Judge Viken Speaks in Spearfish Tonight on Prejudice in the Black Hills

Federal Judge Jeffrey Viken makes up a snow day in Spearfish tonight. After his scheduled April appearance was snowed out by our spring blizzard, Judge Viken comes to the Black Hills State University campus to talk about racism and peaceful coexistence in the occupied territory of the Black Hills:

Jeffrey Viken, chief judge of the U.S. District Court for the District of South Dakota, will talk about prejudice in the Black Hills and its roots in lack of information and education during a talk at Black Hills State University Thursday, Sept. 26 at 7 p.m. in the David B. Miller Yellow Jacket Student Union Jacket Legacy Room.

Viken’s presentation, titled “Why are there so many Indians around here? A middle schooler’s question evokes reflection on racial prejudice,” is part of BHSU’s Madeline A. Young Distinguished Speaker Series. Viken was to deliver this speech on the BHSU campus last spring during American Indian Awareness Week but was forced to reschedule due to inclement weather.

Viken, who was appointed by President Barack Obama, will talk about the history of Indian and non-Indian people in the region and discuss ways both can coexist in the Black Hills [BHSU press release, 2013.09.17].

Viken has built strong relations with South Dakota's Indian reservations. At his Senate confirmation hearing in 2009, Viken said he had brougth law day programs to help around a thousand kids on the reservations learn about their constitutional rights. About twenty years ago, the Two Bulls-Winters family adopted Viken and his wife Linda Lea into the Lakota tiospaye:

...Jeffrey Viken is a Hunka (pronounced "hoonkah"), or adopted, member of the Oglala-Lakota Two Bulls family.

"Being adopted into a Lakota family . . . comes with serious responsibilities," according to Rosalie Little Thunder, a professor of Lakota language and culture at Black Hills State University. "To be a ‘hunka' means that you take extra time to check on the welfare of your older relatives. It means you give more than you get out of the relationship. It isn't about the prestige you get, it's about the responsibility you accept" [Eric Zimmer, "'Hoh!' – Free Speech Issues Expose 'Underbelly of Oppression' in the Black Hills," Dakota Day, 2010.05.30].

Judge Viken's adopted Lakota status doesn't stop him from enforcing the law fairly on whites and Lakota alike. He fined and put a Two Bulls on probation for theft last month. In 2010, Viken ruled against Aloysius Dreaming Bear and upheld the Oelrichs School District's authority to require Dreaming Bear and other students to wear European cap and gown during graduation. Viken ruled only after working extra hard to get the parties to resolve their own differences. Still, some Native activists called Viken's ruling an "act of oppression."

Spearfish neighbors, Viken's speech should be worth the walk to campus. And the forecast says 54 and showers, with no twenty inches of snow yet.