SIOUX FALLS, SD (Dakota News Now) – A couple of Sioux Falls business owners are concerned about racially charged graffiti that was discovered behind their store.
On Wednesday night, as they were leaving the building where their business is located, Beth Shaw discovered the disturbing graffiti in a walkway.
Beth and her husband Jerry are a mixed race couple who together own a business out west. They did not want to share the name of the business or their location for fear of retaliation or making a bad situation worse.
“This is pure rage and it was pure, it was violent. There’s no other way to say it,” Beth said.
It’s hard to say if the vandalism was an intended threat, but as a mixed-race couple and a black-owned business, it’s troubling on both sides.
“What was so shocking to me was the hatred and the violence and the intent to harm someone because of the pigment of their skin. It’s scary. Someone out there is thinking this way and feeling this way in this community,” Beth said.
With so many graffiti it was hard to ignore. Amid calls to kill black people, Nazi symbolism and references to the Ku Klux Klan, Beth became deeply concerned and alerted the security of her building and the police.
“It was frustrating because, to me, this was a threat to people in my community and to most of my family,” Beth said.
“Watching it, it was a surprise to me because I’ve been in Sioux Falls for a long time and I’ve never seen anything like this,” Jerry said.
It was described as a surprise, but not a shock. Hateful messages are unfortunately not new, and in this area, local NAACP chapter vice president Julian Beaudion said it is becoming a trend.
“We have a history of having incidents of racism, hate, discriminatory practices in this very community and then sweeping those things under the rug very quickly. Very close to this incident, there was an individual who approached two young black women and told them that he was a member of the KKK and expected to kill black people in Sioux Falls. There have been several cases that have occurred downtown on Phillips Avenue. One where there was a young lady working in a business and a white man came in and told her he was going to put a bullet in her head and all those who were black like her. In another incident, a man was chasing a young woman up and down Phillips Avenue to say that he was also a member of the KKK and that that organization planned to kill black people en masse in Sioux Falls. We have given these things a pass by saying only that they were isolated incidents. At what point is enough? It’s right now for us,” Beaudion said.
They were also concerned with the response of Metro Communications and Sioux Falls police, who did not send an officer to the scene of a possible threat.
Open lines of communication between law enforcement and the NAACP clarified a possible miscommunication that night.
“There was a processing error to say this incident should be online. He realizes that he shouldn’t have been. This was fixed immediately and we have the utmost respect for Chief Thum to know that this has been fixed and will not happen again in our community,” said Beaudion.
This has been made clear with local officials and they hope to move forward, but not over the situation. They think things need to change, and Beth was inspired by Martin Luther King, Jr. and one of her favorite sayings.
“‘I have a dream that my four children’, and I have four children. “Will they live one day in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character. “And I’ve lived with that my whole life and I want our world, not just here, I want our world to live by that,” Beth explained.
“For me, being black is a challenge. It’s different. It’s like being black is just a crime in itself. “Once people see you, they judge you just because of the color of your skin,” Jerry said.
For the Shaw family and the NAACP, moving forward involves engaging in conversation and making things right when incidents occur.
“Disgust is the first emotion you feel when you see those types of images, but honestly in this community, it’s unfortunate, but the truth is, the reality is I’m not shocked,” Beaudion said.
Beaudion said the difference comes with being intentional about what they do.
“We do that by intentionally re-engaging, we do that by intentionally recruiting people to run for office so that they represent people of color in this community, proper representation, but we also do that by putting pressure on people who are already in office saying they shouldn’t rely on us to tell them what’s going on. They are in the position for a reason and they have a responsibility to pay attention to the people in this community and what is happening to us,” Beaudion said.
“What I hope comes from this is that our city is enlightened that these things are happening and we need to be aware and we need to have compassion and we just need a change in our mindset, our feelings, but that change must come in. that person. I can’t make people change. I just hope we can find a way to help,” Beth said.
Sioux Falls police did their part to clear things up. Normally in cases of racial hatred or prejudice, an officer is sent to investigate.
Public Information Officer Sam Clemens told Dakota News Now that in a miscommunication, the person who received the call didn’t realize it was more than graffiti. Since then they have gone through their policies and the nuances of the law.
“Since this call occurred, police have been working with Metro Communications to review the policy in place and ensure this does not happen in the future. It is important to recognize that dispatchers are not police officers and they may not be aware of the intricacies of some laws. They are very good at getting information from people who call for help, but sometimes things go wrong. This is a good reminder to both agencies that when racially charged graffiti occurs, an officer will respond personally,” Clemens explained.
No arrests have been made and there are currently no suspects.
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