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Pine Ridge Indian Reservation Struggles With Suicide Among Its Young (New York Times, 2015)
"To be Lakota in this world is a challenge because they want to maintain their own culture, but they're being told their culture is not successful." ... Children on Indian reservations have extraordinary challenges: the legacy of oppression and forced removals, the lack of jobs and economic opportunity, and the high levels of drug and alcohol use around them.
When Aaron Huey first visited South Dakota's Pine Ridge Reservation in 2005, he didn't expect that it would be a world-altering experience. He began the project as an objective photojournalit's look at poverty in America. But after spending eight years documenting the residents of Pine Ridge, his professional and personal outlook has changed dramatically.
“More than anything, the camp gives them hope,” McGhee said. “Coach Joerger gave a speech and told the kids, ‘You can be anything you want to be. It doesn’t matter where you’re from, last name, skin color.’ Hope, that would be the word to describe what he gave to the kids.”
It's the third IHS-run hospital in South Dakota to receive such a threat this year; a fourth hospital in Nebraska was found deficient last year. The problems have prompted tribal leaders and health care policy experts to question the U.S. government's commitment to provide adequate care for tribal members.
