BIA and School Protest, Wagner SD and Church protest in Marty SD - 29 April 2003
Click here for Protesters March on Wagner article for the Lakota Journal, Ruth Steinberger 9-16 May, 2003
Commentary on the below photos by Alfred Bone Shirt. Click on the photos for enlarged version.
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BIA Protest by members of the Dakota-Lakota-Nakota Human Rights Advocacy Coalition & DLN Grass Roots A.I.M. Oyate at Wagner, SD |
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BIA Protest, Wagner SD. Alfred Bone Shirt, Milton, Della Eastman (holding sign), Robin Bair. |
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BIA Protest, Wagner SD. Milton Eastman and Della Eastman. |
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BIA Protest, Wagner SD. Danielle Spotted War Bonnet, Milton and Della. |
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Members of Dakota-Lakota-Nakota Human Rights Advocacy Coalition & DLN Grass Roots A.I.M.Oyate at protest of mistreatment of Indian Children at the Wagner school.
The officials standing with the police officer on the side in the back
ground tried to create an altercation just prior to this picture being
taken. We found out they were school officials. They could have been more
courteous and talked with us and opened a dialogue, but instead their focus
was on the international distress signal we carried (the upside down flag), using this as an excuse to call for Police.
Phone calls were made and
various vehicles with white males could be seen parking within close
distance of the area we were at.
They were making comments about us not
showing respect. We told them that we were there because of the Racist
treatment of our Indian students who "have to attend that school".
We asked them to identify themselves, they wouldn't tell us anything
but kept insisting on calling for Police or back up.
There are many complaints of
the racist mistreatment of our children who have to attend that
school. Most recent and one of the outstanding incidents is when a parent came to us and told us of a white staff member spitting on their little girl, who is a beautiful Dakota child. We told these officials that this has to stop and this is one
of the many reason why we were there at the school was because of their
racist acts against Our children. They answered by calling the police, who
called for back up and for their vigilantes. |
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Officer Niehus, Known Indian fighter, Wagner, S.D has a KKK church which recently changed its name but is still there. That should explain what is happening there. From Racial profiling to railroading Indian Kids to railroading Indians to following Indians around in the stores. to unsolved murders of Indians, to rapes of Indian women in custody.
This school is totally racist. Many complaints were given to the members of our group who reside on the
Ihanktowan Oyate homelands there. We need to help those individuals who need our help in that area. The spitting incident is only a tip of a racist White iceberg. This is a school which was sued by the ACLU for their violation with drug dogs. (See Use of Dog to Search Children For Drugs Prompts ACLU Suit and
Lawyer for the Wagner School District says Dogs never sniffed youngest kids.)
As more back up and more vigilantes started to show up the more bolder he got. |
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The individual in the white shirt was aggressive towards us; he immediately called for the Police,
and then, as mentioned, was calling other individuals, who showed up but sat in their
vehicles within close distance to where we were at.
The officer tried to take the
flag away from Frances Zephier at one point, but Robin, Frances' husband, got it and handed it to
me. Danielle came to get it and was in the process of putting it away when we
noticed the police heading towards her, so I (Alfred Bone Shirt) went back there and they
backed off. We explained that it was our constitutional right to
expression, but they wouldn't hear of it.
By then
the song and the singers were finished. so we wrapped it up to proceed to
the Catholic church in Marty, S.D.
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Members of Dakota-Lakota-Nakota Grass Roots A.I.M and Dakota-Lakota-Nakota Human Rights Advocacy Coalition protest Human Rights violations at St. Paul's Catholic Church on the Yankton Indian reservation at Marty, South Dakota. |
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It is our intention to Protest the other catholic churches as well as the Catholic run radio station in Saint Francis, South Dakota for their media suppression, and culturally irrelevant format. |
Ruth Steinberger
For the Lakota Journal, May 9 - 16, 2003
(Wagner, SD) Grass roots activists from reservations across South Dakota gathered on April 28 to offer prayer and ceremony for Gregory F. Zephier, Sr. In memory of Zephyr’s activism the group protested at several locations that highlight the need to address racial disparities and injustices that affect tribal members throughout reservations across the state.
