Sioux+Reservation+Life

Grant Stonerook 4-16-11 AM IN 210   __Current Day Sioux Reservation Life and Conditions __   For modern day Sioux Indians, life on their home reservation may seem normal to people who do not live there. It probably seems easy and pleasant to live on a reservation because it is practically free land from the government, but what outsiders do not see is that life for Sioux Indians on reservations today in far from easy and pleasant because of the consistently increasing struggles with unemployment, health conditions, education, and much more.  The Pine Ridge and Rosebud Sioux Reservations in southwest South Dakota are perfect examples of the declining conditions that the Sioux people are dealing with. According to the most recent U.S. census 40,000 Sioux Indians inhabit the 11,000 square mile Pine Ridge reservation and thirty-five percent of them are under the age of eighteen meaning there are more and more Sioux children each year that constantly depend on their parents for support and often times they cannot afford to raise them. This causes almost sixty percent of the grandparents on the reservation to raise their own grandchildren because of their parents inability to raise their own children or because they were forced to be away while working a distant job or to find other various ways to support their families.  Maybe the biggest problem of all is the unemployment rates of the Sioux Indians on their reservations. With an 83-85 percent unemployment rate on Sioux reservations, families often only earn as much as 4,000 dollars a year to support their families, according to the 2006 U.S. census. This unemployment rate only decreases during the winter months because Sioux Indians often do not have transportation and the winter months make it that much harder to get to their jobs. As of today, ninety-seven percent of Sioux Indians live below the federal poverty line and sadly their future with job opportunities looks bleak at best unless they move off the reservation to find work, but with the nearest large city being Denver, Colorado located 350 miles away, this opportunity is not probable for the Sioux people.  Another horrifying fear the Sioux people face daily on their reservations is the fact that they have the lowest life expectancy rate in the United States and some of the worst health conditions on reservations such as Pine Ridge and Standing Rock. The teenage suicide rate was reported to be 150 percent higher than the national average for this age group. With sixty percent of reservation homes infected with black mold and stackybotrys, the infant mortality rate is largely affected by things like this and that is what makes reservation infant mortality rates the highest on the continent, according to the 2006 census. The rosebud and Standing Rock Sioux reservations are reported to be in better overall standing than the Pine Ridge reservation but more than half of Sioux adults on those reservations battle many addictions and diseases such as alcoholism, smoking, heart disease, cancer, and diabetes. All of these drastically topping the national averages, which is very worrisome to outsiders and obviously to the Sioux people knowing that in the long-run, more of their people will die or contract a disease rather than live and prosper.  To end this, even with a steady growing Sioux population on reservations, the fact that homelessness, poverty, and sickness are inevitable has to be a scary and unbearable way to live day to day life. With a continuous decline and troubling future in reservation education, living conditions, and unemployment rates, it seems that the end of a culture or even an entire civilization could be the ending result if drastic measures are not taken soon by outside supporters and by the Sioux people themselves. It is imperative that the U.S. government set up medical facilities and properly educated school systems on these reservations and for the Sioux Indians to take opportunities to move off reservations for short time periods to have a better income and living standards for themselves and their families.    <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 200%;"> <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 200%;"> <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 200%;"> __ Works Cited / Annotated Webliography  __ |, Tribune Editorial. "Reservation Violence Unacceptable." //BismarckTribune.com :: Bismarck, North Dakota News//. Web. 15 Apr. 2011. http://www.bismarcktribune.com/news/opinion/editorial/article_1ab041ae-8520-11df-aa2d-001cc4c002e0.html This article goes in-depth about the constant problem of Indian reservation violence and how little to nothing is being done to stop it. For example the article tells about how these reservations do not have enough income to hire an enforcing police force of their own and outside agencies will do nothing to help because they view it as the Indians problem. This leads to an increasing rate of domestic violence, rape, and even murder on Indian reservations. Anderson, Terry L. "How the Government Keeps Indians in Poverty : PERC - The Property and Environment Research Center." //: PERC - The Property and Environment Research Center//. Web. 15 Apr. 2011. <http://www.perc.org/articles/article170.php>. This article by Terry Anderson is all about how the U.S. government does not pay enough attention to Native Americans in general but also to the problems occurring on the reservations and surrounding the reservations. Specific example are given saying that the U.S. government gives almost no financial help to reservations inhabitants and that when a precious raw material such as coal is found near reservations in Montana, the U.S. government causes many conflicts with the Indians to get to these natural