The below was written by “Cat” – also known as “Restless Spirit.
I will be taking the text of her article and sending it to our Senators on the Indian Affairs Committee and asking for both an explanation and action. I urge you all to do the same. This child was removed from a safe foster home only one month ago. How many more children are they going to allow this to happen to?
It also time for our churches to get involved. Many churches seem too afraid to speak up to this factual truth. But these kids can’t keep waiting.
Restless Spirit ~Cat June 17, 2013
Known and Unknown
One of the 3-yr old twin girls died. There is a lot of speculation as to how she died, and given the family history, I can see why the first conclusion that is jumped to, is that she was abused.
We don’t know.
The FBI and the BIA were investigating as soon as it was reported, early Thursday morning. The BIA and the FBI, the very ones who should be nowhere near this case, are investigating. The same FBI that destroyed evidence and ordered others to destroy evidence at the Dubois children’s murder scene. The same BIA that has ‘taken over Tribal Social Services’, ‘Strike Team’, and the same BIA that has more domestic abusers and outright rapists on their payroll, is ‘investigating’ this death. Anyone trust that the outcome will be the Truth? My expectations are very low.
What we also know is that this child, her twin sister and other siblings were in Foster Care up until a month ago. Their mother and father both in prison up until a month ago. The mother had been arrested for Felony Child abuse and it was horrendous. The twins in 2011, just infants, so badly neglected or abused that they had to be in hospital for two weeks before they could be released to Foster care, where they were lovingly nursed back to full health, vitality and had a chance at being healthy happy kids.
The mother and father are somewhere. I don’t know. My understanding is that they were not living in the home where the children were. They were in Fargo or Bismarck or somewhere. The Children were being raised by their grandfather, and no one has yet to contact me with a bad word to say about him.
What We Know
It will be awhile before we know what happened to the little girl. Her blood family is grieving this, and her Foster family must be sick with grief over the loss. It was just about a month ago when they had the children they had so lovingly cared for, ripped out of their homes, the way the Tribal Social Services likes to rip kids away. No notice, not transition, no reason — gone.
I know that no grandfather, regardless of how much he loves his grandchildren, is going to be able to keep up with twin 3-yr olds day in and day out. No matter how he tried.
We know that Suna Guy, registered sex offender and blood relative to the children, lived right next door.
I know that no child would be placed in an environment where there is not both adequate care and one which no registered sex offender would be permitted such close proximity to vulnerable children. Did Suna have anything to do with this? WE DON’T KNOW.
The remaining children were removed from the home, at around 10 PM that night, over 12 hours after the report of the death. Bentley GreyBear, an abuser himself, walked into the home, without so much as paperwork, and said he was taking the kids. He didn’t say where he was taking them. The family didn’t get to say goodbye. The children were dragged out of their beds and into his vehicle and driven away in the night.
Think about that. The children had just been traumatized by the death of their sister, and then, in their sleep, they were roused and packed off without so much as a hug goodbye. Tell me how that shows any consideration whatsoever for those children?
And, what IF, just IF, it turns out this child died from something that had nothing to do with the household? That family was just traumatized even more by not being able to say good bye or hug those kids to reassure them as they were leaving.
The kids out there? Ripped and flung around like emotional rag dolls. Good Job, Bentley. I always wondered what went wrong with your nephew, Linden GreyBear, and the more I get to know about you, the more that picture is coming into focus as well.
Does the BIA not even care to attempt to show professionalism in any aspect?
Sadly, not.
Now, the blood family knows what the Foster Family went through. More trauma, more abuse, and they were helpless to so much as comfort the children, crying and screaming as they were being dragged away. Despicable.
So, right now, until we know, there’s not much we can do except to wait for the autopsy results, witness statements, and whatever the clown car investigators come up with.
A news crew from Valley News came out to do a report on the death of the child and to interview people regarding the safety of children on the rez. The cameraman, a ‘ Six-foot-six Black Man’ had just set up his camera for an interview when he was jumped by… Suna Guy. Not sure how all that went down.
