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Is It Time For Hate Crime Legislation?

Activists and a handful of counter protesters gather in the rain to discuss hate crime legislation and support for victims

By C.S. Hagen
FARGO – Afternoon rain didn’t stop nearly 200 people from supporting an anti-hate rally Wednesday outside current City Hall. The event also attracted counter protesters, although they predominantly remained quiet.

Hukun Abdullahi and David Myers at the rally – photo by C.S. Hagen

Christians, Jews, Muslims, and activists spoke at the North Dakota United Against Hate rally in an attempt to garner support for hate crime victims and to begin the campaign of making hate-crime laws, which North Dakota does not currently have.

Groups such as the Democratic Socialists of America and Trans Lives Matter also showed up in support of the cause.

David Myers, a Jew, and founder of the Center for Interfaith Projects, a nonprofit organization, said much if not all hostility toward refugees is actually hostility targeting Muslims.

“I feel religiously called to welcome refugees and immigrants, including Muslims, indeed all the New Americans,” Myers said. “I am aware of the long history of prejudice against Jews. Jews have been and still are in many places of the world the ‘hated other.’ This enables me to put myself in the place of New Americans, who are Muslims.”

“The question is: how can we reduce hate directed at Muslims?”

Religious prejudice can be overcome through knowledge and personal relationships, Myers said.

“We cannot forget that a number of decades ago, the most hated religious groups in this country were Jews and Catholics,” Myers said. “This has dramatically changed.”

The two groups that people in the United States feel most positive about today are Jews and Catholics, he said.

“Do not hate the stranger in your heart, it will poison you, and make your life miserable,” Myers said.

The rally was interrupted halfway through one of the speeches, when Kevin Benko, of Fargo, shouted from a nearby parking lot.

“Hate speech is just a difference of opinion, you assholes,” Benko said.

Police officers approached him, while Pete Tefft, identified as a Nazi by Fargoan Luke Safely in February, came over to offer support.

“Muslims who are not assimilated are a problem,” Benko said. “They are under Sharia law, and if that conflicts with the Constitution, the Constitution gets thrown out.”

When asked if he disagreed with the state accepting more refugees, Benko said as long as they assimilated, he didn’t have a problem.

Kevin Benko talking to police – photo by C.S. Hagen

Tefft, who wore a red “Make America Great Again” Trump hat, said he had friends with him, but they were there primarily to watch his back. He didn’t admit to being a Nazi, or a Nazi sympathizer, but worries that by 2050 white people in America will be the minority.

“My contention is that most of what constitutes hate speech affects pro-white speech,” Tefft said. “Anti hate speech is synonymous with anti-white and anti-America.”

Since being identified as a Nazi, he has received death threats, and has been followed out of bars for his white supremacy beliefs.

Pete Tefft – photo by C.S. Hagen

“I’m a pro-white activist,” Tefft said. “Nazi is a racial pejorative, kinda like our N-word. If you want to be real, myself, a pro-white activist, maybe some National Socialists and other pro-white organizations, typically have been the only ones willing to stand forward to protect the freedoms of everyone on the right.”

So far, his beliefs and followers have had little more than an online presence. Two days before the rally, an advertisement appeared on Facebook entitled “Anti-white Speech Discussion,” organized by Hal Resnick, which was scheduled for the same time.

Resnick is listed as the new unit leader for the Nazi party, or Nationalist Socialist Movement of North Dakota, according to the Nationalist Socialist Magazine, or NSM88. The numerals stand for the letter H, short for “Heil Hitler.”

Tefft was hoping for more people to attend the rally, he said. The North Dakota United Against Hate Facebook page had more than 700 people interested in going, and nearly 350 going to the event. Due to the rain, approximately 200 people showed, Fargo Police Cultural Liaison Officer Vince Kempf said.

Tefft plans to hold his own rally soon, he said. “I want to bring awareness to a lot of these issues and the only way to do it is out in the public square.”

One of his upcoming rally’s intentions is to show that mass immigration into North Dakota is an anti-white policy, he said.

“We’re expected to foot the bill and not ask any questions,” Tefft said.

Fargo City Commissioner Dave Piepkorn’s controversial proposal last fall into investigating the costs behind refugees in Fargo is not enough, Tefft said. He called Piepkorn an “economic fetishist,” concerned primarily with financial statistics and not with white civil rights and anti-white policies.

James Bergman and Pete Tefft at the North Dakota United Against Hate rally – photo by C.S. Hagen

The investigation has sparked numerous protests, including an attempt to force Pipekorn to step down.

An organizer of Wednesday’s event, Michelle Ridz, of the High Plains Fair Housing Center, told those gathered to join the fight against hate crime on Facebook, where future incidents can be reported, and a task force would soon be formed to deal with such acts.

More than 30 percent of hate crimes occur near the home, Ridz said.

“What is more unsettling is being targeted in your own home?” Ridz said.

Most hate crimes are not reported, but victims can find recourse through the Federal Fair Housing Act, she said.

Reverend Michelle Webber, pastor of the First Congregational UCC Church in Moorhead, said once she saw the rains coming, she thought about staying home.

Musa B Bajaber speaking at the North Dakota United Against Hate rally – photo by C.S. Hagen

“It sure would be nice to stay in my living room, but then I thought, people who experience hate speech and hate violence don’t get to choose when it’s convenient for them,” Webber said.

“Speaking against hate, wet from the rain, is a privilege.”

Fargo City Commissioner John Strand said growing up in the North Dakota countryside offered him a perspective Fargoan can practice to begin understanding each other.

“My suggestion to all of us in our community is that we wave at each other, we greet each other, we genuinely ask how are you doing today when we see other people,” Strand said. “We mean it, we just don’t do it for the sake of, but you act, and engage and you learn from each other.”

Many of the speakers referred to the Walmart parking lot incident where a white woman, Amber Hensley, yelled at three Muslim women, “we are going to kill you all.”

“A simple story of anger and hate that turned into forgiveness,” Musa B Bajaber said of the incident. “I am sure that Amber did get emails and messages from idiots who said they got her back, and I am sure that Sarah and Layela were asked to push further and never to budge. But all three disappointed those who wanted to see an escalation, and we should salute them for that.

“People of Fargo and Moorhead through the experience we have been through and the happy ending to it, we put a dent on the hateful rhetoric that is sweeping the United States,” Bajaber said.

“Hate crime is not just emotional and instilling fear in the community,” Barry Nelson of the North Dakota Human Rights Coalition said. “It also has dramatic economic impacts on the people who have been affected.” Two people in recent years who were the victims of hate crimes can no longer work, Nelson said, and need help.

Fargo City Commissioner John Strand speaking – photo by C.S. Hagen

Fargo Mayor Tim Mahoney, whose message was read by Strand, said the city and the state have no choice but to grow.

“The Fargo I know is a city that celebrates and promotes diversity, all while preserving and respecting our citizens’ safety and dignity,” Mahoney said. “We must commit ourselves to resist hate and violence in all forms. We need to agree that fellow citizens sometimes may need a hand up, and not a hand down. We also need to realize that someday, due to circumstances beyond our control, we could become refugees. It could happen to any one of us, and how would we want to be treated.”

“We need to support victims of hate crimes and send a strong message that this behavior has zero tolerance here.”

“Those of us who have been here so long we never talked about it [hate crimes],” Fowzia Adde, executive director of the Immigrant Development Center, said. “It’s better for us to talk about it now, or our community will not grow. We want to hold hands. We want our children to have a future, here.”

Hate Crime Law Discussion Sparks Fierce Debate

August 2, 2017 / CSHagen / 0 Comments

Call for disguised Nazis to counter anti-hate rally, verbal punches thrown in mainstream editorials

By C.S. Hagen
FARGO – Moments before Makruun Hagar lost his nose, he tried to settle a domestic fight between a married couple, which began in the back of his taxi cab.

