Authorities Probe Alleged Hate Crime Against Native American Kids
ROBERT SIEGEL, HOST:
An investigation into a possible hate crime is underway in Rapid City, S.D. A group of white men allegedly assaulted some Native American children at a minor league hockey game. Charles Michael Ray of South Dakota Public Radio reports that racial tensions in the city are running high.
CHARLES MICHAEL RAY, BYLINE: About two weeks ago, a group of middle school kids, aged 9 to 13, made a two-hour bus trip from the Pine Ridge Reservation to a Rapid City Rush hockey game. The school-sanctioned outing was a reward for academic achievement. But the group left the game in the third period when some men sitting above them in a corporate box allegedly began to pour beer and shout racial slurs at the parents and students seated below.
Angie Sam believes her 13-year-old daughter and 56 other students are victims of a hate crime. She fights back tears when she talks about the impact on the kids.
ANGIE SAM: Some of our kids, they've had nightmares. They cry. We as parents, we cry for our kids because we protect them. And they were being rewarded for good behavior, and these drunk, white men ruined that for them.
RAY: The incident was reported on social media after the game and then to law enforcement. Police officials say charges could include hate crimes, assault and even child abuse. Rapid City Police Chief Karl Jegeris condemns the attack.
KARL JEGERIS: It was what I would call scorching of your soul. So it upsets me greatly that this occurred here in our community. And it certainly is a criminal act that occurred. We do have an ongoing open criminal investigation.
RAY: Suspects in that investigation have not yet been named. Police say any charges could be weeks away. Mato Standing High is an attorney for some of the families involved.
MATO STANDING HIGH: Being patient in this process is part of it, but we can't be too patient. We need action. Rapid City should not tolerate the abuse of children, period.
RAY: Standing High says this incident adds to racial tension here that was already elevated following a police shooting of a Native American man in December. He notes a pattern of troubled race relations extending all the way back to the white settlement of this area in the late 19th century. He says what's different this time is that it involves so many kids.
STANDING HIGH: You add on top of that factors of race, and that's when people get really, really excited and taken back in history to horrible treatment that Indians have faced.
RAY: Many of those like Standing High say that past racist acts or even hate crimes against native people here have occurred with few repercussions. But social media is seen as a game changer in this case. Chase Iron Eyes is an attorney and a founder of the group Lastrealindians. His website broke the story after it was posted on Facebook. Iron Eyes says anyone who is overtly racist now runs the risk of being called out on the Internet.
CHASE IRON EYES: We control our own presses. We control our own media networks. We reach a million people a week, for instance, on my media network easily. And so things are changing. There's an evolution here coming.
RAY: The native community is now embracing social media, using it to organize an antiracism rally prior to the next Rapid City Rush home game. The rally's Facebook page shows possible attendees including both natives and non-natives. Organizers see that type of cross-cultural communication as a positive step, but they note it will take more than one rally to heal the deep racial divisions here. For NPR News, I'm Charles Michael Ray in Rapid City, South Dakota.
Copyright © 2015 NPR. All rights reserved. Visit our website terms of use and permissions pages at www.npr.org for further information.
Accuracy and availability of NPR transcripts may vary. Transcript text may be revised to correct errors or match updates to audio. Audio on npr.org may be edited after its original broadcast or publication. The authoritative record of NPR’s programming is the audio record.