Dear Casper,
Rep. Harriet Hageman’s recent email titled “WY IT MATTERS: Combatting Cartel Activities in Indian Country” is not only disappointing, but also dangerous, racially coded, and historically ignorant. It perpetuates a centuries-old narrative in which Indigenous peoples and their sovereign lands are portrayed as problems to be solved, threats to be contained, or pawns in political theater.
Let me clarify: this is not about cartel activity. This is a modern version of colonial scapegoating dressed up in legal jargon. For decades, if not centuries, tribal lands have been underfunded, underserved, and disproportionately targeted by law enforcement. While jurisdictional boundaries prevent county sheriffs and city police from operating on reservation lands, Indigenous people continue to face significantly higher rates of stops, searches, arrests, and incarceration in neighboring communities and border towns.
According to the United States Commission on Civil Rights, Native Americans are incarcerated at a 38% higher rate than the national average, and in some states, Indigenous people are imprisoned up to seven times more than white residents. These disparities do not represent isolated incidents. They are the result of a system that criminalizes Native identity both on and off reservations.
Instead of advocating for Indigenous sovereignty, healthcare access, mental health services, infrastructure, or economic investment, our representative opts to recycle the oldest play in American history: fear.
What makes this even more sinister is the hypocrisy. Rep. Hageman has sponsored bills on land leasing reform, claiming to support tribal self-determination, but she has rejected proposed rules that would codify tribal consultation. She chairs subcommittee hearings where tribal voices are invited, but they are frequently tokenized, marginalized, or ignored. She claims to support tribal sovereignty while supporting legislation such as the Power Butte Conveyance Act, which seeks to transfer land from the Wind River Reservation without either tribe’s consent. That is not allyship. That’s exploitation disguised as policy.
Rep. Hageman perpetuates a false and harmful stereotype by portraying Wind River as a lawless wasteland ready for cartel takeover. She weaponizes the neglect that her office and predecessors have enabled. Rather than collaborating and respecting tribal leaders, she uses panic to justify federal overreach, undermine tribal sovereignty, and sow division.
Where is the same zeal for looking into the systems that have left reservations without adequate healthcare, education, housing, and opportunity? Where is the concern over the Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women crisis? Where is the legislation that is based on listening to Indigenous voices rather than imposing 20th-century war-on-drugs rhetoric?
If Rep. Hageman truly cared about Wyoming’s tribal communities, she would fight for their resources, autonomy, and future, rather than using them to improve her political image or advance a partisan agenda.
It is not lost on us that Rep. Hageman frequently wears Native jewelry while staunchly opposing Native communities’ interests and sovereignty. Culture is not a costume, and turquoise does not justify betrayal. You cannot dress up in a people’s symbols while silencing their voices.
Indigenous communities deserve more than being used as a talking point in a campaign email. They deserve reparative action, respect, and representation that does not instill fear or perpetuate centuries of injustice.
I believe in a Wyoming that values tribal sovereignty, not just in words but also in action. Indigenous communities in Wyoming are celebrated and empowered rather than scapegoated. Where leaders build trust rather than weaponizing fear. That future is possible if we demand it collectively.
Writing in support of a better Wyoming future,
Tori Feronti
Casper
