Pine Ridge Reservation America’s Own Third World Country
Facts and personal observations of the Lakota People and Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in South Dakota.
I have never quite understood people who travel oversees and put forth so much effort to help those in Under developed countries, when we have a place right here in the US that has Third World conditions. Technically, this place is not “in the United States.” It is an Indian Reservation, therefore a Sovereign Nation.
The place to which I am referring is Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in South Dakota. I first became aware of it several years ago when I began traveling back and forth from Omaha, Nebraska, to the Black Hills. When I heard the statistics, I was shocked. When I SAW the conditions, I was mortified. Here are just a few of the FYI’s about Pine Ridge Reservation;
- The Average life expectancy on the Reservation is 46
- Pine Ridge Teen suicide rate is 150 times higher than the National Average
- 65% of the residents of the Reservation live in sub-standard conditions such as no electricity, running water, and often, without heat
- Many of the elderly (some of whom still live in sod houses) die of Hypothermia each year
- Average income is $2600 to $3500
- Due to lack of sustainable jobs on the Reservation, unemployment is approximately 85-95%
- Infant Mortality rate is 300% above National Average
- There are NO commercial, industry or technology infrastructures on the Reservation to provide employment
- Diabetes is 800 times higher than the National Average
The above facts don’t even begin to scratch the surface concerning the conditions on the reservation. Having been there many times, and coming to know the Lakota People, I have also learned the answers to many of the Pessimistic questions we non-natives have.
Q: Why don’t people just move OFF the reservation if it is so bad there?
A: For some, it is a matter of not knowing any other way. Just as there are 4th and 5th Generation Welfare recipients in the US, there are people who only know living on the reservation and how to function there.
Q: Any other reasons?
A: Over 50 % of the people of Pine Ridge speak their Native Language, and English, and a good many elders speak only Lakota. Time honored and traditional crafts are still taught to the young on the reservation, such as bead work, and animal skull art. Also, the reservation is THEIR land…the only thing white settlers left them with to call their own.
Q: Many people on the reservation get food stamps, doesn’t that help?
A: Not really. Not everyone who is entitled to Food stamps actually receives them. You must remember also that the Lakota Culture is a sharing one. If one has, the entire family has. It is not uncommon at all for 15 family members to be living in an elder’s 1 or 2 bedroom house and sharing the meals. One elder I know has 16 people living with her. One of her daughters does have a car, and works in Rapid City. Another daughter receives food stamps for herself and her 3 children. Those are basically the only family resources.
I have come to learn so much about the Lakota people and the culture. While the land is terrible in most places for any agriculture development, the landscape is beautiful. A mixture of Ponderosa Pine dotted land along with breath-taking sand hills and craters create a dramatic landscape parody. The people are rich in culture and tradition. There is also a Pride among the people which is unmistakable. While it is a sad fact that many Original Americans are alcoholic, I think it is important to note that it is a scientific fact that their bodies do not process alcohol the in the same way a Caucasian does. It is also important to note that the reservation is a Dry land. No alcohol allowed. However, just across the Nebraska Border is White Clay, which only purpose it seems is selling alcohol to the Original Americans.
I think it is admirable to want to help people of any Nation. My confusion comes when people overlook the poor and hungry within their own borders to find their “Cause.” Celebrities especially will log literally thousands of air miles traveling to Africa and such to help the poor. Perhaps they should just visit our Nation’s heartland and cross just over the Nebraska Border to Pine Ridge Indian Reservation.
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User Comments
Samar
On July 22, 2008 at 12:32 pm
Good point. Traveling to the third world is right in our backyard.
Alcohol; I can’t say enough. They need to stop drinking. White Clay is evil and anyone working there is not an American and should be sent to Gitmo. Someday justice will be served to those in White Clay.
Alcohol destroys. This chain must be broken.
