Series: Indians and civil rights in South Dakota

National

Monday, June 1, 2009

The Rapid City Journal is running an occasional series on American Indians and civil rights in South Dakota.

The series comes as the 10th anniversary of a U.S. Civil Rights Commission hearing approaches. On December 6, 1999, tribal members testified about the disparate system of justice in the state.

"It was really boiling and was at, I think, really the point of exploding," Elsie Meeks, a member of the Oglala Sioux Tribe who was the first Native American to serve on the commission, told the paper.

A year later, the commission released a report that confirmed that tribal members were treated differently. But even though additional studies have shed more light on the issue, some don't see any progress.

"There's a lot of studies that have happened, and a lot of people that have been getting together, but you wonder, you know, when is it going to start moving?" asked Marletta Pacheco, a member of the Rosebud Sioux Tribe. "I don't think things have changed," she added.

Race relations have again surfaced amid a series of attacks on Indian pedestrians in Rapid City. This June also marks the 10th anniversary of the unsolved deaths of two Oglala Sioux men near the town of Whiteclay, Nebraska.

"It's not a case we've forgotten," Bob Perry, a supervisory special agent for the FBI, told the paper. "We're just trying to develop new leads. The more time passes, the tougher it gets."

Get the Story:
Progress slow since '99 civil rights hearing (The Rapid City Journal 6/1)
Poor Bear still waiting for justice (The Rapid City Journal 6/1)

Also Today:
Recruiting Native American officers a challenge (The Rapid City Journal 6/1)
Flandreau chief: Diversity builds law enforcement, community ties (The Rapid City Journal 6/1)
Home and salaries lure Native officers (The Rapid City Journal 6/1)