Speaking of Trumpism, some yahoo tried to ruin kids’ day in Rapid City by scrawling swastikas and other racist graffiti on playground equipment at Vickie Powers Park Saturday.
Hey, Trumpist cowards! If you really believe there should be segregation or an outright ban on Indians or other minorities in certain public places, instead of just leaving a note, why not go to the park yourself, make your statement in person, and stick around to take questions from whatever interested citizens happen by?
The Rapid City Police Department was on scene pretty quickly to join a good citizen in painting over the graffiti and is now searching for the perpetrator:
Vickie Powers Park is in North Rapid, where lots of our Lakota brothers and sisters live. Lakota neighbors have responded with thoughts and prayers:
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.
…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” [Chynna Lockett, “Healing Circle Follows Racist Graffiti,” SDPB Radio, 2019.06.03].
The two Rapid Citians running for mayor in today’s election—one Lakota, one not—have responded with Facebook posts:
Earlier today photographs of vandalism were being circulated on social media. The vandal(s) wrote the message “no Indians“ and “whites only“ on playground equipment. The photos have been circulated widely with comments relating to “racist city“ and other comments of anguish and condemnation of the entire community.
It is important to acknowledge feelings of racism exist in this country wherever there are human beings and Rapid City is no exception. It is also important to acknowledge that an act of vandalism is not reflective of an entire community. No one human being speaks for the feelings or sentiments of all of us. While this act of vandalism is ugly, it does not correctly articulate the feelings of 76,000 people who reside here.
An act of vandalism such as this is intended to gain attention and social media is the perfect venue to reach this goal. Keep in mind, anyone could have written these words.
Vandalism of any nature, especially this nature is to be condemned by the entire community. It is not funny, it is not helpful and whoever did it will bear consequences one way or the other.
We, as citizens, can only be responsible for our own attitudes. We will never control the minds, hearts or voices of those who wish to be disruptive or otherwise harmful.
Rapid City is a great city, and we are a great community of people, red, yellow, black and white. We can effectively reject this and other similar acts only with kindness and when it comes to social media, kind words [Mayor Steve Allender, Facebook post, 2019.06.01].
I am extremely proud of everyone who stepped forward and offered their photos, emotions and thoughts regarding the incident at the park in Rapid City. We should all consider what the meaning of the symbols used in this incident – deemed newsworthy by the powers that be only days before an election that has put civil rights, justice, diversity and inclusion on the table.
The relevant symbols: several Swastika associated with Nazi Germany, Arrows, the use of the phonetic “NDN” slang term, Lightning bolts associated white prison gang, “Whites Only” of Jim Crow segregation, “No Indians Allowed” with its local history in downtown Rapid City, the use of the boycott symbol for Os in the writings, and the symbolic meaning of placing this on playground equipment for children to see. Being so contrived and inflammatory as well as layered with a dose of overkill, I think it goes beyond a criminal issue and a wiping away or cleaning of the incident; it is also frankly far beyond mere race(s) or racism.
Religious persecution, genocide, political struggle, incarceration, eugenics, segregation, youth, crime, white supremacy, and exclusion are also implicated in the symbols used to vandalize public property intended for use by children and families.
This incident deserves fact finding and critical analysis so that this type of thing need not plague the City of Rapid City (the name on the official letterhead) anymore.
I will continue to be skeptical of the incident until facts have been established and the suspected vandal(s) have been identified and charged if applicable/relevant.
I doubt at this time that this was the work of a young person(s) under the age of 18.
As someone on these internet streets suggested checking my handwriting for bringing up race all the time 😂🤣🙄, I suggest any skeptic re-reread my platform that refers to human relations and racial understanding as 1 out of a 9 point platform [Natalie Stites Means, Facebook post, 2019.06.03].
The idiot provocateur has not yet been caught.
By running so quickly to condemn Trump supporters like me for actions like this, it opens the door for the Totalitarian dog whistle for ultra lefters to attack Trump derangers, teeing off on good people supporting a great President. As near as I can figure, the anti-Trump rhetoric is a raw power grab, because Trump .. is shaping-up to be great at the job. Any ultra left wing operative can paint a swastika and all of the sudden it whips up the anti-Trump rage regardless of what nut job did this painting. FWIW, CNN’s ratings are down again precisely because of this kind of misinformation. I think trickle down negative medianomics has yet to hit DFP, but it will. Our great nation is thirsty for genuine and substantive intellectualism, unlike #jussiesmollett
How exactly does the pathological liar show any acquaintance with greatness? He was appointed by Putin to take charge of a growing economy with stock market in record territory, unemployment dropping, millions of jobs being created and our allies once again trusting us, and Drumpf has done nothing but lie about everything Obama and Dems accomplished.
John Dale is a delusional nut. Just like the head MAGAT!
It’s incredible to me how strongly I can agree and disagree with a comment at the same time.
John is super wrong about trump doing anything right, but he is spot on with the negative impact of radical and unnecessary generalizations. I think he is also correct that a lot of people are starving for real substantive journalism because the hyper polarized coverage that has always existed is reaching a broader audience now than ever on the internet. So, many of us are stereotypical victims of confirmation bias where we only consider the “news” through the tinted lenses of the media we select, which entrenches people in their beliefs rather than fostering productive dialogue.
John Dale is right as far as he goes. Not all Trump supporters are racists, and even those who are racists would probably not deface public property to make their pathetic point. But John Dale and others who profess not to be racists had better face the facts that polls have exposed. There is considerable racial animus involved in the conservative right, particularly in the Trump base.
Trump understands exactly what his supporters are, and he rarely misses and opportunity to cultivate that racist element among his supporters. The “deplorables” who showed up in Charlottesville wearing Nazi-white polo shirts or carrying fascist-inspired Medieval-like “shields” and shouting “Jews will not replace us” are examples of the racist and anti-everybody-but-white-people ilk that dictators like Adolph Hitler and Trump have as their core supporters. If John Dale and others don’t like to be labeled as racists, along with the racists in their midst, maybe they should actively oppose those folks, not make excuses for them, or say “not me.”
Whether it is teen hooliganism, gang graffiti or Nazi/Trump-inspired vandalism, the RC police and other public-minded citizens have always had a quick response to cleaning up after such incidents. Maybe Trump supporters could become part of the solution to racism and racist hooliganism. Confront it in your own movement. Volunteer to paint over racist graffiti.
So we’re all in agreement that scrawling racist graffiti on a playground is reprehensible, right? That should be a simple moral statement, right? The police gave the right response—swift and direct condemnation, right? No need for any other qualifications or insertion of political agenda to take gratuitous whacks at other people for very different political statements, right?
Racism is bad, right?
Mr. Dale is right. Mr. H is right. Let it be noted that grudznick is not a Trumpist.
Mr. H is right that racism is bad, it is bad.
Mr. Dale is right that Mr. H has had the out-of-state name-calling rub off on him and he immediately assumes it was “Trumpists” is just Iowegian of him.