Petition text:

To South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem,

Please stop endangering the lives of South Dakota citizens, including the people of the tribal nations within your state borders. Your inaction during the COVID-19 pandemic is unconscionable, and people are getting sick and dying because you have failed to take this crisis seriously.

Enforce a mandatory mask order now, and enact and enforce serious guidelines requiring social distancing and staying at home unless circumstances demand otherwise.

The eyes of the rest of the nation and world are on you. We see your blatant disregard for human life, which includes not just your failure to respect basic safety guidelines agreed upon by a vast majority of the world's medical professionals and scientists, but also allowing super spreader events like Trump's Rushmore visit, the Sturgis Motorcycle Rally, and the state fair.

We have witnessed your attempts to dismantle legal health and safety checkpoints on tribal borders, another heinous abdication of your duty to safeguard the people living within your state.

You are on the wrong side of history. South Dakota has regularly made appearances on lists of the world's worst hotspots for COVID-19, and you are largely responsible for presiding over a human rights and health and safety catastrophe. Your neighbors in North Dakota have now realized that enacting basic safety measures should not be a matter of political gamesmanship, it's simply the right thing to do.

For the good of tribal citizens, all the people of South Dakota, and all Americans, please do the right thing. It's not too late to save lives instead of taking them.