RAPID CITY, SOUTH DAKOTA -- In the wake of the explosive violence on August 2 that shook the North Rapid community to its core, Chief of Police Steve Allender has made an invocative attempt at conciliation with the community’s mostly Native American residents. Allender hosted a North Rapid neighborhood forum last Thursday night at North Middle School in response to the volatility stemming from the gunfire incident near New Beginnings Baptist Church on the North side that left a young Native American male and two white Rapid City police officers dead. “People always seem to associate violence with North Rapid,” said Allender in his opening monologue. What most seem to forget is the fact that “there is violence elsewhere” in the city, as well. “(Violence) has become the global tradition,” he said. Approximately 200 North Rapid residents, both Native and non-Native, attended the healing forum to voice concerns about the longstanding, highly visible police presence within the community and the ensuing tension between the area’s largely Native American population and the police force’s multitude of white officers. Though violent crimes are not unique to the North side, there are purposely more police officers stationed here, Allender said, as the area is more densely populated than other sectors of Rapid City and the majority of emergency calls for law enforcement assistance originate within the neighborhood. “I hope that the increased police presence doesn’t become a racial issue, too,” he entreated. But for many of the Native attendees, the focal topic of the evening was the socially constructed issue of racism. “I don’t know how (the shooting incident) has been turned into a racial issue,” said Allender. “Call me ignorant, but (the Rapid City Police Department does not) get any of those vibes,” he said. Many of the Native American audience members who spoke countered Allender’s purported lack of knowledge and sensitivity. “There are some police officers who are racist,” said Cynthia Gonzalez, North side citizen and Oglala Sioux Tribe member. “I’ve seen it. My kids have seen it.” “I have often heard a lot of my (Native American) friends say ‘I live in Rapid City, the most racist place on earth’,” added Karen Eagle, member of both the North Rapid community and the OST. In the past, there have been public forums held by both city officials and Native American organizations to address the issue of improving race relations within the Rapid City community. But the outcomes of those low-turnout public forums have been dismal, according to Allender. “The only people who came were extremely angry and hogged the microphone,” he said. “I didn’t feel any better about (race relations), and I’m sure none of the Native Americans in attendance did, either.” “There’s good and bad in every race,” said longtime North side resident Leonard Bryant. “It’s in all of us. I have lived here 40 years, and I have seen the change in North Rapid for the better. The police department (is) doing a good job,” he said. Allender informed the audience that Native Americans account for 50 percent of the RCPD’s arrests – a substantial amount when juxtaposed against the city’s larger, non-Native populace. “One of the reasons, again, is that more emergency calls for police assistance come from Native Americans,” he said. There are also more self-initiated contacts with law enforcement officers by Native citizens, Allender indicated, due, in part, to Rapid City’s largely Native homeless population. The approximately 6,000 Native Americans who reside in Rapid City comprise 10 percent of the city’s overall population. “I wish we could only use force against white people, because it would erase that issue (of racism) that’s so hard to deal with and is so troubling for so many people,” Allender said. (The Indian population in Rapid City is often transitional but most Indians put the total population at 10,000). Robin Page, who has resided in the Lakota Homes community for many years, commended the police department for “doing a good job,” then made an appeal to Allender. “We need more help in Lakota Homes,” she said. “My 16-year-old son has been jumped three times recently.” Page suggested that a neighborhood task force could be created with the assistance of the RCPD to expand positive recreational activities for youth residing in the Lakota Homes area. “This community is filled with hopelessness, which may be another name for racism,” she said. In response to increased crime levels, the city recently added four additional police officers to the North side unit via federal grant funding, according to Allender. “It is very possible we may see another Street Crimes Unit in North Rapid as a result of this addition,” he said. Mayor Sam Kooiker, who was present for most of the evening’s proceedings but did not speak publicly, and the city council are currently reviewing the city’s budget to determine if a second North side SCU is a viable and sustainable option. If not, “then that hard decision against an additional unit is gonna have to be made,” said Allender. Two of the three officers involved in the deadly altercation with 22-year-old Daniel Tiger, who was a member of the OST, were members of the SCU - Nick Armstrong, who lost his life, and Tim Doyle. “In the first hour following the shooting, I was angry,” Allender said. “And every hour after that, I was sad. I am still sad.” Eagle, whose further commentary was directed toward the Mayor, said some white officials and residents, including Kooiker, do not perceive racial tension because they are not Native. “You cannot feel the racial tension unless you are married to a Native American or have Native American children,” she said. “That feeling is there. That feeling is creating its own tension, and there is a lot of tension here.” Eagle referenced in her dialogue a past comment made by Kooiker: that he “does not feel the racial tension” between and among Rapid City’s white and Native communities. In 2005, the RCPD took a novel approach to dealing with and reducing crime in North Rapid, according to Allender. “We put a police officer in the neighborhood with no rules to get to the core of the problem,” he said. “The officer went about asking community members about their neighborhood.” It was an experiment in providing social services, rather than strict policing, that has made a difference on the North side, indicated Allender. “The standard of living began to ratchet up, notch by notch,” he said. “Our (911) calls from the area plummeted 80 percent following the experiment.” Some Native attendees wondered why the city does not employ more Native American police officers. “We have made very specific, but unsuccessful, attempts in the past to attract Native Americans,” said Allender. “We are currently doing everything we can to recruit them. If you have a great idea for how we can go out and get little Native American boys and girls interested in being law enforcement officers in Rapid City, I’m all for it,” he said. The Rapid City Police Department refuses to advertise for Native police officers in Indian newspapers like Native Sun News, the largest weekly newspaper in South Dakota, according the NSN Sales Manager, Jackie Giago. Of the 142 officers presently serving on the Rapid City police force, only four are Native American. The issue of cultural sensitivity and competency on the part of the RCPD was also addressed. “You guys need to be more educated on our culture,” said Gonzalez. Eagle added that Rapid City’s Native American community is not being recognized as a unique culture by the city’s mostly white police department. “We have our own unique identities,” she said. “We are not part of the ‘melting pot.’” Allender said that the RCPD is not intentionally racist. He cited racism as an individualized trait that is exhibited not only by some officers on the force, but by some people in general. “The police work for the people,” he said. “I am always looking for the next great idea on how to facilitate improvement of race relations” “Racism is a beast,” said community member Rosalie Little Thunder. “We have to acknowledge it. We have to understand it. We have to grapple with it.” (Contact Jesse Abernathy at staffwriter@nsweekly.com)
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