The Rapid City Journal perpetuates hatred by allowing outrageous racist comments in the feedback section under articles published there and at its Faceberg page and censors journalists like Jim Kent. Veteran reporters and spouses Mary Garrigan and Kevin Woster fled the Journal in 2013 as have other talented writers.
Before I decided to accept a position at the Journal more than three years ago, I flew to Rapid City to spend a couple of days exploring the area. I asked my recruiter to take me on a driving tour of the rest of Rapid City, where I saw the economic divide between those who are affluent, middle-class and poor. Those indicators seemed to be comparable to larger metropolitan areas, but were a bit shocking for a smaller city. I went to one of the numerous restaurants on Main Street and sat down at the bar. I placed my order with a very friendly waitress and sipped on a soda while I waited for my food. Another gentleman came in by himself and sat at the bar, too. He placed his order for a burger and soft drink, just as I had. But the waitress had a totally different response. "You better have money to pay for that," she barked. He was an older Native American man. I was a younger white man. His response: "I'm used to it. It happens all the time." Racism in Rapid City had reared its ugly head — within the first 48 hours of my initial visit. [Nathan Thompson]Today the Rapid City Police Department is still staffed by white supremacists and bigots. Former police chief now Mayor Steve Allender, who has been accused of managing "a bunch of racists,” has lamented it costs Rapid City some $15 million every year to address homelessness.
Mount Rushmore is South Dakota's premier example of white nationalist ideology. Its sculptor was a member of the Ku Klux Klan.
We all know Republican South Dakota Governor Kristi Noem is a racist but now my home state has gone from being America's laughing stock to becoming a co-conspirator in hate crimes. Mrs. Noem just recently called out the Journal as untrustworthy.
4 comments:
$15,000,000 a year addressing homelessness and not a single house built? That kind of loot could put up enough roofs to solve the entire problem. By god, I think Mayor Allender is scamming the city hard. What could he be spending that money on if not to build homes for the homeless?
Rapid City's population is about 11% Native but South Dakota's jails and prisons are overwhelmingly warehousing American Indians. Journalist Tim Giago saw little difference between Rapid City and Ferguson, Missouri where Michael Brown's family filed a wrongful death lawsuit against that police department. Daniel Tiger chose to take out two Rapid City police personnel with him rather than be gunned down in cold blood like Christopher Capps was.
Mayor Allender should offer a $3000 stipend to those who qualify, more for families and veterans then encourage people to flee South Dakota's unforgiving winters.
I went to school with Daniel. He went by a different name back then. He was a nice boy. Shy. Smiled a lot. Only time I wore red was when we had Allender’s “Heroes Wear Blue Day” at work. We had a lock down that day at work and I laid across my kids on the floor of my classroom. The police’s bullets flew everywhere.
I think your idea of winter migration for our homeless population is excellent. And pragmatic. I just had to flip my car around Friday night to get out and try to help a man off the frozen ground. I cannot stand seeing people dying in the cold every winter. Makes no sense. I will write the mayor about actually using the millions of dollars towards keeping people alive this year instead of another decade of “studying homelessness” while the people show up as a single line in the news.... “Unattended death. Autopsy will be performed to determine if alcohol was involved.”
Albuquerque is a violent place and there are hundreds living outside in Santa Fe, too. Shelters enforce zero tolerance and provoke suicide by cop. It’s maddening.
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