But when he intervened, he said he was called racial slurs, and then Dominque Martinez attacked — punching his head then biting off his nose, permanently disfiguring him.

A struggle with police later ensued, but not before Martinez’s wife was struck and bit as well, the West Fargo Police Department’s incident report stated.

Police reports indicate Hagar might have saved the woman’s life.

“She was pretty sure that if she had not had help that Dominque would have more than likely have killed her that night,” West Fargo Police Detective Greg Warren stated in the police report.

Makruun Hagar – photo by C.S. Hagen

The incident was labelled as an assault case, and Martinez was later found not criminally responsible in August 2015 by a Cass County judge, because he suffered from PTSD after duty with Marines in Afghanistan. He was remanded to the custody of the Veterans Affairs Medical Center for five years, according to court documents.

Nearly three years later, Hagar’s nose has healed, but a dark brown patch stands as a stark testimony to the assault. He keeps the bloodstained t-shirt he wore that day in November 2014 close, as a constant reminder of hate, and as a warning to his five young children.

“He brought a lot of problems for me and my family,” Hagar said. “Nobody can help, doctors can’t do anything anymore.”

In the winter months, he has difficulty breathing. He’s still on medication, but the long term effects aren’t just physical.

“Everyday, when I pick up people, sometimes people ask me about my religion, and then they ask if I’m a terrorist,” Hagar, who escaped the wars and famine in Somalia in 2005, said. “If someone bit my nose, and if I was white, the community would help.”

Days after a local white woman, Amber Elizabeth Hensley, threatened to kill all Muslims in a Walmart parking lot while being filmed, the incident was swept under the rug after apologies were made. But rising local civil rights leader, Hukun Abdullahi, founder of the Afro American Development Association, spoke before the Fargo City Commissioners meeting this week saying that city leaders were partly responsible for the recent uptick in hate-related crimes: five incidents so far in 2017.

(left to right) Rowda Soyan, Sarah and Laleyla Hassan prepare to speak about their encounter with racism at the local Walmart – photo by C.S. Hagen

“Time has come to address the elephant in the room,” Abdullahi said. “As much as me and my organization have tried to bolster confidence among refugees and immigrants and have focused on integration efforts and unity over the months, we have started realizing it has just been a one-way process. The state and the city asking for how much it cost to have refugees in the communities, while is a sensible question from the financial standpoint, it has negatively impacted our image in the community, and might also have increased the number of hostile incidents geared towards refugees.”

Hagar, like many new Americans who have settled in the Fargo area in recent years, is black skinned, and speaks with an accent. He is different from the predominantly white community North Dakota has fostered since its inception in 1889.

Some in Fargo, don’t like the change, and think inquiries into costs behind refugees, initiated by Fargo City Commissioner Dave Piepkorn, are warranted. A battle of words ensued.

“Abdullahi has branded perfectly legitimate inquiry into public policy as tantamount to inciting racially-motivated incidents,” Rob Port, The Forum editorialist of Say Anything Blog said. “That’s not something a person interested in comity and sound public policy does.”

When confronted about the editorial as race baiting by Kade Ferris, social media director for Unity-USA, Port denied the claim on Facebook.

“No. Just not willing to let a rank opportunist sideline an important debate,” Port said.

“So you do this by being a rank opportunist yourself?” Ferris said.

“No more anti-white speech,” Fargoan Pete Tefft, wrote on his Facebook page. Tefft was identified by Fargo resident Luke Safely as a Nazi sympathizer in February after an incident with a lone pickup truck waving a Confederate flag cruised Broadway.

“We should fight rhetoric with rhetoric,” Tefft said in a Facebook post. “The ‘refugee’ resettlement program is anti-white policy. Multiculturalism to this degree will never work unless draconian laws are passed. Policies that hinder birth rate[s] of one group (the major ethnic group), and strengthen another is the definitely [definition] of genocide.”

On the Daily Stormer website, Tefft, who also goes by the name Chad Radkersburg, said Hensley did nothing wrong, and that he is planning on speaking out.

“Rally to support her is planned. Working on meeting organizer. She is no Chad, so she cucked and apologized.”

Mike McFeely, a radio personality and editorialist for The Forum, took the first shot on July 27 saying North Dakota Nice is more like North Dakota Nasty.

“The Band-Aid started to be peeled back a few years ago when some in the media began to target refugees and immigrants as a problem and, with Facebook and talk radio at our disposal, we began to hear some of the ugliness that previously hadn’t crawled out from under the rocks,” McFeely wrote. “More recently, a city commissioner and a county commissioner began to question the cost of refugees to the almighty taxpayer—hey, they were just innocently asking questions and most certainly not playing to a base of racists and xenophobes—and the warts were exposed some more.”

Nazis called to Fargo
For a few minutes early Monday morning, an advertisement appeared on Facebook entitled “Anti-white Speech Discussion,” organized by Hal Resnick, scheduled for August 2, at 5:29 p.m., at the Fargo Civic Center, which coincides with the North Dakota United Against Hate rally.

The advertisement was quickly taken down, but during the few minutes it was online, it attracted at least 12 people who identified with “white identity,” and “civil rights.”

A description for the event sponsored by the Flyovers, FEHU, and the National Socialist Movement of North Dakota, condemned anti-white speech, calling civil rights workers today as guilty participants in white genocide.

The Flyovers short-lived logo while advertising to counter rally August 2 rally against hate crime

“All attendees are encouraged to come incognito,” the description reported. “In the last few months it has become increasingly clear that any and all pro-diversity, pro-refugee, pro-hate speech laws is [are] implicitly anti white. Pro-diversity speech to many people means less white people.”

Pro-hate speech was linked to thought policing, for which there are laws called conspiracy laws, the description continued. “Passing policies that lower birth rates and negatively affect the majority ethnic group for the interests of another group is classified as genocide. Pro-white speech is not hate speech. Censoring pro-white speech is a civil and human rights violation.”

The organizations involved pinpointed the need to show support for recent victims, to ensure no one is singled out because of race, religion, but also called attention to the need to bring awareness for “white rights.” Organizers also called on state and federal agencies to investigate recent incidents of anti-white policies and crimes of conspiracy and for those found offending to be brought up on crimes against humanity and conspiracy to commit ethnic genocide.

“Attempts to silence us will be seen as admittance of guilt to our charges,” the description reported. “We call upon Fargo leaders to vow to uphold free speech laws to further discuss these issues and to denounce ‘hate speech law advocates’ as anti-American.”

In February, posters were stapled to telephone poles around the downtown area promoting white power, and were reportedly sponsored by “The Flyovers,” which depicted the communist hammer and sickle, the Jewish star, a syringe, and a marijuana leaf as rain falling on a family under an umbrella emblazoned with a symbol reminiscent of a swastika. Other posters were reportedly supported by VDare, Counter-Currents, American Renaissance, The Right Stuff, Redice.TV, and The Occidental Observer, all of whom are listed as nationalistic and racial purist hate organizations.

The Flyovers is a reference to the areas usually looked over by national politics, or the flyover states, and their support for Trump and predominantly white heritage, according to Unity-USA, a nonprofit hate watch organization.

City challenged on hate
“This has been a very trying week for the Fargo-Moorhead community, following the incident of Islamophobia which took place at the Fargo Walmart,” Ferris said. “The fact that there could be an amicable resolution to this sad event gives us hope. However, we cannot overlook the fact that this event is just a real-world manifestation of racist and prejudicial feelings that are bubbling beneath the surface here in this community.”

Ferris defended Abdullahi’s speech before the Fargo City Commissioners, saying current laws or lack thereof, the mainstream media, and certain city leaders have guided the tension to a boiling point.

