Just when you thought South Dakota couldn't get any MORE fun

[Benfea]

http://www.racismagainstindians.org/SDBurning/index.htm

It's sounding more and more like South Dakota is a place no decent person would want to live.

[SharonAnn]

1. It's so sad. I was born there and my mother's family is there. Some

really good people have gotten all wound up about the "Right to Life" movement that was based out of their Catholic Churches. At least the ones in my family got involved through that. I guess it keeps them from noticing the other problems around.

[Benfea]

2. Eh.

I wouldn't blame the abortion issue so much as the percentage of conservatives in their society.

[hlthe2b]

3. Perhaps it is time to start a rumor (which actually could be true)...

that a study has been commissioned for the construction of a new women's prison--in anticipation....

hmmm...

[in_cog_ni_to]

4. O-M-G!!! Did you read the 'Random Acts of Racism?'

Be sure to click on the links on the left of the page. Those poor people! :grr:


The event was a high school boys basketball game between Todd County, a predominantly Indian school in Mission, and Stanley County, a Fort Pierre school that is mostly white. Someone in the home crowd called the visiting players "prairie niggers."

Girls ordered to prove gender lose court appeal
http://update.journalstar.com/stories/2
WASHINGTON (AP) -- A group of Oglala Sioux girls who were required to prove their gender before playing in a 1995 basketball tournament in Rapid City, S.D., lost a Supreme Court appeal today.

The lawsuit, contending that the incident left the girls depressed and embarrassed, sought to collect monetary damages for racial and sexual discrimination, invasion of privacy, intentional infliction of emotional distress and mental anguish.

Lower courts threw out the lawsuit.

The girls, all 10 to 12 years old at the time, represented the Pine Ridge Reservation's Loneman School in a tournament sponsored by the Young Men's Christian Association.



A Lake Andes police officer choked a 12-year-old American Indian boy last summer because he was "lippy," the Charles Mix County state's attorney told a jury Thursday.

Officer Michael Atwood is charged with a misdemeanor simple assault for the incident, which allegedly occurred in a city park on the Fourth of July.

During the first day of testimony, three adult witnesses said they saw Atwood grab Ben Cournoyer by the throat during the confrontation. But the town's police chief told the all-white jury of seven men and five women that he believes Atwood used reasonable force.

"He lost his cool," said Charles Mix County State's Attorney Scott Podhradsky said during his opening statement. "The only reason he grabbed the kid was because he got lippy."

The alleged choking incident intensified racial tension in the county, which is home to the Yankton Sioux Tribe. Tribal members marched in protest last summer when the Lake Andes City Council refused to dismiss Atwood.

[FreedomAngel82]

37. These people are freakin nuts!

:mad: Ugh! I can't stand it.

[Canuckistanian]

5. Republican Redneck Family Values

Yeah, "Compassionate Conservatism" at it's finest.

What a sick, diseased society. Almost as dysfunctional as Mississippi during the 60's.

[Benfea]

6. Yup.

I love the circular logic of their defense of this.

On the one hand, they argue this isn't true because the government does not possess official records of these incidents, but on the other hand, they refuse to provide the funding necessary to allow the government to collect information on incidents like this.

Conservatives are sick, sick people.

[LostinVA]

7. Here's a great story about SD... and an Ogala girl

http://www.bluecloud.org/hhsuanne.html

SuAnne led Pine Ridge to a State "A" Championship in 1989, making Pine Ridge the only Native American girls team to win a state championship in South Dakota. Here is a story of her leadership.



