Scott Aust, Journal staff | Posted: Friday, September 7, 2007 11:00 pm
|
RAPID CITY - When Agnes Mousel, the
All-American Miss America of the National Congress of American
Indians, christened a train in the late 1940s, organizers of the
event replaced the alcohol in the bottle with river
water.
Back then, Native Americans weren't supposed to
have liquor, even if that liquor was about to be smashed on a train
engine.
Mousel, 79, said she didn't make a big deal
about it.
"People do crazy things, sometimes," she
said.
Mousel, the late Mayor Art LaCroix's sister,
has experienced store clerks who avoided waiting on her and made it
obvious she wasn't welcome because of her race. Times have changed
for the better, generally, but she believes some people still
harbor those kinds of feelings.
"People should be judged by their character,
not their race. That's what counts," she said, echoing the words of
civil rights leader Martin Luther King.
Most community leaders generally agree that
racial issues have improved, though it's unclear how much. All
agree a great deal of work remains.
Rapid City police officer Lisa Whiteface
Whiteface believes educating people about different cultures,
traditions and racism through workshops or forums would be a good
place to start improving race relations.
"There has to be a lot of healing go on if
there's going to be any kind of peace. As it is, there's a lot of
hate," she said.
Local attorney Charlie Abourezk said
understanding one another is also key.
"That's really the great crime of racism is
that we start to become mysteries to each other, and we don't know
each other's humanness very well," Abourezk said. "So anything we
do toward empathy and human understanding is a positive step,
especially when it comes to race relations or gender
relations."
Abourezk has taught race relations in various
workshops and seminars and finds that non-Native Americans in those
classes seem more sensitive and understanding today and want to
bridge the gap between races.
He credits improved relations to minorities
being more assertive in countering racial incidents when they
occur.
"That's helpful, both to minorities and
non-minorities. It's information, and it's truth and that always
brings us closer to understanding each other, even if it's a little
painful," he said.
Racist incidents aren't always overt. Abourezk
said people are more cautious with their words today, but
sometimes, nonverbal cues can be more brutal - a glare from a
shopkeeper; a waitress slamming silverware on the table; any
nonverbal clues that a minority is not welcome.
"There's a lot of ways to communicate without
every saying anything," Abourezk said.
But there are signs of improvement. Abourezk
recalled a recent case in which an all-white jury awarded his
Native American client a $212,000 judgment after the client was
roughed up by store security at Prairie Bottle Market in Rapid
City.
Afterward, a number of jurors shook hands with
his client and wished him well, something Abourezk found very
encouraging.
"Human beings want to understand one another.
They want to resolve the mystery," he said.
Abourezk believes people feel comfortable
enough today to reach across the racial divide and try to
understand what it is about Native Americans that they've missed
out on and want to get to know them better.
Laurette Pourier, the director of SANI-T,
Society for the Advancement of Native Interests Today, said race
relations have improved to a degree, but so much more needs to
happen.
"It appears to me that eyes are closed to
conditions around us in Rapid City that are so blatant," she
said.
Much work remains to change attitudes in the
school system, law enforcement, housing and landlord issues and the
business community to recognize and respect who we are as Native
people, Pourier said.
"There's that feeling, in certain places -
usually public places or walking into a certain business - that you
just know you're not thought of as equal to other people," she
said.
Pourier said her mentor, the late state senator
Carol Maicki, had a saying that was very comforting and affirming:
"If you feel it, it's true."
In other words, it's hard to describe a look or
an attitude because it's invisible, intangible.
"A lot of people won't say anything verbally,
but it's an attitude. It's a look," she said. "SANI-T is getting
more complaints than ever, so there's no indication to us that
things have improved a lot."
SANI-T is a nonprofit organization of Native
American and non-Native American people formed in 2002 committed to
proactive solutions to racism and poverty and moving toward healing
and prosperity in the Native American community.
The group developed cultural competency
training for organizations, businesses and agencies early on that
teaches understanding of Native American culture under the premise
that education would bring about positive change and social equity
in the city but there are few requests for this
service.
