American Indian tribe banishes blogger

Posted on Thu, May. 17, 2007
The Associated Press

An American Indian tribe has banished a blogger who wrote a magazine article criticizing conditions on the reservation and calling for an end to "cradle-to-grave entitlements."

The resolution by the Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa says Rob Port's column was "injurious to the peace and seriously threatens the general welfare, health, safety, political security and prosperity" of the tribe and others in North Dakota.

Port is webmaster for SayAnythingBlog.com. The column ran in the January issue of The Dakota Beacon and appeared on the blog. He says he found out about the tribe's decision from a fellow blogger.

"How do you ban somebody from land without even telling them about it?" Port said. "It doesn't seem very straightforward, banning somebody for an opinion piece."

Port said he spent about 15 hours "going around neighborhoods and knocking on doors" on the reservation for his column, titled "The Appalling State of North Dakota Indian Reservations."

He wrote that people are "perfectly content to live there. Probably because they don't know any better. They were likely raised in housing projects by their parents, who in turn were probably raised in housing projects themselves."

Port's column also called for an end to reservations and "cradle-to-grave entitlements."

Tribal Vice Chairman Ted Henry said the column unfairly generalizes life on the reservation.

"It cut our people down," Henry said. "We do have a lot of good people here. The article doesn't say anything about that. A lot of our Indian people work hard."

The tribe adopted a banishment ordinance last year to fight illegal drugs. People who are not tribal members can be banished without warning if the tribe deems immediate removal necessary.

The eight-member tribal council unanimously passed the resolution banning Port on May 10. If he sets foot on the reservation, he could be subject to civil contempt in tribal court. Port said he doesn't see a need to visit the reservation again and is unsure whether he'd appeal if given the chance.

"I didn't write it thinking I am going to tick these people off," Port said. "I thought, 'I am writing it because people don't think about what's going on in the reservation very often."'