American Indian dancing and singing at Oacoma

For my day job as a daily newspaper reporter, I had the opportunity yesterday to cover the Tribal Listening Conference at Cedar Shore Resort in Oacoma. The conference was organized by the South Dakota U.S. Attorney’s Office as part of a broader initiative by the U.S. Department of Justice to improve public safety on American Indian reservations. Representatives of all nine of the tribes in South Dakota attended, along with state and federal officials. The conference opened with some fancy-shawl dancing, along with some singing by the Bad Nation Singers, which you can watch and listen to by clicking play below.