Suicide Crisis Among Native American Youth Prompts Federal Action

[Michelle420]

All people matter. If you don't have anything to contribute move along.

Esmeralda, in some cases like this people that feel hopeless as a group will sometimes have a high rate of suicide.
Durkheim talks about it in his fatalistic ideal about it. Society failing people as a whole. It sounds like with hope of a better future including higher education it has the chance to lower the suicide rate.

Yes, it is a matter of having a positive outlook for the future. The Native Americans were given the worst areas of land for the reservations. There isn't much for them to do there or ways to find success or see a great future. It is often generation after generation of poverty. If they want to go to college and find success in the wider world, they have to leave their homes and families behind: this is something that is not required of other groups in our culture. White kids, Asians, and others in our country are not required to leave the city or town or area where they grew up or to leave their families just to get a higher education or pursue a career, but Native American kids are. The bottom line is they see no future for themselves and become distraught and depressed.

It's a big problem. Do any reservations have their own Universities and would they even want that?

What can be done to help with Jobs and overcoming the feeling of hopelessness?

 

[Michelle420]

All people matter. If you don't have anything to contribute move along.

Esmeralda, in some cases like this people that feel hopeless as a group will sometimes have a high rate of suicide.
Durkheim talks about it in his fatalistic ideal about it. Society failing people as a whole. It sounds like with hope of a better future including higher education it has the chance to lower the suicide rate.

All people matter?
the looter?
The drug addict?
The drunk?
The child molester?
It's simply is not true. Genetics dictate what matters NOT people.

Of course all of those people above matters, if they have a sickness or addiction they need treatment. But none of those mentioned have anything to do with the topic of native american children committing suicide.

The children see their parents.
The parents are losers.
The children commit suicide.
Rather simple really.

Dark Fury, who hurt you in your life?

 

[Gracie]

Pine Ridge is very very poor. Every winter, it is a struggle just for the elders to stay warm. It is a ghetto of the worst sort. I have some statistics I can post but although the report is old...nothing has changed.

Pine Ridge Reservation
Humanitarian Rescue

STATISTICAL DATA

Despite nearly-insurmountable conditions, few resources, and against unbelievable odds, Indigenous people are struggling hard to overcome decades of neglect, discrimination and forced destruction of their traditional cultures to promote a life of self-respect and self-sufficiency.

BRIEF STATISTICS

* 97% of of the population at Pine Ridge Reservation live below federal poverty line.

* The unemployment rate vacillates from 85% to 95% on the Reservation.

* Death due to Heart Disease: Twice the national average.

* The infant mortality rate is the highest on this continent and is about 300% higher than the U.S. national average.

* Elderly die each winter from hypothermia (freezing).

* Recent reports point out that the median income on the Pine Ridge Reservation is approximately $2,600 to $3,500 per year.

* At least 60% of the homes are severely substandard, without water, electricity, adequate insulation, and sewage systems.

* Recent reports state the average life expectancy is 45 years old while others state that it is 48 years old for men and 52 years old for women. With either set of figures, that's the shortest life expectancy for any community in the Western Hemisphere outside Haiti, according to The Wall Street Journal.

Pine Ridge Statistics

IN DEPTH STATISTICS

* The Pine Ridge Oglala Lakota (Sioux) Indian Reservation sits in Bennett, Jackson, and Shannon Counties and is located in the southwest corner of South Dakota, fifty miles east of the Wyoming border.

* The 11,000-square mile (over 2 million acres) Oglala Lakota Pine Ridge Reservation is the second-largest Native American Reservation within the United States. It is roughly the size of the State of Connecticut.

* The Reservation is divided into eight districts: Eagle Nest, Pass Creek, Wakpamni, LaCreek, Pine Ridge, White Clay, Medicine Root, Porcupine, and Wounded Knee.

* The topography of the Pine Ridge Reservation includes badlands, rolling grassland hills, dryland prairie, and areas dotted with pine trees.

* According to the 1998 Bureau of Indian Affairs Census, the Pine Ridge Reservation is home to approximately 40,000 persons, 35% of which are under the age of 16. Approximately half the residents of the Reservation are registered tribal members of the Oglala Lakota Nation.

