STURGIS, S.D. – American Indians protesting development encroaching on sacred Bear Butte peacefully confronted bikers gathering Friday for a raucous annual motorcycle rally.
The Sturgis Motorcycle Rally, scheduled Aug. 7-13, attracted 525,000 bikers last year and commercial development near the mountain has been driven in a large part by the event.
Indians have come to Bear Butte to pray, fast and hold religious ceremonies for centuries, but say noise from the bars, campgrounds and concert venues disrupts the peace.
“People pray on that mountain, and they can’t pray when there’s a bunch of drunks,” said Veronica Kills In Water of Denver, a member of the Oglala Lakota tribe on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation.
A couple hundred protesters carried signs and chanted “Don’t ride 79” as they walked up to the Meade County Courthouse. State Highway 79 goes past the butte and the entertainment sites that are closest to it.
Alex White Plume, president of the Oglala Sioux Tribe, said he will continue to seek a 5-mile buffer zone around the western South Dakota butte to prevent more development.
“We will not give up that fight,” White Plume told the crowd.
County commissioners have said they have no basis to deny issuing alcohol licenses and people have the right to use land as they see fit.
Many of the bikers rumbling by on Harley-Davidsons or walking the sidewalk were curious. Police eventually stood between them and the Indians to make sure the demonstration stayed peaceful.
Talk to us
> Give us your news tips.
> Send us a letter to the editor.
> More Herald contact information.
