Heartbreaking shit like this!

This is pure racist crap...

After the incident, the Rapid City Police Department conducted an investigation and concluded three men were directly responsible. However, they only decided to charge one, Trace O’Connell, with disorderly conduct — a misdemeanor. And much to the chagrin of school administrators, federal prosecutors have not gotten involved, despite American Horse School being a federal institution.

Gloria Kitsopoulos is the superintendent and principal of the American Horse School and a member of the Lakota tribe. According to Kitsopoulos, the chief of police, city attorney, and state attorney drove to the school to explain the results of the investigation and deeply offended the parents and school officials who had assembled there.

“The first thing that really offended me was that they brought the communications guy from Rapid City with them and I gave him the microphone so he could talk to the people. He said, ‘if anyone wants to use the talking stick when I’m done, let me know,'” she told ThinkProgress. When the misdemeanor charge was announced, “nobody really said anything because [they] thought ‘okay that’s the first one, that’s probably the lesser charge.’ And that was it. Everybody was just dumbfounded.”

Parents were outraged and began to yell, at which point the chief of police approached Kitsopoulos and said, “I think we should leave. I’m fearing for her safety” and pointed to the female state attorney. Back in Rapid City, officers claimed they fled the reservation out of fear. But the superintendent maintains nobody was showing signs of aggression at the meeting.

With the fine there is a guilty verdict. They need to lawyer up and sue the entitlement out of these a-holes.

It truly hurts. How do you change this much hatred around?

As for your question.. Only hope is that in 25 yrs the demographics will be different.. Less disgusting white racists..more diversified population..

these children have been able to get past this. If not the blowback after all these years is gonna hurt.

Still I don't really care about the blow back, I just want them to know that they are not what these men tried to make them feel like.

I hate these stories, I don't want to read them and I don't want to know about them yet we need to and actually you can't go a day without seeing at least one cruel, racist attack.

as they die iff.

Someone tell me how to do that...Please.. I’m not the brightest bulb around here..

when you open the "reply" box, there's the reply title line and under that are small ovals for bold, italicizes, etc. There's also one called "smilies". Hit that oval and voila! There they are. Select the smilie you like and it's automatically added into the body of your post.

Good luck!

sorry, just a small comedy in sad thread.

this story is so horrible, those "men" so disgusting.

I hope OP forgives this little distraction.

(and I'm the prime example... )

Time for more caffeine or bed!

I also hope the OP forgives this.
Maybe it's our way of diverting thoughts that nice people should not have.

Couldn’t read the name of #14...I was ready to ask an adult.. But most of my adult friends have passed!!

EXECUTIVES - you know, more important than the common rabble like us or those kids. You expect these superior beings to face consequences for their behavior when they are so obviously superior to everyone else? They're well-to-do job-creators, exalted beings, above the constraints of society.







needless to say, but that's the world we live in today.

It makes you sad and angry. Drunk or not drunk, it was sad what they did to these kids.

they're still probably trying to figure out how to handle the Bundy Ranch standoff.

The Bundy Ranch thing was a complicated issue you know...and now that Holder is gone they have to start all over again.

he had much more important things to do, like investigate FIFA. (just in case)

Obviously the more important thing...and the DOJ can do just so much.

The federal hate crime statute only applies to actions that cause bodily injury or death, or which are deliberately attempting to do so, and specifically excludes actions leading to emotional or psychological harm. The slurs these guys were yelling didn't qualify, and getting someone wet doesn't qualify as "bodily injury" under the federal definition. It may qualify as assault under state law, but the federal definition requires actual physical damage, physical pain, or impairment.

Which had some disturbing, and over-looked, statistics.

http://m.motherjones.com/politics/2015/07/native-americans-getting-shot-police

Earlier today I found this in a source I read from time to time:

http://indiancountrytodaymedianetwork.com/2015/07/20/native-lives-matter-community-seeks-funding-funeral-burial-man-killed-denver-police

The Indian Country Today article also has a link to help pay for the burial of Paul Castaway, and to help his mother.

Stuff like this is all too believable. sigh

anyone should EVER have to bare. I have spent much time going to funerals and events on Reservations and I cannot tell you what I have seen.

I'm sure it would be the same $500 fine.

Sure!

I don't know what the game is but it sure seems like there is one.

Animals mark their territory that way don't they?

Hey, I just checked off punch an old lady in the face!

Nice,we just got pour beer all over Native American children!

Oh wow, that's a tough one!



Seriously, there are a lot of sociopaths out there and it's time we stop celebrating their philosophy.

The longer it goes the more they multiply.

you probably mean the BIA

the BLM is a public land management agency, although lately it is the Black Lives Matter movement. I have been confused several times with the headlines of late as I am way too familiar with the land agency out here in the west.

About 85 miles from Rapid City.

Trace O'Connell is a heavy-equipment operator

According to business databases, O'Connell Construction has 4 employees and a revenue for $1,000,000.

No eff-ing words.

those assholes would have raised if the situation was reversed? people would have been jailed then and there.

feds must become involved.
These are child abusers to boot.
All three must be made to apologize to every child in person. This is going to be affect them the rest of their lives.

Just came home from a concert..1st thing I did was to get on DU so I could get some comfort from you guys..My concert was ruined tonight by these racist scumbags who needed to scare the shit out of some Native American children.. Not that my concert was that important in the first place..but little kids being attacked by vile white adults? No words..

I hope this makes the news on MSNBC so something will be done.

It seems perfectly predictable to me. Why would you expect outrage over an event like this when the men who led the slaughter and genocide of millions of members of the First Nations are enshrined in every public school as heroes and geniuses?

Should have been assault.

An assault is carried out by a threat of bodily harm coupled with an apparent, present ability to cause the harm. It is both a crime and a tort and, therefore, may result in either criminal and/or civil liability. Generally, the common law definition is the same in criminal and tort law.

Calling this dick move on their part "assault" is a big stretch, legally, and I doubt there's a DA in the world that would want to take that to court, esp. against people with 'means'.

And I also doubt there's any precedence for adding a 'Hate Crime' penalty ... on top of a 'disorderly conduct' charge.

That's why the penalty is so minimal.

I mean, yeah, it'd be NICE if we could 'legally' penalize the jerks more severely, but the law is not 'on our side'. Not much sense (IMHO) in freaking out over that aspect of things.

As some have mentioned ... suing the b'jesus out of the assholes is going to be the best shot both these kids and 'society' have at meting out something approaching 'proper' justice.

And honestly, I think that's probably how it should be.

I read the testimony. The case against O'Connell is not that strong. Reasonable doubt and all that. It doesn't sound like a deliberate pouring of beer even with the testimony of the school children and the chaperones - no one said they had beer poured on them. They all talked about "drops" of beer. I think that it could have been deliberate but I seriously doubt the judge will think there is enough evidence for that conclusion. There was boorish behavior coming from that group - no question. But boorish behavior, even if directed at children is not a crime. I am not sure if public intoxication is a crime in this jurisdiction or not or if the evidence was collected to support that. I am a little disappointed that some type of restorative justice/mediation was not tried before going to the expense of a trial which might not yield a conviction. It is possible that these jerks could have been shamed into apologizing and paying some kind of restitution if they weren't lawyered up to defend a criminal charge. Maybe that could still happen but I sort of doubt it.

As a former Migrant and Indian Teacher, I am beyond words. These could have easily been my students! That's 605-859-2020.

Despicable.

They just keep getting more brazen. The Scum.