Unemployment rate: 80-90%, per capita income: $4,000-14,000, alcoholism rate: 80%, diabetes rate: eight times that of the United States, infants born with fetal alcohol syndrome: 1 in 4, teen suicide rate: four times the national rate, life expectancy: lower than anywhere else in the United States.
Camden, NJ? The Appalachian Mountains? Detroit, MI? No, no, and again, no. Instead, I am talking about a small community of about 30,000 people whose name offers minimal recognition to the average American: Pine Ridge, South Dakota. The area, about the size of Connecticut, is home to an Indian Reservation occupied by members of the Sioux nation. This past week, I had the privilege to work with Re-Member, an organization benefitting the Oglala Lakota people. I saw the devastating poverty and hopeful strength of their culture.
In order to understand the Oglala Lakota, one needs to know its history, which has created animosity between the people and the American government. Upon exploring further west into the United States, early Americans realized that the land they assumed to be free was already occupied by the Lakota people, as well as various other tribes. The American government began an effort to “kill the Indian, save the man,” by shipping young boys off to boarding schools and giving them traditional American names such as John Smith in an effort to force their Indian heritage out of them. Similar tactics ensued for many years, but the disrespect turned deadly in the Wounded Knee Massacre, which took place on December 29, 1890, when an effort by the 7th Cavalry to disarm the Lakota left a disaster in its wake. Between 150 and 300 Lakota were killed, including countless women and children. Since then, the Lakota have struggled to feel accepted and represented by the United States government.
Here, through reading some of their stories and learning of the conditions in which they live, I hope you will see not only struggles, but also the hope that I saw in the eyes of the Oglala Lakota.
On our first day working, my group was assigned to skirt an elderly woman’s trailer so that the wind would not come in. We began by clearing away her scattered belongings from the edge of the trailer so that we could get to work. In one section, we saw what was essentially a pit of soda, red bull, and beer cans, likely thrown out the window to be saved to sell for five cents apiece at a later time. I kept wondering if I had consumed that much Diet Coke in my life, and silently hoping I hadn’t, and never would, as I stared at that daunting pile. This is just one example of the poor diets that cause such high rates of diabetes and obesity to plague the Lakota people.
On the way home from our workday, we stopped at a gas station convenience store. Before going in to pick up a snack, we were told that this was the only place to buy food within a more than ten-mile radius. As I looked around the store, I noticed that about 90% of the food available was pre-packaged. The produce section was a sad pile of bruised fruits and vegetables that looked nothing like the massive options I was used to back home. In order to get to this store, the people would need gas in their tank and money to shop. With a per capita income of $4,000-14,000 per year, they would likely only be able to pick up a few items at a time. This continuing cycle of minimal healthy options and the financial burden of feeding a household were genuinely unbelievable to me when I thought of the bustling scene at an average grocery store back home in New Jersey.
For the sick or those in need of emergency care, the options are also dire. An elder shared her story with us: her baby was born at twenty-six weeks, and as a result, will need a tracheostomy and feeding tubes for the rest of her life. She spent her first ten months at a children’s hospital in Denver, over 350 miles away from home and her parents. When she was a child, she had an infection in her foot, and because it was not caught in time, the bottom half of her leg needed to be amputated. The Pine Ridge Hospital cannot adequately handle her care, so the family needs to drive the 170 miles to Rapid City when she gets sick. This is just one example of a family struggling to get their child the care she needs, and it is one where the family is willing to put their child’s needs about their own.
Pine Ridge also has immense struggles in treating mental health issues. This is particularly true for teens. Upon reaching adolescence, children begin to realize the poverty in which they live. Many of those who do have access to counseling “professionals” have been told their culture is the reason for their mental instability. Instead of embracing the power of their heritage, youths begin to turn away from their culture and rebel by turning to drugs and alcohol. Because of the hopelessness they feel, too many of these children tragically take their own lives.
In an effort to give the next generation hope for their future, the elders (those who are not alcoholics, drug addicts, or otherwise ill) are trying to reignite reservation-wide enthusiasm for their culture and increase the number of tribe members participating in the beautiful sacraments and ceremonies that make their people strong.
And there are signs of hope. We had the opportunity to visit the Red Cloud School, started by Father Ted Zuern, a Jesuit priest. The school combines the values of both the Catholic Church and the Lakota Nation and serves grades kindergarten through twelve. While it costs $12-13 million to keep the school running each year, students and their families do not pay tuition. Red Cloud has a 98% graduation rate and a 90% college enrollment rate, both numbers significantly higher than reservation averages, a true testament to the work being done by both Lakota and non-Lakota people who keep the school running. In recent years, the school has sent students to everywhere from Dartmouth to Oglala Lakota College. Red Cloud is a brilliant organization devoted to its goal of raising a generation of students ready to seize opportunity and recognize their potential, creating a stronger Lakota nation in the process.
This week meant more than building outhouses and chopping wood, it gave me the opportunity to learn about a rich culture so different from my own, and to become one step closer to understanding of a beautiful people.
If you want to be part of the effort to make lives a little bit easier or contribute to the education of a Lakota student, please consider donating to Re-Member (http://www.re-member.org/donate.aspx) or Red Cloud School (https://www.redcloudschool.org/sslpage.aspx?pid=298).