Shalom and may God bless and keep you.
urban indian
On August 20, 2008 at 9:38 pm
How can you make somebody quit something that makes them feel good and helps them forget about the poor situation they live in? Alcohol is just about the only thing to do on the indian reservation. No industries, no big corporations and very minimal social resources means no work or jobs or job training. And you add no public transportation or hardly any means to get around, where does that leave the average indian. Do you see my point? The politicians don’t want to be bothered by it because there’s no money in it for them or their campaigns. Hillary only did it to show that she has compassion for the poor folk. But now that she didn’t elected for the presidential nomination, do you think she’ll be back to help out the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation? Personally, I doubt she’ll even think about the indians anymore. I was born in Oglala, S.D. but most of my life has been spent in Bay Area of California. My family still lives back home( Oglala). It’s sad, the plight of the only true Americans.
leon
On September 24, 2008 at 8:23 am
How do we help? You have given us the story now what do we do about it.
sigh...
On September 26, 2008 at 5:06 pm
Personally, I’ve heard enough about Indians, Blacks, Mexicans, Etc, Etc, Etc…I understand national pride, tradition, and the like. But if things are that bad, move. I moved here from another state to raise my family in a safer environment. I have never been given any land. I work for what is mine. It’s all too easy to blame others for your situation, it makes an easy excuse. I’m also tired of national (insert here) pride month, (another race) heritage day, black only colleges, blah, blah, blah. If the white people ever formed any white only groups, had a white history month, or kept other races out of colleges, they would be racist. So many hypocrites, it drives me nuts. Take care of your situation. Life is a matter of choices, deal with things and move on.
Bad Face Bull
On October 3, 2008 at 9:21 pm
If you would like to help, I recommend getting involved with:
Oglala Lakota College
http://www.olc.edu/
for the preservation of language and culture as well as for teaching vital skills
and/or
the Native American Heritage Association
http://www.naha-inc.org/Default.htm
To feed and clothe the Lakota on the rez.
cheryl
On October 5, 2008 at 11:44 pm
hi
i am interested in helping and possibly even moving to that area sometime in the future. i don’t have a college degree but i can be a fighter for rights.
1. where would a white person live in that area if they wanted to volunteer and help? the reservation is probably only for Native Americans and families right? Can a white person rent somewhere on rez?
2. what town or city is withing reasonable driving distance to obtain employment while living in the area and in some of my free time to volunteer?
anyone living on the rez or familiar enough with the questions, please reply here.
you can also send me email to:
cherylmader@netzero.net
thanks
although I know white people living today were not responsible directly with the arrogance of cheating the Native American and for the past slavery of African Americans, as a white woman, it is a disgrace what some of our race has done.
Schaller
On November 3, 2008 at 6:20 am
I gotta say that I don’t have any pity upon the Native people living in these lands. They just don’t seem to want to get better. Many times the government checks they receive are part of what keeps them there not to mention the payments they get from casinos. It would seem that some of them, if conditions were so deplorable, would use these hand outs to greater benefit than they have, i.e. don’t drink alcohol, save up some cash, get a job, improve their homes, etc. It seems so black and white to me, but I’m sur eit is a lot more complicated, however, they seem to not want to get better.
And blaming the whites is not something they can do entirely. In fact my family has only been in the country since the 1920s. Nothing in my family’s past has impacted the natives. I think that on a whole, the people that live on those reservations would rather sit around, do nothing, get paid for it and live miserably rather than work hard and have a better life. Desire seems to be lacking.
Jean Schwartz
On November 6, 2008 at 8:39 pm
I’m not Native American, but I don’t think you have to be to understand how bad things are at Pine Ridge and if you are at all educated about the history there you will understand the magnitude of the problem.
If you want to HELP I urge you to visit http://www.nativeprogress.org – the website of ONE Spirit, a non-profit run by ALL volunteers – which works to improve conditions and lives out at PRR.
However, if you think that most of the people living on Pine Ridge Rez are lazy or have other options you are simply uninformed. Educate yourself and don’t put people down about whom you obviously know NOTHING.
