According to The Smithsonian National Museum of the American Indian, one in four eligible Native people compared to about one in twelve non-Natives served in the armed forces during the war in Vietnam from 1964 to 1975. American Indian Vietnam veteran Sylvester Foote decided to write his life down in a book for his children, but in the process discovered the true severity of his PTSD. Sylvester Duane Foote Sr. grew up in Winter, South Dakota just east of the Rosebud Reservation. His family was put in a separate part of town because of segregation in the 1960s. It was known as an Indian Town, which is the name of Foote’s new book.
Friendship through music? A Lakota Music Project recording makes its debut today …
If we’re ever going to get this racial (strife) to end, there has to be friendship. It can’t just be tolerance.” That from Delta David Gier, South Dakota Symphony Orchestra music director and 2020 South Dakota Hall of Fame inductee. Two musical worlds joined forces to form the Lakota Music Project, melding traditional Native American songs, European classics and American compositions into a modern fusion. After years of performing their groundbreaking music live, Lakota Music Project’s first recording debuts today. The self-titled Lakota Music Project recording will be available on iTunes and streaming services. Lakota Music Project is a collaboration between South Dakota Symphony Orchestra and musicians from the Oglala Sioux and Sisseton Wahpeton Oyate Tribes.
