The Meth Awareness Four Directions Walk in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, made a special stop along the walk at the Lucky Lady Casino parking lot. This is the spot where Yankton Sioux Tribe member, Baptiste White Eyes, Sr. was gunned down. His mother Adeline Jandreau was honored with three songs, one song was by the Ihanktowan Youth Council members. Photo by Jodi Zephier

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Native Sun News Today: Four Directions Walk draws big crowd in fight against meth

Thursday, April 26, 2018

Huge turnout for Meth walk in Sioux Falls

By Richie Richards
Native Sun News Today Correspondent
nativesunnews.today

SIOUX FALLS – Nearly three hundred people gathered to take a stand against meth in Sioux Falls over the weekend.

The Meth Awareness Four Directions Walk – Sioux Falls event took place on Saturday, April 21 in the Pettigrew Heights area. This neighborhood is known for its crime related to drug activity.

President Kooper Caraway of the Sioux Falls Labor Temple opened the doors at 11:00 a.m. for presentations, which began with an impassioned speech from Kirsten Jacobsen. She is involved in the Lennox Narcotics Anonymous meetings. Jacobsen was raised by an addicted mother and has been battling her own addictions for much of her adult life. It was the loss of a child, best friend and grandparent which made her relapse nearly four years ago. She’s been clean since.

The theme of the event was youth empowerment. This young boy symbolizes the children’s perspective on meth addiction. Photo by Seanne King-Mosley

Following Jacobsen’s presentation was Toni Handboy; she has been clean and sober for 14 years. Handboy talked about her work on the Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe. In her experience, Handboy shared how drug dealers are using Native American women to open the doors for the meth trade on reservations.

Before the walk started, inmates at the Jameson Annex held a pipe ceremony as part of their conference and powwow activities. They presented organizers of the meth walk with two eagle feather staffs (one from the Hill, one from Jameson Annex) which led the walk. Eight children were selected from the crowd to carry the staffs. They were chosen if they had a loved one incarcerated.

Jon Eagle, a respected elder from the Sioux Falls area, began the walk with a prayer while the drum and singers were doing a ceremony song. Walkers began to look up in the sky during the prayer; an eagle was circling above the crowd.