Pourier believes cultural competency training
is an important step in changing racial attitudes. On a personal
level, Pourier confronts situations directly. If a store employee
appears to have an attitude toward her because of her race, she
will ask them directly, in a nonbelligerent way, if they have a
problem. If the attitude persists, she'll ask to talk to a
manager.
What managers choose to do about their employee
from there is up to them.
"It's enough to say it. It's better than just
hanging your head and acting beaten down," she said.
Dorothy Riley, new Indian Education and Grants
director for Rapid City area schools, recently moved back to Rapid
City after about 25 years in Utah. Until 1982, Riley was an
elementary school teacher, Title VII project director and bilingual
education project director in Rapid City.
Riley hasn't been back in Rapid City long
enough to have enough interaction with the community to compare
race relations today to 25 years ago, but she said she is very
positive about moving forward.
In the past, Riley said, there were people in
the education world who had misinformation about Native Americans
and their lifestyle. There wasn't as much inclusiveness for Native
Americans in the city back then.
One comparison now is Riley sees much more
integration of people from all backgrounds in the few businesses
she has been in and more involvement at every level in the
education system.
"I couldn't tell you if racism is totally gone.
I doubt it, but I have a strong conviction that there has been
progress made," Riley said. "I see pride, and I've heard pride in
the community. Native Americans are seen as part of the community,
not a separate entity."
However, Riley said, her impression is just a
"snapshot" and she can't say how deep the sense of inclusiveness
goes. As an educator, her No. 1 foucs is children, and No. 2 is
Native American children.
Riley said she is proud of the message she has
heard from the superintendent, school board, administrators and
teachers that "all these kids belong to all of us."
"We all have a responsibility for them. That's
really a positive statement to me, that we're all looking out for
all kids," she said. "So far, it has been a very encouraging time
in the school district and to live in Rapid City."
Former Mayor Jim Shaw, who formed the Undoing
Racism Task Force during his administration to try to create a
dialog, said ending racism is a laudable goal, but it's probably
not realistic. However, he hopes there comes a point where people
at least understand one another.
"People are not born with prejudices or racist
sensibilities. It's something that's learned," Shaw said. "It's a
learned behavior that I think can be unlearned through better
communication and better information sharing among all
peoples."
Acts of violence or discriminatory acts need to
be dealt with on their face, Abourezk said. But the deeper battle
is for people's hearts and minds.
"I think that battle is slowly and gradually
being won," he said.
But like the civil rights movement in the
1960s, the battle for equality must be won legally first with an
absolute boundary against breaking the law and acting in a
discriminatory manner toward minorities, Abourezk
said.
"I think the same is true here. We had some
rough times in the '70s, but in many ways, if we hadn't gone
through that painful period of time, we wouldn't be as far as we
are right now in terms of race relations," he said. "Going through
that painful period of the '70s helped birth the sort of
integration and exchange of humanity that we're seeing in the new
millennium."
Recently, Abourezk was talking to his friend,
Lionel Bordeaux, president of Sinte Gleska University at Mission,
who told him of a white student who came to his office shortly
before graduation.
The student told Bordeaux her family had called
her crazy to go to Sinte Gleska because "the Indians would kill
her." The student came anyway and developed friendships deeper than
almost all of her former friendships. She started crying and told
Bordeaux she was sorry to graduate because she didn't want to
leave.
"That, I think, is the real treasure that
awaits people who reach across that divide from both sides, is that
we can start to develop those friendships and start to see real
progress," Abourezk said.
Pourier said more social interaction between
Native Americans and non-Natives is beneficial, and she urged
people interested in having an impact on improving race relations
to come to functions, many of which are held at the Mother Butler
Center.
"Mingle. Be friendly. Whether it's a picnic or
a powwow, get to know us. Get to know us," she said.
Contact Scott Aust at 394-8415 or
scott.aust@rapidcityjournal.com
