EDUCATE - Pine Ridge Reservation
The Pine Ridge Indian reservation, home to the Oglala Lakota Sioux,
is one of the largest and most impoverished reservations in the
United States. Located in the southwest corridor of South Dakota,
the reservation is geographically isolated, resting approximately
100 miles away from the nearest metropolitan area, Rapid City. The
reservation is home to approximately 35,000 people, most of whom
(80%) reside in Shannon County, the second poorest county in the
nation. The town of Pine Ridge, which lies within the heart of Shannon
County, is the largest town on the reservation and is the location
of the tribal government offices. The tribal offices and the nearby
Prairie Wind Casino, an establishment composed of three trailers
resting on cinder blocks, are virtually the only source of employment
on the reservation. The land is infertile with little opportunity
for agriculture and there is no other industry or commercial enterprises
existing in the surrounding area. There is little development in
the area, what development there is consists of a solitary gas station,
grocery store and a couple of fast food restaurants. The grocery
store, however, is so expensive that most people are forced to reduce
their shopping to a single day a month, when they are able to travel
80 miles to the nearest town to purchase affordable groceries. The
closest town, White Clay, Nebraska (population 22) consists primarily
of three liquor stores that sell an estimated 11,000 cans of beer
a day to inhabitants of the reservation. There is no public library
on the reservation. No movie theatre. No recreation centers. Life
on Pine Ridge offers few extracurricular options beyond school-supported
athletics.
After more than a 100 years of 'development and progress' Pine Ridge
remains in dire straits. With an unemployment rate that lingers
around 85%, substandard housing (1 in 4 homes doesn't have an indoor
toilet), rampant crime and drug issues, severe housing shortage
(there are only 3,000 homes for 35,000 people) and health conditions
that parallel third world classification, the Oglala Sioux are struggling
to maintain their sovereignty as a people, culture and community.
When you scrutinize the limited available data even a little closer,
it is easy to see just how much of a crisis they are confronting:
On Pine Ridge, 63% of the population lives below the poverty line,
that's 2 out 3 people. (USDA)
Average annual family income, not
individual, is $3,700 per year (U.S. Census Bureau)
There is an unemployment rate of approximately 85% (U.S. Census
Bureau)
Infant mortality rate 300% higher than the U.S. national average
(United Nations and Peoples Organization)
Diabetes and Tuberculosis
rates 300% higher than the U.S. national average; Fifty percent
of adults over age 40 living on Pine Ridge have diabetes. (Indian
Health Services)
One-third of the homes are severely substandard,
without water, electricity, adequate insulation, and sewage systems
(Indian Housing Authority)
The High School drop-out rate is 70%,
compared to a national average of 11% average (United Nations and
Peoples Organization)
Schools on Pine Ridge are in the bottom 10
percent of school funding by the U.S. Department of Education (Bureau
of Indian Affairs)
Recent reports state the average life expectancy
is 48 years old for men and 52 years old for women, the shortest
for any community in the Western Hemisphere outside of Haiti (AIRC)
There is an estimated average of 12 people living in each family
home; a house with only two to three rooms (National American Indian
Housing Council)
The teenage suicide rate on Pine Ridge is 150 percent
higher than the national average (Dakota-Lakota-Nakota). Alcoholism
affects 8 out of 10 families on the Reservation, while the death
rate from alcoholism is 9 times the national average (Dakota-Lakota-Nakota)
Pine Ridge is not the only American Indian reservation in the United
States, suffering from this extreme poverty, poor health care and
inadequate educational system, but it is the worst. We have no magical
cure for these deeply burdening troubles, but we do feel that each
and everyone of these individuals, especially the children and elderly,
deserves the same access to food that the rest of our society is
privileged to. We desire to provide access to this fundamental necessity,
so as to allow these people to again become self-sufficient.
