Whiteclay, NE

The border town of Whiteclay, Nebraska

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Pine Ridge Reservation: By The Numbers

Statistics fall well short of providing an accurate picture of life on the Pine Ridge Reservation. Official numbers, gathered by the U.S. Census bureau, among other agencies, paint a grim picture, but it is important to note that it is both incomplete, and only one representation of life on the Rez. From the Re-Member website : From 1980 to 2000, the counties that make up Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in South Dakota comprised the poorest of our nation's 3,143 counties. The 2000 census found them the third poorest, not because things got better on Pine Ridge, but because things got worse on two other South Dakota Indian Reservations. The poverty on Pine Ridge can be described in no other terms than "third world." It is common to find homes terribly overcrowded, as those with homes take in whoever needs a roof over their heads. Many homes are without running water, and without sewer. While the 2000 census reported a population of 15,521, a study by Colorado State Univers...
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How things get done...

How does one paint the side of a trailer without a ladder? You stack tires laying around the yard on top of one another to stand on. Welcome to Lakota problem solving 101. Working on a wheelchair ramp at a house that must have at least 10 or 15 kids inside. They don't have running water, so they use a van to shuttle water from up the road.
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Returning to the Rez

I am returning to Pine Ridge, and to Re-Member in one week. The course of events that has brought me here has been an interesting one to say the least. When I left Pine Ridge last fall, my intent was to seek permanent employment in a career-path job, but as time passed, and options opened, and closed, and then opened again, I found the option that was best suited for me right now was on the Rez. Is this a career? No, but it's an opportunity that is available right now to do something I am passionate about, to work with people who love what they are doing. It almost has become a joke with family and friends that after applying for over twenty jobs (mostly in Northern New England) that I've settled on returning to Pine Ridge because "there's more opportunity on the rez than there is at home!" It's not about the money, and although there are loans to pay each and every month for the education that is responsible for bringing me to Pine Ridge in the first place, I...
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