“When local politicians publicly vilify entire groups, such as the growing immigrant population, to score cheap points in their upcoming election, or when local media personalities post leading and biased news stories to drum up ratings, it can only end in a case such as this,” Ferris said. “Just look at any story about immigrants on some of our local news outlets. Go to the comment section to get a sense of the real feelings of some of the people out there. The words of Amber Hensley are pretty much par for the course for many who haunt these stories for a chance to spew their own nativist and prejudiced bile.”

“In the past year, North Dakota has become the laughing stock of the global community, Andrea Denault, legislative coordinator with North Dakota Human Rights Coalition, said. “Our cartoonish militarized response to unarmed water protectors at Standing Rock, recent FBI statistics revealing we are second in the nation for hate crimes, and now viral videos recording xenophobic hate speech from a Fargo parking lot, there is no hiding. We have earned a reputation for ourselves.”

Fargo City Commissioner John Strand asked Abdullahi to speak before the city commissioners’ meeting, saying that it’s no secret that the diversity issue has been an important one for the city for the past year. Days before the Walmart incident occurred, the Human Relations Commission was discussing how the city would move forward when confronted with hate crimes and hate speech, Strand said.

“Who would have thought the next day that the community would be challenged with something of that nature that really put Fargo on the map in a way that is not very much what we would like to see,” Strand said.

“We’ve had an interesting week,” Mayor Tim Mahoney said. “We really need to look at hate crime legislation in our state.”

Barry Nelson, of the Human Relations Commission and of the North Dakota Human Rights Coalition, asked the question is there more hate crime in Fargo now, or are people reporting more? North Dakota ranks second in the nation for hate crime incidents, he said.

“Are we a community in a position to respond appropriately?” Nelson said before the city commissioners meeting. “Is the crime being charged out appropriately? Is our judicial system in a position to make sure that justice is being served? I do have some serious questions about all of these aspects. Is any level of hate crime and hate speech acceptable in our community?”

To combat hate crime, laws must be in place, Nelson said. North Dakota does not recognize hate crimes, citing that state legislation already protects victims of assault.

Nelson cited an example of hate crime, an assault on a refugee while moving into an apartment, in which one of the perpetrators was released from jail and fined $250.

Education and hate crime laws are the answers to combat hate crime, Nelson said.

Chair of the Human Relations Commission, Rachel Hoffman, and Nelson said the rally on Wednesday was meant to raise awareness about hate crime, help raise financial support for victims, such as Hagar, and to once again put hate crime legislation on the state’s agenda.

“The Walmart incident is an example of what is wrong with our community,” Abdullahi said. “Ethnic communities like ours are losing our battles to integrate communities and no help appears on the horizon. Fear, anger, superiority, religion, differences, hostile media- all these negatives have consumed people, and sadly, it is a shame that the city has basically stayed quiet.”

“If we are to move forward as a community we need to make sure to stand up whenever we hear or see discrimination of any sort,” Ferris said. “For a long time, North Dakota nice has been putting on a smile for the public and pretend to be welcoming, while holding tight-lipped deep feelings of passive-aggressiveness and prejudice for fear of insulting our neighbors and publicly humiliating ourselves. However, since the last election cycle, such niceness has gone out the window. We need to reclaim nice. We need to make it mean something. It cannot just be words. It must be action, and it is the responsibility of everyone.”

Denault said that the year-long investigation into the costs of refugees is inappropriate.

“I don’t often like to talk about ‘just the numbers’ though because these are people who are more than just a unit of labor,” Denault said. “They are human beings fighting for their lives.”

“We live in an agricultural state,” Denault said. “Think of how many farmers are receiving farm subsidies. You don’t see anyone accosting them at Walmart and threatening to kill them. It would be preposterous. The same goes for these random acts of racism towards Natives and New Americans. The xenophobia, Islamophobia, homophobia, it all comes from fundamentally misguided notions about other groups of people, particularly the misinformation about how much these groups ‘cost’ us.”

“When you get to know a lot of the members of the New American community you’ll realize that they are not just refugees. Many of them are second and third generation North Dakotans, people whose parents, after obtaining legal U.S. citizenship, still decided to stay in North Dakota because they love it here. They’ve opened businesses, bought homes, they are paying taxes. They are literally contributing to the economy in the exact same way everyone else is. None of them deserve this type of treatment.”

The North Dakota United Against Hate rally is scheduled for Wednesday, August 2, at 5:30 p.m. by the Fargo Civic Center.

Showdown At City Commission Hall

May 9, 2017 / CSHagen / 0 Comments

Recall organizers face city commissioner after report on refugees, LSS reveals financials

By C.S. Hagen
FARGO – As the two-hour-long Fargo City Commissioners meeting prepared to adjourn Monday, Erin Buzick, an organizer of the recall petition for City Commissioner Dave Piepkorn, was given permission to speak.

“Basically, I said that I understand that my inclusion in this community comes with a price tag to the city,” Buzick said. “However, I have never been reduced to a dollar sign. My intrinsic value has never been debated in the commission hall nor in the local media.” She addressed Piepkorn on ongoing issues pertaining to refugee resettlement.

“Commissioner Piepkorn, I know you’re fond of saying you’re not very smart,” Buzick said. “I respectfully disagree with you. I find it very difficult to believe that when you started this line of questioning that you didn’t understand the impact of your words.”

City Commissioner Dave Piepkorn – photo provided by City of Fargo

“If you want to look back and see the numbers we were told the original cost was $28,000 to the city, and now it’s turned out to be $220,000 a year,” Piepkorn said. “Those are specific for refugees. LSS [Lutheran Social Services of North Dakota] told us they were getting $800 per refugee, and it turns out last year they received $4 million dollars. So those are lies, aren’t they? Or are they truths?”

Abdiwali Sharif, a former refugee, also spoke before the City Commission.

“As a former refugee myself, and I hope I can relate to many other refugees who have made Fargo their home since World War II, I would like to know why the city is targeting refugees?” Sharif said.

“While I understand Commissioner Piepkorn’s agenda to prevent more refugees being resettled in Fargo citing cost issues, everyone should know by now that he is not doing it for the right reasons. He is doing this to marginalize refugees, and I am shocked that the city and the mayor has not done anything to prevent such behavior that enables discrimination of thousands of its residents.”

“I think I said a couple times that the costs are important, but that I hope the city is not going down the road of trying to quantify people,” Buzick said. “I hope that Fargo can recognize that people are people, and should be treated as such.”

Her statement was met with silence. Piepkorn had already moved to adjourn, but the motion was not seconded, which led into a few minutes of back and forth between Buzick and Piepkorn.

Mayor Tim Mahoney ended the debate, and the recall petition has slightly more than a month to finish, according to State Attorney General Wayne Stenehjem.

On May 5, Stenehjem replied in a letter to Fargo City Attorney Eric Johnson that all recall elections are valid if filed one year before end of term. Apparently, there was confusion about timing specifications within the North Dakota Century Code pertaining to the preceding year or one actual year – 365 days – for a recall to take place.

Piepkorn’s term ends on June 12, 2018, so as long as the recall filing officer certifies the petition is valid prior to June 12, 2017, the recall election may occur, Stenehjem said. If the petition is not properly filed by June 12, then a recall election cannot occur, according to the North Dakota Century Code.

Minutes before the verbal tit-for-tat, the Fargo Cass Public Health turned in a report to Fargo City Commissioners stating that government agencies do not compile statistics based on refugees.

The report, the third of its kind, reaffirmed that government agencies do not track refugees, according to Fargo Cass Public Health Director Ruth Roman.

“But we don’t compile those kinds of statistics,” Roman said shortly before the meeting adjourned. Roman received a request for dollars spent on refugees, she told city commissioners, and approximately 35 to 40 percent of costs from nursing are reimbursed through the federal grants and through insurance.

