Native Sun News Today: Group documents racism against the Indian community

Tuesday, January 29, 2019  

Documenting racism in the community
By Ernestine Chasing Hawk
Native Sun News Today Staff Writer
nativesunnews.today

RAPID CITY – Walking the streets of Rapid City, can be dangerous for many of the city’s homeless population as they are often subjected to overt and covert racism. But interestingly enough, the racism they describe often comes from unexpected people, in unexpected places and at unexpected times.

Over the past several weeks One Rapid City advocates Karissa Loewen and Ramona Herrington have been hosting talking circles in an effort to educate the community about de-colonization and what it would look like in Rapid City.

They’ve invited people of all ages and backgrounds to join forces and support each other in “speaking truths and designing collective education and healing processes.”

One Rapid City, which originally began as Community Conversations, was formed after several emotionally charged racial incidents in Rapid City. The most notable incident was during a Rush Hockey Game where several students and their chaperones from American Horse School were doused with beer. Another incident was when a Rapid City Regional Health nurse spewed racial slurs against Indians via the internet.

Herrington explained to the approximately 40 people in attendance at a talking circle at the Hope Center that the group’s main focus was the documentation of racism in the Rapid City Community. As advocates they’ve agreed to step-up when conflicts arise in the community over housing, with the police, over homelessness and with businesses and to document those incidents.

“Racism and discrimination are normalized in our community. We cannot control the behavior of each individual, but we can set a different expectation for what's acceptable and for how we treat each other,” One Rapid City states in their website. Herrington explained that documentation of specific incidents of racism and discrimination will help make the problem more broadly visible and give credibility when they approach community leaders.

“It will give those in leadership roles the information they need to work for positive change, which benefits all of us,” Herrington said.

During the talking circle at the Hope Center in downtown Rapid City, those in attendance were asked to articulate what the term de-colonization meant to them.

Many in the group described what happens within the justice system and the importance of changing interactions with police officers, judges and parole officers.

One individual described what it is like to be homeless, “We are felons, it’s like Lakota have to be numbered, all these doors are closed to us. They are picking on us, hating on us.”

Contact Ernestine Chasing Hawk at staffwriter@nativesunnews.today

Copyright permission Native Sun News Today