Tribal members from Sisseton, Cheyenne River, the Ponca Tribe and the Rosebud Sioux Tribe joined protestors from the Yankton Sioux Tribe.
According to organizer Francis Zephier, the daughter of Gregory F. Zephier, Sr., Indians throughout South Dakota, indeed throughout the Great Plains, are dealing with similar issues both in terms of racism in the small non-Indian towns surrounding the reservations, and in ineffective or even corrupt tribal government. She believes that the combinations of the two are destroying tribal communities and killing Indians.
Zephier noted that Indians and federal monies that come into tribes are often the lifeblood of many small towns, yet Indians are targeted by the police and Indian youth leave the schools in high numbers referred to by the federal government as a “push-out” rate. She noted that while there are under one thousand adult age tribal members of the Yankton Sioux Tribe, it was recently revealed that are over 2,000 outstanding warrants for tribal members in Charles Mix County.
Making several stops in the City of Wagner, activists highlighted a number of issues that send Indians out of the schools and into jails in numbers far exceeding the statistics for non-Indians.
Protestors started at the BIA in Wagner, proceeded to the housing authority, and along the way included the Saint Paul’s Catholic Church in Marty, SD and the business community in Wagner. Zephier noted, “They profit from our people, but the racism is really bad. We passed out over 200 flyers while talking to people. It gave people a chance to voice their complaints.”
Zephier said that although money from tribal people comprises a large portion of the revenue received by Wagner merchants on a regular basis, many Indians complain of harassment in local stores. She said that price increases are seen in some places around Food Stamp Day and she noted, “When you are in the store they follow you around. If one is not careful, extra money will be taken of your card.” She continued, “The unemployment rate here is very high, yet many local merchants hire whites, giving white people a second job while Indians are not even given an application to fill out. If you participate in the TANF program, you have to look for employment. Many places in town will say they ‘don’t participate’ with those programs and will not even give you an application.”
Zephier concluded, “They are making big money off of our people.”
Protestors targeted the school in Wagner. The school district in Wagner, as in many off-reservation towns, has come under fire because of police involvement in the targeting of youth; the excessive dropout rate and what many believe are unfair disciplinary proceedings.
South Dakota towns Wagner, Winner and Martin have gained attention for racism in the disciplinary proceedings against Indian youth as well as for permitting the racial targeting of Indian youth by non-Indian juveniles and teachers. All three have faced lawsuits or complaints filed with the federal government regarding minority issues that relate to the school system or composition of the school boards or election protocol that makes it very difficult for a minority candidate to be elected. Wagner and Winner have not completed their resolution agreements with the United States Department of Education Office of Civil Rights following reviews by that office.
The City of Wagner School District recently settled a lawsuit stemming from an incident that drew national attention when school authorities allowed law enforcement to bring a drug sniffing dog into the lower grades to search students for drugs. According to Zephier, around the same time that the drug dog incident took place, school officials allowed students to be finger printed without notifying parents. She said that parents have never been told exactly who has the fingerprints and what they intended to do with them.
A separate settlement was reached recently in a lawsuit that was filed in March, 2002 by the Voting Rights Project of the ACLU against the voting system for school board representatives in the City of Wagner.
The City of Wagner is around 36 percent Indian voting age population and according to School Board Superintendent Vernal Anderson, around half of the students in the school system are Indian. According to ACLU research, there has never been an Indian on the City of Wagner School Board, however Anderson claimed that there have been at least two Indians on the seven-person board.
The Wagner School District illustrates Zephiers’ claim regarding the financial value that Indians have for many of the small towns around reservations. Wagner School District has around 760 students in grades K through 12. Out of roughly a five million dollar annual budget, according to the Department of Education, Impact Aid paid $3,180,406.00, or 62% of the total school budget. Impact Aid paid $1,730,408.00 to neighboring Andes Central.
While activists and Anderson clearly have different figures regarding the dropout rate for Indian students, it is unquestionably very high in Wagner as it is in many other “border towns.” Currently, five out of 70 staff teachers are Native American, however Anderson noted that the system sends hiring notices to all colleges throughout the state and is aggressive in its’ recruitment activities.