Under a budget of $549,156 in 2016, Fargo Cass Public Health spent $51,647 on interpreters, $56,749 in 2015, and $47,188 in 2014, according to a report provided by the department.

Fargo Cass Public Health also completed a manual count by referral for the past year, which included 34 new families introduced by Lutheran Social Services from April 1, 2016 until March 31, 2017. The estimated costs for providing services for the 34 families is $5,950, Roman reported.

The only refugee status Fargo Cass Public Health tracks is nursing, Roman reported, which oversaw 86 individuals in 2016 with a cost of $60,100, another 97 individuals in 2015 at a cost of $52,925, and 160 individuals in 2014 at a cost of $84,060, Roman reported.

The first report filed by the Fargo Human Relations Commission in April stated that statistics were difficult to obtain, but that refugees were good for the city having a cost-positive impact of $3,250 per individual. A second report filed on May 4 by the City of Fargo’s Finance Committee stated that the city has spent up to $750,000 on refugees since 2014, including the hiring of a cultural liaison officer, an interpreter, social service grants, and on the Human Relations Commission.

“I would encourage people to look at last October when I brought this point up initially, we were told some numbers that were not even close, they were way low,” Piepkorn said during the meeting. “They were obviously incorrect. The other question I have is ‘Why don’t people want us to know these numbers?’ To me, this is public tax money. When people say ’It’s not our business,’ it is our business. It’s public tax money that we’re spending.”

City Commissioner John Strand – provided by City of Fargo

City Commissioner John Strand said that the report reflected the “tip of the iceberg” to better understanding the issues. “All of these services would be provided by the city anyway. So it’s hard to tell how many of our existing services like nursing care are for refugees, and then we don’t track refugees, which makes it even more complicated.”

A legislative study committee will begin looking at Fargo and West Fargo city and school numbers that pertaining to refugee resettlement costs in January 2018, Piepkorn said.

“The bigger thing that should be happening is that we should be reimbursed by the federal government,” Piepkorn said. “We don’t have anything to do with it. We don’t even know how many refugees are coming this year, and yet we’re having to pay. Eventually what’s going to happen is that we’re going to request the federal government to reimburse us and that’s how it should be.”

Tensions surrounding refugee resettlement in Fargo and have created strife, ripped allies apart, since Pipekorn’s outburst during a City Commissioner’s meeting last October. Last year, Piepkorn’s scrutiny into unearthing the financial “burden” of specific minority groups brought into the area by Lutheran Social Services sparked the anti-immigrant interest of Breitbart News, the “alt-right” online news forum formerly led by Steve Bannon, a coincidence Piepkorn denied he had anything to do with.

Lutheran Social Services is the organization contracted by the state to manage the arrival of refugees and immigrants to North Dakota. The organization provides resettlement services in Fargo, West Fargo, Grand Forks, Bismarck, and in Moorhead, Minnesota, according to Lutheran Social Services’ 2014 990 tax filing.

The organization’s New Americans Services program provided services to 436 new refugee arrivals, 149 secondary migrants, 10 people seeks asylum, two parolees, and 14 unaccompanied refugee minors in 2014, according to tax filings. Of that number, 321 found employment in 2015 through Lutheran Social Services assistance. In 2014, immigration specialists assisted 1,267 individuals with green cards, and provided 19,570 days of care to refugee children who had no parents.

A total of $3,895,096 went to refugee programs out of $11 million listed as federal government grants for the period up to June 30, 2016, with the City of Fargo directly contributing $500 for the Building Bridges conference, according to Shirley Dykshoorn, vice president of Senior and Humanitarian Services for Lutheran Social Services. One percent of the dollars expended by city health staff went toward refugees, she reported. “We provide dollars for those services under a contract with the Health Department,” she said.

Lutheran Social Services not only resettles refugees to a state that until recently has remained homogeneously white since its inception in 1889, but helps New Americans find jobs, with emergency cash services, startup food, and other core services. In 2017 alone, the organization has also provided $282,395 worth of awards to units of local government including the Fargo Adult Learning Center, Fargo Board of Education, the Somali Community Development of North Dakota, the New American Consortium, and the Family Healthcare Center.

“There have been a lot of people feeling they are targeted, by the request of having a whole group of legal immigrants studied,” Dykshoorn said. “You could argue that there are other people in the community that have costs associated with them.”

For instance, college students, Dykshoorn said. Have college students affected increased police numbers?

“They are legal residents of the community, it’s sort of a carry over from elections and immigration issues that have been put forth,” Dykshoorn said. “That’s the other part of the discussion; it’s difficult to segregate data. As a person who has a legal right in this country you are allowed to move where you choose.

“You can’t look at it with a narrow lens.”

Her organization has repeatedly requested sit-downs with Piepkorn. So far, he has refused. All information Piepkorn is requesting is through the City of Fargo, which is then sent back to the city and then to Piepkorn, Dykshoorn said.

Not only has Piepkorn not visited Lutheran Social Services, he is not believing the facts that are being given him, Dykshoorn said.

Piepkorn has stated that Lutheran Social Services CEO Jessica Thomasson makes $350,000 per year, which is incorrect, Dykshoorn stated. Thomasson’s annual salary is approximately $143,000. Additionally, statements have been made that the organization spent $15 million on a new Fargo office building in 2015, on land purchased in 2008, but the facility actually ran a cost of $5 million paid for with donations, cheaper than renting. Lutheran Social Services conducted a nearly six-year capital campaign before the building was built, Dykshoorn stated.

“He’s requesting through his city channels, and thinks there are a lot of other costs to city government. In some respects he’s requested the information from the right source, but he doesn’t believe what has been provided to him.”

Lutheran Social Services is monitored several times every year by the federal government and by contracted voluntary agencies, Dykshoorn said.

“If they thought we were doing something inappropriate they would be right on us,” Dykshoorn said. “We are regularly under the microscope for the services that are provided. We will try to provide the education and clarity to him [Piepkorn] that he is requesting.”

Comparing Piepkorn’s inquest into refugee resettlement as fear mongering, the recall petition of Piepkorn began in March, and division was recently incited between recall organizers and the Fargo/Moorhead Refugee Advisory Council, or FMRAC. Council members stated that recall organizers had been harassed and threatened while on their routes; recall organizers said they had not heard of any reports of threats. Fargo Police said no incidents of threats or harassment have been reported.

“We have a simple message,” FMRAC responded to an email and directed to Piepkorn. “Please do not spread false rumors. Refugees have already suffered enough, and they don’t deserve to be targeted the way they are right now.”

On April 30, FMRAC directors invited Piepkorn to an honorary membership on the council. So far, Piepkorn has not accepted. The invitation came days after hate fliers were pinned to telephone poles in downtown Fargo. The fliers were reportedly sponsored by “alt-right” and hate groups such as VDare, Occidental Observer, American Renaissance, Counter-Currents, Redice-TV, and the Flyovers.

Pinning advertisements on public or private property without consent is illegal, according to the North Dakota Century Code. Fargo Police Public Information Officer Joseph Anderson reported no one involved with disseminating the hate fliers had been arrested yet.

The recall committee has until this Friday to finish the petition, as the city needs up to 30 days to have the petition certified.

“Project Wake Up Call:” Fargo’s Fight Against Racism Begins

February 3, 2017 / CSHagen / 0 Comments

Fargo residents rally against House Bill 1427

By C.S. Hagen
FARGO – Fargoans, in the hundreds, from every race, religion, and creed, met Thursday afternoon to resist a North Dakota bill that plans to stop refugee resettlement in the state.

Those claiming Viking ancestry, Somalis, Muslims, Catholics and Protestants met at the Civic Center before marching down Broadway in defiance of House Bill 1427. At least 300 people attended the rally, first listening to speakers challenging Fargoans to “wake up.”

