Roughly 350 people gathered in front of the Rapid City Civic Center Tuesday night to protest against racism. The rally comes in the wake of an alleged hate crime against a group of Native middle school students during a minor league hockey game in January.
Organizers included the National Coalition Against Racism in Sports and Media. The group’s Vice President, Henry Boucha is Ojibwe from Minnesota. He says community leaders in Rapid City need to take this issue seriously.
“You know we need to open that dialogue and continue that dialogue and try and find our answers through communication,” says Boucha.
Boucha says if racism isn’t addressed in Rapid City his organization could call for a national tourism boycott of South Dakota.
Rapid City Mayor Sam Kookier attended last night’s rally. He agrees that the efforts to end racism in the community must continue.
Rapid City police officials say they are taking the allegations of assault and hate crimes at the hockey game very seriously. Police Chief Karl Jegeris asks for community patience-and he says a resolution in this case will come soon.
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