Racism in the Schools

Winner School Superintendent Mary Fisher claimed that the drop out rate of Indian youth from the Winner School District was not excessively high.

Winner School District has over 25% Indian youth in the lower grades.That figure remains fairly consistent throughout grades one through seven. During grades 8-12, roughly 80% of Indian youth will either be transferred to schools on the reservation, placed in other schools or will drop out. Called a "push out rate," this excessive drop out rate reflects a situation in which Indian youth are uncomfortable or are targeted by racial harassment. Schools on the neighboring Rosebud Reservation have less than an 8% drop out rate. While Indians in Winner represent 25% of the younger students, roughly 1% of those who graduate are Indians.

... in the beginning of the year, there were 51 Indian youth out of the total high school population of 360 high school students. Before the end of that year, 40 had dropped out or transferred to other schools, leaving a total of 11. Although almost all left because of racial harassment, the reasons cited by the system all referred to the family moving or other reasons unrelated to experiences within the school.

If the child has been targeted by a white youth by verbal abuse, threats or actual violence, the white youth is not likely to even be reprimanded. Certain actions by school officials are alleged to amount to possible obstruction of justice.

... the Department of Education report stated that Winner School District has never come into compliance with a significant portion of their racial harassment policy that was to be in place by July 1, 2000. Two follow-up letters highlighting the noncompliance have been issued since that time.

... The complaint by the Rosebud Sioux Tribe states, "The practice of calling for the arrest of Indian children for minor misconduct is such a matter-of-fact-part of the way white educators in Winner educate Indian children, and that a 12 year old child was arrested at the request of the school principal for "refusing to sit where he was told", and for "making noises". This child was fingerprinted and booked like a common criminal before being allowed to contact any family member."

He then told Chasing Hawk, "You are putting your son's life in the judge's hands, and I don't think you want to do that." Frightened, his son demanded that Chasing Hawk go to the police station and drop the charges. They went to the police station and the states' attorneys office agreed to drop the charges. Rosebud Sioux Tribal Attorney Dana Hannah explained that typically when an Indian child is the one facing charges the other party will not be allowed to drop the charges, even when the incident involved no injuries and the other family did not want to pursue charges.

According to the complaint, Principal Nicholas, "Through pressure, subtle threat and intimidation, pressured the father of CCH into dropping the charges against the white student." Nicholas has admitted the basic facts of this conversation in sworn testimony in court. The complaint cites the school policy of involving local law enforcement in any "swinging" offenses, although Superintendent Nicholas declined to follow that policy and pressured the Indian victims' father into dropping the charges when the youth who threw the punches was white.

... Wayne Running Horse has had numerous confrontations with the Winner School District and believes that this legal action against the Winner School District is needed in order to make the school system a place where Indian youth can obtain a quality education within a safe environment.

Problems began when his oldest son was harassed because he had long hair and was told by school officials that he had to cut his hair. Though he was repeatedly told that his son was in violation of the dress code, he remained unable to get a copy of the alleged dress code. It was during this incident that Running Horse began to see the treatment that sends most Indian families out of the system.

In the spring of last year, a white boy threatened Running Horse's son, a ninth grader, while he was in school. The white boy made comments such as, "If you feel something behind your back ...", and made his fingers into a simulated gun while making threatening gestures. The boy also relayed threats through other youth in the school, threats that became increasingly disturbing.

The girlfriend of one of his older sons who works at a local fast food restaurant was approached by this same white boy who said, "Did you hear about an Indian kid getting shot?" She asked who the kid was and he said the name of Running Horse's son. The girl contacted the brother, who immediately called home and asked if his brother was all right. Wayne Running Horse went to Mr. Keith, who was the principal of the High School last year, and explained that he could not send his son to school until the circumstance was resolved.

Running Horse told Lakota Journal, "He didn't want to go to school and I called the principal and told him what had happened." Mr. Keith laughed about it and said, "So, did he get hurt? Is he alive?" The principal refused to pursue the incident. Running Horse gave the principal the name of the boy making threats against his son, as well as the names of the other youth who were witnesses to the threats, but the principal made light of the problem.

The complaint says, "Mr. Keith, Principal of Winner High School, laughed about it, minimizing the threat of murder with an obvious "no big deal" attitude.Running Horse reports that Mr. Keith put his hand on a table and made a fist and said, "This is the way I grew up. If anybody threatens me, this is what I use."

