End Poverty on Pine Ridge
Save the last of the Lakota people from abolute poverty.
About
The Native American Lakota tribe now resides on a reservation called "Pine Ridge." It is the poorest county in all of the United States. It sits in the shadow of one of our countries greatest political momuments, Mount Rushmore. The Badlands reside just off the edge of the "rez."
Life in the Pine Ridge Reservation is very poor, probably easily comparable to the least developed countries of the Third World. Unemployment on the Reservation hovers around 85% and 97% live below the Federal poverty level.[citation needed] Average annual family income is $3,800 as of 1999.[1] Adolescent suicide is four times the national average. Many of the families have no electricity, telephone, running water, or sewer. Many families use wood stoves to heat their homes. The population on Pine Ridge has among the shortest life expectancies of any group in the Western Hemisphere: approximately 47 years for males and in the low 50s for females. The infant mortality rate is five times the United States national average.
Despite the lack of formal employment opportunities on Pine Ridge, there is a great deal of agricultural production taking place, yet only a small percentage of the tribe directly benefits from this. According to the USDA, in 2002 there was nearly 33 million dollars in receipts from agricultural production on Pine Ridge, yet less than 1/3rd of that income went to members of the tribe USDA 2002 Census of Agriculture for Native American Reservations.
To see the poverty of this reservation watch "Skins" a film by Chris Eyre.
The United States government and the United States people in general, like to casually forget that the Pine Ridge Reservation even exists. They like to forget the Massacre at Wounded Knee ever happened. This CANNOT continue. The children of Pine Ridge don't have roofs to sleep under! Their parents don't have enough money to feed them, to cloth them, to keep them warm. This is a real problem folks. Something must be done.
Life in the Pine Ridge Reservation is very poor, probably easily comparable to the least developed countries of the Third World. Unemployment on the Reservation hovers around 85% and 97% live below the Federal poverty level.[citation needed] Average annual family income is $3,800 as of 1999.[1] Adolescent suicide is four times the national average. Many of the families have no electricity, telephone, running water, or sewer. Many families use wood stoves to heat their homes. The population on Pine Ridge has among the shortest life expectancies of any group in the Western Hemisphere: approximately 47 years for males and in the low 50s for females. The infant mortality rate is five times the United States national average.
Despite the lack of formal employment opportunities on Pine Ridge, there is a great deal of agricultural production taking place, yet only a small percentage of the tribe directly benefits from this. According to the USDA, in 2002 there was nearly 33 million dollars in receipts from agricultural production on Pine Ridge, yet less than 1/3rd of that income went to members of the tribe USDA 2002 Census of Agriculture for Native American Reservations.
To see the poverty of this reservation watch "Skins" a film by Chris Eyre.
The United States government and the United States people in general, like to casually forget that the Pine Ridge Reservation even exists. They like to forget the Massacre at Wounded Knee ever happened. This CANNOT continue. The children of Pine Ridge don't have roofs to sleep under! Their parents don't have enough money to feed them, to cloth them, to keep them warm. This is a real problem folks. Something must be done.
Positions
- Poverty for these people must end immediately.
- The children of the rez need decent homes to live in and decent education.
- The men and women of the Oglala Suix Tribe deserve respect.
No comments:
Post a Comment