“It will take a generation for us to truly understand the deep wounds that we have inflicted upon the Lakota people at Whiteclay,” LaMere said on the first day the stores closed. “It will take a lifetime to heal them.”

Ben Nelson, the former Nebraska governor and U.S. senator, described LaMere as a “tireless” worker who was able to make a difference for not only his fellow Native Americans but people from all walks of life. LaMere, Nelson said, used friendship to build a following and find common ground.

“When he brought an issue to you as an advocate, it wasn’t an ‘Either (do this) or else,’ it was a ‘Can we work together on this?’ ” Nelson said. “Even when we couldn’t agree on something, he was always aware there was another day, another time and another issue.”

Most recently, LaMere voiced concerns about the interaction between Omaha police officers and a mentally ill Native American man from Oklahoma in June 2017. Zachary BearHeels died after police punched and repeatedly shocked him with a Taser. A coroner determined that the 29-year-old died of “sudden death associated with excited delirium, physical struggle, physical restraint and use of a (Taser).”