The complaint continues, "Mr. Keith took no action against a white student who repeatedly threatened to shoot an Indian student. When the principal of the high school was informed by an Indian parent and his son that a white youth was repeatedly making threats to kill an Indian student, Mr. Keith did nothing but advise the Indian student to use physical violence against the boy who was threatening him -telling him -in effect, to take action that would subject the Indian boy to suspension, expulsion, arrest and criminal prosecution."

... Claims made by the Winner School District reveal a pattern of providing information to the US Department of Education Office of Civil Rights that cannot be documented, and that contradicts the experiences of many Indian families regarding opportunities within the school system, including access to athletic opportunities.

Running Horse's son had played basketball in the lower grades for several years. Last year, as basketball season was to start, the principal put the boy on "audit", which prevented him from playing basketball and informed him that he would not be playing on the team.

Running Horse tried to contact the principal regarding this status. Although Mr. Keith promised to call him back, Running Horse was not contacted regarding the change in status and the family was not able to find out why their son was no longer allowed to play on the basketball team.

Other Indian youth who had played on the same team as his son had played on for several years were all switched to "audit", and could not play in any of the sports, while white students remained on the team. Even with good grades, Running Horse's son was removed from the team, while white youth with "D" averages were kept on the team.

The complaint cites a meeting which took place that included Tribal Education Director Sherrie Red Owl, then-Superintendent David Nicholas, a consultant hired by the tribe, Faith Spotted Eagle and Indian girls in the Winner High School.

The complaint states, "the daughter of tribal member Vonnie Lopez reported, in the presence of David Nicholas, what happened when she wanted to go out for the cheerleading squad. The girl was told that she was not wanted on the cheerleading squad because she was too dark, and her dark skin and features would create a "bad image for Winner" ... According to information provided by the Winner School District, all cheerleaders on the squad are white.

Date: Thu., Jan 10, 2002 - 11:49 am
Subject: School age children are being arrested for minor incidents at South Dakota School, Parents and Tribe file Complaint

Numerous families with children in the Winner School System in Tripp County, South Dakota are angry at the way that minor infractions by Indian youth are handled by school officials. Many families have experienced their children, accused of minor infractions such as shoving and minor fights, to be removed from the school by local police, arrested and taken to the police station without notification of the parents. Parents believe that racially motivated discipline by a system that has little regard for the civil rights of youth has created an unusual set of procedures that damages their children's educational career.

... Parents are not called until after the children are booked, including finger printing and having mug shots taken, and are told they must write "their side of the story" before they are allowed to call home. The children are not told they have a right to remain silent and are not offered contact with an attorney. The statements they write out will then be used to implicate them and other children in legal action, either at that time or later on. Effectively, charges against the children are "stockpiled" for possible later use when the child has committed an infraction too minor to be charged with, at which time an earlier incident is pulled out and charges are then filed.

... ... According to several families, at times no further action is taken at the time of the child's removal to the police station, but the "statement" will be retained by the court and often pulled out at a later time if the child has said or done something to offend someone at the school.

Chasing Hawk said, "They build a legal case against our children so that by the time they are young teenagers they look like hardened criminals." In the case of Chasing Hawk's son, no immediate legal action followed the original incident. However, when the other boy was later overheard making a comment that upset a teacher, the boy was immediately detained for assault and the charges were based entirely on the earlier incident. Chasing Hawk explained that this style of handling problems for Indian children is nothing new.

Robert Black Feather also had a child removed from the Tripp County Middle School and taken to the police station. His daughter was told she had to write a statement and sign a form declaring herself a juvenile delinquent, before she was permitted to call home. Black Feather explained, "We have six kids and all have been subjected to various forms of racism there. For instance, kids are overheard badmouthing Indian kids with comments like, "my parents have to work to put you through school". They're getting this stuff from the parents, when actually the situation is just the opposite. The school gets impact aid money and JOM, yet our kids are subjected to that kind of thing. The administration seems to look the other way when things are done to our children. When we go over there to defend our children, they defend their faculty." Black Feather also explained that when his daughter was taken into custody no effort was made to contact he and his wife by the school.

The Black Feathers took their children out of the school and put them in school at Todd County where Black Feather said they enjoy their own culture. However, because of the distance, the children have to sleep there overnight and come home on the weekends. But according to Black Feather, in order for their children to get an education, once again Indian families are being broken up.

Dana Hanna is the public defender for the Rosebud Tribe and has been authorized by the Rosebud Sioux Tribe to take action to address these issues. Hanna said, "There's supposed to be a wall between criminal prosecution and education and in Winner it's difficult to see that wall. A little school girl shoving match between two twelve year olds should not be the beginning of criminal prosecution." Hanna explained that Indian youth in Winner are routinely taken from the school into police custody with no due process.State code in South Dakota states that when a youth is taken into custody without a court order an immediate attempt must be made to contact the parents.

