Lest our friend Les continue to believe we at Dakota Women don't talk about Native issues (other than when we have many times in the past, including here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, and here), I wanted to showcase this well-done feature from CNN today. It does a great job of highlighting that while the rest of the country has been cringing as nationwide unemployment rate has been hovering around 9.5%, the rate on South Dakota's reservations is closer to 80 percent.
As the article explains more fully, the little cash people living on reservations can scrape together comes largely from odd jobs. Thanks to the stimulus package, there is a medical center being built in Eagle Butte, which has created about 65 jobs. Historically, because construction and infrastructure jobs tend to be the first jobs created in a recession like this, women often have to wait longer to see the effects of the economic recovery (PDF warning).
I don't get to say this often lately, but I'm pretty impressed with CNN for this feature. I hope it's the first of many on Native issues, which are everyone's issues.
Friday, August 14, 2009
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6 comments:
One thing that jumped out at me about that article was that it said Ziebach county was the poorest in the nation. I know it's in the top 5, but I've always seen Buffalo county (home to Crow Creek) listed as the poorest with Shannon county as #2. I wonder if the order has shifted or if CNN got it wrong. Hopefully the point gets across either way.
Thanks for the opportunity to respond Angie! On topic it is splitting hair's when we talk of the poorest of the poor. At Standing Rock I've heard them say Cheyenne River Sioux have all the luxuries and that can go on from rez to rez. When we are talking of the extreme as in the plains reservations, I do not like to hear which is the poorest as it somehow minimizes the extreme poverty and social issues that all the plains reservations encounter. Of your here, here, here articles, there were two that stood out for me. Clemency for women who kill abusive men(been meaning to blog this). Extremely important as in the past most of the judges hearing these cases have been men, juries of males, and females that either do not have knowledge to support or are in abusive secretive relationships and want to keep that secret. Clemency for women in those cases is rare. This is an issue that should be blogged, no one person should ever be held to the terror of a crazy person. The other story in your past headlines was the rape and sexual assault on the rez. The West River Eagle printed a story if I'm not confused as to where I saw it by a reporter from the outside. It was heart wrenching as he/she detailed being in the motel(Eagle Butte I am assuming) and hearing the intoxicated voices and what sounded to me like a rape in the room next door. There is a sickness as well as helpless acceptance that comes with drug and alcoholism on the rez. Ongoing blog's on all the issues above might help raise awareness by those who drive by the rez on their way to build an orphanage in Chile, high fiving themselves as they return again driving past the rez to regain all the comforts of home. Having met many of the five civilized tribes and seeing the differences between them and our colonized tribes of the plains, it is a sad commentary on how we continue to watch the destruction of a beautiful people.
Les, I think the article you're thinking of is The Land Where Rapists Walk Free (http://www.glamour.com/magazine/2008/07/global-diary). I believe the reporter was staying in Lake Andes.
Thanks Kelsey, It was reprinted in one of the rez papers I believe. I feel it is an untold story even though it has been in print, so few have a grasp on the tragedy that exists.
As a resident located on a South Dakota reservation, I fail to develop any sympathy for the subject of this article. I am well aware of precisely what occurs on the reservations, as well as the vast amount of money handed out each month to tribal members from the federal government. I find a hard time believing that a Vietnam veteran would fail to receive VA benefits, least of all that a Native American would only receive $17 a week.
After working at a bank, I am a witness to the thousands of dollars given to tribal members every month. These people do not want to find a job, because if they can no longer claim unemployment, they will no longer receive their free handout. My father owns a store and has offered jobs to several Native Americans who come into his store wanting him to sign a paper stating that they tried to find a job working there. They immediately turn around and walk out the door.
The Native American culture is a beautiful thing, but in many places it is not celebrated nor appreciated by its own members. They have disrespect for their bodies and for their land, which they do in fact still have much of. The article only focused on one man's struggle, and I must reemphasize that for the majority of those living in poverty on a reservation, their dire situation is self inflicted.
I am not saying that the state of the reservations is not a sad and deplorable thing, and that yes, the white people were in fact responsible for creating an environment that allowed for such hardships and a continuing cycle of apathetic Native Americans. We took away much of their pride, but at some point we have to stop giving them a handout and force them to raise themselves out of poverty. If you give a man a fish, he eats for a day; teach a man to fish and he eats forever.
Cody, when I was working on the rez, I was approached many times with, "What are you going to do for me" or "How much money can you get me". After hearing this many times I replied Not a darn thing, unless you are going to work with me! You would not believe how great the response was after that short moment of surprise was over. That began many relationships for me. As with our children, the right boundries and rewards are their security. You sound like a good person, who has done time on or near the rez. http://www.citizensalliance.org/ and take a look at what I believe are native and white working for a solution.
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