Say Anything (blog) - Indian Reservation Banishment

Indian Reservation Banishment

In 2007, after writing an op/ed for The Dakota Beacon entitled "The Appalling State Of Our Indian Reservations", Say Anything's owner and chief contributor Rob Port made national headlines when he was banished from the Turtle Mountain Indian Reservation by the Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa. According to an Associated Press accounting of the event:

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.

The resolution banning Port was passed using the Turtle Mountain Chippewa's "exclusion code" which was instituted to allow the tribe to keep undesirables such as drug dealers and sex criminals off of the reservation. In a posting on Say Anything Port said that his banishment was politically motivated and not in keeping with the original intent of the exclusion code. He also wrote that he was not provided due process prior to his banishment in accordance with the tribe's own code which required notification of the person to be banished and an opportunity to appear before the tribal council. Port claims that he received neither a notification of the banishment nor an opportunity to appear before the council.