Vonna Lopez described an incident that happened last year that resulted in her removing her son from the Winner School District and placing him in an Indian run school in the Todd County School system for the duration of the year. Lopez' son was removed from school, arrested and booked without being allowed to call home following an incident which began when he was targeted with racist comments.Lopez said, "I'm not saying there were no problems but the reaction was way out of bounds. The process used by the school singles Indian kids out." Lopez had the same experience of the school making no attempt to reach Lopez when the child was taken off school premises and into police custody. Her son had been finger printed, and his photograph was taken by police. He explained that a girl had made comments about him being a dirty Indian. As Lopez' son made comments back, the incident escalated and the principal overheard the incident. Her son was taken to the principal's office. No other child in the incident was disciplined, including the girl who used racial slurs and taunts at Lopez' son. "The principal said "'we only give three strikes and you're out', this is more like the courts than a school,' said Lopez. "He was definitely singled out and he suffered a lot."

Because of the way a minor problem was processed through the courts instead of being handled through school, her son was on probation at age 11.

A letter dated April 17, 2001, from the OCR of the Department of Education to the Winner School District reveals that policies intended to handle racial harassment, and specifically policies to stop racial harassment of students by other students, had still not been implemented. Verbal as well as physical racial harassment of their children by other youth within the school was consistently cited by parents. The April 17, 2001 letter references that such a policy was to have been implemented by July 1, 2000 and this was outlined in an agreement signed by then Winner School District Superintendent, David Nicholas on February 1, 2000.

Fisher denied that Indian youth in the Winner system have an excessive drop out rate.However, data supplied by the Rosebud Sioux Tribal Education Department indicates that the drop out rate for Indian youth in the Winner School system is 10 times higher than for youth in the neighboring school systems on the Rosebud reservation.

Additionally, the percentage of youth enrolled in the Winner School District, grade by grade, reveals an alarming pattern. In grades one through nine approximately 25% to 27% of the children are Indian youth. In grade ten that number will consistently drop to around 13%, in grade 11 that number drops again to 11% and only 2% of the senior class will be Indian youth. There has been no recent and rapid change in the Indian population to account for this phenomenon. Sherry Red Owl, Director of Tribal Education Department in Rosebud, cites the number of Indian youth enrolled in grades 9 through 12 in the 98-99 school year as an example. That year, 51 students were enrolled in those grades in the beginning of the year. By the end of the year that number had dwindled to 11. Red Owl explained, "Statistically, this tells us they have a really bad track record of dealing with Indian youth. When you have 25% to start with and that number drops to 2% by the time they are in the 12th grade, there's a problem."

In November, 2001, Dana Hanna filed a complaint on behalf of an Indian family with the US Department of Education. The suit alleges that in this case, as a matter of policy and practice, the school routinely violated the FERPA (Family Education Rights to Privacy Act), a federal law that guarantees the right of confidentiality of educational records during court proceedings. Hanna explained that these records are to be released only with the consent of a parent or by the action of a court order, yet Winner School District officials routinely disclose disciplinary records from the students file in court proceedings without parental consent or a subpoena.

"We can make it better for everybody. Not divide and conquer or make it better for just a few." Volesky said the state's failure to have the juvenile corrections system evaluated by an independent source was a failure in leadership that leaves parents fearing for their children.

"Why should our government fear a disinterested, third party looking at our juvenile justice system and making recommendations? I deal with them and I deal with their parents. They are terrorized at the fact they are dealing with the Department of Corrections."

Admitting he was a juvenile delinquent, Volesky called for a greater investment in counseling, treatment, job training and mentoring programs to help troubled youth.

SIOUX FALLS (AP) The South Dakota Coalition for Children has received a $1.3 million grant from the U.S. Justice Department to help the state meet standards set in the Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention Act of 1974.

The grant states that juveniles must be removed from jails and detained in facilities with youth-sensitive staff members, such as the Juvenile Detention Center in Sioux Falls.

The grant also requires that children in need of supervision, such as truants and runaways, must be placed in a shelter and not a jail or detention center. South Dakota's relationship with the Justice and Delinquency Prevention Act has been a turbulent one, said Susan Randall, executive director of the South Dakota Coalition for Children.

