Fire Thunder: Never forget nation’s freedoms

Fire Thunder: Never forget nation's freedoms By: David Lias
Plain Talk Students attending the American Indian Journalism Institute in Vermillion have unique, exciting challenges in store for them, according to Cecilia Fire Thunder, who addressed the instituteâ�?�?s participants following their evening meal Monday in the Al Neuharth Media Center on The University of South Dakota campus. â�?�?There has been so much negative publicity about our people for so long,â�? Fire Thunder, a former president of the Oglala Sioux Tribe, said Today, she works as a speaker, consultant and artist. â�?�?The perception that has been out there for so long is that we are all a bunch of drunks, and that we are violent,â�? she said. â�?�?Itâ�?�?s what sells newspapers, is it not?â�? There needs to be a change in media management, Fire Thunder said, so that newspapers recognize that there are many positive stories to be found in Indian country. Too many Americans, she said, view civic affairs with complacency. Fire Thunder reminded the young journalists to never forget the freedoms in the U.S. Constitution, and particularly the First Amendment.