In the fall of 1988, the Pine Ridge Lady Thorpes went to Lead, South Dakota, to play a basketball game. SuAnne was a full member of the team by then. She was a freshman, fourteen years old. Getting ready in the locker room, the Pine Ridge girls could hear the din from the fans. They were yelling fake-Indian war cries, a "woo-woo-woo" sound. The usual plan for the pre-game warm-up was for the visiting team to run onto the court in a line, take a lap or two around the floor, shoot some baskets, and then go to their bench at courtside. After that, the home team would come out and do the same, and then the game would begin. Usually the Thorpes lined up for their entry more or less according to height, which meant that senior Doni De Cory, one of the tallest, went first. As the team waited in the hallway leading from the locker room, the heckling got louder. The Lead fans were yelling epithets like "squaw" and "gut-eater." Some were waving food stamps, a reference to the Reservation's receiving federal aid. Others yelled, "Where's the cheese?" The joke being that if Indians were lining up, it must be to get commodity cheese. The Lead high school band had joined in, with fake-Indian drumming and a fake-Indian tune. Doni De Cory looked out the door and told her teammates, "I can't handle this." SuAnne quickly offered to go first in her place. She was so eager that Doni became suspicious. "Don't embarrass us," Doni told her. SuAnne said, "I won't. I won't embarrass you." Doni gave her the ball and SuAnne stood first in line. She came running onto the court dribbling the basketball, with her teammates running behind. On the court, the noise was deafeningly loud. SuAnne went right down the middle; but instead of running a full lap, she suddenly stopped when she got to center court. Her teammates were taken by surprise, and some bumped into one another. Coach Zimiga at the rear of the line did not know why they had stopped.


SuAnne turned to Doni De Cory and tossed her the ball. Then she stepped into the jump-ball circle at center court, in front of the Lead fans. She unbuttoned her warm-up jacket, took it off, draped it over her shoulders and began to do the Lakota shawl dance. SuAnne knew all the traditional dances. She had competed in many powwows as a little girl, and the dance she chose is a young woman's dance, graceful and modest and show-offy all at the same time. "I couldn't believe it; she was powwowin', like, 'get down!'" Doni De Cory recalled. "And then she started to sing." SuAnne began to sing in Lakota, swaying back and forth in the jump-ball circle, doing the shawl dance, using her warm-up jacket for a shawl. The crowd went completely silent. "All that stuff the Lead fans were yelling it was like she reversed it somehow," a teammate said. In the sudden quiet, all you could hear was her Lakota song. SuAnne stood up, dropped her jacket, took the ball from Doni De Cory, and ran a lap around the court dribbling expertly and fast. The fans began to cheer and applaud. She sprinted to the basket, went up in the air, and laid the ball through the hoop, with the fans cheering loudly now. Of course, Pine Ridge went on to win the game.

"It was funny," Doni De Cory says, "but after that game the relationship between Lead and us was tremendous. When we played Lead again, the games were really good, and we got to know some of the girls on the team. Later, when we went to a tournament and Lead was there, we were hanging out with the Lead girls and eating pizza with them. We got to know some of their parents, too. What SuAnne did made a lasting impression and changed the whole situation with us and Lead. We found out there are some really good people in Lead." Who will be the peace heroes of the 21st Century? It's up to our youth today to make our communities better places.

[Benfea]

11. Nice story.

But it still sounds to me like South Dakotans are scum, and despite the happy ending, that story reinforces that perception.

[LostinVA]

13. That's kinda my point...

But wanted to show how a young, poor Native American girl showed their bigoted asses up.

[High Plains]

27. Stupid comment.

"South Dakotans are scum."

What state are you from? I imagine I could go dig up a bunch of nasty shit about it and post stuff like "people from Benfea's state are scum."

Do you actually know any South Dakotans? Ever been there?

[Benfea]

28. Sorry. My bad.

It's the most wonderful place in the world, and I'm glad that sexual predators can force women, girls, and female relatives to procreate with them. I'm happy for the way South Dakotans really know how to put them damn injuns in their place. Wonderful, lovely place. In fact I plan to move there sometime next year.

[LostinVA]

40. Me too. And I plan to get act slutty and trick a man into making

Me pregnant as soon as I move there....

[proud2BlibKansan]

21. That is the saddest story

I just read a book about SuAnne this past summer. She had such a bright future ahead of her when she died. :cry:

[LostinVA]

23. Was it "On the Rez"?

[proud2BlibKansan]

31. Yes - great book

[FreedomAngel82]

38. That's an amazing story

[sinkingfeeling]

8. I do believe that South Dakota has the highest infant mortality rate

in the US on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation.