From 1992 to 1996, South Dakota met the requirements of the prevention act. Then, in 1996, legislation permitted the jailing of juveniles. South Dakota and Wyoming were the last two states to meet the juvenile-justice act standards. Wyoming was awarded a two-year grant earlier this year.

"We'd like to return to the glory days of '92 to '96 when we were in compliance," Randall said.

South Dakota locks up more juvenile offenders per capita than any state except Louisiana, according to a 1997 U.S. Justice Department study. The state had 556 juveniles in custody for every 100,000 juvenile residents. The national average was 368 juveniles.

A problem for South Dakota is its vastness, Twedt said. "Some rural counties don't have separate facilities for juveniles," she said. "I've been inside jails and they are no place for children to be," Twedt said.

Crow Creek Shooting
Tribe: Racial tension led to post-game shots
By LEE WILLIAMS
Argus Leader published: 11/10/01

Crow Creek tribal leaders say law enforcement authorities should consider attempted murder and hate-crime charges against the boy and his friends, who are accused of chasing a pickup filled with tribal youths and firing shots at them after a basketball game.

The six Lakota in the vehicle - five teen-age girls and a 20-year-old woman - were shaken, but otherwise uninjured in the incident Nov. 1.

The shooting occurred after a high school girls basketball game between Crow Creek and Wessington Springs, which was played in Miller. Crow Creek players and fans say the crowd at the game shouted racial taunts at their team during the game.

The Crow Creek teen-agers say the taunting and name-calling continued outside the gymnasium after the contest.

According to the Crow Creek teen-agers, the boys jumped in their cars and chased the pickup through town. At one point, they said, three cars tried to box in the girls' vehicle.

"When the white car was passing us, we saw the shotgun," Squirrel Coat said.

"I thought they were gonna kill us," 17-year-old Summer Harrison said. Squirrel Coat added, "I figured we were all dead."

The pickup occupants dove onto the floor of the vehicle. In its narrow confines, they said they almost fought each other to avoid getting shot.

Wilson managed to keep the truck on the road and sped back to the Dairy Queen. When they reached the restaurant, the girls ran inside, but Traversie said she couldn't get out. She was shaking and unable to unfasten her seat belt, she said.

While she was in the pickup, the white car with the armed man pulled up alongside her, she said.

"He pointed the gun right at my head," and used a racial slur, Traversie said. Traversie managed to unbuckle the seat belt and ran back into the restaurant.

"I heard them straight out. I heard 'f****** Indians. I heard Prairie n*****s.'" she says (Patty Thompson of Stephan. Miller Crow Creek Confront Perceptions, Prejudice, by David Krantz, Argus Leader, 1/27/02))

Three Miller police officers, including Chief Ernie Stirling, responded. According to witnesses, the officers talked to the boys, but then let them drive away. Police officers later recovered a semi-automatic shotgun from the teen-age suspects. (Questions Linger About Taunts, shots after tournament, by David Krantz, Argus Leader, 1/27/02)

This week, (State Attorney) Jones said race didn't play a role in the confrontation. Crow Creek Tribal Chairwoman Roxanne Sazue said. "If the tables were turned, and it was a Native American who did the shooting, he'd already be doing time," she said.

The Rev. Terry Weber of St. Ann Catholic Church says he decided not to talk about the incident from the pulpit. "One of our parishioners was said to be involved, so I dealt instead with individuals. By talking about it in church, I was afraid it would just add more to it. So I thought we'd take a step back."

Rapid City is still a very segregated community racially and economically. A research class at Oglala Lakota College during the Spring semester conducted a welfare monitoring project in North Rapid City school attendance areas.

All of the schools with over 60 percent low income and over 60 percent minority population are located north of Omaha Street and east of East Boulevard. Those schools are North Middle School, Garfield, E.B. Bergquist, Knollwood and General Beadle elementary schools.

The class looked at records from last school year which compared low income and minority population in each school with Statistical Aptitude Test scores. It found that there was a 44 point gap in total SAT score between the highest poverty elementary school and the lowest poverty elementary school. The highest poverty schools were also the schools with the highest minority population.

Nearly 70% of the minority students in the district attended the schools north of Omaha and east of East Boulevard. Those schools contained only 33 percent of the total student population.

Welfare reform has made the situation more desperate for many of Rapid City's minority families who are much more likely to be poor. Students from Lakota Homes and Sioux Addition used to attend Horace Mann elementary. They are now bussed to Knollwood elementary. Knollwood now has a 71 percent low income student population. The test scores at Knollwood are now the third lowest in the district.