4 years ago I spent a week volunteering on the Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota. The poverty and conditions that the residents have to live in because of what our government has done to them is horrible.
Here’s why we need to fight for our indigenous brothers and sisters.

There are 3,143 counties in the United States. Oglala Lakota County, contained entirely within the boundaries of the Pine Ridge Reservation, has the lowest per capita income ($8,768) in the country, and ranks as the "poorest" county in the nation.

The average life expectancy on Pine Ridge is 66.81 years, the lowest in the United States. Oglala Lakota County ranked last in the state of South Dakota for quality of life and health behaviors.

There is an 89% unemployment rate and the per capita income for American Indians living on Pine Ridge is $7,773. The average for all reservations is $10,543. The United States average is $27,599.

The officially reported poverty rate for American Indians living on Pine Ridge is 53.75%. The United States average is 15.6%.

Oglala Lakota County ranked 59-out-of-60 counties in South Dakota for overall health outcomes in 2017
One in four children born on Pine Ridge are diagnosed with either Fetal Alcohol Syndrome or Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder.
•Tuberculosis: 800% higher than America as a whole

•Infant mortality: 300% higher than America as a whole
•Teen suicide: 150% higher than America as a whole
•Approximately 85% of Lakota families are affected by alcoholism (no alcohol sold on the res)

•Approximately 58% of grandparents of Lakota families are raising their grandchildren
•The school drop-out rate is over 70%.
•Approximately 50% of adults over the age of 40 have diabetes

Now that you understand the conditions, here’s what we did. We spent half the week skirting trailers and the other half building and assembling bunk beds. We also installed an outhouse due to a lot of the families not having running water.

There were children around the ages of 8-10 who when we set up the bunk beds for them started to cry. I asked what was wrong and one of them said, “I’ve never had a bed before. I slept on the couch or the floor.”

There was a grocery store that was overpriced and under stocked about 45 minutes from anywhere. That’s why most people bought food from their local convenience stores that are not healthy at all. The closest gas station was an hour away.

Now you may ask yourself, well why don’t they leave? Why don’t they help themselves? Why don’t we do more to help?

The volunteer org that I went through has up to a 2 year wait list for beds, trailer skirting, wheelchair ramps etc. The residents come to Re-Member and ask for the help because that’s how it’s had to happen. They don’t want white people overstepping their boundaries.

We fucked up. Our ancestors fucked up and our government is still fucking up. The poverty I saw on the Pine Ridge Reservation makes me so angry knowing our government is the main cause. If after reading all of that doesn’t make you want to do your best to help, check yourself.

Take #IndigenousPeoplesDay and find how you can urge our government to fix the mistakes they’ve made and offer support to our Indigenous family.