Pine Ridge Tribal President Asks For US Civil Rights Probe

PINE RIDGE — The tribal president from the Pine Ridge reservation has asked for a federal civil rights investigation into reported harassment of Native American students at a hockey game at the Rapid City Civic Center.

Oglala Lakota Nation President John Yellow Bird Steele sent a letter to the U.S. attorney general and president on Thursday asking for the inquiry.

He says the charging of one man with misdemeanor disorderly conduct when several others were involved in the Jan. 24 incident “sends the wrong message.”

Chaperones for the students from the American Horse School in Allen say the children and chaperones left the game early because of harassment that included sprayed beer, racial slurs and thrown objects.


More