resources. "Archives Community S.D. Assisting Reservation With Flooding Problems." //Yankton Press & Dakotan//. Web. 15 Apr. 2011. <http://www.yankton.net/articles/2010/07/03/community/doc4c2ec190c38e0847.txt> This article explains different problems that occur on Indian reservations that do not make news headlines and that people know very little about but have some of the most detrimental effects on the Indian people. For example the article talks about flooding of reservations, since many are located near rivers. This causes drastic numbers of homeless reservation natives and huge loss of life as well. With no funding to build levy’s or help the situation, this problem will continue to become a factor explains the article. "The Buffalo Post » Rosebud Sioux." //The Buffalo Post//. Web. 15 Apr. 2011. <http://buffalopost.net/?category_name=rosebud-sioux>. This article is all about the Rosebud Sioux Indian Reservation and the life that Indians live there as well as the problems they face daily. Some of these problems include sickness, poor living conditions, and homelessness, as well as violence. It also talks about what the Sioux people of the reservation are trying to do to prevent and stem the current rate of all of these tragedies, but with little funding it is nearly impossible to stop it. Campbell, Denis. "Massive Sioux Indian Reservation Battles Snow with 3 Ploughs." //Russell Means Freedom//. Web. 15 Apr. 2011. <http://www.russellmeansfreedom.com/2010/massive-sioux-indian-reservation-battles-snow-with-3-ploughs/>. This article by Denise Campbell describes the harsh winters that claim the lives of many reservation Indians each year because of poor road maintenance and inadequate medical facilities to house stranded and sick Indians. Campbell explains that if more attention and care was given to the reservations during the winter months, many people could be saved and their economy would increase because transportation to their jobs would be doable. "Child Victimization on South Dakota Indian Reservations: an Overview of Jurisdictional Policy.(Report) - Forum on Public Policy: A Journal of the Oxford Round Table | HighBeam Research." //Research - Articles - Journals | Find Research Fast at HighBeam Research//. Web. 15 Apr. 2011. <http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1G1-216682611.html>. This article here is a shocking yet real example about how Indian children on reservations are victimized daily. The article explains that everyday children are beaten, scolded, lost, abducted, or sometimes found dead because of the high crime rate and low law enforcement rates on Indian reservations. Specific reservations such as Pine Ridge and Standing Rock reservations are home to these awful acts of evil says the article. "Education World: Native Americans Struggle, Build Pride." //Education World: The Educator's Best Friend//. Web. 15 Apr. 2011. <http://www.educationworld.com/a_issues/schools/schools012.shtml>. Here is an important article telling all about the downfall of education on Indian reservations today. The article says that every year more and more teachers leave the reservations or are let go because of too low of pay and this obviously causes the literacy rates of Indian children to become drastically lower than national averages. The article also explains how Indian children lack the motivation or are incapable of learning basic subject due to an in exposure of modern day culture. Gibbon, Guy E. "The Sioux: the Dakota and Lakota Nations." //Google Books//. Web. 15 Apr. 2011. <http://books.google.com/books?id=zH1y2YsSk_UC>. This article by Guy gibbon focuses mainly on the Sioux and Lakota reservations such as Pine Ridge and Standing Rock and the problems each of these reservations deals with. The article tells about literacy rates and proper education being severely low on these reservations as well as alcoholism and health conditions being much higher than national averages. Gibbon explains that these warning signs are being ignored by everyone especially the Indians and are continuing to affect each upcoming generation. Gregg-Bear, Pr. "ROSEBUD INDIAN RESERVATION PROJECT." //Service Projects for All Humanity//. Web. 15 Apr. 2011. <http://www.theoservice.org/node/237>. This article focuses directly on the Sioux rosebud Indian Reservation and the rehabilitation movement that is currently going on there. It tells about how the people of this reservation have noticed the weaknesses and dangers of poor living conditions on their reservation and have teamed up with various organizations to build more suitable shelters, roads, and medical facilities with hopes that this will help its residents to survive. "Life, Conditions and Hope on the Pine Ridge Oglala Lakota (Sioux) Reservation in SD." //Index Page 1 of Main Web Page to RLNN.COM//. Web. 15 Apr. 2011. http://www.rlnn.com/ArtOct06/LifeConditionsHopePineRidgeOglalaReservation.html This article is all about the life and problems Indians on reservations have and how a lack of funds, experience, and care from outside groups are slowly leading to the downfall of reservation people. The article says that almost all reservations have awful literacy, and employment rates. Living conditions and average salaries are way below the federal living standard and suicide and violence are very common on reservations. "Life on an Indian Reservation." //The South Dakota Cowgirl//. Web. 15 Apr. 2011. <http://thesouthdakotacowgirl.com/2010/02/q-and-a-part-two/>. This article was written using an Indian girl’s journal and the information was authenticated after viewing many of her journal entries about everyday life on an Indian reservation. The journal describes the reservations as an unsuitable place to live with so much disease and sickness killing people. No