In 1876, Chief Sitting Bull sent the US government a defiant message by standing up to the brutal military machine threatening his people.
The Hunkpapa Lakota chief led the forces that crushed General George Armstrong Custer at the Battle of the Little Bighorn in Montana – also known as Custer’s Last Stand.
And now, the Native Americans of the Cheyenne River Reservation in South Dakota are channelling that fighting spirit as they take a new stand against authorities.
This time, it is to keep the coronavirus out of their community as President Donald Trump ’s push to reopen America, against all expert advice, threatens a calamity.
Mr Trump’s handling of the pandemic has been slammed after landing the US with the world’s highest death toll, at 85,000, and a tanking economy.
Yet despite 1,500 lives being lost a day, the President wants businesses open and people back at work.
This is a nightmare for the vulnerable reservation, so tribal leaders set up nine checkpoints on routes into the 4,267-square-mile territory, manned by 145 police officers.
South Dakota Governor Kristi Noem declared them illegal roadblocks and threatened the Cheyenne River Sioux and Oglala Sioux with court action.
Last Friday, they were given 48 hours to remove them.
But tribal chairman Harold Frazier said: “No matter what happens, we’re still going to maintain these checkpoints.
"It is the only thing we can do to try to prevent this virus coming in.
"We’re not backing down. We’re going to stand strong for our people.
“Governor Noem is trying to create a ‘them and us’ situation to alienate the Sioux but we’re not going to quit. Our lives are at stake.”
President Trump – desperate for people to return to work as more than 36.5 million have been laid off under the pandemic – yesterday questioned statistics on Covid-19’s ravages.
His latest attack was on infectious disease specialist Dr Anthony Fauci, who opposes reopening businesses and schools.
Mr Trump said Dr Fauci “wants to play all sides of the equation”, adding: “I totally disagree with him on schools.
"I think we have to open our schools, young people are very little affected by this.
" We have to get the schools open, we have to get our country open.”
But Mr Trump has been given a harsh dose of reality by events in Texas.
Republican Governor Greg Abbott started easing restrictions on businesses and let the state’s stay-at-home order expire on May 1.
The result was a surge in Covid-19 cases.
Yesterday, whistleblower Dr Rick Bright told Congress if the US did not step up its response, it would suffer “unprecedented illness and fatalities”, and “2020 will be the darkest winter in modern history”.
He was dismissed as head of the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority last month after objecting to the use of malaria drugs promoted by Mr Trump.
But although the White House is ignoring Dr Bright’s warnings, the Sioux are not.
Tribal leaders acted after the government left many communities to fend for themselves.
Governors across the US issued protocols varying from severe to soft, often decided along Republican/Democrat party lines.
While states like California were quick to order lockdowns, others, like South Dakota, barely advised social distancing and never fully shut down.
Requests by tribal leaders for a stay-at-home order were ignored.
Some are quick to point out population differences, including Trump fan Noem, who said: “South Dakota is not New York City.”
Even when a meat producer in nearby Sioux Falls became the US’s worst hotspot, the Governor refused to enforce measures.
Chairman Frazier said: “Much like with Donald Trump, it appears Governor Noem wants to put business ahead of people’s lives.
“We don’t agree with their push to open up the economy. We’d rather be poor and alive than see our loved ones die as people try and get rich.
"The latest letter from Governor Noem demands we remove our checkpoints but we won’t.
“She wraps it up as though she wants to ensure we have supplies but we’re already doing that. It’s... like a con.”
Few citizens are as vulnerable to the virus as the Sioux – who for one thing are twice as likely as white people to have diabetes.
They are also mostly poor, often living a dozen per house, meaning the virus would spread rapidly.
The 12,000 people on the reservation have an eight-bed medical facility, with no ICU.
Their situation is compound by a lack of Government funding.
The Trump administration promised £6.5billion in relief to US tribes – but they had to go to court to stop the cash going to corporations instead.
A walk through the reservation’s largest city, Eagle Butte, makes it clear they need every cent they can get.
But locals are proud of their leaders’ defiant stance.
And 40 miles north, by the town of Timber Lake, the reservation police defending them face a barrage of abuse, often racist.
Leaders believe it is being fuelled by the rhetoric of Governor Noem and President Trump.
One officer said: “We have seen a growing number of irate people feel we are trying to curtail their civil liberties. It’s not true.”
They said reservation residents can make essential journeys outside and non-residents can come in to do the same, with everyone completing health questionnaires every time they pass a checkpoint.
Those coming from hotspots must apply for a permit.
The officer added: “We take drivers’ details to help us track people if we need to.
"Some, however, just grow furious they are being asked to help in our fight.
"This may not be the busiest checkpoint but it’s the angriest.”
Governor Noem claims business and essential travel are being disrupted, while the South Dakota Retailers Association alleges that supply trucks have been denied entry.
Reservation leaders deny this.
And Eagle Butte resident Acey Brown, 44, said: “The governor is clueless to how we live. She has no idea of the challenges we face.
“If Covid were to take hold on the reservation, there would be no stopping it.
“Like most of our government’s decisions, the Dollar comes before death. We are very pleased that we have leaders who are not swayed by business decisions but lives.”
