article_snippet: A May rally in support of Vern Traversie's drew hundreds of people, many of whom said Vern Traversie's story exemplifies the racism Native Americans experience in Rapid City.
article_snippet: I think the Native people have been fighting racial hatred for many years in South Dakota, but you know, it's not all the people that are hateful toward Native Americans,' said Vern Traversie.
article_snippet: We have a good segment of We society -- white society -- in South Dakota that are Christian people and Christian people get along good with the Native Americans.
article_snippet: In my instance, I believe I'm dealing with the Ku Klux Klan, and that's a small minority.'
article_snippet: Iron Eyes, a member of the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe, and Cody Hall, a member of the Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe, which Traversie belongs to, organized the May rally in an effort to bring attention to what Iron Eyes, a member of the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe, and Cody Hall, a member of the Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe, which Traversie belongs say is continued mistreatment of Native American people.
article_snippet: While Traversie's story spurred the protest, many Native Americans who attended referred to broken treaties, unsolved murders and incarceration rates among Native Americans as Native Americans reasons for showing up.
article_snippet: Native Americans included Dennis Banks, who helped found the American Indian Movement in the late 1960s to protest the U.S. government's treatment of Indians and demand the U.S. government honor the U.S. government treaties with Indian tribes.