Activists placed pins onto countires where their ancestors came from – photo by C.S. Hagen

Fowzia Adde, executive director of the Immigrant Development Center, said when she first started public speaking, she was shy.

Fowzia Adde speaking at the rally – photo by C.S. Hagen

“I’m not shy anymore,” Adde said to hundreds gathered inside the Civic Center. “I’m proud to be a Muslim. I’m proud to be a refugee. It’s time we change the political landscape in Fargo. When people are divided the wolf will come by one at a time.

“This is my town. I belong here. Let’s come together. This is Project Wake Up Call.”

If House Bill 1427 is passed, local governments could impose temporary moratoriums on refugee resettlement and Governor Doug Burgum would have the authority to impose moratorium across the state through executive order. It is a bill that gives communities the ability to evaluate and determine how many refugees it can take in, and stipulates strict requirements for refugee resettlement organizations.

House Bill 1427 is fuel for the national fire Trump’s Administration recently lit with banning immigration from seven countries: Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen.

Hukun Abdullahi speaking at the rally – photo by C.S. Hagen

Hukun Abdullahi, co-founder of United African Youths, and founder and executive director at Afro American Development Association, said before speaking at the rally he was planning to return to the country of his birth, Somalia, to bring relatives back to the Fargo-Moorhead area.

“Where we came from there was no freedom,” Abdullahi said. “Now there is no freedom here. The legislation that introduced this bill didn’t do any research. They didn’t think of the negative impact of this bill.”

In his speech, Abdullahi said banning immigrants is immoral and bad economics. Immigrants, Latinos, and Asians make up 2.7 percent of North Dakota’s population in 2013, according to the American Immigration Council. Latinos and Asians wield $984 million in consumer purchasing power in the state, employ more than 2,100 people, and had sales and receipts of $171.8 million.

John Strand speaking at the rally – photo by C.S. Hagen

Fargo City Commissioner John Strand also spoke at the rally, stressing the importance for all races to ask questions of each other, to get to know one another, and to show kindness, as “kindness doesn’t take much time.”

Fargo’s response to refugees and new Americans should resemble a family’s welcome, and they should not be shunned, Strand said. Understanding would naturally follow if everyone makes the effort to get to know each other.

Fargo Mayor Tim Mahoney gave a statement to Barry Nelson of the North Dakota Fargo Human Relations Commission to read. “The City of Fargo is a welcoming and friendly community that embraces its diversity and encourages acceptance and respect. While war and conflict may have displaced these individuals from their homes, I am proud that our community has offered warmth, safety, and a welcome relief from strife. A peaceful home where all are welcome.

“Together with the Fargo Human Relations Commission, I am concerned about the consequences of North Dakota House Bill 1427 and what this legislation may mean for our residents who have come from very difficult circumstances and challenging conditions as a refugee. It is important that we stand together to promote acceptance and respect, and strongly discourage discrimination.

“To this end, I encourage the legislature to study all aspects of the refugee resettlement process in North Dakota in the future”

People held up signs defying President Trump, and naming some of the politicians who introduced of the bill including Fargo City Councilman Dave Piepkorn, representatives Christopher Olson, Ben Koppelman, Kim Koppelman, and Senator Judy Lee. Others held up signs saying “Jesus was a refugee,” and “We’re all Muslims now.”

“Xenophobia and racism have no place in our community,” another sign read.

Fargo’s rally against House Bill 1427 – photo by C.S. Hagen

“We’re all family,” Strand said. “It’s just not right that across the country we’re all having to stand up for what we basically, fundamentally deserve, and are guaranteed under our Constitution and our laws. But you know what? This is our time to do that.”

Abdullahi led the crowd in a chant: “When refugees prosper, Fargo prospers.”

Strand pointed out that nearly everyone gathered at some point was a refugee.

Bruce Holmberg traveled from Detroit Lakes, Minnesota to join the rally. He has friends at home who are refugees and wanted to take a stand with them. He carried a sign saying “Ban me: my ancestors were Viking terrorists.”

“There is a saying that came out of World War II,” Holmberg said. “They came for the communists and no one spoke out. They came for the Jews and no one spoke out. Then they came for me and no one was left.”

“Someday, we should just all have a picnic,” Strand said. “And we know life is not a picnic, especially these days when we are challenged to rise up and evolve and affect change. Invite all our relatives, every single one of us, and then our relatives invite their relatives and their relatives invite their relatives and so on and so forth. Pretty soon everybody is included.

“That’s what we need in this world is everybody included, everybody honored, everybody respected, everybody having hope, everybody having a future, everybody having a neighbor, everybody being safe.”

Call or email these numbers to voice your opinions

Fargo Wants Peace, State Wants More Help, Energy Transfer Partners Will Carry On

December 6, 2016 / CSHagen / 0 Comments

As Veterans for Standing Rock bow in an apology to Native Americans, Energy Transfer Partners said their plans will not be changed

By C.S. Hagen
FARGO – Fargo city leaders asked the state for a peaceful resolution Monday, while veterans from across the nation apologized for colonialist behavior, bowing before Native Americans in Standing Rock.

Energy Transfer Partners reported it didn’t care what the US Army Corps of Engineers said. The Dakota Access Pipeline will carry on.

More than 2,000 veterans travelled to Standing Rock over the weekend, according to Veterans for Standing Rock’s Facebook page. Their arrival assisted Standing Rock and the tribe’s supporters in its fight against the Dakota Access Pipeline, according to activists, and an apology made by the veterans to Native Americans helped heal old wounds.

Veterans asking for forgiveness in a ceremony led Wesley Clark Jr. and Chief Arvol Looking Horse, Faith Spotted Eagle, Chief Leonard Crow Dog, Phyllis Young, and Ivan Looking Horse, among others. Wesley Clark Jr. is in front - photo provided by Redhawk

In a ceremony led by Wesley Clark Jr. asking forgiveness for atrocities committed on behalf of the US military to Chief Arvol Looking Horse, Faith Spotted Eagle, Chief Leonard Crow Dog, Phyllis Young, and Ivan Looking Horse, among others. Wesley Clark Jr. is in front – photo provided by Redhawk

“We came, we fought you, we took your land,” Wesley Clark Jr., son of retired General Wesley Clark Sr., said. Clark Jr. is one of the organizers of the Veterans for Standing Rock. “We signed treaties that we broke. We stole minerals from your sacred hills. We blasted the faces of our presidents onto your sacred mountain… and then we took your children, we tried to take your language. We didn’t respect you. We polluted your earth. We hurt you in so many ways, and we’ve come to say we are sorry. We are at your service.”

The group then took a knee, bowing before Native Americans. Some kneeling choked back sobs. The hall was silent when Chief Leonard Crow Dog placed a hand on top of Clark’s head, saying all was forgiven.

“World peace,” Crow Dog said. “We will take a step, we are Lakota sovereign nation. We were a nation and we’re still a nation. We have our language to speak. We have preserved the caretaker position. We do not own the land. The land owns us.”

According to some estimates more than 12,000 people are currently at Oceti Sakowin, or in nearby shelters as the second snow storm in as many weeks hit the area.

Dr. Cornel West at Standing Rock. West is an American philosopher, political activist, social critic, author, public intellectual, and prominent member of the Democratic Socialists of America – photo by C.S. Hagen

On Monday, one person was arrested and charged with criminal trespass after he allegedly crossed Backwater Bridge. The arrest total is now 566, according to Morton County Sheriff’s Department.

“This is the kind of stuff that re-escalates things, and then he brings the attitude right along with it,” Cass County Sheriff Paul Laney said. Laney has been working as operations chief for Morton County since August.

Energy Transfer Partners and Sunoco Logistics said the decision made by the US Army Corps of Engineers on Sunday to reject the easement proposal for crossing the Missouri River at Lake Oahe was a “purely political action.