Jessica
On February 22, 2009 at 8:57 pm
It seems to me that some of the people on this page grew up pretty sheltered. Have you ever experienced poverty such as this? Those people living on the reservations stay there and live in the squalid conditions because they are SAFE there, not because they necessarily enjoy it. They aren’t lazy, they are just used to the way they live their life. Contrary to popular belief, many families DO move out of the reservations, to find a new life, but some just can’t do it.
Why?
Becauseof prejudice. I don’t know about South Dakota, but many places have a huge problem with racism against Native Americans. Just head up north to our neighbors in Canada to see my point. Native Americans are pulled over for no good reason, believed by white police officers to “up to no good”. A friend of mine went trick or treating last Halloween and were chased down by a cop and verbally assaulted for no good reason. Just because they were Native and were walking around. My boyfriend’s father was thrown in jail for no reason, and his cop friend had to get him out. And as far as civilian hate crimes? I higher percentage of Native women are raped in Canada than any other race, and more hate crimes are committed against Natives than any other race as well. People living on reservations up north WANT to leave, but are too scared to.
Can you blame them?
If you are going to call a people welfare mongers and free-loaders, first take your rose-colored glasses off and try to see the entire situation.
Bobbie
On March 30, 2009 at 6:38 pm
Do the people their welcome help? I know the original people are also prideful people, my husband is a native american and very proud and would never accept a hand out, how can we help with out offering a hand out. What is really needed?
winddancer09
On April 15, 2009 at 10:20 am
I can’t believe some of the calloused comments on this board. Look into the faces of the children if you cannot find compassion in your heart for the older people. I don’t have a lot of money myself but for some time have studied the Oglala Sioux — their history is very interesting and inspiring. Read Black Elk Speaks — he was given a vision a week before Wounded Knee. Who was the “man” in the vision with an eagle feather and painted red? He showed Black Elk a land where the people who would be killed would be going — green with trees and also tipis. This man was Jesus. Black Elk knew this later in his life when a Catholic priest befriended him and Black Elk became Catholic. These are precious people. We must do all we can and also plead their cause to those with a lot of money to help them. I will be shipping gently used clothing, shoes and whatever books or toys to the children — and telling everyone about them.
rainMaker
On April 28, 2009 at 8:18 pm
=) Fer sure, one day. some day very close. i am going to help my native brothers and sisters out! I cant sit here and see that my own people (naitves) are living in what i read up above. i hear it all the time. in newspapers. websites. videos. ill help them out. ill show them that theres a way to live a better life. but also staying with their culture and traditions. language. im coming. =)
Twiggy
On May 26, 2009 at 12:03 am
It really gets to me when I hear about anything like this. I’m native & very proud, but very sad about what my people are going through. I get a little annoyed when they sit around and don’t fight. I want to dedicate much of my life to helping my people. We all need to start fighting back tho. There are only a few of us who will at the moment and I think the first thing we need to do is unite all the natives and then we can really do something about this.
juandos
On July 11, 2009 at 11:15 pm
Lakota = Losers!
Yam Erez
On July 23, 2009 at 6:08 am
I’m white and frustrated when I hear other whites advising the poor of any race to simply “bootstrap”. Does anyone have a good comeback for this that such whites can relate to? It doesn’t do any good to explain that “They can’t…it’s hard…they’re used to the rez…” I need something solid.
sommer
On September 10, 2009 at 8:37 pm
Yeah i do agree with the comment that we do need communicate and get our thoughts through so we can\’t change. but every time we have a big time meeting the feds are watching. it\’s not easy for us to gather. and we are not lazy. it is true predjudice against us is everywhere. i lived in lawrence kansas one of the most hate free towns. i never encountered prejudice until i went to a town a while off the highway on the border of nebraska. my basketball team was playing their team. the reffs made bad calls they fouled out alot of my players. and they even walked all of us to the cars. prejudice is an everyday thing in some places thats why we cant get off the rez. thinkin that we have it easy is just the type of ignorance that keeps us living the way we are living.
