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I can appreciate
Jim Galewski’s thoughts on loud pipes in the bluffs. I live on
Broadway, and the roar of motorcycles at all hours day and night is
one of the sounds of summer I can do without. Until recently, I
thought of it as just one of those things you have to put up with for
the few months of warm weather each year. But for some, the culture
of loud pipes as well as the drinking and loud music that often
accompanies them, is more than an annoyance. For many of our American
Indian neighbors, they pose a very real threat to their sacred spaces.
Bear Butte is a
majestic place that rises out of the South Dakota plain, just east of
the Black Hills. For more than 30 indigenous nations, including the
Lakota and Cheyenne, Bear Butte is a sacred place. Native people
continue to gather there for ceremonies, to fast and pray and seek
guidance from the Great Spirit, as they have for centuries.
Today that sacred
place is danger of being overrun by the nearby Sturgis motorcycle
rally. This year, Sturgis expects to attract more than 600,000 bikers
during a five-day music festival. Bear Butte is now virtually
surrounded by concert venues and campgrounds catering to the biker
crowds. A recently built amphitheater, Buffalo Chip, is just a short
distance away. Worshipers at Bear Butte can hear clearly the loud
music and every filthy word that emanates from that place. A similar
venue is scheduled to break ground soon on the other side of the
mountain. A campground that lies at the base of Bear Butte has
latrines on the slope of the sacred mountain and, with an eye to
expansion, has just applied for and been issued a beer license.
In light of these
threats to Bear Butte, a summit of elders from many tribes will
convene there this week to discuss Indian land rights, and,
specifically, protection of sacred spaces. The immediate goal for
Bear Butte is the enactment and enforcement of a five-mile buffer
zone to protect the prayerful quiet of the mountain.
Even the town of
Sturgis has reason to be ambivalent about the rally. For this town of
6,000 to absorb more than half a million bikers, everything must be
geared to motorcycles, and in particular a culture of loud pipes,
loud music and drinking indicative of this rally. In Sturgis, there
are countless biker bars and saloons. Many residents and businesses
not related to the rally simply vacate during the festival. One local
store even moves its entire inventory into storage, and the space is
converted into a biker bar for five days because the absentee
landlord can reap such profits in that short time. Huge sums of money
change hands during the festival, but with increasing outside
ownership and investment, it’s not clear how much of that
actually stays in the small town of Sturgis.
The reputation for
law-breaking and loud partying is not indicative of all bikers, or
everyone at the Sturgis rally. In particular, many bikers are very
respectful of American Indian culture and spirituality. One group,
Bikers USA, has endorsed the call to protect Bear Butte, and native
people are encouraged by such support. The real threat to Bear Butte
is not the bikers themselves, but the greed that feeds the
development boom surrounding the rally.
Winona has begun a
great tradition in the past few years with the Dakota Homecoming.
Seeing how many Dakota people travel to Winona for the homecoming, we
can begin to understand the importance of the land to Lakota culture
and spirituality. In opening our community to our predecessors and
neighbors on this prairie, we have begun a process of reconciliation
long overdue. As motorcycle season continues and we see and hear
bikers passing through Winona on their way to Sturgis, let’s
hope that we can all find a ways to encourage dialogue and respect
for all our neighbors.
Eileen Hanson is a
member of the Winona Catholic Worker community. “In the
interests of full disclosure, I freely admit that my favorite kind of
bike is a bicycle.”
Guest views are
opinions of the author and don’t necessarily reflect the views
of the Winona Daily News. They are published to stimulate thought and
to provide an expanded forum on issues of local interest.
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