“For more than three years now, Dakota Access Pipeline has done nothing but play by the rules,” a press release made available by Energy Transfer Partners reported. “The White House’s directive to the Corps for further delay is just the latest in a series of overt and transparent political actions by an administration which has abandoned the rule of law in favor of currying favor with a narrow and extreme political constituency.

“As stated all along, [we] are fully committed to ensuring that this vital project is brought to completion and fully expect to complete construction of the pipeline without any additional rerouting in and around Lake Oahe. Nothing this administration has done today changes that in any way.”

Politicians around the Peace Garden State echoed Energy Transfer Partners condemnation. Few congratulated Standing Rock on its win.

Congressman Kevin Cramer R-ND., called President Obama lawless.

Morton County Chairman Cody Schulz hopes the federal government sends in troops to clear out the camps after President-elect Donald J. Trump takes office.

Lieutenant Governor Drew Wrigley, a frequent naysayer against Standing Rock and its supporters has also spoken on radio shows such as the Flag and on Rob Port’s SayAnything blog damning the protests and reporting activists have nobody to blame but themselves for injuries or hardship.

Wrigley dropped hints to the Fargo City Commissioners on Monday that Morton County still needed Fargo’s police support against No DAPL activities.

“Let’s not kid ourselves, it is not a protest,” Wrigley said. Assaults on police, illegal activities, illegal camping on lands owned by the Army Corps do not constitute a protest, he said. “The protest has now gone up to about 7,000 people, the state of the situation remains very tense, and I don’t see it being resolved anytime soon.

“Nobody wants there to be a humanitarian disaster out there. They’re in tents, in yurts… It’s cold, it’s snowing.”

Allegations against excessive use of force by law enforcement, are only on social media have not been substantiated, Wrigley said. He made no reference to the dozens of lawsuits filed by the Lawyer’s Guild Mass Defense Committee and other law firms. All reports of activists injured have not been substantiated, Wrigley said. He praised law enforcement for holding their ground.

“Law and order has to be maintained,” Wrigley said. “There have been more than 500 arrests, the reason there are not four times that amount of arrests is that we are so outnumbered. We have a 3.8 billion dollar infrastructure project, and it is critical, not only to our economy, but to our way of life.”

Fargo Police Chief David Todd said all city police officers are now home in Fargo.

“Before we send out any more assistance we’re going to see how the decision [Army Corps easement denial] plays out,” Todd said.

At no time during confrontations did Fargo police, the state’s largest police force, use pepper spray, rubber bullets, or water cannons on activists, Todd said.

Fargo Police Chief David Todd speaking before mayor and city commissioners about Fargo Police involvement in No DAPL controversy in Morton County - photo by C.S. Hagen

Fargo Police Chief David Todd and Lieutenant Governor Drew Wrigley speaking before mayor and city commissioners about Fargo’s involvement in No DAPL controversy in Morton County – photo by C.S. Hagen

Morton County asked every department and police chief in the Peace Garden State for help, Todd said, and nearly every department responded.

Every Fargo police officer who went to Morton County volunteered to go, Todd said. “I did not force anyone to go. I have been to Morton County twice… and at times I’ve stood with them on the line as the protests occurred. Many of the protesters are peaceful, and we have supported their First Amendment rights.”

Todd also asked Wrigley for prompt reimbursement of Fargo’s costs during the controversy.

Few voices spoke in defense of the Native Americans: City Commissioner John Strand was one.

“We are very proud of our law enforcement here in town,” Strand said. He is in his third year on the Native American Commission, and said to his knowledge, he knows of no one who advocates violence against police. “The folks I know do not endorse or support unlawful behavior. They stand in prayer and they stand peacefully. To my knowledge it is as spiritual as it is anything else.”

He didn’t divulge into the politics behind the project, but said the public deserves transparency, Fargo police deserved honor and respect, as well as Native Americans. He asked members of the Native American Commission to stand, and he thanked them. A round of applause filled the city commissioners’ room.

“I join in thanking the law enforcement and thanking the Native American leadership for being Americans, and participating, and being engaged, and standing for what you believe in, and for advocating for peace for prayer, and advocating for a higher consciousness for all of us as we move through this.

“I am an eternal optimist – that we will come out of this better for it. There will be an opportunity after this is all done to step up our relationship with our native communities and with each other.”

Mayor Tim Mahoney agreed, saying that Fargo would support peaceful means in the future.

“We on the commission support the fact that we have a strong Native American Commission, and we listen to them, we listen to their thoughts, and we listen to any of their suggestions in our community,” Mahoney told Wrigley. “We know that you and the governor have a tough task before you, we’re all concerned that somebody might get hurt.”

More than 7,000 people against North Dakota’s forces is “just asking for a disaster,” Mahoney said.

“If there’s some way we can help with a resolution, we would be happy to do that. We would like a peaceful resolution, and we will support that 100 percent.”

Barricade across Highway 1806 built by activists on - photo provided by Morton County Sheriff's Department

Highway 1806

October 25, 2016 / CSHagen / 0 Comments

Ethics, racism, and a cry for justice along a rural Dakota highway

By C.S. Hagen
CANNONBALL – Highway 1806 is more than a road to Standing Rock activists.

The pitched hills dotted with wild sage, the roaming buffalo herds, the listless ponds hedged by crooked elms, are postcard perfect, revealing nothing of the racial hatred and violence the lands have seen in the past 200 years.

“1806 is more than the number of the highway,” Rissa Williams, an activist said. “It is the year of their mindset.”

Mindset of the Peace Garden State, Williams said.

She went to sleep in a yurt Saturday night, nervous. Woke up at 4:30 a.m. to a friend’s baby crying, nervous. Got dressed, had coffee, and geared up to face the inevitable arrival of militarized police. While heading to the front line, an eagle watched her from its nest.

“We prayed he’d watch over us,” Williams said. “We joked away our nerves, prayed and smudged, and waited. We joked about who could run the fastest. It was pretty clear that slow me would be an early arrest.”

Rissa Williams (right) and best friend – photo provided by Rissa Williams

If arrested, Williams could lose her part time job as a substitute teacher’s aide in Bismarck. She would see the sheriff’s deputy she knew from church if she was hauled to jail. How would she make bond? All these questions and more quickened her nerves. Police gathered to the west, and still she and nearly 600 others waited on lands the Lakota reclaimed under their own eminent domain laws Sunday morning.

The only way to find calm was to pray and dance, Williams said. “We danced and sang and prayed, summoning peace and courage to face whatever they had planned for us.” A young man next to her saw her faltering.

“He looked me in the eyes and saw my fear and danced right behind me until I settled down. Then I saw him and others doing the same all throughout the circle. I’ve never felt anything like that young man holding and disposing my fear and sharing his courage until I could re-find my own.”

Until now, law enforcement has yet to move in on Standing Rock’s new camp. The Standing Rock Sioux Chairman Dave Archambault II has called upon the U.S. Department of Justice for an investigation.

“The DOJ should be enlisted and expected to investigate the overwhelming reports and videos demonstrating clear strong-arm tactics, abuses and unlawful arrests by law enforcement,” Archambault said.

As the Dakota Access nears the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ easement along the Missouri River, state law enforcement in the past two weeks have militarized, and cracked down, frequently beating activists to action sites. Excluding a walk-through along the pipeline by some of the parties concerned last week, dialogue from both sides is nearly non-existent.

After a request for information from Governor Jack Dalrymple’s office, the office said there has been no correspondence between the governor and Archambault within the past two weeks.

Dakota Nice

Jace Riggin, a white person, who grew up with a “foot in two worlds,” on the Spirit Lake Nation reservation, is politically active in Minnesota, but calls for the U.S. Department of Justice to send officials to Standing Rock ground to provide council and protect citizen rights.