* The population is steadily rising, despite the severe conditions on the Reservation, as more and more Oglala Lakota return home from far-away cities in order to live within their societal values, be with their families, and assist with the revitalization of their culture and their Nation.

* Recent reports point out that the median income on the Pine Ridge Reservation is approximately $2,600 per year.

* The unemployment rate vacillates from 85% to 95% on the Reservation.

* There is no industry, technology, or commercial infrastructure on the Reservation to provide employment.

* The nearest town of size (which provides some jobs for those few persons able to travel the distance) is Rapid City, South Dakota with approximately 57,000 residents. It is located approximately 120 miles from the Reservation. The nearest large city to Pine Ridge is Denver, Colorado located about 350 miles away.

* Some figures state that the life expectancy on the Reservation is 48 years old for men and 52 for women. Other reports state that the average life expectancy on the Reservation is 45 years old. With either set of figures, that's the shortest life expectancy for a community anywhere in the Western Hemisphere outside Haiti, according to The Wall Street Journal.

* Teenage suicide rate on the Pine Ridge Reservation is 150% higher than the U.S. national average for this age group.

* The infant mortality rate is the highest on this continent and is about 300% higher than the U.S. national average.

* More than half the Reservation's adults battle addiction and disease. Alcoholism, diabetes, heart disease, cancer, and malnutrition are rampant.


* The rate of diabetes on the Reservation is reported to be 800% higher than the U.S. national average.

* Recent reports indicate that almost 50% of the adults on the Reservation over the age of 40 have diabetes. Over 37% of population is diabetic.

* As a result of the high rate of diabetes on the Reservation, diabetic-related blindness, amputations, and kidney failure are common.

* The tuberculosis rate on the Pine Ridge Reservation is approximately 800% higher than the U.S. national average.



Mod Edit - trimmed to comply with copyright rules.

 

[DarkFury]

All people matter. If you don't have anything to contribute move along.

Esmeralda, in some cases like this people that feel hopeless as a group will sometimes have a high rate of suicide.
Durkheim talks about it in his fatalistic ideal about it. Society failing people as a whole. It sounds like with hope of a better future including higher education it has the chance to lower the suicide rate.

All people matter?
the looter?
The drug addict?
The drunk?
The child molester?
It's simply is not true. Genetics dictate what matters NOT people.

Of course all of those people above matters, if they have a sickness or addiction they need treatment. But none of those mentioned have anything to do with the topic of native american children committing suicide.

The children see their parents.
The parents are losers.
The children commit suicide.
Rather simple really.

Dark Fury, who hurt you in your life?

Nobody, just a harsh look at real life. Some make it some not.

 

[Gracie]

In short...we took their paradise away with empty promises then relented and threw them into the worst squalor of the ghetto.

 

[Michelle420]

All people matter. If you don't have anything to contribute move along.

Esmeralda, in some cases like this people that feel hopeless as a group will sometimes have a high rate of suicide.
Durkheim talks about it in his fatalistic ideal about it. Society failing people as a whole. It sounds like with hope of a better future including higher education it has the chance to lower the suicide rate.

All people matter?
the looter?
The drug addict?
The drunk?
The child molester?
It's simply is not true. Genetics dictate what matters NOT people.

Of course all of those people above matters, if they have a sickness or addiction they need treatment. But none of those mentioned have anything to do with the topic of native american children committing suicide.

The children see their parents.
The parents are losers.
The children commit suicide.
Rather simple really.

Dark Fury, who hurt you in your life?

Nobody, just a harsh look at real life. Some make it some not.

Well there is a difference when people are just making a statement and when they are actively wishing a group of people would die rather them see them overcome an obstacle. It's not just harsh to wish death on a group of children there is something else going on there.

 

[Gracie]

Why not just give them some blankets infested with measles virus? Oh. Wait.

 

[Esmeralda]

All people matter. If you don't have anything to contribute move along.

Esmeralda, in some cases like this people that feel hopeless as a group will sometimes have a high rate of suicide.
Durkheim talks about it in his fatalistic ideal about it. Society failing people as a whole. It sounds like with hope of a better future including higher education it has the chance to lower the suicide rate.

