Pine Ridge Reservation
by Amaithuna
more info on this webpage: http://www.lakotastory.org
"THE OGLALA PEOPLE"
THE OGLALA PEOPLE
In southwest South Dakota, on the Nebraska border, the Oglala, the largest tribal group in the Lakota Nation, live on a reservation called Pine Ridge. Located in Shannon County, it is the poorest county in the United States. Of the thirty thousand Oglala people on the reservation, almost two-thirds are homeless or are living in housing that is unsuitable for human habitation. Often, ten to twenty people (two to three families) coexist in a small three bedroom HUD house. Outhouses, pump water, wood-burning stoves are a way of life. For hundreds of families a shower or bath is a bucket brought in the house and heated on a wood stove. The impact of sub-standard housing and 85 percent unemployment is a life span twenty years shorter than the national average, and an epidemics of tuberculosis and diabetes. There is an appalling lack of fresh fruit and vegetables, no public transportation and no recreational facilities, not even a movie theatre.
What these conditions create is despair. For many it’s “giving up.” For most, it’s eight generations of chronic welfare.
Information about the Lakota Nation
by Amaithuna
Information taken from the Website of the
"Unrepresented Nations and Peoples Organisation"
(www.unpo.org)
Geographical Features:
In North America the territory of the Lakota, Nakota and Dakota Nation covers some 200,000 km² in the present day state of South Dakota and neighbouring states.
Population:
The Lakota, Nakota and Dakota Nation (also known as the Great Sioux Nation) descends from of the original inhabitants of North America and can be divided into three major linguistic and geographic groups: Lakota (Teton, West Dakota), Nakota (Yankton, Central Dakota) and Dakota (Santee, Eastern Dakota). The total number of native North Americans is approximately 1,5 million, of which around 100,000 are Lakota.
They reside near the Sacred Black Hills of South Dakota.
Economy:
Traditionally, the Lakota hunted buffalo. Today, the economy is based on agriculture, cattle, sheep ranches, fishing and tourism. Natural resources are gold, silver, oil, ore and shale. The country’s largest gold mine is in the Black Hills, which is being mined against the wishes of the indigenous Lakota.
Current situation:
US federal and state policy appears to continue to dissident and to prevent any form of unity from arising. At worst, the policy today is still genocidal. At best, it is shockingly intensive. In many reservations, there is violence, drunkenness, aphaty and despair. Schools drop-outs rates range from 45 to 62%. Suicide among the indigenous people is twice the US national average and unemployment runs around 80%. The Lakota have formed The Alliance of Tribal Tourism Advocates, whose goal is to enhance prospects of tourism development in accordance with the nation’s organisations, beliefs and priorities.
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