9 replies to this topic

[Centurion]

I just thought I'd ask if you guys would consider taking a look at the Lakota Aid site, to consider the abundant threats to life faced by the Lakota people.
The excerpt below paints a pretty vivid picture of what they're facing:

On the reservation:- [Pine Ridge]

There is no industry, technology, or commercial infrastructure on the reservation to provide employment.

Life expectancy for women is 48 years old and 52 for men.

Teenage suicide rate is 150% higher than the U.S national average for this group.

Infant mortality is 300% higher than the U.S. national average.

The rate of diabetes is 800% higher than the U.S national average, with 50% of the adults over the age of 40 have this disease.

Alcoholism affects 8 out of 10 families and the death rate from alcohol related problems is 300% higher than the remaining U.S. population.

Tuberculosis is approx 800% higher than the U.S national average.

Each winter, reservation Elders are found dead from hypothermia.

I'm not going to act like an oxfan ad and beg you to donate, we all have our financial pressures but the one thing which is truly tragic about the plight of the Lakota is the lack of awareness among the American public. Any increased awareness of what is happening is both helpful and crucial, if having read this web site has allowed you to gain a more accurate perspective on modern life in Native American reservations, it will definitely be a plus in my book.
Lakota Aid Webpage

[xanadu]

In what way will donating money help this situation? It sounds to me like a management and lifestyle problem. I'm not adverse to helping but throwing money at the problem is not going to work. Give cash to an alcoholic and he just buys more booze. Does anyone have a constructive solution?

[DukeNukem]

I recommend people read the recent book, 1941, for an account of Native Americans (in both Americas), and their stellar, mostly-unrecognized accomplishments. (Surprisingly, they did NOT have a technology disadvantage in warfare as most people think -- what killed 90+ million of them was disease.)

http://www.amazon.co...CFUgmOAodvD5JOQ

People say they should adapt to our life style, but their life style is so different in their thinking (property is shared, for example), that it is nearly impossible for them to adapt to a life of self-interest and personal gain. Many have done it, of course. But those raised on reservations are trapped in time.

[FunkOdyssey]

You should see the Native Americans here in Connecticut. The Pequots and Mohegans have each opened up casinos that are larger and more profitable than any in Las Vegas. They are making so much money that people are desperately trying to find any link to the tribes in their family tree so they can cash in. Tribal members get free college education and all manner of financial support that anyone would envy. The tax on their slot machine profits alone represents 25% of Connecticut's revenue last I heard.

[Centurion]

In what way will donating money help this situation? It sounds to me like a management and lifestyle problem. I'm not adverse to helping but throwing money at the problem is not going to work. Give cash to an alcoholic and he just buys more booze. Does anyone have a constructive solution?

Money will build better housing and provide health care. Nobody lives in a caravan with exposed asbestos and mould of their own accord. You speak as though the money would be just handed to them, the money is used to physically improve living conditions for these people, quite literally a constructive solution.

[kylyssa]

In what way will donating money help this situation? It sounds to me like a management and lifestyle problem. I'm not adverse to helping but throwing money at the problem is not going to work. Give cash to an alcoholic and he just buys more booze. Does anyone have a constructive solution?

I actually have to agree with much of this. Before anyone casts stones, I'm actually half Native myself if that means anything. My Grandfather is 100% Native. My Great-Grandmother had the intelligence to name her children white names (unfortunately, she didn't understand naming conventions but that's another story) and raise them to survive. Adaptation is vital. Self-determination is vital. My honest assessment is that we need to mix with other races. We can afford to lose our cultural identity (bastardized as it is now - go to a pow wow sometime if you doubt the culture is already gone - don't get me started) if we get to live. My Great Grandmother's Children went out and successfully mixed it up.

However, some of their health issues are not self-induced. Auto-immune diseases (including autoimmune diabetes, Hashimoto's, Grave's, ulcerative colitis, rheumatoid arthritis) run wild through the branches of the Native family that live healthy lifestyles and those of us passing in the white world unseen. Our immune responses are just different. And just for laughs, while you're at that pow wow watching the fake ceremonies count the number of eyeglasses you see.

[Centurion]

Maybe I'm looking at it the wrong way. I see the Native American reservations as what remains of otherwise conquered nations. Yes if they integrated into white America they would lead better lives but that is pretty much abandonment of their "nation" so to speak.

The fact remains that on a smaller scale Irish catholics were conquered here in Ireland. When I say smaller I do mean much smaller, yet so many Americans excessively OVER identify with this, vowing to support the IRA and other republican movements who aim to do nothing more than terrorise. It's a shame that America finds vogue in such a thing rather than being mindful of something which plagues Americans.

[kylyssa]

I see the Native American reservations as what remains of otherwise conquered nations. Yes if they integrated into white America they would lead better lives but that is pretty much abandonment of their "nation" so to speak.

Sadly, their nations are already dead. There are no nations, just refugees.

Whites know more NA culture than many Natives. The replacement culture of the rez is squalor and ignorance, not tribal identity. I feel many of us who meet and live outside the rez have a better hold on tribal identity than those on it.

[xanadu]

It was a terrible thing that happened when europeans conquered the natives. Many wrongs were done. Land was stolen but much was just swindled with one sided deals that the natives felt obligated to accept or were forced to sign at gunpoint. Even those deals were broken by the whites and renegotiated at better terms over and over. However, compensation was paid albeit way too late in most cases. They now have casinos that rake in huge amounts of money off the mostly white turists. They have tax free smoke shops. I consider that poetic justice, making a buck on the weaknesses of the conquerors. I'm not against helping the natives, I just question the wisdom of handouts.

Money will build better housing and provide health care. Nobody lives in a caravan with exposed asbestos and mould of their own accord. You speak as though the money would be just handed to them, the money is used to physically improve living conditions for these people, quite literally a constructive solution.

It is still giving them handouts and keeping them dependent upon more and more handouts. What I would like to see is more job training programs. I would like to see education including nutritional education. Giving a handout or free housing to an alcoholic means they spend the money on booze or the money they would have spent on housing. Give them education and job training and they go out and work. Teach them about proper nutrition and hopefully they make the diet choices that don't lead to diabetes. That is true for any group you could name in usa. Stop the handouts, stop the welfare, the afdc and so on. Institute job training and free education. It costs less and does far more in the long run.

[Centurion]

I see the sense in what you're saying. Before I read the first paragraph I thought you just didn't give a damn. Now I know otherwise.