All people matter?
the looter?
The drug addict?
The drunk?
The child molester?
It's simply is not true. Genetics dictate what matters NOT people.

Of course all of those people above matters, if they have a sickness or addiction they need treatment. But none of those mentioned have anything to do with the topic of native american children committing suicide.

The children see their parents.
The parents are losers.
The children commit suicide.
Rather simple really.

Unbelievable. Are you uneducated? Are you unaware of the historical elements involved? Are you without perspective and understanding of the repercussions of history? I imagine you would need to answer yes, yes and yes to those questions. As well, you have an extremely simple minded understanding of evolution. You are 'rather simple, really.'

 

[2aguy]

The Pine Ridge Indian Reservation, home to the Oglala Sioux Tribe in South Dakota, is in a state of crisis. Over the past year, 14 school-age children on the reservation have killed themselves.

At the time of their suicides, four of those children were attending Pine Ridge School. On Wednesday, the U.S. Department of Education announced that the Bureau of Indian Education school, which has some 800 K-12 students, has received $218,000 in emergency funds to help its students deal with that trauma.

The school requested the grant money through the Education Department’s Project SERV (School Emergency Response to Violence). With the funds, Pine Ridge will be able to hire an additional counselor and social worker for the next 12 months, better implement a Lakota-based healing program and bring in cultural teachers to provide monthly lessons on healing processes, according to information provided by the Bureau of Indian Affairs.

The 183 Bureau of Indian Education schools nationwide, which are overseen by the federal government, face a number of daunting challenges. Suicide rates among young Native Americans are disproportionately high, while high school graduation rates are disproportionately low. Many BIE school facilities are old and in poor condition.

Between August 2014 and April 2015, Pine Ridge School saw a "significant increase" in suicide attempts and counseling referrals, according to the Education Department. But currently, the school has only two counselors on staff, said Nedra Darling, a spokesperson for the Department of the Interior.

"During the end of the School Year 2014-2015 the mood was somewhat in a mourning state," Darling wrote HuffPost, adding that school personnel were spending "a great amount of time" providing mental health counseling to students and staff.

"However, as graduation approached the mood lifted and many believe it is time to move forward to teach these children to celebrate life," Darling wrote.

The Education Department touted the grant as part of the Obama administration's overall push to improve life for Native youth. The White House launched its Generation Indigenous initiative in February in an effort to remove barriers for this population through new investments and opportunities to engage.

“We are heartbroken about the tragic loss of life and are committed to working with the Pine Ridge community as it heals. These funds will help Pine Ridge School’s continued efforts to restore the learning environment in the face of these great tragedies,” said William Mendoza, director of the White House Initiative on American Indian and Alaska Native Education, in Wednesday's press release. “This Administration is committed to supporting tribes in their work to meet the needs of their students. We all must do more to address the challenges across Indian Country.”

John Yellow Bird Steele, president of the Oglala Sioux Tribe, declared a state of emergency on the reservation in response to the youth suicides in February.

More: Native American School Mourning 4 Student Suicides Gets Emergency Federal Aid

Poverty and suicide are common among Native Americans. They aren't all rich Injuns with casinos.

if you want to save kids...get them off of the reservation.....get them off the government dole and out into the world......as you can see, living under the charity of statists leads to hopelessness and despair.....you don't need counsellors or social workers...you need new addresses.....with better schools through school choice so they can get better jobs, more money, and better lives....

 

[Esmeralda]

Why not just give them some blankets infested with measles virus? Oh. Wait.

Dark Fury is so uneducated, he probably doesn't even understand your allusion.

 

[Michelle420]

In short...we took their paradise away with empty promises then relented and threw them into the worst squalor of the ghetto.

Agreed, mostly familiar with Navajo in my circle offline, but I know it's a serious problem all tribes are facing.

 

[2aguy]

Why not just give them some blankets infested with measles virus? Oh. Wait.

Never happened....

 

[Lakhota]

The Pine Ridge Indian Reservation, home to the Oglala Sioux Tribe in South Dakota, is in a state of crisis. Over the past year, 14 school-age children on the reservation have killed themselves.