Riggin called the state’s Public Service Commission to inquire on correspondence between the government agency and the Standing Rock Sioux. “No direct letter had been sent to the tribal council, however, in their opinion the tribe was adequately notified because there was a press release sent out to tribal newspapers.”

Activist arrested and hooded – photo provided by Morton County Sheriff’s Department

Additionally, Standing Rock Sioux Tribe’s lawsuit against the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers states the tribe was not consulted properly, or treated as a sovereign nation. Activists, movie stars, chiefs of state, and journalists have been arrested on misdemeanors, stripped naked and forced to squat before admittance into Morton County Correctional Center. Attack dogs have bitten activists; children have been sprayed by mace. Charges filed by the State’s Attorney’s office are becoming felonies. Officials are demanding cash bonds for release; lawyers working pro-bono are not allowed to talk to their clients face to face, camp attorney Angela Bibens said. Cattle rustlers have killed and shot at livestock in Morton and Sioux counties, and local eyes turn toward Standing Rock. During mass arrests on Saturday, some arrested experienced hooding, which constituted torture or cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment in violation of the United Nations Convention Against Torture. Hooding is disorientating, and keeps the victim from breathing freely, according to a 2006 shadow report by the American Civil Liberties Union and the International Committee of the Red Cross.

The old narrative against America’s indigenous described by Archambault seems to be alive and well and living in the Peace Garden State.

Dakota Access Pipeline private security – online sources

“We are disappointed to see that our state and congressional delegations and Governor Jack Dalrymple have failed to ensure the safety and rights of the citizens engaged in peaceful protests who were arrested on Saturday,” Archambault said in a statement. “Their lack of leadership and commitment to creating a dialogue towards a peaceful solution reflects not only the unjust historical narrative against Native Americans, but a dangerous trend in law enforcement tactics across America.”

Morton County Sheriff disagreed.

“The claim that law enforcement is escalating this situation is simply untrue,” Kirchmeier said in a press release. “The law enforcement personnel from across the state, and now across the country have shown incredible professionalism and unbelievable restraint in the face of more and more aggressive tactics and illegal activity from the protestors. As we have stated from the very beginning, we fully respect the First Amendment rights of all protestors. The protester’s rights are just as important as those of the citizens of Morton County. But they are not more important.”

A total of 269 activists have been arrested as of Tuesday afternoon, approximately ten percent of the thousands gathered near Standing Rock reservation.

Activists have long questioned police tactics, but now, North Dakota natives and Fargo city leaders are raising questions of their own.

“The Department of Justice needs to be on the ground,” Riggin said. “North Dakota is one of ten states that does not have an ethics committee, the state government is not beholden to an ethics committee. ”

Fargo City Commissioner John Strand echoed Riggin’s call. “In my personal and professional perspectives, I’d absolutely join in requesting that the U.S. Department of Justice deploy independent, expert observers to the various Dakota Access Pipeline locations where there are escalating conflicts between law enforcement and activists,” Strand said.

“As a member of the Fargo Native American Commission, and as an elected official representing all citizens of Fargo, some there on assignment and others there to support the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe, it behooves all of us to strive for a diplomatic, peaceful resolution to this complex situation.”

Why would North Dakota need an ethics commission? An ethics commission is an oversight committee that sets ethical standards, handles indictments pertaining to ethics violations, codes of conduct, and ethical guidance within a society. In a nutshell, it would be the commission or council that would check and balance governmental branches. This type of structure helps ensure public confidence in elected officials and protect citizen rights, Riggin said.

Activists en route to an action on Highway 1806 – photo by C.S. Hagen

Congress passed the First Amendment on September 25, 1789, ratified it on December 15, 1791, and its first 10 amendments form the Bill of Rights. It states: “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.”

Kirchmeier maintains activists are breaking the law because they’re trespassing on private property. North Dakota Highway Patrol Captain Bryan Niewind called Saturday’s protest an unlawful riot, creating a dangerous environment.

Archambault and activists call for civil disobedience, and they’re willing to commit. Their actions along the pipeline’s route consist of prayer, song, and dance – spiritual traditions and speech that fall under the protection of the First Amendment, Archambault said.

“What are the goals of our elected officials?” Riggin said. “What are their motives?”

Currently, the ethics oversight agencies in the Peace Garden State are: the Senate Judiciary Committee, which is the standing committee of the North Dakota State Senate and is primarily responsible for elections, election privileges, and judiciary issues; the Senate Rules Committee, which is primarily responsible for investigating and studying proposed amendments to rules, and the House Judiciary Committee, whose sole function is to study bills before being brought to the House of Representatives. Over all of these, is the Secretary of State, whose duties cover a wide range of issues.

An ethics commission might give Morton County law enforcement and the Peace Garden State politicians pause, depending on who was on the ethics committee, Riggin said.

“The short answer is yes, it would help. It would help with transparency.”

Representative Corey Mock D-N.D., of Grand Forks, has been pushing for years to establish an ethics commission in the Peace Garden State. He described many instances when an ethics commission, not a committee, could have overseen justice in the Peace Garden State.

North Dakota National Guard blockading Highway 1806 – photo by Annie Gao

“North Dakota, we’re the only state in the union that does not have an ethics commission or committee, which means that if a citizen, if an official, or someone is concerned that an elected official or appointed official, someone in government, is acting unethically, may not necessarily be violating the law, but may be taking advantage of the system, gaming the system, doing things for personal gain, may or may not be legal, there is no place for either A. no place to air that concern, and B. no place for the official to defend themselves,” Mock said. “There’s no due process.”

The most regular criticism of an ethics commission is that it will create an environment for half-hearted criticisms against officials, Mock said.

“We actually do a disservice to the people and to the government by not having an oversight committee that can air the concerns, that can operate under fact and not under a presumption of guilt, and provide a little accountability to our governance.”

As of 2014, the North Dakota Legislature described policy under the recognition of ethical standards category. “The resolution of ethical problems must rest largely in the individual conscience,” meaning exactly how it sounds, Riggin said. And “…to resist influences that may bias a member’s independent judgment.”

“You hope that people look at that and their internal conscience guides them in the right direction,” Mock said. “But we can look back and see where elected officials have acted in poor judgment, and almost been rewarded for their behavior, let alone suffered any consequences.”

Such as the case of Bismarck Representative Dave Weiler, now a golf professional, who was arrested a second time in 2010 after beating his wife. He was ordered to get a psychological evaluation and counseling for domestic violence. Even after his second arrest, Bismarck folksinger Kris Kitko attempted a recall campaign against Weiler, but in July 2010 prosecutor Ladd Erickson dismissed the charge against Erickson after his wife changed her statement.

Or perhaps in 2013 when the North Dakota courts dismissed a petition lacking a handful of verified signatures, and then later dismissed an appeal led by Grand Forks Attorney David Thompson saying the state’s governor was guilty of bribery related to oil industry donations to his campaign.

“This is a cesspool, and that’s not an understatement,” Thompson said about the state of the Peace Garden State. In a news story featuring North Dakota’s oil boom in the New York Times, Thompson said Dalrymple was guilty of accepting bribes. “North Dakota is a hugely defective setup,” Thompson said in the article. “Our elected officials regulate companies they get contributions from and companies they own stock in. Nobody ever recuses himself; they just vote.”

Elected officials should recuse themselves from a legislative vote if they’re financially invested or if their campaigns are being financed by, for example, big oil, Mock said.

“An ethics committee or commission would absolutely be the place for those complaints to be investigated and properly vetted,” Mock said.

An ethics committee differs from an ethics commission. A committee would be an internal level of oversight, where a commission would be larger panel of elected and appointed officials, medical, legal, forensic, and law enforcement experts, who would investigate and make recommendations.

