By Evelyn Red Lodge
Native Sun News Correspondent RAPID CITY — James “Magaska” Swan, who is the founder and president of the United Urban Warrior Society, a Native American support organization based in Rapid City, recently issued a statement concerning his plan to petition the Rapid City Journal to either “shut down or require people to use their real name for accountability” when posting online comments about Journal articles covering Native issues. Swan was spurred to action while participating in a recent protest of Rapid City Journal policies considered anti-Native American. The protest took place in front of the Journal’s downtown building. Swan said that racial comments by the general non-Native public are notorious in the online version of the Journal, and he wants that issue addressed as not just a Native American issue but a community issue. He said the large daily newspaper has a huge amount of “influence and responsibility” when it comes to the community and the healing of “historical wounds caused by animosity and hate.” Swan plans to “set up both an on-line petition and a paper petition” to gain support for the issue. He said he will also “post examples of the past racist comments from the comments section” of the Rapid City Journal online on his personal Facebook page. Swan is confident he will gain support from area organizations and community members. He also asks that anyone who feels they have been discriminated against by the Rapid City Journal and those who want to offer support contact him at (605) 381-8612 or unitedurbanwarriorsociety@yahoo.com. (Contact Evelyn Red Lodge at welakota@yahoo.com)
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