Graffiti reading “no Indians”, “whites only” and displaying swastikas was discovered in a public playground in Rapid City over the weekend. Vicki Powers Park is located near Lakota Homes, an area of the city where there is a high Native population. Community members held a healing circle to make the park feel safe again.
A prayer and healing event was lead by several community members, including Amy Sazue. She says when photos of the graffiti started circulating on social media, people reacted with outrage and anger.
“That term ‘Racist City’ came up again because people talk about the fact that racism is not acknowledged here. So our reaction was to acknowledge the anger, acknowledge the racism, acknowledge how it makes people feel and the discomfort that the non-Native community feels when stuff like that comes up. But we wanted to really take it further with that and change our reaction.”
Sazue says in Lakota culture, people respond to fear and harm with prayer. They invited the community to cleanse the park of negativity and make it welcoming to everyone again.
“There were about 30 people there, mostly indigenous families with children who said the same thing. They want to role model that for their kids, they want their kids to see leaders in their community react with prayer instead of that anger. And we’re not saying that the anger’s not unjustified, but we’re saying that as part of our culture, part of what we believe that we wanted to wipe it down and restore it back to a place of safety and inclusion.”
In a post on Facebook, officials with the Rapid City Police Department called the writings ‘extremely racist’, stating ‘There is no room for this kind of behavior or mindset in our city.’ Photos show officers painting over the writings.