2/3/15

Hey, Brendan Johnson: where are you guys?

Update, 4 February, 0845 MST: Interview with Justin Poor Bear.

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Update, 3 February, 0800 MST: American Indians in Rapid City were subjected to yet another racist incident.
Friday night during the PRCA Xtreme Bulls Tour event, three Native American women, two Lakota elders and an older white couple were twice doused with beer. Rapid City Police Department spokesman Brendyn Medina confirmed late Monday that investigators were in the early stages of a probe of the incident, had taken a statement from the videographer, and were actively pursuing the matter. “The sad part is the rest of the world is now hearing how racist South Dakota is,” said Little Spotted Horse, an activist who runs a mentorship program called “Independence through Music” in Oglala. “None of us wants to show South Dakota in a bad light. This is dragging us backwards. What can be done to change the mentality?" If it continued, the activist said the economic consequences could be dire. [Police probe second incident at Civic Center]



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Update, 1414 MST:
A justifiable anger has resulted from a headline that appeared in the Rapid City Journal on Saturday, Jan. 31. The Rapid City Journal deeply regrets the pain this headline has caused to our community and pledges to continue our efforts to fight racism and other social ills. [Bart Pfankuch Journal editor]
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Update, 2 February, 0700 MST.

Top commented stories at the Rapid City Journal this morning:

Police probe opened in Rush racism incident (93)
Source: authorities focus in on one man in racism at Rush game (83)
Native students racially harassed, sprayed with beer at Rush game (67)
Jegeris: Police have identified one person suspected of insulting Native American students (62)
New, more focused civic center campaign coming soon (33)

Stupid town. More at Last Real Indians.



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Dear Governor Dennis Daugaard, Attorney General Marty Jackley, Mayor Sam Kooiker, Police Chief Karl Jegeris, President John Yellow Bird Steele, Tribal Councilman Ron Duke, and Tribal Councilman Rich Greenwald:
Read it here.

Brandan Ecoffey here:
If Pennington County State’s Attorney Mark Vargo cares so much about Native children that he is willing to so vigorously defend the illegal taking of them from their homes, I would hope that he cares enough to step forward and prosecute those who committed these crimes.
Tim Giago said it like this:
Every Native American in South Dakota knows what would have happened had the situation been reversed. Every Indian in that private box would have been arrested, handcuffed and taken to jail. That didn’t happen to the white provocateurs, and there is not an Indian in Rapid City who expected it would. [Sioux Falls Argus Leader]
The expansion of the Rushmore Plaza Civic Center is going to voters in a town trapped between survival and boycott. Hold it accountable for these crimes.

It's time to move the Lakota Nation Invitational to Black Hills State University.

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