An Oglala Perspective A fiction story written in first perspective about the realties of life on Pine ridge Reservation.

"Hidden away, out of sight but dotting the landscape of America, are the little known or forgotten Reservations of the Indigenous People of our land. Sadly, the average U.S. mainstream resident knows almost nothing about the people of the Native American reservations other than what romanticised or caricaturized versions they see on film or as the print media stereotypes of oil or casino-rich Indians. Most assume that whatever poverty exists on a reservation is most certainly comparable to that which they might experience themselves. " By Stephanie M. Schwartz, Freelance Writer

Member, Native American Journalists Association October 15, 2006 -Brighton, Colorado Hau Kola, (Greetings) I have been asked to tell you a little something of my People. During the moon when cherries turn black, that is your August, of 1979 at the PHS Indian Hospital on Pine Ridge Reservation, my mother died from my birth. You see the conditions of life during my birth were, as they still are, very poor. It was a good month for babies. Most mothers have miscarriages. In late 1979, 38% of the pregnant women of the Pine Ridge Reservation miscarried. That is what the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) says. I think it was more. These birth problems have been caused by the Cheyenne River, that flows through the Res. In 1962, on June 11, there was an accident at an uranium mill in Edgemont S.D spilled 200 tons of radioactive waste that flowed to my home of birth. The effect are unknown and the contamination continues today. My name is Daniel and I am not a Native American Indian. I am an Indian of the Oglala Nation. We call ourselves Ocheti Sakowin. I was raised by my grandfather as are 58.75% of our children. My people come from out of the Earth of the Black Hills. About 20 miles to the west of the Pine Ridge Reservation is the Black Hills (Paha Sapa), a sacred, spiritual and hallowed spot to the my people. We where promised the Black Hills forever after the treaty was signed in 1868, the Sioux were promised the Black Hills forever. Gold was discovered. Our promise was broken by the US Government. Now, to many Indians, the Black Hills are tarnished with the heads of five dead presidents and has become a tourist site. Once my ancestors came to the Black Hills, white man says from Asia something we disagree, we continued to the forest of the East where we stayed until the first white faces came. Are lives were well. The occasional battle with neighbouring tribes. Nothing serious. Mostly for deer lands and women. When the whites began to come into our country, we decided to begin a passage back to our home land. We stayed in the Mississippi valley region for any years until the Ojibiwa tribes came. We tried to fight but the whites had given them flint rifles. We had to flee. Plains life for my people again was good for any years but the White face came again an this time to kill our food and left great Wakantakan (Buffalo) to rot in the sun. Continued encroachment of the White face, blood shed we became an occupied people of the Red Cloud Agency. After being moved several times during the 1870s, Red Cloud Agency was relocated one final time in 1878 and renamed the Pine Ridge Reservation. By 1890, the reservation included 5537 people, divided into a number of districts that include some 30 distinct communities. Here on the Pine, not much changes and we are continually being pushed to genocide. The Whites came to our land again in the 70's. They desired to mine uranium. We fought them again at Wounded Knee. My

father was brave then and a brother of AIM (American Indian Movement). Well, the FBI did their damage,locked Lenorard in jail under false allegations where he still lives today, pushed my father into years of alcoholism and finally death to toburculoses and diabetes, and the damage continues. We have ancient story of creation. The Creator gathered all of Creation and said, "I want to hide something from the humans until they are ready for it. It is the realisation that they create their own reality." Well today there are about 2.5 million Indians making up 1.5% of all of the Americas. There was an estimated 50 to 100 million before the whites and their smallpox and religions. My tribe, the Oglala tibes (Sioux) are estimated at 103,826 scattered the world over and there are only 3437 Indians on Pine Ridge Reservation. Today teenage suicide rate on the Pine Ridge Reservation is 150% higher than the U.S. national average for this age group. The infant mortality rate is the highest on this continent and is about 300% higher than the U.S. national average, while more than half the Reservation's adults battle addiction and disease. Alcoholism, diabetes, heart disease, cancer, and malnutrition are pervasive. Cervical cancer is 500% higher than the U.S. national average. My grandmother was taken from this. The rate of diabetes on the Reservation is reported to be 800% higher than the U.S. national average. Recent reports indicate that almost 50% of the adults on the Reservation over the age of 40 have diabetes. As a result of the high rate of diabetes on the Reservation, diabetic-related blindness, amputations, and kidney failure are common. The tuberculosis rate on the Pine Ridge Reservation is approximately 800% higher than the U.S. national average. It is reported that at least 60% of the homes on the Pine Ridge Reservation are infested with Black Mold, Stachybotrys. This infestation causes an often-fatal condition with infants, children, elderly, those with damaged immune systems, and those with lung and pulmonary conditions at the highest risk. Exposure to this mold can cause hemorrhaging of the lungs and brain as well as cancer. School drop-out rate is over 70%. According to a Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) report, the Pine Ridge Reservation schools are in the bottom 10% of school funding by U.S. Department of Education and the Bureau of Indian Affairs.

The small BIA/Tribal Housing Authority homes on the Pine Ridge Reservation are overcrowded and scarce, resulting in many homeless families who often use tents or cars for shelter. Many families live in old cabins or dilapidated mobile homes and trailers. We are set up for genocide. Many Reservation residents live without health care due to vast travel distances involved in accessing that care. In most of the treaties between the U.S. Government and Indian Nations, the U.S. government agreed to provide adequate medical care for Indians in return for vast quantities of land. The Indian Health Services (IHS) was set up to administer the health care for Indians under these treaties and receives an appropriation each year to fund Indian health care. Unfortunately, the appropriation is very small compared to the need and there is little hope for increased funding from Congress. The IHS is understaffed and ill-equipped and cant possibly address the needs of Indian communities. If the governments of America would relent there sanctions against us and recognise us as a sovereign nation and then allow us to better our selves, we could. However the in-ability to use our resources due to government sanctions and lack of true government funding, we are continually held down. It all started

from immigration. Sound familiar.

Mitakuyia Oyasin (All My relations References: 1. www.factfinder.census.gov 2. http://www.city-data.com/city/Pine-Ridge-South-Dakota.html Census records for South Dakota 3. Russel Means http://www.linkcenterfoundation.org/id24.html National Direstor of AIMs 4. Leonard Peltier Defense Committee--Leonard Peltier: Political Prisoner an Native American Story.by Paula Giese copyright 1995. 5. Statistics concerning the Pine Ridge Oglala Lakota (Sioux) Reservation were compiled from recent Political, Educational, Government, Non-Profit, and Tribal Publications.