Rapid City's population is about 11% Native, Indigenous people account for nearly 60% of arrests there and South Dakota's jails and prisons are overwhelmingly
warehousing American Indians.
From the days of card tables and stock pots filled with steaming soups every Sunday on the banks of Rapid Creek Deirdre Monahan, Pat Zent and their intrepid group of Food not Bombs volunteers provided an alternative for up to seventy people otherwise subjected to persecution at the hands of the christianic religionists who operate the Cornerstone Mission.
Laura Armstrong is a local speech language pathologist who served on the Rapid City Common Council from 2017-2023, twice as Council President and in December this interested party asked her to enter the Democratic gubernatorial primary so elderly spoiler Rick Knobe would stay out of the race. Today, Armstrong a shoo-in for Ward 5 as Rod Pettigrew is not running again.
Murray Lee from NDN Collective is challenging Ward One incumbent Josh Biberdorf. Christopher Vanderhoof is challenging incumbent Lindsey Seachris’ seat in Ward Two. Ward Three incumbent Keven Maher is being challenged by Andrea (ANNDREA) Schaefer. John Roberts, the incumbent for Ward Four, being challenged by Valeriah Big Eagle and Ardin Jay Cychosz (SEE-KOSH). Laura Armstrong and Pat Roseland, both former Council members, are running for Pettigrew’s seat in Ward Five.
Some of the council candidates appeared at a recent Pennington County Democrats candidate forum at The Dahl in Rapid City, where party organizers emphasized candidate support, petition drives, and fundraising to help local campaigns get on the ballot and meet their goals.
The evening highlighted the growing presence of Native candidates and women seeking local office. Big Eagle who is the director of He Sapa Initiatives at NDN Collective and Yankton Sioux and Crow Creek Sioux, spoke about working with youth, confronting high Native student dropout rates, and coaching basketball as a way to keep young people in school and “off the streets.” She tied her city council bid to long-running work on affordable housing, clean water, and opposition to mining projects that threaten the Black Hills and local water supplies.
Read it all at Native Sun News Today.