The result of an April 1999 Office of Civil Rights of the US Department of Education partnership review included recommendations for creating uniform procedures for dealing with student discipline, for dealing with racial harassment complaints and mandates recruitment activities aimed at hiring more minority staff.
According to a Department of Education “Resolution Agreement” issued in April, 1999 for administering disciplinary policies and procedures in a nondiscriminatory manner and preventing and remedying racial harassment, the Wagner School District agreed to form a committee to review and, if necessary, revise its current discipline policies and procedures to develop specific procedures to create objective implementation of these policies. According to the agreement, the committee should include District teachers, counselors, administrators, board members, parents, and students reflecting the racial diversity of the District to participate on the committee. Hiring outreach is also mandated in the agreement.
Office of Civil Rights recommendations include that by January 15, 2000, the District will develop a racial harassment policy which covers staff-on-staff racial harassment, staff-on-student racial harassment, and student-on-student racial harassment. The policy should specifically address identifying and remedying a racially hostile environment and should include an explanation of racial harassment with legal definitions and examples, grievance and investigative procedures, and a statement of disciplinary options.
According to the recommendations, the policy should provide that if a District official receives a report of racial harassment, the District will immediately investigate the matter and take disciplinary action where appropriate in accordance with the District's policies and procedures.
According to activists, complaints of racism are routinely ignored.
This policy should include notice of the procedure to students and employees; allegations regarding student-on-student grievances; application of the procedure to complaints alleging harassment by employees and students; adequate investigation of complaints; designated time frames for the major stages of the complaint process and steps to prevent recurrence of the harassment and to correct its effects on the complainant and others.
Computerized reporting provisions are also mandated in the resolution.
Noting the racial disparities in the school system, activist and Yankton tribal member Francis Zephier explained, “The only door they are leaving open to our children is a cell door.”
Alfred Bone Shirt, activist with the Sicangu Grass Roots Oyate attended the protest, and carried an upside down American flag throughout the day.
Bone Shirt said, “We came because of the similarities that exist on the reservations. First we stopped at housing. When we were walking toward the school, four men came rushing toward us.” The four included school officials, one off-duty police officer and Officer Gene Neihous, the subject of a video on a racial profiling incident that was given to the Department of Justice.
Bone Shirt said, “They were concerned about the flag. They had no interest in the reason we were there.”
Ultimately, a Wagner School official was among those who attempted to grab the upside down American flag that Bone Shirt was carrying. The police were called for backup. According to Bone Shirt, Officer Gene Neihous attempted to grab the flag from them, and he said that it appeared Neihous was carrying a concealed gun. When Bone Shirt’s daughter went toward the car carrying the flag, Neihous allegedly went toward her and Bone Shirt hurried over to make sure Neihous did not grab the flag from the girl.
Alfred Bone Shirt told Lakota Journal, “When we went there with the upside down flag, school officials focused on the flag and used it as a pretense to aggressively challenge the reasons that we were there. We tried to explain to them the reasons we were there, but they wanted to speak on their terms. It was racism, and it was aggressive.” Bone Shirt continued, “After we got there they invoked their warped sense of patriotism by challenging us about the upside down flag while they dismissed the issues concerning the human rights violations that are occurring. That’s uncalled for and they have to deal with the racial issues that are in front of us. Why are there so many white people and so few Indian people? Why are our children targeted?” Bone Shirt said that children who are smudged before they go to school have been accused of using marijuana by staff of the Wagner School District.
General Provisions of the Resolution Agreement of the US Department of Education, mandated that by September 1, 2000, the District would offer elective courses on Native American culture and history.
Citing the war in Iraq, Wagner High School Principal Neal Goder and Neihous argued that carrying the flag upside down was illegal, telling the protestors, “We are at war in Iraq.” According to the protestors, arguments ensued in which school officials told the protestors they were on school land, and the protestors responded that in fact the officials are Indian land.
Neal Goder referred questions from Lakota Journal regarding the protest to Wagner School District Superintendent Vernal Anderson said, “I don’t think its fair for me to comment. I don’t know what it was about and I wasn’t even here-I don’t think I should comment on it. I didn’t talk to anyone or see anything and I don’t know. All I can go by is what I heard and that is that they demonstrated at several different places around town.”
Bone Shirt considers the attempt by Wagner School officials to grab the flag from the protestors an attempt to steal.
