Box Elder prayer vigil honors those recently fallen

A candlelight prayer vigil was held at Box Elder Friday, just more than a week after two Rocky Boy men died in a shooting there, and organizers hope the event will provide comfort and strength to families and a chance to mourn for the lost.

The event's main organizer, Chaplain Bruce Meyers, said they had been planning an event like this for some time, but it is especially important now because of what happened late last month.

About 1:30 a.m. Thursday, March 28, two Rocky Boy men, Darin Bernard-Caplette, 41, and Thomas Roderick Yallup, 42, were killed in Box Elder, in what appears to be a targeted assault, a crime for which three suspects have since been arrested.

Meyers said the gathering was for those of all faiths and denominations, tribal elders, political leaders, law enforcement and anyone who has lost someone recently and needs strength and prayers.

Addressing the crowd, he said he wanted to pray for the families of the fallen, as well as the families of the perpetrators, for they have all been devastated by the events of the last week.

He said he wanted to pray for the children of this community and Native communities everywhere, who are being increasingly targeted by drug peddlers and gangs.

"A lot of our young people do not believe in Christian religion, they don't believe in Indian religion, they have nothing to believe, that's why they want to be gangsters," he said.

He said drugs are "an equal opportunity destroyer" and they are indeed destroying communities, and this won't change until people fight back.

Among the speakers that night was Tuff Harris, director of One Heart Warriors, a Native leadership program that seeks to promote physical, mental, spiritual, financial and relational health in Native American communities.

Harris said his group has been traveling across the state speaking at gatherings like this and he's glad they were able to come to Box Elder and Rocky Boy during such a difficult time.

He said God has a plan for everyone, but he does not force that plan on anyone. He said everyone has the freedom to choose their path and he hopes they choose life and to keep helping each other through these hard times.

He said the various groups of Native Americans around the country may have had differences and conflicts in the past but, now, they all face similar problems and can be united to help each other.

Husband-and-wife pastors Yaseer and Monique Handall of Arise, another organization seeking to empower Native American communities, also spoke at the event.

Yaseer Handall said he can speak English, but the language of his heart is Spanish, so he asked his wife to translate for him.

Through her he told the story of how, when he was a young man in Mexico, he saw the drug cartels gain influence in his community, how he got caught up in them and how it ate away at the people.

He said he remembers the first funeral he attended in that time, the funeral of a friend who died because of the influence of the cartel.

Handall said even as the cartel gained more and more influence, the mothers, grandmother and aunts in his life and the community never stopped praying for them, whether they were victims or perpetrators, or both, they still loved them and tried to guide them to the right path.

"It was them who continued to love us in spite of our additions and who continued to be there looking out for us when we went astray and couldn't be found," he said. " ... They didn't stop loving us."

Handall said he is now 25 years sober and has turned his life around, and that was made possible by the people of his community.

He said those who intend to guide the next generation must do so by example or they will fail, and they cannot rely on others or the government to do it for them.

He said it is important that those who have experienced loss take the time to grieve and heal, but not become stuck, because there is a future for them and their community, and their children.

Rosebud Madinger a speaker from Life Source Church agreed, saying that communities like these are strong and can make changes, but only by combatting their true enemy, generational trauma.

She said drugs themselves are not the enemy, but merely the manifestation of the wounds that have been left on Native communities down through generations, with so many turning to drugs to fill the void.

She said drug cartels are targeting reservations and their young people, but these communities can fight it by addressing the things that lead people to drug use.

The final speaker was the Rev. J. R. Boyd, the hereditary bloodline chief of the Medicine Bear Band of the Dakota-Santee Nation.

Boyd said the stories and families of those who died last week are not gone, but their loss still shakes the lives of not just their families, but their communities.

He said time is the most precious resource God can give to people and they must us it to love and support not only each other, but themselves.

"The day will come," he said to the crowd. "You will grieve your way back to peace."

He said no one can promise what God can give them and they must not allow hate to grip their hearts.

Meyers thanked everyone for speaking and told the crowd that more events are planned for the coming months to help bring hope to the community.

"We're all in this together," he said.

After the speakers, organizers read the names of people whose lives had been lost and candles were lit in their memory, with a large crowd gathering around the fire to honor them.