America's Third Wolrd - Pine Ridge, South Dakota

[Donnachaidh]

http://uspoverty.change.org/blog/view/americas_third_world_pine_ridge_south_dakota


Unemployment at 80%. Fifteen people per home. Life expectancy rates of 50 years. The third world? Not hardly. Try South Dakota. The Pine Ridge reservation is home to an estimated 45,000 Oglala Sioux on more than two million acres. News of these conditions comes, perhaps unfortunately, from a British paper, England's Guardian.

There are 310 Indian reservations in the U.S. Some are wealthy; many are not. The Oglala Sioux's Prairie Wind Casino doesn't bring massive profits like the casinos of other tribes in other states. More often, it's Oglala Sioux who are gambling their money away.

The Pine Ridge tribal housing authority does receive $10 million a year from Congress, but it's not enough to maintain existing homes, much less build many new ones. A third of homes on the reservation don't have electricity or running water. Recently, local leaders built a 280-cell jail to replace the old 25-cell one. You know there's something wrong when your best shot at new housing is committing a crime.

The police captain blames 90% of the reservation's problems on alcohol dependence. And according to the law, the reservation is supposed to be dry. The few options available to young people include joining a gang or the military or bootlegging. Youth suicide is on the rise.


more at the link above --

[AngryAmish]

1. My brother in law used to be a law enforcement officer out by Pine Ridge

Stories that both strained belief and broke your heart.

[fl_dem]

2. I saw this first hand growing up in Okla

going onto an indian reservations was like stepping back into time, no indoor plumbing, no electricity, rampart, drug and alcohol abuse, domestic abuse and no hope for anything changing. It was very sad and still is to this day.

[Brickbat]

3. Pine Ridge is one of our nation's greatest shames.

It is an absolute crime.