A series of community dialogues to combat racism in towns surrounding the Wind River Indian Reservation in Riverton is gaining steam. Organizers say the meetings are going so well, they plan to continue hosting them indefinitely.
The U.S. Justice Department suggested hosting the dialogues after a shooting at a detox center last summer by a white city employee that left one Northern Arapaho man dead and another severely injured.
Northern Arapaho Social Services Director Allison Sage says more people are attending the meetings, including city and tribal leaders. He says the goal is to teach the community how to talk about racism.
“We’re learning about our civil right,” Sage says. “We don’t know about our civil rights, but we need to keep learning and educate both sides about civil rights, what they mean.”
Sage says, at the meetings, small groups get together and brainstorm solutions. For instance, setting up call centers where people can report discrimination or just making reservation border towns more welcoming to Native Americans.
“The city officials said, well, we wanted to put up a welcome sign, welcoming the tribes to the city in the Arapaho language and the Shoshone language.”
Wyoming Association of Churches Director Chesie Lee heard other solutions, too.
“Native American education for all in Wyoming’s public schools,” Lee says. “So every school in Wyoming has strong curriculum about Native American issues.”
Lee says they hope to turn these ideas into action by encouraging people to sign commitment sheets, agreements to take on specific duties to make change happen.
They’ve already scheduled another dialogue to be held next month at Wyoming Indian High School in Ethete at 6 p.m. on April 20.