Metis Girl
On September 30, 2009 at 9:50 pm
Being Métis has offered me a taste of both worlds. I’m from Canada but have Aboriginal friends from all over North America. It is an extremely complex situation to try to solve. I’ve never lived on a reservation, but have many friends who do. I haven’t quite figured out just yet what keeps them on the reservation, other than the fact that they have a strong community base, they feel safe and also they’ve been told their whole lives that they are less worthy than other Canadians. They’ve also been treated with little respect or fairness from the time they were very young. Many reservations deal with alcoholism…and that is not an easy thing to grow up with! And quite frankly, I’m frustrated with all of the stereotypical racist comments i heard above. The people you are talking about are humans, and by degrading them ever further by saying they should be able to live off of hand outs is disgusting. Before you go and bash others way of life, why don’t you go and try to live a day in their shoes! The huge hand outs you think they’re getting are nothing worthy of any human being. Like stated above, both within Canada and the United States children are living impoverished lives. Both physically and opportunity wise. And please, do you seriously thing every Native reserve has a Casino!?! That’s rediculous. Out of my many Aboriginal friends from all across Canada, I only know one who lives on a reservation that has a Casino. So please learn your facts before judging, and realize that all people of every race deserve respect! Aboriginals are a proud people, but you make it difficult to be proud when you degrade us every chance you get.
Be kind.
mike shive
On November 1, 2009 at 1:38 pm
I tried helping and gave a “loan” to a Lakota that said he had a great chance to buy land. Pretended to be a medicine man. He ripped me off for three thousand dollars and I later found out you cannot buy and sell land on the reservation. Donation does not do any good, The issue is much deeper. People move on and it is time to let go of the past
Mahalia
On November 17, 2009 at 11:47 pm
I’m sorry you were taken. However, letting go and just moving on will only do more harm than good. A lot of laws and treaties were just let go and many law makers moved on from what promises they made after subjugating Native Americans and Africans slaves to inhumane conditions and unjust expectations. Thus keeping the offended races in poverty and at a disadvantage from rising up and fighting for equal voices, rights and reprisal. Many colonist/frontiersmen/conquerors/forefathers what ever label you would like to use for these men, who purposely forgot promises and what was morally right for fear that they would loose; lucrative land, economic advantage over their European sisters. So instead they taught these people, Natives and slaves, to hate themselves, taught them to strive to look and act like whites and they used the Bible to do this. They ripped away land country and roots. Now what do you think will happen to a people when the quilt of their exsistance has been burned?
When People are forced to forget their histories, are forced to forget their tongues, are forced to forget themselves what is left of a man, but an empty hole in your soul. A people become an empty shell of themselves, and they use stimulants to fill that emptiness. they no longer understand their purpose as a collective whole, when your bonds have been torn from you. And you are now forced to navigate against a sea of opposition isolated from your strength, when your blood’s memory tells you you are only a stitch in a quilt. They can not forget, they can not move on, they can not pick up the pieces and forge new identities out of nothing.
The new challenge for this generation is to piece back together identities of what has been outlawed. Yes outlawed. It was against the law for a Native American to speak her tongue, practice his religion, to identify their race with pride. It was against the law for black slaved to cleave to his native languages to keep family bonds to marry to raise her own children. It was a against the law for these collective peoples to function as a collective hole, in a family unit. It was taught to them how to be dysfunctional.
And now only fifty years later when it has been engraved in these societies not to be productive, not to be family oriented, not to have any self worth, now white uneducated, and educated, people say “get over it and just move on, what’s done is done and can’t be undone”. But what is not realized is that it can be undone, these things can be undone is if you choose to educate your self, you friends, neighbors to identify the root problem and work to heal that wound.
These are barriers that have to be overcome, and to over come them you must relearn your past your heritage. Others past and heritage, and understand there is a common bond hurt. One wasn’t done worst to than the other, just differently, these hurts still have the same outcome socially and economically.
And believe it or not these oppressions still happen today when ever anyone from one of these social classes make stride to overcome their poverty and less than mind set.There are people, government agencies, and fellow bothers and sisters who make stride to keep them from rising.
So no, hand outs will not work. It’s education that is needed. People have to be reeducated of who they are as a people.
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