Editor's note: This is the first in an occasional and ongoing series revisiting issues raised 10 years ago at a civil rights hearing.

It was 1999. Elsie Meeks of Interior became the first Native American to serve on the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights at a time area race relations stewed.

Eight men, most of them Natives, had died in Rapid Creek in just over a year. There were no arrests, and investigators disagree whether crimes were committed.

Two Native men were found beaten to death on Pine Ridge Indian Reservation north of Whiteclay, Neb. There have been no arrests.

A Native man died in Mobridge after a group of teenagers put him head-first into a garbage can. They were not tried because an autopsy determined he died of alcohol poisoning.

There were many other court cases where people felt Native defendants received harsher sentences than whites.

Native Americans were frustrated. And they were angry.

"It was really boiling and was at, I think, really the point of exploding," Meeks recently recalled.

The Civil Rights Commission came to Rapid City on Dec. 6, 1999, to let them vent. And they did. Some waited for hours so they could testify about their experiences with law enforcement and the justice system.

Their comments clearly showed many believed there was a dual system of justice in South Dakota and that race was a critical factor in how law enforcement and judicial functions were carried out.

What's happened since then?

Because he thought a report following the commission hearing was "garbage," then-Gov. Bill Janklow commissioned a University of South Dakota study. It found that Native Americans convicted in state courts were being sentenced to 57 percent more prison time than whites for the same crimes. USD researchers are now conducting a follow-up study, exploring how social and economic factors influence sentencing.

The U.S. Sentencing Commission met here in 2001, fielding testimony from judges, attorneys, tribal leaders and others who said Natives prosecuted in federal court are punished more harshly than non-Natives prosecuted in state courts. One result was special training for defense attorneys to help them do a better job of helping clients receive fair sentences.

The South Dakota Supreme Court created an Equal Justice Commission, which began meeting in 2004, that studied perceptions of unfairness based on minority status in the state judicial system. Its recommendations included providing cultural sensitivity training for court personnel and recruiting Sinte Gleska University in Rosebud to develop a two-year court reporter program to help increase the number of minority court workers.

"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?" said Marletta Pacheco, a Rosebud Sioux Tribe member who attended the 1999 hearing and has been an advocate for Native rights.

After recently attending a prison powwow and talking with Native inmates, Pacheco said they feel they've been treated unfairly because of race. "I don't think things have changed," she said.

Rae Ann Red Owl, an associate tribal judge for the Oglala Sioux Tribe in Kyle, sees progress happening in baby steps.

"There's still a lot of work to be done," Red Owl said. "There's such a need for cultural understanding, I think even on both sides. I guess the only way we can really do that is be willing to come to the table and have the discussions."

The Equal Justice Commission recommended that the state invite tribal judges and clerks to state conferences and trainings to improve working relationships. Red Owl was one of three tribal judges who attended the Unified Judicial System's spring judicial conference this year.

Red Owl, a former nurse who has been a tribal judge for about 18 months, said the conference sessions were good, and people were welcoming. Tribal and state judges expressed interest in future collaborations.

"We have such complicated jurisdiction issues that get raised; it would be good to get more training, I think, for all the judges, both state and tribal," she said.

Other justice commission recommendations resulted in adding a question about Native law to the State Bar examination for attorneys.

The State Bar newsletter also now asks prosecutors and defense attorneys to "be sensitive to the potential of race influencing charging decisions and plea agreements," according to the Unified Judicial System's Web site.

Other suggestions are still on the table. The recommendation that South Dakota high school and college students be encouraged or required to complete some study of Native American culture and history has not happened.

Judith Roberts, legal and legislative counsel for the state judicial system, said the justice commission has basically turned over the work of implementing its recommendations and furthering its mission to the state court administrator's office.

"We have been very committed for years now to making sure that report didn't just sit there, but that it was actually used as a tool and a guide to continually strive to make improvements within the system," Roberts said. "The programs and the changes and things that we've implemented have gone over very well."

Roberts said the state judicial system also conducts surveys of people who use the courts - attorneys, defendants - to find out what works and where improvements are needed.

"It's a complex problem, and it's not a one-time fix," she said. "We can't just overnight solve everything. And that's why we keep working at it, keep striving, and one step at a time making improvements."

Meeks said the 1999 hearing and resulting reports helped raise awareness of racism and perceptions of unfair treatment. It also sparked much discussion.

Meeks, who left the commission in 2005, said she enjoyed serving on the commission but that it was also frustrating, partly because she felt politics got in the way of accomplishing real change.

Marc Feinstein, chairman of the South Dakota Advisory Committee for Civil Rights, said the panel slid into limbo after issuing its 1999 hearing report.

Federal rules have since changed to prevent anyone from serving on a state advisory committee for more than 10 years, and civil rights offices, including the Denver regional operation serving South Dakota, have seen reductions and departures of key personnel.

"I think (the state committee) just sort of died on the vine," Feinstein said.

He hopes the situation will change under the Obama administration. As for the current state of race relations in South Dakota, Feinstein can't say.

"I think there is still a lot of frustration out in Indian Country," he said. "I think (the hearing) was an eye-opener. Did anything happen from it? I don't know."

Meeks said without administration and enforcement, she fears the state could "slip back" to where things were before 1999. However, she has seen some local attitudes change.

She pointed to recent incidents in which teenagers riding in vehicles shot pellets at Native pedestrians. City leaders quickly denounced what happened and said such behavior will not be tolerated.

"It's racism, but it's also just ignorance and stupidity," Meeks said. "I did appreciate Rapid City leadership's quick response and denunciation of that.

"There's always going to be ignorant people," Meeks said. "No laws, no amount of activism, will make that go away."

The Rapid City Police Department also has entered into a partnership with the Oglala Sioux Tribe Department of Public Safety that allows officers to ride along with officers from the other department.

After nearly 40 years in law enforcement, Pennington County Sheriff Don Holloway believes that is how race relation improve, as people of different races get to know each other - by working together, sharing meals, going to ball games together.

But it's a slow process, he said, because it happens one person as a time.

Pacheco holds out hope that race relations will continue to improve.

"I just hope something happens, something good will happen, that people will change," she said. "But you know, it's in the hearts of people. Only when the hearts of people change … we'll see real change."

Contact Heidi Bell Gease at 394-8419 or Heidi.bell@rapidcityjournal.com