{"id":10895,"date":"2020-09-16T23:49:20","date_gmt":"2020-09-17T04:49:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/unitedresourceconnection.org\/cannon-ball-nd-58528\/rallying-for-the-homeless\/"},"modified":"2020-09-16T23:49:21","modified_gmt":"2020-09-17T04:49:21","slug":"rallying-for-the-homeless","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/unitedresourceconnection.org\/cannon-ball-nd-58528\/rallying-for-the-homeless\/","title":{"rendered":"Rallying for the homeless"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Monique \u201cMuffie\u201d Mousseaux<\/strong> speaks at Memorial Park. Chase Iron Eyes<\/strong> responds: The cause is \u201ca most difficult issue as we have no remedial options for our people on the creek. They are exiled in their homeland.\u201d Photo by Talli Nauman<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

RAPID CITY \u2013 Participants from numerous grassroots groups tackling life-or-death issues of Native homeless and other community members highly vulnerable to the Covid-19 pandemic here rallied for an autonomous \u201ccommand center\u201d at a Sept. 11 gathering outside the civic center.<\/p>\n

Organizers, speaking with a megaphone, pressured the Rapid City Police Department representative in attendance at the ominiciye to lobby for a meeting with the mayor and city council to collaborate on ending the suffering and deaths along Rapid Creek.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat has been happening is death to our people and violence to our people,\u201d said Oglala Sioux tribal member Monique \u201cMuffie\u201d Mousseaux, speaker for Uniting Resilience.<\/p>\n

Participants noted that they have mounted an independent Mni Luzahan Rapid Creek Patrol to walk the riverbanks at night, interceding to prevent hunger, exposure, violence, abuse, accidents, and fatalities.<\/p>\n

Mouseaux called on the city to \u201callocate a strip of land so we can have a command center.\u201d She also demanded access for Native people to policy making in crime prevention and social services.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are asking for a spot to be left alone,\u201d she said. Noting that she is a former law enforcement officer, she added, \u201cNatives can take care of each other. We are drug- and alcohol-free.\u201d<\/p>\n

She alluded to autonomous zones established in the larger cities of Minneapolis and Portland even before 2020\u2019s unrest over alleged police brutality and systemic racism that was ticked off by the proclaimed officer-involved murder of George Floyd.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe don\u2019t want any more repression,\u201d said Mousseaux. \u201cWith George Floyd in Minneapolis, you know it is happening.\u201d<\/p>\n

Fresh from a successful lobbying effort that convinced the Oglala Sioux Tribe to protect gender identity and sexual orientation in a hate crimes law, Mousseaux and her same-sex marriage partner Felipa De Leon pointed out that the land they want belongs to the tribes, anyway, under the 1868 Ft. Laramie Treaty, as upheld by the U.S. Supreme Court.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is Native American land,\u201d De Leon said. \u201cWe need to find some kind of solution and work together.\u201d<\/p>\n

De Leon argued that shelter options at the city\u2019s Crisis Care Center and the private Cornerstone Mission are unacceptable because applicants are frisked and charged fees they can\u2019t afford. Mousseaux claimed the county of Pennington has $17.5 million available for shelters.<\/p>\n

Minneconjou grandmother Jean Roach told police Captain James Johns the top priority for the moment is the shelter issue. Other participants addressed both Johns and Police Chief Don Hedrick during the ominiciye.<\/p>\n

At its beginning, Johns, in plain street clothes, received tobacco offerings from the hands of participants. He wore a Covid-19 protection mask, like they did, and stood listening with his hands folded in front of him throughout the nearly two-hour event.<\/p>\n

Speaker Hermus Bettelyoun Sr., of Martin, remarked, \u201cThis is the first time anyone has come down and talked to us.\u201d The previous night, law enforcement had required a food line at the same location be dismantled, but Johns agreed to attend the ominiciye.<\/p>\n

De Leon applauded him for attending and \u201cmaybe\u201d asking others to respond. Mousseaux warned that further demands will be raised for public apologies, restitution, and reform of the city\u2019s trespassing ordinance. \u201cNo Native American should ever be charged with trespassing,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Elders sat in folding chairs to witness the event, which was preceded by a food line. Among the evening\u2019s participants were members of the five-year-old Rapid City Community Conversations and its recent volunteer offshoot One Rapid City, which states: \u201cOur mission is to make Rapid City a safe, inclusive, and equitable place for everyone.\u201d<\/p>\n

Also on hand were participants in the West River Tenants United spinoff OyateKin Chante Wastepi-Feeding our Relatives, as well as Meals for Relatives COVID-19 Rapid City Community Response, HeSapa Voter Initiative, and A.I.M. Grassroots.<\/p>\n

Backing the initiative were Oglala Veterans, Tokala, and Cheyenne River Oceti Fire Keeper Oscar High Elk. Lakota People\u2019s Law Project Director Chase Iron Eyes called their cause \u201ca most difficult issue as we have no remedial options for our people on the creek,\u201d saying, \u201cThey are exiled in their homeland.\u201d<\/p>\n

On the same day as the ominiciye, representatives of the Rapid City-based NDN Collective, which initiated the #Landback movement, rallied outside court in Minneapolis to raise awareness of racial justice as the pre-trial hearings of the officers involved in killing George Floyd began.<\/p>\n

More than three months since Floyd was killed for allegedly using a counterfeit bill, Derek Chauvin, the former officer filmed kneeling on Floyd\u2019s neck, and former officers Alexander Kueng, Thomas Lane and Tou Thao received a hearing.<\/p>\n

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(Contact Talli Nauman at talli.nauman@gmail.com<\/a>)<\/p>\n

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The post Rallying for the homeless<\/a> first appeared on Native Sun News Today<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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Monique \u201cMuffie\u201d Mousseaux speaks at Memorial Park. Chase Iron Eyes responds: The cause is \u201ca most difficult issue as we have no remedial options for our people on the creek. They are exiled in their homeland.\u201d Photo by Talli Nauman RAPID CITY \u2013 Participants from numerous grassroots groups tackling life-or-death <\/p>\n

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Shared by Native Sun News Today<\/a> September 16, 2020<\/p>\n

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