Zephier asked, “They came running out upset about that flag, what about our children?”
Bone Shirt concluded, “From racial issues to problems within the BIA, people come to the grass roots groups and not a day goes by without being approached on one of these issues.”
Della Eastman of Ta Oyate Duta, a grass roots organization now going into its’ third year in Sisseton, attended the march. Eastman said, “I came to support this protest. The BIA Superintendent here used to be in our area.”
Eastman was referring to Tim Lake, who was superintendent during the time of a scandal involving over 20 million dollars. She noted that BIA employees that present problems at one tribe are often transferred to another area instead of being released. Eastman said, “Tribes can no longer afford the damage.” She referred to this as a “recycling” that moves problems from one tribe to the next. Referring to issues involving BIA services as well as local issues in Roberts County, Eastman said, “Money is being generated but it is not coming back to the people.”
Eastman noted, “The Sisseton Tribe operates two tribal schools because of the issues in the local schools involving the mistreatment of Indian youth in the schools.” However, with a population of …. students, of whom around …… % are Indian, Sisseton has received $1,915,709 for FY 2002 to date and $1,928,592 for FY 2003 in Impact Aid money.
Other schools in Roberts County that either are or have recently been eligible for this federal money for the education of Indian youth include Wilmot, which received $19,569 for FY 2002 but has not applied since then and Summit, which received $36,166 for FY 2002 to date and $46,692 for FY 2003.
Concerning the BIA and the management of Indian property, Zephier said that the march was, “A message to the BIA. There is no trust responsibility. When the issue was pushed in Sisseton, Lake was moved here. Our homes are in drainage areas while our good land is leased to farmers and the farmers are subleasing the land for a lot more money than the leases are bringing in to us.”
She would like to see the tribe demand investigation of serious issues including land that belonged to elders who have passed away that, according to Zephier, “Has somehow been lost to the leasers. Much remains unaccounted for. Now our Emergency Room is closed from midnight to seven in the morning. We pay military salaries for the top management, in the IHS system; the ones who are paid the least are the Indians who live locally. The lowest paid are the tribal members and the highest paid are the GS ranked workers, who are paid on the military pay scale.”
Zephier was referring to the payment of federal BIA workers as commissioned officers, bringing them salaries far greater than they would receive for similar work in the area they are in and far higher pay than local people that are hired to work in the same facility. This is part of the financial drain that is causing service cuts in hospitals and clinics throughout Indian country.
Zephier noted that the Bush administration has terminated Indian hiring preference in that system, and she added, “What we want to say is cut salaries, not our people’s services. We want to send a strong message to the Republican Party. They waged war against Iraq, but they are also waging a war against our people and our treaty obligated funds that are being cut now. The dialysis program is from our budget. We are not receiving services and we are paying out of our land lease money.” The Yankton Sioux Tribal Council had to return last years’ Christmas bonuses.
Serious housing issues are facing many tribes across the nation. Zephier said, “HUD claims they are not responsible for mishandling of money, yet of course they are. They can intervene at any time.”
The marchers stopped at the Wagner Catholic Church and Zephier said, “We have been pushing the issue of the Catholic Church for a long time.” She noted specific nuns and priests who were known throughout the community for abuse of Indian youth and who have remained at-large, with the church taking no responsibility for the damage done by these individuals.
Zephier said that the sexual abuse and violence that were rampant during the boarding school era left a deep and lasting affect on all reservations. According to information available on sexual abuse of children, adults who were themselves abused are far more likely to become child predators than people who were not molested. She pointed out that tribal populations did not have the problem of sexual predation of children prior to contact with the non-Indians who operated and worked in the boarding schools. She added that in addition to this issue, the boarding school experience was the beginning of a number of problems including suicide and addiction.
Zephier said, “I think a lot needs to come out and a lot of people need to be named because it affected everybody. Many families are multi-generation Catholic Church products. Now, in my generation we have lost our language because it was beaten from my great grandmother, my grandmother and my mother.” She noted that many tribal people cannot speak their language, explaining, “That was taken from us.”
Commenting on the protest and others that are planned, Zephier said, “We need to do this everyday. There are so many issues.”
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