Race Forum Draws 150 In Rapid City, SD

Speaking during a public forum on race relations, a federal mediator said that the forum and the strong attendance shows that Rapid City is a "community that cares."

About 150 people gathered at He Sapa New Life Church for the first of what Rev. Larry Salway hopes will become a series of dialogues that will "begin the healing process" and lead to racial reconciliation in a community rocked by recent events that have outraged many, especially in the Native American community.

Carol Rousseau, a mediator with the U.S. Department of Justice Community Relations Service, was in town, meeting with members of the Native American community and public officials.

Her visit "signals that the community is seeking resources to get back on track," Rousseau said. "We can't solve everything all the time, but we can get people working together."

Two recent incidents have spurred a desire for dialogue and discussion. In December, a Rapid City police officer answering a domestic call shot and killed Allen Locke, 30, a Native American. The shooting was deemed justified.

Then, late last month, chaperones with a group of students from American Horse School on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation reported that a class of students attending a Rush hockey game were showered with beer and subjected to racial slurs and told to "go back to the reservation" during the game at the Rushmore Plaza Civic Center.

"We are making our future better than our past for our children's sake," Salway told those assembled in the crowded church sanctuary and in the church foyer.

The time has come to begin the healing process, he said. Monday's forum could be the catalyst for more forums to address racism in the community.

Read more here