I heard one version that I consider preposterous: It basically said that the cameraman was looking for a fight and threw the first punch. What I find laughable about that is that no cameraman would do that. That camera is a BIG Ticket item. It is handled with care. I can’t imagine any cameraman, regardless of how big or black he is, putting that kind of equipment at risk. Cameramen never let go of their cameras. No one ‘starts a fight’ with one hand holding onto several thousand dollars of camera.
Plus, given the size of the man, it’s my guess that if he ‘threw the first punch’, Suna Guy would still be trying to guess what day of the week this is. That story just doesn’t make sense to me. Their claim that the Cameraman was trespassing makes no sense either. If that were the case, the Tribal Police would have moved them. Attacking was strictly an attempt to intimidate the news crew. They don’t want people looking in and asking questions.
They don’t want you or me or anyone else to know what kind of a place they are running out there.
Suna was arrested for the assault and Weenie Boy called up the cop shop and talked to Mary McDonald (the same Mary McDonald) and told her he wanted Suna released. A few hours later, Suna Guy, Registered Sex Offender, who had just assaulted a news crew, was released on his own recognizance. Yeah, Tribal Judges and Tribal Chairman, they can do anything.
Anyone who buys Suna’s version of this debacle, I have a bridge to sell you.
Why was it so personally important to Weenie Boy (Roger Yankton) to have Suna released without bond? People are upset and so am I. We all are.
Who To Blame
I’m looking at this from an over 2 yr view of now, 13 Mandated Reports from Thomas Sullivan’s Office, describing exactly the kind of dangers these children are being put in by the scam artists at the BIA, State, and Federal Officials, including Timothy Q Purdon, who assures us that there is no problem out there, and the children are safe because the BIA are ‘career professionals’ like himself.
They all ignored all 13 Mandated Reports and never once followed up, according to either protocol nor the law. I hold responsible the following:
- Tribal Council: Their corruption and incompetence as well as their history of abuse, led to this latest child’s death.
- Tribal Social Services: Whose corruption and disregard for the safety and the well-being of the children has been well documented and remains ongoing. Their abuses of these children by taking them away from safe homes, putting them into the hands of the unqualified and the deviant, as well as selling or giving them to homes of ‘friends’ is well-documented.
- The Regional Officials: who also ignored the complaints of corruption and child endangerment, as well as the ongoing documented and witnessed child sexual abuses. They have backed up Tribal Social Services and the abusive, downright crooked Directors of that department, without fail.
- The State: who also shirked their responsibilities to both the children and to the taxpayers by allowing this to go on, despite reports, Mandated Reports, and pleas to stop allowing these children to be abused and neglected, raped and murdered. The State likes to shrug their shoulders in response to these reports, and say “Sovereignty”, but that doesn’t cut it. The State has absolute jurisdiction over every minor child that is in their program or any program funded by taxpayers, for their care and welfare.
- The BIA: Where to begin? They are corrupt. They are incompetent. They are abusive. They assure us that their “Strike Team” has made things so much better out there… but they have never investigated the corruption in their own ranks, nor have they pressed charges against any of the child traffickers, and those who ripped off millions in taxpayer dollars, still unaccounted for. There are still Foster Parents who have NEVER been paid nor compensated for the children in their care. Many have gone into their own funds to cover medical needs and clothing. But those funds are going somewhere… and it would not be that difficult to do a forensic audit. The BIA has been complicit in these abuses, corruption and putting children at risk, deliberately. They have even, along with the Tribal Council and the Chairman, removed children from their families as retaliation for those members of the family who have spoken out about the abuses they have witnessed. Those children are then ‘given’ to ‘friends’ of the Tribal Council.
- The Federal Government: Which has failed to act on any of these 13 Mandated reports for over two years. They have white-washed, thrown more money in, made the corruption even worse, but they have ignored these children.
- USAG Timothy Q. Purdon: Who has assured us that the Mandated reports have all been ‘investigated’ but has never provided proof of a single investigation nor has he followed any of the legal steps he is supposed to follow in regards to a single mandated report. He has ridiculed the ACF Director, Thomas Sullivan, for making these reports. He has claimed that ‘many’ of the allegations in the reports are false… but he cannot and will not name one so-called ‘false’ allegation. He has assured us, repeatedly, that the children are no longer in danger.
