By Tim Giago (Nanwica Kciji),
http://www.nativetimes.com, 10/3/2005

Twenty years ago South Dakota had the national reputation among American Indians as the "Mississippi of the North." Having grown up in this state I know that this assessment rang true.

But in the ensuing 20 years a dramatic change has taken place. Doors that were once closed to Indians have opened. Political seats once held by "whites only" have become a forum for Indian politicians.

Theresa "Huck" Two Bulls is a state senator from the Pine Ridge Reservation. Tough politicians like Representative Paul Valandra of the Rosebud Sioux Tribe and Senator Tom Van Norman of the Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe, are bringing a different perspective to the House and Senate in Pierre. They are causing the die-hard politics of the white conservatives to look at and analyze a point of view that was totally foreign to them 20 years ago. In other words, they are causing heretofore-closed minds to open by presenting logical political arguments from an Indian approach. They are intelligently representing a minority that 20 years ago, had no representation to speak of.

When Tom Short Bull stepped into the South Dakota political arena 20 years ago he had to fight a system that included the outright gerrymandering of his home district. It took a federal law to bring about the redistricting that allowed him to run for the state senate seat and win. Short Bull led that fight.

He even had to fight the politicians of the Pine Ridge Reservation to bring about change. Back then if one was not born on the Pine Ridge Reservation they were listed as NE or non-enrolled. Short Bull took on this challenge because he wanted to run for the office of president of the Oglala Sioux Tribe but was denied that right because he was born off of the reservation. Although he was a direct descendent of the Lakota Chief Short Bull, he was still listed on the tribal rolls as "NE." He won the battle and was reconfigured as "Enrolled." He lost the election for tribal president, but opened the doors for tribal members who had been denied their rightful citizenship.

Short Bull now serves as the president of the Oglala Lakota College, a tribal college that is educating teachers, nurses, business majors and craftsmen and women in college centers located in every district on the reservation. His story strongly represents the changes that have taken place in South Dakota in the past two decades. Oglala Lakota College has been a leader in bringing about those changes.

Twenty years ago there was no independent Indian media in South Dakota. Shirley Sneve, a member of the Rosebud Sioux Tribe, was doing radio and television for South Dakota Public Radio and Television. She was not afraid to use her position to bring about change.

I was publishing the independent Lakota Times on the Pine Ridge Reservation and the newspaper was pointing out the inadequacies in race relations in the state. We challenged the banks, restaurants, and tourist attractions to change, and to hire more Indians. We even had the audacity to suggest to Ruth Ziolkowski of the Crazy Horse Memorial near Custer, S. D. to open her employment doors to more Indians. She did that and more over the years. Perhaps I offended her and her family in those days by being critical of them, but it was always intended as constructive criticism.

I was reminded of these steps forward in race relations in South Dakota while shopping at Wal-Mart on Saturday. Wal-Mart is fighting some in Rapid City in its efforts to build another store along Highway 16, the Gateway to the Black Hills. Those for and those against are about equally divided, according to letters in the Rapid City Journal.

But as I shopped in Wal-Mart, I could not help but notice the many Native Americans working there. They were ringing up sales at the cash registers, stocking shelves and even acting as greeters at the door. If I had been a fence-sitter on this issue, my mind was certainly changed that day. If Wal-Mart can provide jobs and promotions to Native Americans, I welcome them with open arms.

I had lunch at TGIF a couple of weeks ago and my waiter was the Lakota grandson of "Poker Joe" Merrival, a friend and classmate of mine from the Holy Rosary Indian Mission on the Pine Ridge Reservation. What a wonderful surprise.

But that's the way it is in Rapid City these days. If you have lunch at the new Ruby Tuesday's you will see young Lakota men and women working the tables, or if you stop at the Prairie Edge Trading Post in downtown Rapid City you will meet Indian artists and artisans, plus a young Lakota man named Marty Frogg running the bookstore.

There are some institutions in the state that still need to diversity. The mass media is one; law enforcement and political appointee jobs by Governor Mike Rounds are the others.

If you happen to be Lakota, Dakota, or Nakota and find yourself as a patient at the Rapid City Regional Hospital you will meet Kathy Ducheneaux, a Lakota woman, who serves as a liaison between the hospital staff and its Lakota patients. She brings comfort to the Indian patients brought to the hospital from the distant Indian reservations in the state and she makes their stay more pleasant by speaking to their needs in their own language.

Even Mississippi has made strides in creating racial harmony.

As I step into the seventh decade of my life I am gratified that I have been a witness to these changes in race relations and even happier that I helped in a small way to move that heretofore-immovable rock.

Tim Giago is the president of the Native American Journalists Foundation, Inc., and the publisher of Indian Education Today Magazine. He can be reached at najournalists@rushmore.com or by writing him at 2050 W. Main St., Suite 5, Rapid City, SD)