Today I listened to CNN talk about race relations in the US. Apparently since Obama took office, racial tensions are higher than before he took office. This on the anniversary of the March to Selma, 50 years.
My brother called me today. He had pregame jitters and wanted to talk to me. Red Lake was to play Win-E-Mac tonight for the chance to go to state, section finals, 8A. He asked me if I remembered the last time they played Win-E-Mac, and I said yes, very well.
I went into memory mode. I was the Chair of the Bemidji Area Race Relations Council at the time. Win-E had a pep rally the afternoon before they would play Red Lake, it was a Friday. The teachers and players (all white) came our dressed as Indians. There were Indian kids at Win-E and they video recorded the whole rally. The whole demeanor of the pep rally was deliberately racist, derogatory, and utterly deplorable. At the end of the pep rally a teacher asked one of the players where he got his Air Jordan's and yes, he said it, "he got them off a dead _ _ _ _ _ _ ."
I remember the mother of the student who video taped the rally, calling me and asking for help. She was getting death threats and her children were being harassed at school. The teachers and students knew the student taped the event. Vince Beyl and I went to work and filed a complaint of discrimination. Too soft a word for me now, looking back.
We were meeting in Paul Welle's bank conference room when I broke the news to the Bemidji Area Race Relations Council (BARRC). Paul wanted to know if there was a way to resolve it without filing a formal complaint. The then President of BSU said he wanted to keep it quiet too. He said that the towns, Winger, Erskine and MacIntosh, were divided over where to build the school, Win-E-Mac Apparently there was a lot of angst over the construction of this school and the President of BSU hated to see the communities suffer, again.
What?
I said no (while biting my tongue), the case was bigger than all of us. Trying to add some humor, I added that the incident was bigger than the room we were meeting in. The case went forward. I spoke to the mother a few more times. She was forced out of her home and her children had to change schools. People actually tried to steal the tape from her, but she let it be known that it was under lock and key. It was.
A few days after the complaint was made public I got a call from MPR, who wanted to know my opinion about the matter as the Chair of the BARRC. My oldest son was just a toddler then. I was fairly soft spoken as he toddled around me as I talked on the phone. I said that I urged the mother to file a formal complaint. BARRC assisted her. The reporter pressed me something fierce and asked what I thought about the complaint. I said that if the allegations were true, which I believed had merit, otherwise we wouldn't have filed the complaint, the teachers at Win-E were in violation of the Indian children's human rights. In sum, they discriminated against the Indian children at Win-E-Mac. The OCR's investigation would certainly bear this out given the video of the pep rally. Then she asked me a tough question. Would I be marching at the rally at Win-E? My heart sank. No, I would not. It ripped my heart out to say that. I wanted to, but as the Chair of the BARRC (and as the Stake RS President of the Fargo Stake of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints), I decided that it would be best not to attend the rally.
This event was many years ago. I agree with CNN that racial tensions are heightened at this time.
They are here in Rochester, at Century High School, when certain schools play one another in sports, even at simple board meetings, and they were high when my son shut down Lake City soccer team's offense.
Another report came out today as well. It seems the Ferguson Police Department was guilty of racial profiling and discriminatory practices. The police were biased in who the stopped for jay walking, traffic violations, and so forth. They ticketed primarily black people and it was through this means that the police department made much of its money. Sic. Yet, Office Wilson was not guilty of a crime. The young man he chose to stop for jay walking, that ended up in the young man's death, was within the law. I don't see how these two situations, the report and the stop for jay walking, are not related. Clearly if Office Wilson had not targeted the young man, the young man would be alive today. It seems that the people of Ferguson had enough and knew that they were being targeted. So sad for all involved.
This kind of news is not pleasant to people. My post on the tensions in Rapid City, SD (our Ferguson) received no likes. The incident also received no national attention and barely got local attention. 57 Dakota kids were harassed by several white people in a VIP suite at a Rush Hockey Game. They had beer thrown at them. Racial slurs were thrown at them too. The chaperones removed the kids from the game, while white men chased the kids out of the arena. These kids were rewarded for their academic progress and were invited to attend the game. What did these kids learn? There was one lone white man charged with disorderly conduct after the investigation was completed. There was a march in Rapid City to demand justice for the children. I so wanted to be there.
An answer to my earlier question, I think the kids learned that racial tensions are high in Rapid City, SD.
I recently posted about the serious events in Pine Ridge too, and it received only 2 likes. The events in Rapid City resonated throughout the reservation. This too received no national attention and very little local attention, while it reverberated throughout Indian Country. I think people do not like unpleasant news about racial tensions and their effect on people of color. Last week someone at church actually said, "You know I saw your post and I...you know, Pine Ridge was a bad place years ago. We just lived twenty minutes away from there. There were homicides, alcoholism, and all that. I just think they would want to help themselves." I bit my tongue, hard, because I was in church.
I am going to title this blog: Racial tensions are high. What would GOM do? This way only those who care about racial matters will read it and those who don't won't.
My brother texted me a few minutes ago, Red Lake beat Win-E-Mac, 81-75. Red Lake is Section 8A Chanps! Feels good.
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