South DaCola

Editorial Cartoonist from South Dakota

June 2020

1st Amendment racism SFPD Sioux Falls

Our Brothers and Sisters are Your Brothers and Sisters

l3wis 2Comments

I don’t know if I have ever blogged about this before. One of the main reasons is because I am white. I have close relatives that are Asian, Hispanic, Native American and African American. People I love, not because of their heritage but because they are FAMILY.

Does their color matter? Nope.

I may have shared this a few times, but I lived with my father for a few years in a working class suburb of Seattle when I was in 10th and 11th grade in High School. We lived a few miles from the largest Boeing plant in the company and the largest manufacturing plant in the world at the time. The doors on this place were the size of football fields. FOOTBALL FIELDS!

The school I attended was Mariner High. One of the most diverse schools in the region.

Being a small town white farm boy who never saw a ‘colored’ person in my life, except on TV, was eye opening. I had African American friends, Native friends, Asian friends, but it never occurred to me they were any different. They had the same goals, love of life and interests as me. It never was a revelation, it was reality. I also had gay and transgender friends (this was the late 80’s). I also hung out with metal heads, preps, jocks and punk rockers (I actually made a little coin finishing art projects for the football players).

I guess I never understood hatred based on identity. Sure I dislike certain people, but it was never based on their color, religion or sexual preference.

Some people would accuse me of being a liberal because of my beliefs towards others, I’m not a liberal, I’m a human being. Everyone should believe in equality, it is just being a decent and compassionate person.

And while you struggle with your white privilege, never apologize for it, use it to make other lives better. Speak out against injustice. Don’t apologize or be embarrassed, use your privilege to privilege others. We all need to get along and love each other, it is of the highest importance. We are all in this together. Jesus said it best (or someone who claimed to know Jesus);

“Blessed are those who have regard for the weak; the LORD delivers them in times of trouble.” – Psalm 41:1

And don’t just think police violence and domination is towards minorities. Over the past year I saw a drunk WHITE man get mauled by a dog while a SFPO kicked him, I saw another WHITE guy get tackled for flipping the bird and yet another WHITE jailed for weeks because he used hyperbole towards the mayor concerning 5G. None of us are immune folks. George Floyd is any of us, remember that.

These injustices affect us all as Americans. The police have become the judge, jury and to often the executioner. This is not their duty, their duty is to maintain peace, and arrest suspects and let a court and jury of peers decide if they are guilty of a crime.

I could point my finger at a lot of people, but today I will only point my finger at you as a citizen. Freedom is FREE, Speak OUT! It is one freedom they will never take from you unless you allow it!

racism SFPD Sioux Falls

A different Perspective on the Sunday Night protests

l3wis 10Comments

I have a dear South DaCola Soldier who lives out of state (but is from here) that frequents the various ‘city’ cams. She decided to take screenshots Sunday night as things unfolded and leaves us with some great commentary;

I watched the 41st street web cam and the Falls cam a lot.  I happened to look at the 41st street web cam Sunday night just as the cops were arriving. It was one cop with his car blocking traffic and I wondered what was going on.  As I watched more cops come and then the protestors.

After reading your page and the comments decided to send the pictures, maybe you are interested in them.

8:59 PM SF time

9 PM SF Time

Now they have turned right and gone down the street by the car dealer. I think that street is Louise.  The cops have 41 st  blocked so they can’t continue down 41 st.

9:16 pm, they are now all on the sidewalk.  9:18 and the cops are gone and so are the most of the protestors/walkers. The last of them went left through the parking lot or maybe it is part of the car dealer on what I think is Louise Ave.

9:23 pm and they are done.

Whoever is in charge of the camera moved it at least three times towards the stores, Menswear and the restaurant, but couldn’t see any people and the person moved the camera back to looking at 41st. Thought it was interesting, I am pretty sure there was a person watching that had control of the camera. (The mayor said later in an radio interview the EOC was watching)

9:09  pm

9:12 pm

9:15 pm  coming to an end.

Elections Sioux Falls

I hope election workers get a FREE breakfast Wednesday morning

l3wis 1Comments

I won’t surprised if we hear NO results from the election tonight, they have quite the mess they need to sort out as you can see below. I don’t take issue with this, there is no reason results need to be immediate, they only need to be accurate.

One of my friends asked me once why I shut my phone off at night when I go to bed, “What if some one dies?” I replied, “They will still be dead in the morning.” Whoever wins, wins. Doesn’t matter if that is 10 PM tonight or 10 AM tomorrow.

I fully support absentee voting by mail and in person. I haven’t voted at a precinct in probably a decade. It’s a hassle. Covid will be a fine experiment in this.

The only concerning thing I have heard is that as of yesterday, 15,000 city absentee ballots out of around 20,000 have been returned. They had until 7 PM tonight to either return them in person or vote in person.

We’ll talk in the morning.

1st Amendment Mayor TenHaken racism Sioux Falls

Mayor TenHaken and the SFPD handled the situation well last night

l3wis 19Comments

I agree with Paul that the protest in the afternoon had very little to do with the one at night. If the SFPD, Mayor and National Guard made any missteps, they should have broken up the walking crowd before it got to the Mall (and before it got dark). Many in attendance in the march towards the Mall agreed. I also think when you are telling people in the morning five hours before the protest even started that there will be violence, you are kind of inviting it. As I suspected police chief Burns admitted today that this supposed bus load of hoodlums from Fargo never arrived, it was just empty threats on FB, which I pointed out yesterday. Most of the rioters were local latch key kids that should have been home while their parents are working 2nd or 3rd jobs. This is one of my fears about the pools being closed this summer, a lot of these kids will be up to ‘other’ things besides swimming.

Sioux Falls really hasn’t had this kind of violence since the scabs broke the union lines at John Morrells several years ago. From what I could tell it was just a bunch of young kids and hoodlums looking for something to do and very little to do with George Floyd’s death.

I still think that some of this was overblown, but the reaction by the SFPD and Mayor was legitimate and they handled the situation pretty good, especially the swat department to calm the situation ASAP. I think people freaking out about BS on Facebook, especially elected officials, should really do some investigation before telling the citizens there will violence in the streets. Sure, kids throwing rocks at cops isn’t cool, but it certainly wasn’t a combat zone. Some times our local elected officials need to just be cool headed about these things instead of saying the sky is falling.

I commend our National Guard, police force and Mayor’s office for calming the situation quickly. But next time, before you warn about potential violence in the streets, gather all your facts first. As I tell people all the time, Democracy dies in darkness, be truthful with the citizens and they will respond better next time. If anything I hope there was some lessons learned, and thank God no one was seriously hurt.

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