I found the different tribal newspapers
fascinating and very inspirational. It was nice to see that the
tribes are putting forth their own news and their opinions of news
that is affecting their own people. One article that I found
especially interesting was in the Native American Times about a man
in South Dakota that was arrested for harassing Native American
children with racial slurs and spitting beer on them. Native American
took the matter into their own hands when they felt that the
sentencing was considered too lenient. This demonstrates the problems
that are still being faces by many Native Americans and the racism
that they face. It also shows how the Native Americans are still very
loyal to their own people and want to see justice for their own when
they are wronged.
This man was not given any jail time
and was given a very small fine for the injustice that he did against
these people. They held their own trial where more than 100 of their
people came to discuss the injustice and the racism that exists in
their city since this was not the first time this sort of racism had
occurred. Many felt that there is a double standard of justice in the
city. There seems to be an ongoing tension between Native American
and the law enforcement in Rapid City
Problems for the Native Americans still
goes on and they still fight for equal rights today.
Trial begins of man accused of harassing Indian kids
- Parent Category: News
- Published on Friday, 24 July 2015 16:54
- Written by JAMES NORD, Associated Press
It is really worth read....
Anthony Congdon
Very interesting post and article. I went back and read the article to formulate my own opinion. Any issue concerning racial discrimination, especially towards children, will always generate controversy. In my opinion, based on the article and your post, the judge was better off not offering any form of punishment cause there appears to be a lack of evidence. However, offering a mere $500 dollar fine says "we think you did something wrong but we cannot prove it". Unfortunately, that is the nature of our legal system for better or worse. Clearly it is not perfect and there will always be injustices.
ReplyDeleteIt is unfortunate event, it is another injustice for the Natives. I really enjoyed the article it was very interesting. I discuss another court case in one of my post where the Natives received the short end of the stick.
ReplyDeleteThis sounds like an interesting story. I think that many people believe that there is no discrimination against Native Americans anymore, but this story clearly shows that it is still an issue in the United States. I am happy that Native Americans can bring some of these issues to light through their newspapers. Thanks for sharing the information.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the post Anthony! That's the problem still with our system and society. If this had been any other minority in this country, it would be called a hate crime but because its a native American (a true American), the judgment is that of a traffic ticket basically. Spitting on someone is about as bad as it gets in my eyes. The irony here is that this sick individual hates the natives and wishes they would leave. That's exactly how they felt when they were invaded years ago by his descendants. The question of who should go and who should stay is obvious. The guy spitting the beer on children should have been incarcerated and then thrown out of Rapid City after he served his sentence.
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