Children between the ages of 9 and 13 were rewarded for academic excellence with tickets to a Rush hockey game in Rapid City, South Dakota. This was supposed to be a happy occasion. When they arrived at the hockey game, however, intoxicated fans proceeded to harass the children and the chaperones with racially charged slurs, as well as telling the children to go back to the "rez". This behavior is completely unforgivable and they need to be charged for every possible crime they can be charged with which should also include hate crimes along with child abuse.

The fact that this article is titled "Racism at Rush game: stories conflict on whether Native students stood for National Anthem prior to harassment" (link at the end) is completely unacceptable. In addition, the printed version of this article was graced with the title "Did Native Students Stand for National Anthem?" before it being changed to the one above for the online version. Even entertaining the idea that the abhorrent assaults on these kids are justifiable for any reason is completely unfounded. This article is victim blaming and completely racist. Attacking children is not okay under any circumstances. There is no feasible justification for the actions of the drunken attackers at this game. The acts of those drunken fans will remain in the memories of these children for years to come. The kids will be dealing with the traumatic effects of this event for long after it is over.

I call upon anyone and everyone who reads this petition to sign this and make the Rapid City Journal hold its staff accountable for their racism. It is not okay for them to take a biased stance on these racially charged issues. Sign this petition and help demand a retraction as well as an apology from this newspaper. Don't let this local news outlet get away with victim blaming or justifying the acts of racists in the Rapid City area. Make your voice heard and take a stand! Make it be known that we will never allow anyone to get away with hurting our children. Let Rapid City know that we are not afraid to make ourselves be heard and we are not afraid to fight for our people!

Article link: http://rapidcityjournal.com/news/local/racism-at-rush-game-stories-conflict-on-whether-native-students/article_812d2c2f-5b3e-50a2-bdbe-4ba9107118f7.html#.VM0hk3Sidw8.facebook