SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (KELO) – A black-owned business on the west side of Sioux Falls was recently the target of racist graffiti.
Shortly after 8:30 p.m. Thursday, Go Games owner Beth Shaw found graffiti of racial remarks in the back of the store she owns with her husband, Jerry. The messages ranged from threats against black people, mentions of the Ku Klux Klan, a swastika and the phrase “white power.”
“I feel disappointment in how things are going in the city that I love,” Beth said. “I don’t understand how anyone can not care or be so vile as to what they’re gonna do because of the pigmentation in someone’s skin.”
Sam Clemens, Sioux Falls police spokesperson, told KELOLAND News in an email Thursday no arrests have been made yet. There are also no suspects at this time.
KELOLAND News received this statement from the Go Games property owners:
“Overnight, our property was defaced with graffiti that contained abhorrent messages that are not acceptable at our property or in our community. We moved quickly to remove it and reported this incident to police,” a spokesperson said in a statement.
The Shaw’s took ownership of the toy store two years ago. They say the culture and treatment toward black people in Sioux Falls has gotten worse over the years.
“I’ve lived here for like 16 years and I’ve never seen anything like this before,” Jerry said. “It’s changed a lot and it’s not changing for the better.”
Beth has lived in South Dakota her whole life, but said noticed a change after 2020 and the Black Lives Matter movement.
“Being black, a lot of people don’t understand, sometimes you feel like just being black is a crime in itself,” Jerry added. “People just look at you and say you’re up to no good.”
Julian Beadion, the vice president of the South Dakota NAACP chapter, said this kind of behavior shouldn’t be acceptable in Sioux Falls and called on community leaders, including Mayor Paul TenHaken, to be more proactive in fighting against racism.
“This community has also allowed and really not fought against or not battled against the spirit of racism and the spirit of hatred,” Beadion said. “As the NAACP, we call on not just the community overall, but we call on business leaders. We call on black business leaders, prominent black business leaders in this community to do more, to say more.”
He added the incident with Go Games isn’t an isolated one and mentioned other instances of racism in the community, including black people being harassed and threatened openly in the street.
Beth hopes to see more empathy from people in the community going forward.
She ended her interview with KELOLAND News by reading an excerpt from Martin Luther King Junior’s “I have a dream” speech. Beth, who is the mother of four mixed children, said she fears for her family.
“‘I have a dream that my 4 little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin, but the content of their character,’’ Beth recited from MLK’s speech. “This was so many years ago, and we’re still not there.”
