Chase Iron Eyes (born March 6, 1978) is a Native American activist, attorney, politician, and a member of the

Oglala Sioux Tribe The Oglala (pronounced , meaning "to scatter one's own" in Lakota language) are one of the seven subtribes of the Lakota people who, along with the Dakota, make up the Očhéthi Šakówiŋ (Seven Council Fires). A majority of the Oglala live o ...

. He is a member of the Lakota People's Law Project and a co-founder of the Native American news website ''Last Real Indians''. In April 2016 he announced his candidacy for the

United States House of Representatives The United States House of Representatives, often referred to as the House of Representatives, the U.S. House, or simply the House, is the lower chamber of the United States Congress, with the Senate being the upper chamber. Together they ...

for North Dakota's at-large congressional district. He lost to incumbent

Kevin Cramer Kevin John Cramer (born January 21, 1961) is an American politician who has served as the junior United States senator for North Dakota since 2019. A member of the Republican Party, he represented North Dakota's at-large congressional distri ...

Career

Iron Eyes graduated from the

University of North Dakota The University of North Dakota (also known as UND or North Dakota) is a public research university in Grand Forks, North Dakota. It was established by the Dakota Territorial Assembly in 1883, six years before the establishment of the state of N ...

with a bachelor's degree in political science and Native American studies. In 2007, he graduated from the University of Denver Sturm College of Law, with a

Juris Doctor The Juris Doctor (J.D. or JD), also known as Doctor of Jurisprudence (J.D., JD, D.Jur., or DJur), is a graduate-entry professional degree in law and one of several Doctor of Law degrees. The J.D. is the standard degree obtained to practice l ...

in law (with an emphasis in Federal Indian law). Iron Eyes was also the president of the Native American Law Student Association during his academic career in law school. Iron Eyes is licensed to practice law within the state of

South Dakota South Dakota (; Sioux: , ) is a U.S. state in the North Central region of the United States. It is also part of the Great Plains. South Dakota is named after the Lakota and Dakota Sioux Native American tribes, who comprise a large po ...

as well as in the federal courts of both

North Dakota North Dakota () is a U.S. state in the Upper Midwest, named after the indigenous Dakota Sioux. North Dakota is bordered by the Canadian provinces of Saskatchewan and Manitoba to the north and by the U.S. states of Minnesota to the east, ...

and South Dakota in addition to several tribal court systems. In July 2012, Iron Eyes filed a

civil suit - A lawsuit is a proceeding by a party or parties against another in the civil court of law. The archaic term "suit in law" is found in only a small number of laws still in effect today. The term "lawsuit" is used in reference to a civil act ...

in federal court on behalf of Vern Traversie, a blind 69-year-old Lakota man, against a South Dakota hospital. The lawsuit alleged a violation of Traversie's

civil rights Civil and political rights are a class of rights that protect individuals' freedom from infringement by governments, social organizations, and private individuals. They ensure one's entitlement to participate in the civil and political life ...

, citing scars that Traversie said were from doctors carving the initials of the

Ku Klux Klan The Ku Klux Klan (), commonly shortened to the KKK or the Klan, is an American white supremacist, right-wing terrorist, and hate group whose primary targets are African Americans, Jews, Latinos, Asian Americans, Native Americans, and Cat ...

into his abdomen during heart surgery. The hospital stated the marks were a reaction to surgical tape, and in 2015, a jury ruled against Traversie.

Activism

Iron Eyes has used his career as an attorney to advocate for Native American civil rights. He has served as a staff attorney for the Lakota People's Law Project (LPLP), an initiative founded in 2005 with the purpose of ending the unlawful practice of removing Lakota children from their families and placing them in foster care outside their communities. In the summer of 2016, Iron Eyes and other representatives of LPLP joined with other anti-pipeline protestors near Standing Rock to resist the Dakota Access pipeline. Iron Eyes has actively engaged in the protection of sacred sites. He was instrumental in raising awareness of Pe' Sla, a high mountain prairie situated within the heart of the Black Hills, a sacred site related to Lakota creation beliefs where annual ceremonies, village gatherings, and other traditional activities took place, located north of Deerfield Lake and west of

Black Elk Peak Black Elk Peak is the highest natural point in the U.S. state of South Dakota and the Midwestern United States. It lies in the Black Elk Wilderness area, in southern Pennington County, in the Black Hills National Forest. The peak lies west-sout ...

