Fashion show and concert to highlight Native artists

Chase Iron Eyes has spent the past year working to bring attention to marginalization and discrimination in Rapid City, but he'll spend this weekend shining light on talented Native American artists.
The #NativeLivesMatter Fashion Show and Concert will be held at The Dahl Arts Center this weekend. The event is part of a long effort over the last year after several incidents and longstanding frustrations in the community. Iron Eyes, 37, is an activist from Rapid City and Standing Rock Reservation, and the head of Native news website Last Real Indians.
"I'm about addressing the systemic nature of oppression and impact of legal and economic institutions in the state of South Dakota," Iron Eyes said. "It's hard to prove discriminatory intent, but I felt that activists were marginalized, so we wanted to have a concert to provide a neutral venue for people interested in finding out why Indians always protest in Rapid City."
Iron Eyes said that events such as the GEAR UP scandal and the acquittal of Trace O'Connell, who was accused of spilling beer on Native American students during a minor league hockey game, were among the many things he was disappointed in.
"They're more blows to native consciousness and Indian/white relations in Rapid City," Iron Eyes said. "There is work being done by the mayor and chief of police being done to help, but I'm concerned real issues are going to be overlooked."
This event, then, will double as a talk about issues and as a way to highlight talented Native American artists, beginning with the Native Fashion Week portion run by designer Edison Ritchie, whose work has been featured across the United States and Europe. Ritchie's company, Revolution Couture, will sponsor the event.
"We have an idealistic mindset that we want to promote," Ritchie said. "I hope people take away a sense of empowerment. I am empowered, I am Native, I'm from Pine Ridge, I am successful, sober, drug free, and I hope people see that and feel empowered as a Native and a person."
Ritchie will debut his collection of designs from the recent 2016 L.A. Fashion Week shoot. The show will also feature designs by Sunrose Iron Shell, an open discussion led by producer Crystal Two Bulls, and a performance by Native hip-hop artist Kooper Indigenize Curley. Ritchie is particularly excited that his work will be soundtracked by Curley's work.
"His words are so powerful, and they'll bring forth the activism of what I'm doing," Ritchie said. "My clothing incorporates bullets and guns, but it's not about violence, it's a sign of pure freedom."
Curley won't be the only musician at the event. There will be a hip-hop concert featuring rappers Nataanii Means (son of Russell Means), Stuart James, Antoine Edwards, Jr. and Mike "Witko" Cliff.
Cliff said he felt #NativeLivesMatter wasn't a movement as much as it was a way to spread awareness. "We're concerned when community members are being shot or harmed for no reason," Cliff said. "The show came up as something fun, good and positive to counteract all the bad things going on."
Cliff, 25, said that hip-hop was a way to draw people in and let them know he and others have something to say.
"People are worried about their lives mattering, and it's necessary that people recognize that," Cliff said. "I want people to recognize and realize that we want to get along with everyone else, but we want to be recognized and respected."
That's a feeling shared by Ritchie and Iron Eyes, something they hope to promote with a positive, drug and drink-free concert and show.
"Chase is very vocal on what he believes is needed to make social change, and he's pushing all of us to be more vocal, too," Ritchie said.
"All we want is fair and equitable treatment, to have a human life and not live in poverty," Iron Eyes said. "We want reconciliation and conciliation. But it's got to be real, and we want people to know that."