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| (Above)South Dakota for Palestine in Rapid City, South Dakota, July 20, 2024 |
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By International Indigenous Youth Council-Oglala Lakota Chapter
Censored News
RAPID CITY, South Dakota -- On July 20th, a Saturday afternoon, dozens peacefully gathered around the City Hall to call for a ceasefire for Palestine. We were assaulted with spray paint and threatened with a firearm. These violent acts prove exactly what Palestinians have to experience from day to day.
According to the Ministry of Health in Gaza, as of July 15th, 2024, at least 38,664 Palestinians have been reportedly killed in the Gaza Strip, and another 89,097 Palestinians have been reportedly injured since October 7th, 2023.
SD4Pal and the IIYC - OG, co-organized a peaceful rally to educate and increase awareness of the ongoing killing of the Palestinian Peoples.
Holding signs that said “Ceasefire," “Palestine will never walk alone ” and chanting “Free Free Free Palestine ” “Up up, with liberation, down down with occupation," the group was met with much support from the passing vehicles and many more who are upset at their tax dollars going to kill innocent people in Gaza.
Shortly after arriving outside the City Hall to peacefully rally, the group was accosted by Sarah Starkowski (who works for USIC US Infrastructure Company under contract with Rapid City) who was accusing the peaceful group of being anti-Semitic during her clock work hours. The woman shared racist remarks with a few of the participants and assaulted them with spray paint, destroying a phone and getting some in the eyes and shirt of one elderly man.
An eyewitness to the assault was allowed to make a citizen's arrest and an additional Class 2 misdemeanor charge was added. The worker was handcuffed and taken to Pennington County Jail.
Following the peaceful rally, the youth organizers were debriefing at the City Hall public parking, when a caucasian man in a black Ram TRX pickup drove by holding a gun, threatening the group of peaceful youth.
RAPID CITY, South Dakota -- On July 20th, a Saturday afternoon, dozens peacefully gathered around the City Hall to call for a ceasefire for Palestine. We were assaulted with spray paint and threatened with a firearm. These violent acts prove exactly what Palestinians have to experience from day to day.
According to the Ministry of Health in Gaza, as of July 15th, 2024, at least 38,664 Palestinians have been reportedly killed in the Gaza Strip, and another 89,097 Palestinians have been reportedly injured since October 7th, 2023.
SD4Pal and the IIYC - OG, co-organized a peaceful rally to educate and increase awareness of the ongoing killing of the Palestinian Peoples.
Holding signs that said “Ceasefire," “Palestine will never walk alone ” and chanting “Free Free Free Palestine ” “Up up, with liberation, down down with occupation," the group was met with much support from the passing vehicles and many more who are upset at their tax dollars going to kill innocent people in Gaza.
Shortly after arriving outside the City Hall to peacefully rally, the group was accosted by Sarah Starkowski (who works for USIC US Infrastructure Company under contract with Rapid City) who was accusing the peaceful group of being anti-Semitic during her clock work hours. The woman shared racist remarks with a few of the participants and assaulted them with spray paint, destroying a phone and getting some in the eyes and shirt of one elderly man.
An eyewitness to the assault was allowed to make a citizen's arrest and an additional Class 2 misdemeanor charge was added. The worker was handcuffed and taken to Pennington County Jail.
Following the peaceful rally, the youth organizers were debriefing at the City Hall public parking, when a caucasian man in a black Ram TRX pickup drove by holding a gun, threatening the group of peaceful youth.
When the youth began to notify the police which were a block away, the black Ram TRX immediately drove away with a caucasian woman hanging out the passenger window yelling, “Go to Hell with the Palestinians," which was captured on video.
We are still working to identify the man who verbally accosted the group yelling threats, while brandishing a handgun in a threatening manner towards the youth in City Hall parking lot.
This Offender is described as a Caucasian, middle-aged man, wearing a black cap with sunglasses, drives a black Ram TRX, with black rims and a white sticker on top left of rear window, who intentionally went out of his way to make the youth fearful for exercising their first amendment rights.
We will continue to fight until Palestine is free.
Nothing will get in our way.
Read more:
Lakotas for Palestine Attacked in Hate Crime in Rapid City, Censored News
https://bsnorrell.blogspot.com/2024/07/lakotas-for-palestine-attacked-in-hate.html
2 comments:
An instructive and terrifying story from the streets. Thanks for reporting. Pro-Palestine and pro-indigenous activists are showing courageous resolve in the face of trumped-up counter arguments and threats of violence, a trend conveniently overlooked or falsely framed by much of the mainstream US media sources.
I am glad no one was killed. It very well could've happened. Racists are getting bolder and need to be arrested when they threaten our people; that's the only way to calm them down. Once they get finger-printed, they will be more careful. I am glad the racist female assailant was brought to jail under "citizen's arrest" and I hope she loses her job over this attack.
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