[LostinVA]

9. Shannon and Todd are the poorest counties in the US

HORRIFIC stats. Worse than some Third World countries. How about sending some of those outsourced jobs up there, huh?

[proud2BlibKansan]

22. But the Native Americans are privileged!

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=364&topic_id=614028&mesg_id=616029

[LostinVA]

39. True, I ALWAYS forget that -- I wish I was so priviledged...

[LeftHander]

10. I left South Dakota at 25.....

No jobs. Was sick of the rascism, sexism and homophobia.

The place reeks of racism.

My father carries a pistol all the time because "Indians will try and kill you if you give them the chance."

Rest assured the exodus of creative, bright young people has alwyas been in SOuth Dakota and now it will certainly increase the numbers bound to leave.

[Benfea]

12. Maybe that's a good thing.

Perhaps evil stupid people will be inspired to go to SD as all the smart moral people leave. Thus we make the rest of the country a better place.

[mntleo2]

14. Lette To SD Tourism Departmnet

I just read the most despicable study of the way you people treat your Native Americans, and now you have passed a bill taking away a woman's right to her own body. As a white person, I have roots in Mobridge South Dakota, but I am ashamed to say so, as any moral person would be. I am making it my policy to never again visit your sorry state and am also making it my business to advise anyone I know not support tourism in your racist, sexist state. Anywhere that is run by religous wingnuts creates despair for the least powerful, as Thomas Jefferson noted when he fought for the separation of religion and the State. Just take a look at the way neo-religous Taliban operated in Afganistan, how they shot women in the head for even wanting a voice, how they created corrupt, elitist obliarchs, and see where it led ~ to 9/11! Do you really think your people are going to act any more moral when they get the power to support the same kind of suppression? If you suppress anyone you are suppressing all of us.


I know there are good people in SD who are horrified with your goings on, but they say they are drowned out by a bunch of right wing nuts. I am sorry I will not be able to see these wonderful folks again unless they visit elsewhere, but they understand why many like me are making this choice. This is a human rights issue and to supposrt in any way such disgusting and immoral policies is saying it is all right to posses inhumane practices against women and minorities that is akin to ethnic cleansing. Since the vote no longer counts, perhaps losing tourism money will get the message: South Dakota is like Missippi was in the 1950's and worse.



You people ought to be ashamed of yourselves!




VERY Sincerely,

Catherine Sullivan

Address and phone included with this comment: <---PLEASE give this information to NSA, I would be proud to be on thier mesogenic list!

[Name removed]

15. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[soup]

16. Um, about those 'monthly government checks for being NAs'

can you tell me where we sign up? We could use the extra income. I'm sure the rest of my husband's family could, too.

[frogmarch]

17. soup

I suggest you check with your tribal authorities. Along with the other subsidies offered to NAs, (at least to S.D. tribal members) you might receive free medical care as well.

[sandnsea]

18. You're probably wrong about those checks

Generally they're for oil royalties or some other royalty from lands sales or something the tribe has negotiated. Native Americans don't receive a monthly check just because, unless it's a TANF check. Health insurance and the rest, yes, more likely. But there aren't automatic monthly checks for any tribe that I know of.

[proud2BlibKansan]

20. Native Americans get a monthly check?

Gee that explains why the Pine Ridge reservation is in one of the poorest counties in the USA. I guess they spend that monthly check on liquor and gambling. :sarcasm:

[LostinVA]

25. It's on THE two poorest counties in teh US

[LostinVA]

24. You truly are completely clueless about the Lakota in SD

Because, if you actually knew about Pine Ridge, you would know that "privileged" is not a word to say in the same breathe. "Third World," "Appalling," "Criminal Negligence," are a few I would use. Read the stats. The two poorest counties in the US. High infant mortality and teenage suicide rate, incredible unemployment, diseases, alcoholism, neglect. Sickening.

