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»American Civil Liberties Union Invites Two to speak for Native American People
Posted Local at Apr 20, 2011
Roger and Lavina Milk
By Alyssa Reifel
Lavina and Roger Milk, both Rosebud Sioux Tribal members, have lived in Winner almost their entire lives and are well-known within the community. They have both done their part in serving their community.
The American Civil Liberties Union invited Roger and Lavina to New York City to speak about their lives in Winner, S.D.
“We spoke of life in Winner nowadays compared to life a few years ago,” said the Milks.”
As they finished taking turns speaking about their lives in Winner, the crowd gave them a standing ovation.
Afterwards, there was a dinner held and Lavina and Roger were the guests of honor. They also took the time to arrange site seeing for the honorable couple.
Roger, is a 30 year SWA maintenance worker of the housing in Winner, and Lavina, has done various jobs within the community.
Samual Antoine, raised by Lavina and Roger since he was an infant, had filed a complaint on the Winner School District. Since then, the school has greatly improved on treating all students fairly, according to Antoine.
They have developed a program for the school to teach Native American culture and involve it within the curriculum.
There were thirteen other plaintiffs in the case and the ACLU gave Samual Antoine the lead plaintiff spot for the case called, Antoine v. Winner School District. In 2005, the ACLU filed a class action lawsuit on behalf of Native American students attending majority-white schools in Winner.
The suit alleged that the Winner School District maintained an environment hostile to Native American students (and their parents), disciplined them in a racially discriminatory manner, and coerced confessions from them in order to prosecute them in juvenile and criminal court.
The case settled in December 2007 with the entry of a Consent Order. The ACLU is working closely with the District to ensure implementation of this Consent Order. The parties have jointly retained the Washington D.C. based-group, Learning Point Associates, to monitor compliance with the Consent Order. (RJP, ACLUSD)
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