Seems to me that we are incarcerating a whole lot of Native Americans these days!
Rapid City police and the Native American Community
By Native Sun News Editorial Board
www.nsweekly.com
“When police violate the rights and trust of civilians by inflicting abuse, serious consequences to the community emerge. When civilians experience police brutality, the relationship between the two groups shifts. Civilians may begin to feel that the police do not take actions to serve the public, but rather abuse their authority in a manner that opposes the institution’s assumed function – to enforce the law and protect civilians. After experiencing police brutality, victims often express disillusionment with law enforcement because there is no certainty police are held accountable for their acts of misconduct. Feelings of disillusionment are also rooted in a developing distrust of police officer judgment resulting from the experience. The relationship between these civilians and police, thus, becomes polarized.”The above was written in a thesis by Christine Birong-Smith in describing the reasons behind the formation of American Indian Movement patrols to follow the Minneapolis Police at night in an effort to stop the assaults and brutality against American Indians in 1968. How much has changed in the past 48 years? The gunning down of five police officers in Dallas, Texas, last week would indicate that not much has changed. When there are adversarial roles between the police and the citizens of a community bad things happen. The Black Lives Matter movement that shook up the Nation over the past year is a classic example of the citizens standing up to protest the bad actions of the police within their communities for much, much too long. It is no secret that the Rapid City Police Department has had a long standing adversarial role with the Native American community. That is not to say that Indians have been model citizens by any stretch of the imagination because the actions of anyone while under the influence of alcohol or drugs can be disruptive and dangerous and the police have reacted in kind. Rapid City also has a court system that is archaic when it comes to handing down sentences and incarcerating Indians. In most cases, Indians cannot pay their bonds so they go to jail. The jails are full of Indians who couldn’t bail themselves out of jail. Rehab and not jail should be the solution. Rapid City Police Chief Karl Jegeris spoke out about the sniper slaying of the Dallas police officers by condemning the actions of the shooter. And he is correct in making these comments. Jegeris has attempted to bring a more open dialogue between his police and the Native American community since assuming that job last year. He understands the mistakes made in the past and has tried to move past it. Mayor Steve Allender also admits that he made mistakes in the past when he was the chief of police, but he has had the courage to admit that he was wrong at times and has learned from his mistakes and has made an effort to move the city forward in improving race relations. Red lives and blue lives matter. A long history of bad relations between the police and the Indian community does not mean that things cannot be improved upon and the Native Americans of Rapid City are also reaching across the aisle to bring about a change for the better. As we move into the long, hot summer, let’s make an added effort to bring peace and harmony to our community.
For more news and opinion visit the all new Native Sun News website: Rapid City police and the Native American Community (The Editorial Board of Native Sun News can be reached at editor@nsweekly.com) Copyright permission Native Sun News
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