I am honored to be close friends with some Ogala, and have visited the far reaches of the rez More than once. I ahve sat in houses with no heat in minus zero weather, seen an Elder who hadn't eaten in three days, seen teeangers discouraged at 11. What say is truly sad, because it is shameful that we are still committing genocide against these people even in 2006.

AIM was far from perfect, but they didn't cause racial tension in SD, the racist Establishment there did -- and still does. AIM was created from this racism, it didn't give birth in a vacuum.

[frogmarch]

30. No, I am not cluleless

about the Lakota. And I visit Pine Ridge every couple months to visit friends and family. Yes, there's poverty there, and yes, there are people on the res who are in dire straits. To blame it all on the "racist Establishment" is ignoring facts...and the truth. It's outrageous to claim that we - I assume that by "we" you mean whites - are still committing genocide against these people.

To say that AIM was far from perfect is an understatement. Many NAs saw the organization for what it was...a terrorist organization masquerading as liberators of the Native American people. Many NAs refused to support AIM because they were afraid they'd lose their government benefits, and many saw Dennis Banks and Russel Means for who they really were. At any rate, AIM pretty much fizzled out for lack of support among NAs.

AIM didn't cause tension? haha. You apparently weren't in Hot Springs and surrounding Black Hills towns when AIM threatened to take them over by force in the 70s, were you? Periodically, businesses closed, schools closed, and citizens braced themselves for all-out attacks. Carloads of AIM members and supporters flooded into Hot Springs one day around the same time I, unaware of what was happening, arrived from Deadwood. No violence ensued, and I spoke to some AIM members (I was caught in their traffic and they wondered what the heck Blondie was doing there) who were having second thoughts about the whole thing.

Yes, there are some South Dakotans who hate NAs, I suppose, but most don't. It's not fair to judge all whites, including South Dakotans, based on what some are like.

[proud2BlibKansan]

32. And what would you call the US govt stealing NA lands?

What would you call separating kids from their parents and forcing them to go across the country to "Indian" schools?

What would you call marching the Native Americans on foot across the country en masse and forcing them to live on reservations?

What would you call forcing the boys to cut their hair and abandon ALL their native rituals?

What would you call stealing gold from the Black Hills, well over a billion dollars worth?

What would you call all these despicable acts if not terrorism??

And you complain about AIM inconveniencing YOUR life? AIM causing tension?? LOL

Get over it and study up on your history. Then maybe, just maybe, you will understand why AIM came to be in the first place.

[frogmarch]

33. I call those

acts of terrorism. Yes, those awful things happened. No one denies it.

Okay, maybe the Black Hills, along with the gold, should be returned to the Lakota. Then the Lakota could recompense the Arikara, who were in S.D. before the Lakota came and drove them out.

End of discussion for me. It's futile to try to discuss anything with someone who thinks they know it all and is raring for a fight.

[proud2BlibKansan]

34. I am not rarin for a fight at all

I just can't sit here and read racist crap and NOT respond. You obviously have issues with NAs since you posted that nonsense about them getting free money. And there are quite a few of us here who will challenge posters when they put up false info.

[frogmarch]

35. Okay

if you read this and still feel justified in calling me a racist (and I infer, a liar), so be it.

http://www.citizensalliance.org/links/pages/articles/standing_rock_indians_are_still_losing.htm

The report is not about Pine Ridge, but the story is sadly familiar.

Excerpt:

Making sense of a place like Standing Rock is not easy, for it is beyond the experience of those who live in the East. First, there is the land itself - endless, rugged and beautiful. Standing Rock sprawls over 2.3 million acres of western North Dakota and South Dakota. The reservation is half the size of New Jersey, yet only 5,000 to 6,000 Indians and several thousand whites live there. It is possible to drive for miles without passing a car or a house. Coyotes, antelope and prairie dogs come into view from time to time, and in summer golden eagles circle overhead, lazily riding the hot winds. The vista is unbroken from horizon to horizon, and the rare rainstorms can be seen from miles away, with stunning clarity, advancing over the prairie.