- Senator Hoeven: Who has given only lip-service to the issue, despite his own staff reporting to him how shaken they were by what they learned. It was only last week when he responded to a months old email from a concerned constituent that he was not the one to talk to about these reports because: “The BIA is handling that.” The problem IS the BIA. And they all know it. It is corrupt to the core and he has done nothing either when he was governor, nor in his capacity as Senator of ND. Nothing, except issue assurances that it’s being ‘handled’.
- Senator Heitkamp: Who has yet to issue so much as a single statement regarding her concern for the safety and well-being of the children of Spirit Lake. Not once. She has posed for photo ops out there, has a blanket wrapped around her and a big smile. The corrupt treat her like ‘one of their own’.
All of these people have been told, repeatedly, what is going on out there. They have been pleaded with as to how urgent the situation was. All this after the murder of the DuBois children, and yet, not one of them has lifted a finger, set up a task force and all have been happy enough to move on to other business because, “The BIA is handling this.”
Not Responsible
I cannot hold the mother responsible. It was clear in 2011 that she was unfit, and that no one in the family was able to take on the raising of the babies, for whatever reason. The mother is an addict, was just released from prison, and is not living near her children. Nor is the father. If any of this is wrong, let me know. She is not capable of taking care of herself, and anyone in government that decided she should, with assessment, without parental training, be suddenly responsible, is out of their minds.
The father was also, far as I know, completely removed from the scene.
Yes, they are awful parents. They are seriously damaged people. They are part of the Human Wreckage you get when you allow multiple generations of PTSD go untreated in a community and you allow and support the most corrupt, despicable elements to run the place. This is what you get. They can’t help themselves, they can’t be held accountable for what all the suits in government do. The suits are accountable.
I don’t know if this child died from neglect or abuse or ‘natural causes’. SIDS does not occur in children over the age of 1 yr. (See: Kid’s Health and other related articles: http://kidshealth.org/parent/general/sleep/sids.html ).
Something happened to her. What, how or by whom, we don’t know.
What we DO KNOW is that there are children still in dangerous and abusive homes out there. The Tribal Council is corrupt, the BIA is corrupt, The FBI has failed to investigate the crimes against children for over 2 years of official notification. The USAG’s office has failed to even try to protect these kids.
That child’s body should be laid at their doorstep. They could have prevented this. They chose not to. Worse, they chose to ridicule, harass, threaten those who have been, for years, reporting the crimes and corruption, and especially the danger to children, for all this time. Direct your outrage in their direction.
If they find that this child was murdered or worse, they will happily trot out the perpetrator (unless it is a close friend or relative of the Tribal Chair and the Tribal Council). We will all be expected to boo and hiss, and condemn that one person. They will be looking down at the ground, they will be in shackles, they will look dirty and they will look just like the kind of person that would do such a thing.
As despicable as this is, the most despicable are those in offices, wearing suits, going to power lunches and meetings, and giving press releases about how their offices have been ‘working’ on this for …. And vowing to ‘prosecute to the fullest…’ I say, prosecute them all. Especially the suits.
Now, let’s all wait and see.
It’s almost assured that before we know what happened this time, there will be another. There will be trauma, outrage, outpouring of grief, denial and more outrage. You know where to direct your outrage. It’s time they have all been held accountable for both breaking the system and for lying about it being broken.
Hold them accountable for failing to protect, to investigate, or care.
Summary:
- A 3-yr Old child is dead
- A news crew cameraman got jumped as they were out there to get the story.
- The Tribal Chairman had the attacker released from jail without bond, within hours.
- The children were removed from the home in the most brutal way the BIA could conduct such a removal. It is as if hey enjoy traumatizing babies.
- We don’t know the cause of death.
But we know it has happened before and it will happen again until the BIA, the FBI, the State, County, Federal as well as the Tribal Chair and Tribal Council are finally held to account for their corruption and abuse.
Until the Mandated Reports are treated according to protocol and the law, nothing will change. We know all these agencies and Departments had the chance, for the past Two Years, to prevent this… and they didn’t.
There are more children out there, in much worse situations.
You know where to find me.
~Cat
