Lakota Nation

Poverty and Suicide on the Pine Ridge Reservation

Kristin Mingo

Introduction

Image 1 Portrait of Oglala Sioux Riders showing their resilience in the face of hardship. National Geographic.

The Lakota people are one of the three major subdivisions of the Sioux Nation. The area they occupy is located in the western corner of South Dakota. The Pine Ridge reservation is explicitly reserved for the Lakota people and serves as a place where they can freely live the way they choose. The last recorded population was said to be approximately 18,834 people living on the reservation. The reservation itself stretches to be 3,468 square miles (Lakota Children's Enrichment) and remains as the eighth largest American Indian reservation in the United States (Lakota Children's Enrichment).

Cause: Poverty induces Youth Suicide

On the Lakota Reservation living conditions have become less than sustainable for the people that inhabit the area. The reservation is described to simulate equal conditions to the poorest of third world countries.

The Pine Ridge Reservation has no industry, technology, or commercial infrastructure to create a source of income for the people living on the reservation. As a result, 90 percent of the population is unemployed. Ninety-seven percent of the population lives below the federal poverty line with a median household income ranging from $2,600 to $3,500 per year. The average number of people living in a home that may only have two to three rooms is 17 (True Sioux Hope). As a result of the lack of infrastructure, many of the homes need to be demolished as a solution for infestation and black mold. In a third of the homes on the reservation, there is no electricity or basic sewage and water, forcing the people to carry contaminated water from local rivers to accommodate their everyday needs. In addition to poor living conditions, education has also fallen behind with average dropout rates on American Indian Reservations being 80 percent (Sarche and Spicer, 2008)

Image 2 A young Oglala boy bathes among dishes. This exercises the concept of tiospaye—unity of the extended family—making small homes crowded. Slate.

The mental health issues being faced are a result of poverty that plagues the reservation. With the growth of poverty, youth have lost hope as they watch people they grew up with and lived similar lives to also take theirs away. Many people are living in adverse conditions as a result of the lack of resources that are available to the people. While the world all around continues to modernize and change, the reservations attempt to maintain their sense of authenticity so they can remain a recognized group, but by modifying some of their practices to promise a better life for themselves the Lakota have the ability to thrive.

Effect: Youth Taking their Lives into their Own Hands

The Lakota children now suffer from psychosocial problems such as extremely high levels of substance abuse and violence, but the primary concern is the suicidal behavior that continues to peak. On the Pine Ridge Reservation, the teenage suicide rate is triple the United States National average (True Sioux Hope). In 2009 and 2013, The Oglala Lakota Sioux President declared a state of emergency caused by a surge in tribal suicides. In 2013, Pine Ridge saw 100 attempted suicides by youth as young as 6-years-old. By the end of 2015, 9 children had taken their own lives, and more than 100 others had attempted suicide (Lakota Children’s Enrichment). Research on this matter shows that American Indians comparatively have a higher rate of depression and anxiety disorders compared to any other race in the United States (UIHI). As a result of the many deaths that occur on the reservation, many people-- children and adults-- have resorted to abusing alcohol as a coping mechanism. Alcohol abuse has become a trend on the reservation and as a result only fuels the mental health issues.(Stewart et al., 2011) This could be caused by the lack of commoditites and conveniences that are provided to the westernized American compared to the organic, mostly technology-free lifestyle of the American Indian.

The Remedy: The Fight Against Poverty and Mental Illness

Image 3 Clothing donations from churches in Colorado.

The increased amounts of suicide occurring on the Pine Ridge reservation is a result of poverty and neglect. The resources on the reservation are scarce and the Lakota community alone needs a conduit from which it can grow the Lakota community and raise its people up from this crisis. Part of the solution to the poverty is economic stability and health care. Many of the issues that force the poverty on the reservation to worsen are caused by the inability for them to improve upon the issues. The Lakota people lack the resources and funding that it takes to make the Pine Ridge reservation flourish. Based on a study done by the Urban Indian Health Institute (UIHI, 2012), 8 general themes that needed to be improved upon have been identified for the reservation to become sustainable for the Lakota community:

1. Focus on strengthening family and community ties to support intervention plans-- This includes community education for the youth to raise awareness for the issues they face and educate them on the ways people can seek help and better health.
2. Incorporate traditional knowledge and practices into health care and recovery-- American Indian Communities traditionally practice spiritual and healing ceremonies that allow for people to become stronger by their own methods. Incorporating these practices into their healing process could be condusive to a healthier and supported community.
3. Emphasize active skill building-- Practicing effective coping mechanisms for stress, communication, and conflict management can help to better the Lakota community to make them better at handling the tough circumstances they face.
4. Integrate and link prevention and treatment care systems with the Lakota lifestyle-- It is important that on the reservation health care is increased so as to prevent further mental illness. Screening for mental disorders in advance could save many more lives and allow for people to seek help earlier.
5. Expand cultural competency of both providers and health care systems-- In order for the Lakota people to adopt some westernized medicinal practices it important to compromise so that health care providers have a way of connecting and relating to them. This may include getting healers and medicine men that could closely apply both medicinal practices to help the Lakota.
6. Develop flexible client-patient relationships-- Establish a good relationship between the Lakota and the health care providers so they feel comfortable asking and receiving help. This could also include adapting tradition American health practices to that of American Indian practices so be more therapeutic and normal to them.
7. Implement environmental and structural changes to affect surrounding conditions-- The Lakota people and the issues they face are inseparable. Solving the issue is not as simple as taking the people out of the environment and treating them, they must learn to live in their own environment and focus on healing and coping in their traditional living space. To do that, their living conditions and environment must also be improved upon.
8. Develop policies, systems, and advocate for adequate funding to improve health care and economic opportunities-- Implementing programs to improve education, home life, access to health care, and prejudice against one another will help the Lakota people to potentially adopt the practices that they lack. Though it is important for many American Indian groups to maintain their practices, its also important for them to understand the need to also accept help where it is needed for the sake of their own well-being.

In addition to a restructured economic and health care system, there have been many groups in support of the Lakota people that have come forward to create foundations and raise money for the betterment of the reservation. Some of these places include Lakota Children’s Enrichment, the True Sioux Hope Foundation, The Holistic System of Care (HSC), Applied Suicide Intervention Skills (ASIST) Program, Circles of Care, Medicine Wheel, and many other organizations and rehabilitation programs.

For Further Information and Current Events on the Pine Ridge Reservation

Image 4 Lakota people find healing and purification through intense communication with spirits from inside a sweat lodge. Slate.

Huffington Post—Native American Youth Suicide Rates are at Crisis Levels

New York Times—What’s Lurking Behind the Suicides?

MSNBC—A Broken System Failing America’s Most Forgotten Children

Sources Cited

Text

Michelle Sarche and Paul Spicer, Poverty and Health Disparities for American Indian and Alaska Native Children: Current Knowledge and Future Prospects, New York: Ann, 2008.

Urban Indian Health Institute, Seattle Indian Health Board. (2012). Addressing Depression Among American Indians and Alaska Natives: A Literature Review. Seattle, WA: Urban Indian Health Institute.

Sherry H. Stewart, Simon B. Sherry, M. Nancy Comeau, Christopher J. Mushquash, Pamela Collins, and Hendricus Van Wilgenburg, “Hopelessness and Excessive Drinking among Aboriginal Adolescents: The Mediating Roles of Depressive Symptoms and Drinking to Cope,” Depression Research and Treatment, vol. 2011, Article ID 970169, 11 pages, 2011.

"Pine Ridge Reservation," Lakota Children's Enrichment, accessed April 26, 2016, http://lakotachildren.org/pine-ridge-reservation/.

“The Lakota Sioux Tribe: A Look At the Statistics,” True Sioux Hope Foundation, accessed April 26, 2016, http://www.truesiouxhope.org/blog/2015/2/10/the-lakota-sioux-tribe-a-look-at-the-statistics.

“Native American Youth Suicide Rates are at Crisis Levels,” Huffington Post, accessed April 25, 2016, http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/native-american-youth-suicide-rates-are-at-crisis-levels_us_560c3084e4b0768127005591

“What’s Lurking Behind the Suicides?”, New York Times, accessed April 17, 2016, http://www.nytimes.com/2015/05/17/opinion/sunday/whats-lurking-behind-the-suicides.html?_r=2

“A Broken System Failing America’s Most Forgotten Children,” MSNBC, accessed April 14, 2016, http://www.msnbc.com/msnbc/failing-americas-most-forgotten-children

“13 Issues Being Faced by Native People Beyond Mascots and Casinos,” Huffington Post, accessed March 26, 2016, http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/13-native-american-issues_us_55b7d801e4b0074ba5a6869c

Images

Image 1
Huey, Aaron, “In the Shadow of Wounded Knee,” National Geographic, accessed April 26, 2016, http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/2012/08/pine-ridge/fuller-text
Image 2
Teicher, Jordan G., “untitled,” Slate.com, accessed April 26, 2016, http://www.slate.com/blogs/behold/2014/02/20/aaron_huey_photographs_the_pine_ridge_reservation_in_south_dakota_in_his.html
Image 3
Teicher, Jordan G., “untitled,” Slate.com, accessed April 26, 2016, http://www.slate.com/blogs/behold/2014/02/20/aaron_huey_photographs_the_pine_ridge_reservation_in_south_dakota_in_his.html
Image 4
Teicher, Jordan G., “untitled,” Slate.com, accessed April 26, 2016, http://www.slate.com/blogs/behold/2014/02/20/aaron_huey_photographs_the_pine_ridge_reservation_in_south_dakota_in_his.html