Eighteenth International Conference on Diversity in Organizations, Communities & Nations

Abstract

Located in the heartland of the United States, the state of South Dakota has seen an unexpectedly fast growth of Latinos. This essay uses the city of Sioux Falls, SD as a case study for how key voices within the city are working to carve out space for these newer communities. Based on over twenty taped interviews, participant observation, and archival research, this work is the first to address race relations pertaining to Latinx community formation in Sioux Falls and perhaps South Dakota. The research results show that the current legal apparatuses work to recruit transnational Latinx labor—skilled or unskilled in their own home countries, but prevent social mobility and claims to belonging in the community by both covert and overt forms of policing and intentional withholding of institutional support. Until statewide changes are made to immigration policy, community integration efforts are employed, and racialized discourse deconstructed, the burden of the State’s failure to support all of its community members will be borne by precisely the kinds of people whose narratives are presented in this work.