. This is the area where renowned Lakota visionary Black Elk sought his vision. Another of the sacred sites Iron Eyes has drawn attention to is

Bear Butte Bear Butte is a geological laccolith feature located near Sturgis, South Dakota, United States, that was established as a State Park in 1961. An important landmark and religious site for the Plains Indians tribes long before Europeans reached Sout ...

. He is also a member of the Bush Foundation'
Native Nation Rebuilders program
a leadership development program designed to foster innovative tribal governance practices to effect positive change. He has continued to voice opposition against the drilling of

oil wells An oil well is a drillhole boring in Earth that is designed to bring petroleum oil hydrocarbons to the surface. Usually some natural gas is released as associated petroleum gas along with the oil. A well that is designed to produce only gas may ...

within the area. In 2016, Iron Eyes announced his candidacy as a member of the Democratic Party for the election to represent North Dakota's at-large congressional district in the

. Speaking to ''

Prairie Public Radio Prairie Public is a network of ten North Dakota radio stations. It is a service of Prairie Public Broadcasting, in association with North Dakota State University in Fargo. Prairie Public maintains active studios in Grand Forks, Fargo, and Bism ...

'' in April, he said, "I'm running for Congress out of necessity ..I see that our government is broken, and I feel responsible to do my part to try and fix this on behalf of North Dakota", as reported by ''

Indian Country Today Media Network ''ICT News'' (formerly known as ''Indian Country Today'') is a daily digital news platform that covers the Indigenous world, including American Indians, Alaska Natives and First Nations. It was founded in 1981 as a weekly print newspaper, ''The ...

''.

Personal life

Iron Eyes was raised on the

Standing Rock Indian Reservation The Standing Rock Reservation ( lkt, Íŋyaŋ Woslál Háŋ) lies across the border between North and South Dakota in the United States, and is inhabited by ethnic " Hunkpapa and Sihasapa bands of Lakota Oyate and the Ihunktuwona and Pabaks ...

, and since then has lived in a multitude of places. Chase is an enrolled member of the Oglala Sioux Tribe. On June 8, 2022, Iron Eyes and his wife, Dr. Sara Jumping Eagle, filed legal documents asking a judge to issue court protection against

Ezra Miller Ezra Matthew Miller (born September 30, 1992) is an American actor. Their feature film debut was in '' Afterschool'' (2008), which they followed by starring in the drama '' We Need to Talk About Kevin'' (2011) and '' The Perks of Being a Wallf ...

on behalf of their 18-year-old daughter,

Tokata Iron Eyes Tokata Iron Eyes (born 2003/2004) is a Native American activist and member of the Standing Rock Sioux tribe. Iron Eyes was a youth leader of " ReZpect our Water", a campaign against the proposed route of the Dakota Access Pipeline, and served o ...

, due to Miller allegedly using "violence, intimidation, threat of violence, fear, paranoia, delusions, and drugs

marijuana_ Cannabis,_also_known_as_marijuana_among__other_names,_is_a_psychoactive_drug_from_the_cannabis_plant._Native_to_Central_or_South_Asia,_the_cannabis_plant_has_been_used_as_a_drug_for_both_recreational_and__entheogenic_purposes_and_in_various_t_...

_and_Lysergic_acid_diethylamide.html" "title="Cannabis_(drug).html" "title="ncluding Cannabis (drug)">marijuana Cannabis, also known as marijuana among other names, is a psychoactive drug from the cannabis plant. Native to Central or South Asia, the cannabis plant has been used as a drug for both recreational and entheogenic purposes and in various t ...

Career

Activism

Personal life

Filmography

Electoral history

References

External links