Set against this backdrop is a jarring poverty. Villages such as Wakpala resemble nothing so much a ghettos grafted onto the lovely, fawn-colored prairie. Near Wakpala, a dump fire smolders, and garbage blows across the buffalo grass. Junked cars sit on dirt front yards, tumbleweed bounces down the streets, stray dogs sulk among the federally built houses. The structures, strewn along the hillside above Oak Creek, are scarred and mud-spattered. Inside, tiles peel off floors, pipes leak, and the winter wind shakes the dwellings to the core. Villagers generally drive aging clunkers, and the rumble of their engines fills the air. Alcoholics wander the landscape like ghosts. The village's largest structure, a gymnasium built with federal dollars in the 1960's is riddled with gaping holes and surrounded by rubble. Across the street is a reminder of a more self-reliant era - a root cellar, made of stone, where Indians once stored vegetables from their gardens, Now, there is scarcely a garden in sight.

That Standing Rock has become a breeding ground of sorrow is beyond dispute: Traditional Sioux culture has been shattered, the economy is a shambles, welfare is king, alcoholism is rampant. More than $200 million in federal funds has been spent here in the last quarter-century, yet the reservation remains an economic wasteland. Not one sizable Indian business or industry exists. Three quarters of the adult population is unemployed. The two counties that make up Standing Rock are among the 25 poorest in the United States.

On Standing Rock, and on numerous other reservations throughout the country, much has gone haywire. Federal programs designed to make America's 800,000 reservation Indians independent have had precisely the opposite effect. On Standing Rock, the tribal government preaches economic self-determination yet works hand-in-hand with a powerful white trader who epitomizes the company-store system that has reigned on the reservation for more than a century. Tribal councilmen rail at the federal government for ruining the reservation economy, then take tens of thousands of dollars meant to bring businesses to Standing Rock and squander it on junkets. Hundreds of Indians receive huge amounts of free food from the government, then turn around and sell it to white ranchers on a thriving black market. In affixing blame for the mess on this and many other reservations, all eyes traditionally have turned to Washington, and with good reason: The federal government's mistreatment of Native Americans is legendary. But a visit to Standing Rock suggests that things are more complicated and that clinging to the view that it is all Washington's fault may actually be impeding the progress. In hamlets such as Wakpala and little Eagle, villagers offer up this news: The tribe's leaders - now the dominant force on Standing Rock - are failing the people as badly as the federal government has. And many Indians, withered by the pervasive welfare system, are failing each other.

~~

[LostinVA]

41. Yes, "we," the White Establishment, are STILL committing genocide

Against these people. STILLSTILLSTILL. And, refuse to give them the Black Hills and their mineral rights back even after ORDERED to by a court. Been in a BIA hospital lately? Notice how many of the teachers on the Rez schools aren't certified? Some don't even have college degrees.

Funny, I'm not the one ignoring facts, but am being told that by someone who is.

MOST people on the rez are in dire straits. The majority. And there is literally no way out. You can't pull yourself up by your bootstraps when not only do you have none, but every time you try to get some, you get punched in the face.

I'm not the outrageous one -- YOU ARE.

It's 2006, not the 70's, so the AIM stuff is pointless. Again, AIM did not evolve in a vacuum. Just like the IRA.

You may visit teh rez every few months, but you don't see.

[CAcyclist]

26. White kids werren't included, my ass

One of my boyfriends was from S.D., a white kid raised on the reservation - if there was anything like that he would have told me.

[frogmarch]

29. Yeah? Well

maybe not all res kids were bused to RC for the programs. It might have made a difference how far a given reservation was from Rapid. NA children who lived in Hot Springs were bused there for years. Rapid City is about an hour's drive from HS.

[SpiralHawk]

19. The racists secretly feel guilty about the land stealing and genocide

and it comes out queer as an ongoing campaign of hate.

Pitiful.

Their souls shrink

[philosophie_en_rose]

36. and many claim the survivors are privileged for the dishonor

of being the objects of hate, violence, and degradation.

to justify their ongoing campaign of apathy and hatred.