Noem signed a gaming compact between the state and the tribe. According to Dakota News Now, this compact was negogiated for nearly three years. The compact allows the Tribe to access more gaming machines and is a 10-year agreement. President Herman commented, "its a long time coming" as the Tribe's last compact was signed back in 2009. President Herman hopes to revitalize the Tribal casino and to create new jobs.

We'll be back again in a few days so until then, stay CHO Rosebud!