education and law enforcement leads to violence and an illiterate group of people. "Native American Education and Employment: Current Issues and Proposed Solutions for Native American Population." //Suite101.com: Online Magazine and Writers' Network//. Web. 15 Apr. 2011. <http://www.suite101.com/content/native-american-education-and-employment-a1672>. Unemployment rates and literacy rates are the main topic of this article as well as many other current and worrisome issues going on at various Indian reservations. Education rates are the lowest on the continental U.S. and have a bleak future of increasing and the unemployment rates are at a scary 85 percent and continuing to fall according to the article. This is the case for many reservations and with more and more teachers leaving the reservations, there is really no room for improvement in these catagories. // Nativevillage //. Web. 15 Apr. 2011. <http://www.nativevillage.org>. This was a simple and short article about the list of problems Indians face on reservations especially poverty and sickness and the rates at which they are going up or down. For example the poverty on reservations is far below federal living standards, suicide rates for teens are much higher than the national average, the infant mortality rates are the highest in the U.S., and annual family incomes are at an unlivable $4,000 a year. "Pine Ridge Reservation America’s Own Third World Country | Socyberty." //Socyberty | Society on the Web//. Web. 15 Apr. 2011. <http://socyberty.com/subcultures/pine-ridge-reservation-americas-own-third-world-country/>. This article is all about the Pine ridge Indian Reservation in South Dakota and how it is viewed as a third world country because of its awful condition. The article describes the very scene as putrid and devastatingly poor for someone who has not seen the reservation before. The facts that people can hardly live there is unbearable and the amount of sickness that is present on that particular reservation is a hazard for anyone to go there. "The Poorest Ethnic Group in North America to Go It Alone." //The Progress Report -- Independent Daily News//. Web. 15 Apr. 2011. <http://www.progress.org/2007/Lakota.htm>. This article is a positive one for Indians because it talks about the Indian people banning together to approach congress and the senate for additional funding because their standard of living currently, is not suitable and only getting worse every day. With these funds the article says that the Indians plan to restore one reservation at a time starting with better housing for its occupants. Schwartz,, Stephanie M. "Life and Conditions on the Pine Ridge Oglala Lakota (Sioux) Reservation of South Dakota." //Link Center Foundation//. Web. 15 Apr. 2011. <http://www.linkcenterfoundation.org/id24.html>. Here is another article describing the horrifying living conditions at the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in South Dakota. It only goes further into detail about the death rates due to unsustainable living conditions and sickness. It tells about how the houses and facilities on reservations are un-kept and run-down and need immediate rebuilding, but reservations lack the money to do so. "Sioux — History.com Articles, Video, Pictures and Facts." //History.com — History Made Every Day — American & World History//. Web. 15 Apr. 2011. <http://www.history.com/topics/sioux>. This article was presented by the history channel and contains a more realistic and graphic picture of what reservations and reservation life is like. It contains videos of some of the poorest reservations in America and has some of the most awful and sad pictures of homeless, sick, and dying Indians. "Water Crisis on the Cheyenne River Sioux Reservation." //Popular | Environmental Graffiti//. Web. 15 Apr. 2011. <http://www.environmentalgraffiti.com/news-crisis-cheyenne-river-sioux-reservation>. This article is all about the water hazard that most reservations are dealing with currently today. The article claims that the water holes underneath reservation lands are impure and contaminated and only add to the growing sickness problem on reservations today. The nearby rivers also offer no alternative because they are just as infected with bacteria’s and this means only one ending result for reservations, that their water supplies will always be contaminated until the government does something about it. "Winter Storms Cause Power, Water Outages on Sioux Reservation - USATODAY.com." //News, Travel, Weather, Entertainment, Sports, Technology, U.S. & World - USATODAY.com//. Web. 15 Apr. 2011. <http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2010-02-01-sioux-winter_N.htm>. This was another article describing events that occur on reservations that people do not hear or really care about. Such events include a huge winter storm that left many Indians homeless and without power on a couple different reservations. This lead to even poorer living conditions without power and many Indian inhabitants got sick and died because they were basically trapped by the snow. "Yankton Sioux Oppose Reservation Waste Dump." //National Council for Science and the Environment (NCSE)//. Web. 15 Apr. 2011. <http://ncseonline.org/nae/docs/yankton.html>. Here is an article that shows just how harsh and cruel the U.S. government is being to Indians and their reservation lands because they proposed to force all Indians off a couple reservations in the U.S. and convert them into waste dumps instead. The article describes the lack of sentimental caring and compassion for the Indian people and that they are merely seen as an inconvenience by the U.S. government. <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 200%;"> <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 200%;">