A reservation's relentless poverty PINE RIDGE, S.D

[seemslikeadream]

By Evelyn Nieves
The Washington Post


A man on the Oglala Lakota Sioux reservation in South Dakota tearfully recounts being injured in the Vietnam War. Health problems take their toll on the reservation, where life expectancy is 47 to 56 years, lowest in the nation.

...

More Lakotas who had left are returning to the Plains, preferring to live among their own people rather than in relative comfort on the outside. But failings of the federal government — from mismanaging Indian money held in trust to shortchanging programs it is legally bound to fund — continually undermine efforts at self-help here.

Things are not much better on some other reservations. The Navajos in the Southwest, the Crow tribe in Montana and the Comanches in Oklahoma are also poor, while some other tribes — even without casinos — have seen their living standards rise in recent decades.

But Native American poverty rarely makes the national political agenda. The federal government has acknowledged it has grossly mishandled money it began collecting in the late 1880s, when it leased reservation land to oil, mining and timber interests and held the proceeds in trust for Indians.

The government owes Native Americans billions, but a class-action lawsuit filed eight years ago on behalf of nearly 500,000 Indians is still unresolved.

Meanwhile, on Pine Ridge, three and four families live in single-family houses, more than eight out of 10 people are out of work, and more than half the people, helpless against disconnect notices, have no phone in any given month.


more
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/nationworld/2002084906_indians08.html

[Kukesa]

1. Here come the tears again . . . n/t

[CBGLuthier]

2. good but depressing article with one mistake in it

There are no reservations in Oklahoma. I try not to be a nitpicker but that mistake happens a lot.



Due to Oklahoma's unique history, it has a very high Native American population but no current "Indian reservations". The Taxpayer Relief Act of 1997 clarifies the definition of the term "Indian reservation" in Oklahoma as "lands which are within the jurisdictional area of an Oklahoma Indian tribe (as determined by the Secretary of the Interior)".



http://www.oksenate.gov/publications/issue_papers/IPIndianTax.html

[Moderator]

3. Duplicate

of a locked thread. THis is not latest breaking news, but a feature article. Will move.

[eShirl]

4. please send warm winter clothing, other items

And if you pass the time crocheting or knitting, the fruits of your hobby can really make a difference to someone there. The winters are cold, many elders have poor circulation due to diabetes, and many rely on a propane cookstove for heat.

http://www.pineridgerez.net/hhands_of_wk.php
(Helping Hands of Wounded Knee)

[seemslikeadream]

5. Thanks so much eShirl

for that link. I will be sending stuff to them.

[tilsammans]

6. Thank you for posting that

I have some like-new blankets and afghans I can send.

[el_gato]

7. some background on this

Struggle for the Land: Indigenous Resistance to Genocide, Ecocide, and Expropriation in Contemporary North America
by Ward Churchill
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ISBN%3D1567510000/jordansdillA/002-8741247-7039229