James Abourezk obit

Former SD Senator James Abourezk Passes Away

 

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Longtime South Dakota lawmaker James Abourezk, a Democrat who served the state in both the US. House and the U.S. Senate in the 1970s, passed away Friday in Sioux Falls on his 92nd birthday.

Abourezk, a native of Wood, served one term in the U.S. House from 1971-1973, then served one term in the U.S. Senate from 1973-1979. He did not seek reelection in 1978 and was succeeded by Larry Pressler.

After losing his race for South Dakota attorney general in 1968 (he received his law degree from the University of South Dakota in 1966), he won the U.S. House seat in the Second District in 1970.

Two yeas later, he won the U.S. Senate seat, succeeding Karl Mundt. In 1974, Abourezk was named one of Time magazine’s “200 Faces for the Future.”

He was of Lebanese descent, and as a lawmaker, he was critical of U.S. foreign policy in the Middle East and North Africa.

He also authored the Indian Child Welfare Act, which was passed by Congress in 1978. He aimed to preserve Native American families and tribal culture, especially in regard to the placement of children in foster homes.

After leaving office, he worked as a lawyer in Sioux Falls and also founded the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee.

It was announced earlier this week that Abourezk had entered hospice care in Sioux Falls.

“He will be in the care of a hospice team from a Sioux Falls hospital, along with his wife Sanaa Abourezk and members of his family,” his family announced in a news release.

On Friday, South Dakota Democratic Party chairman Jim Seiler issued a statement on Abourezk’s passing,

“Sen. Abourezk was a true South Dakotan whose talent and determination took him from Wood, South Dakota to the United States Senate,” Jim Seiler said. “South Dakota couldn’t have asked for a better representative to the nation and the world than Sen. Abourezk.”

Seilor added, “Sen. Abourezk dedicated his life to serving others. That service led to a lasting legacy that continues to impact the lives of so many in South Dakota, across the country, and around the world. We are all fortunate he led such a long and impactful life, and his presence here in South Dakota will be sorely missed.”

In 1972 Abourezk was elected to the U.S. Senate, where he served from 1973 to 1979, after which he chose not to seek a second term. While in the Senate, he chaired the Indian Affairs Subcommittee. In 1974, TIME magazine named Senator Abourezk as one of the "200 Faces for the Future".

His legislative successes in the Senate included the Indian Self-Determination and Education Assistance Act, as well as the American Indian Religious Freedom Act. The Indian Child Welfare Act, a law passed in 1978 that gives tribal governments executive jurisdiction over adoption and custody of Native American children on reservations, is often considered one of his capstone achievements as a legislator.

As a senator, Abourezk criticized the Office of Public Safety (OPS), a U.S. agency linked to the USAID and the CIA, which provided training to foreign police forces. Officers they trained were used to suppress civilians in several countries in Central and South America during a period of military governments, dirty wars, and social disruption.

In 1973, Senators Abourezk and George McGovern attempted to end the occupation of Wounded Knee by negotiating with American Indian Movement leaders, who were in a standoff with federal law enforcement during a protest against the federal government’s treatment of Native American tribes.

Abourezk was also instrumental in the creation of both the American Indian Policy Review Commission and the Select Committee on Indian Affairs. Deeply interested in representing the tribes in Congress to work toward better federal relations, he chaired the Policy Review Commission the entire time it existed. He took the gavel as chair of the Indian Affairs Committee from its creation in 1977 to 1979, when he retired.

His signature legislation was the Indian Child Welfare Act (ICWA, 1978), designed to protect Native American children and families from being torn apart. Native American children have been removed by state social agencies from their families and placed in foster care or adoption at a disproportionately high rate, and usually placed with non Native American families. This both deprived the children of their culture and threatened the very survival of the tribes. This legislation was intended to provide a federal standard that emphasized the needs of Native American children to be raised in their own cultures, and gave precedence to tribal courts for decisions about children domiciled on the reservation, as well as concurrent but presumptive jurisdiction with state courts for Native American children off the reservation. He also authored and passed the Indian Self-Determination and Education Assistance Act, which provided Indian tribes with greater autonomy. The BIA made grants to the tribes but they could manage contracts and funds to control their own destiny. That legislation also reduced the direct influence of the Bureau of Indian Affairs on the tribes.

Abourezk was an early supporter of a National initiative. With fellow Senator Mark O. Hatfield (R-OR), he introduced an amendment to support more direct democracy. However, this initiative failed.

In 1977, Senators Abourezk and McGovern went to Cuba with a group of basketball players from University of South Dakota and South Dakota State who played against the Cuban national men's basketball team.

In 1978, Abourezk chose not to run for re-election. He was succeeded in office by Republican Larry Pressler, with whom he has had a long-running political feud.

Between 1948 and 1952, Abourezk served in the United States Navy before and during the Korean War. Following 12 weeks of boot camp, he enrolled in Electricians' Mates School, after which he was sent to support Navy ships stationed in Japan.

Following military service, Abourezk worked as a rancher, blackjack dealer, and as a judo instructor. He earned a degree in civil engineering from the South Dakota School of Mines in Rapid City in 1961, and worked as a civil engineer in California, before returning to South Dakota to work on the Minutemen missile silos. At the age of 32, he decided to pursue law, and earned a J.D. degree from University of South Dakota School of Law in Vermillion in 1966.