The Lakota National Invitational is taking place this week in Rapid City. The event hosts a verity of competitions including Traditional Lakota hand games and basketball tournaments.
People filled the bleachers of the Rushmore Plaza Civic Center on Thursday night to watch girls and boys basketball teams compete in the Lakota National Invitational, or LNI.
Bryan Brewer is one of the founders of LNI. He says there was discussion of moving the tournaments to Sioux Falls earlier this year but the board voted to stay in Rapid City.
"We’ve had a lot of issues. Things are changing and we understand that no matter where we go, racism will always be here or anywhere. We need to work with our children, our education-educate everybody. LNI has always been about reconciliation and working out what’s best for our students. We have such a high suicide rate on our reservations right now. We try to have educational programs. Right now we’re having them for 4 days for our students and we’re opening them up to adults also," says Brewer.
He says he hopes to expand LNI to include events year-round. LNI is scheduled through Saturday, December 19th.