For now, however, any person in North Dakota with a valid complaint against an official must first take the case to the related department’s supervisor, then to the governor’s office, or to the county, and then if needed to the state’s attorney general.

As of November 2015, the Peace Garden State had no laws restricting the use of campaign funds, and received an overall D-rating from The Center for Public Integrity. The state received F-grades for lobbying disclosure, ethics enforcement agencies, state pension fund management, state civil service management, executive and legislative accountability, and public access to information, according to the center. Later, the Peace Garden State stepped up, a little, claiming 37th place in the nation.

“We certainly do not hold up well when we are analyzed by independent groups, as they’re analyzing North Dakota and how we handle challenges internally, we score very poorly when it comes to ethics and oversight,” Mock said.

“When outsiders and North Dakotans truly look at our laws they go, ‘How is this possible?” A citizen’s only recourse boils down to hoping for criminal charges, or circulating information among the rumor mill, Mock said.

Attorney Chase Iron Eyes said an ethics commission in the Peace Garden State must be created.

“It’s like anything, if you don’t have enforceable ethics, we can expect more of the same,” Iron Eyes said. Iron Eyes is also running for congress against Kevin Cramer R-N.D., who is supported heavily by big oil interests, and recently met with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to try to hurry the pipeline toward the Missouri River. “More politicians are bought out by big oil. They can’t bite the hand that feeds them.”

The state’s legislative document continues: “Not using the member’s official position to obtain financial gain for the member, the member’s family, or a business associate or to secure privileges or exemptions in direct contravention of the public interest.”

And so, the Cartesian Wheel turns, over and over, Iron Eyes said, a repetition that resembles a “revolving door” of companies influencing politicians who influence state departments who legislate law that all too easily oppresses people.

“If there is a heightened ethical stance for attorneys, then it should be the same for politicians.”

If a government official was found to be in violation of ethics, which in the Peace Garden State would be difficult to prove, especially since the House needs a two-thirds majority vote to impeach an elected person – in a state as Republican red as North Dakota – there would be little punishment, Riggin said.

“What this means they would be removed from office, shamed, and if they did not break the law they would not be punished in any other way.”

Riggin has traveled to Standing Rock, and over the weekend college students from Gustavus Adolphus College volunteered to donate a fully winterized tent to the camps. After recent events, the college decided the trip was not safe enough for the school to fund, reviewing it on a level with overseas excursions. The students decided the trip had to be made. They fundraised, and made the trip mostly on their own dime.

Standing Rock Sioux Tribe flag, Highway 1806 in background – photo by C.S. Hagen

Riggin also stressed that his Lutheran perspective and deep faith have led him to speak out. “As Lutherans, the Social Statement on Care for Creation and the Repudiation of the Doctrine of Discovery cry for us to stand with Standing Rock,” Riggin said. Furthermore, he sees the media playing a detrimental role in events playing out along the Dakota Access Pipeline.

He also sees the media playing a detrimental role in events playing out along the Dakota Access Pipeline as well. “I cannot allow the Fargo Forum to spread the narrative that they are,” Riggin said. “I have seen the Fargo Forum turn from a reputable news source that was trusted, to give North Dakotans unbiased information, to the Fargo Forum today that has very clearly demonstrated by continuously publishing Rob Port, and I will name him, that they are not interested in unbiased journalism, and they are not interested in representing the hopes, needs, and concerns of the native people at Standing Rock.”

Local Color

For weeks, media and elected officials have been trying to link activists to cattle rustlers in Morton County after the North Dakota Stockmen’s Association reported 30 missing cattle, two dead saddle horses, three dead bison, and four dead cows. Some of the cattle were found butchered in Sioux County, according to the NDSA.

“We’re still following up on every lead we get,” NDSA Chief Brand Inspector Stan Misek said. “But we haven’t found any of them yet.” Including the 30 head of cattle that activists reported were found, are still missing, Misek said.

Misek added that people are wary, and law enforcement is frequently on patrol in Sioux County.

On October 18, the NDSA reported the North Dakota Congressional Delegation, including senators Heidi Heitkamp R-N.D., John Hoeven R-N.D., and Cramer, denounced the news of butchered livestock near Cannonball, insinuating that activists in the area were involved. The delegation asked for reinforcements from the federal government, and blamed the crime on President Obama’s Administration as well.

“The Administration is to blame for this senseless act,” Cramer said. “Unfortunately, the President and his bureaucrats will be able to hide behind sovereign immunity, providing no means for civil relief from those who are most at fault.”

In an article entitled Accusation of Missing Livestock Made Against Standing Rock Water Protectors Hindered By Reality, writer Larae Meadows denied the insinuation and accusations against Native Americans, citing the difficulties of such crimes due to constant police surveillance and local topography.

“In order to move a heard of cattle from the Sacred Stone Camp to any other camp, the Water Protectors would have to sneak out of camp, slip 30 cattle past two helicopters, a plane, several dozen police officers and federal agents, past a police outpost, and hide them in plain sight of all the law enforcement agencies. In full view of thousands of phone cameras, law enforcement and media, protectors would have to slaughter the cows in camp and afterward eat, preserve, or store all the meat.

“To move one cow at a time or a couple of bison, the water protectors would have to slip past the massive security thirty times.”

In addition, the Lakota Sioux vehemently denied killing a horse, as horses are prized, and to kill one is considered “an extremely serious offense.”

On October 17, AM 1090 KTGO The Flag radio station featured a St. Anthony rancher, Doug Hille.

“Doug Hille, who is a resident down there by the Dakota Access Pipeline,” the show’s host, Dennis Lindahl, greeted Hille. “Good morning, Doug.”

“Good morning, how are you?”

“Excellent. Thank you for taking time out of your busy day to join us,” Lindahl said. “And so, you know, I read the story about the cattle that’s missing, and some of the butchered cattle that’s happening, from your perspective, what’s going on down there?”

“It’s really something that’s disturbing, because all along when this thing first started fences were cut, cattle were run off, all kinds of other things were happening,” Hille said. “It’s just one more step in the harassment, and uh, the uh, I’m searching for the proper word… the people hate anybody who doesn’t agree with their cause.

“I find something even more appalling than them going out stealing butchering and harassing cattle, and there’s a little bit of checking to be done. Most of the food pantries in Bismarck and Mandan have been stripped. And these people have a 850,000-dollar ‘go-free’ account for anybody who gets thrown in jail. They’re immediately bailed out with this account, and this bothers the hell out of me.”

“That is absolutely unbelievable, that’s an angle we have not heard before,” Lindahl said. Lindahl asked what was local reaction to indigenous people saying their land was stolen.

“It’s saber rattling,” Hille said. “It’s threatening… It’s not comfortable. Do they want to open up the Indian Wars of the 1870s and 80s? I don’t know.”

The Sioux, Hille went on to say, were basically lazy people, they would steal, hunt, and pillage, and they never prepared for winter.

“We need to [make them] somehow integrate themselves into society. Right now they have no self worth.”

Lindahl responded saying natives have a low standard of living, and do not understand the value of a “good day’s hard work. We’re battling culture, it’s not race, and I think when people on that side, the other side of the opinion, when they try to take it down to the lowest rung of the ladder and say that it’s race, I think they’re really, really mistaken… It’s not about race, its about some people don’t know the value of work.”

“I agree with that,” Hille said. “For generations, there has not been hardly anybody available to mentor these people.” Generations of welfare cases put in the corner means the reservation system doesn’t work, Hille said.

“If that means giving us financial hardship, giving us a hard time… that’s what they’ll do. It’s just appalling the depths that these people will go to for their cause… They’ve lost control of the camp. I can’t feel sorry for the Standing Rock people; they brought this on themselves. Most of us have lost our tolerance for the Native Americans. Sorry. It’s called racial profiling or whatever you want as much as we try, it’s going to be hard.”