At the time of their suicides, four of those children were attending Pine Ridge School. On Wednesday, the U.S. Department of Education announced that the Bureau of Indian Education school, which has some 800 K-12 students, has received $218,000 in emergency funds to help its students deal with that trauma.

The school requested the grant money through the Education Department’s Project SERV (School Emergency Response to Violence). With the funds, Pine Ridge will be able to hire an additional counselor and social worker for the next 12 months, better implement a Lakota-based healing program and bring in cultural teachers to provide monthly lessons on healing processes, according to information provided by the Bureau of Indian Affairs.

The 183 Bureau of Indian Education schools nationwide, which are overseen by the federal government, face a number of daunting challenges. Suicide rates among young Native Americans are disproportionately high, while high school graduation rates are disproportionately low. Many BIE school facilities are old and in poor condition.

Between August 2014 and April 2015, Pine Ridge School saw a "significant increase" in suicide attempts and counseling referrals, according to the Education Department. But currently, the school has only two counselors on staff, said Nedra Darling, a spokesperson for the Department of the Interior.

"During the end of the School Year 2014-2015 the mood was somewhat in a mourning state," Darling wrote HuffPost, adding that school personnel were spending "a great amount of time" providing mental health counseling to students and staff.

"However, as graduation approached the mood lifted and many believe it is time to move forward to teach these children to celebrate life," Darling wrote.

The Education Department touted the grant as part of the Obama administration's overall push to improve life for Native youth. The White House launched its Generation Indigenous initiative in February in an effort to remove barriers for this population through new investments and opportunities to engage.

“We are heartbroken about the tragic loss of life and are committed to working with the Pine Ridge community as it heals. These funds will help Pine Ridge School’s continued efforts to restore the learning environment in the face of these great tragedies,” said William Mendoza, director of the White House Initiative on American Indian and Alaska Native Education, in Wednesday's press release. “This Administration is committed to supporting tribes in their work to meet the needs of their students. We all must do more to address the challenges across Indian Country.”

John Yellow Bird Steele, president of the Oglala Sioux Tribe, declared a state of emergency on the reservation in response to the youth suicides in February.

More: Native American School Mourning 4 Student Suicides Gets Emergency Federal Aid

Poverty and suicide are common among Native Americans. They aren't all rich Injuns with casinos.

if you want to save kids...get them off of the reservation.....get them off the government dole and out into the world......as you can see, living under the charity of statists leads to hopelessness and despair.....you don't need counsellors or social workers...you need new addresses.....with better schools through school choice so they can get better jobs, more money, and better lives....

Are you really that stupid and uninformed?

 

[DarkFury]

All people matter. If you don't have anything to contribute move along.

Esmeralda, in some cases like this people that feel hopeless as a group will sometimes have a high rate of suicide.
Durkheim talks about it in his fatalistic ideal about it. Society failing people as a whole. It sounds like with hope of a better future including higher education it has the chance to lower the suicide rate.

All people matter?
the looter?
The drug addict?
The drunk?
The child molester?
It's simply is not true. Genetics dictate what matters NOT people.

Of course all of those people above matters, if they have a sickness or addiction they need treatment. But none of those mentioned have anything to do with the topic of native american children committing suicide.

The children see their parents.
The parents are losers.
The children commit suicide.
Rather simple really.

Unbelievable. Are you uneducated? Are you unaware of the historical elements involved? Are you without perspective and understanding of the repercussions of history? I imagine you would need to answer yes, yes and yes to those questions. As well, you have an extremely simple minded understanding of evolution. You are 'rather simple, really.'

Native Americans were a weaken strain from the start. Things like Chicken pox that had NO immunity for. It's genetic and all the good feelings in the world mean squat.

 

[Michelle420]

Why not just give them some blankets infested with measles virus? Oh. Wait.

Basically he is suggesting just that, but with rat poison. smh.

 

[Esmeralda]

All people matter. If you don't have anything to contribute move along.

Esmeralda, in some cases like this people that feel hopeless as a group will sometimes have a high rate of suicide.
Durkheim talks about it in his fatalistic ideal about it. Society failing people as a whole. It sounds like with hope of a better future including higher education it has the chance to lower the suicide rate.

All people matter?
the looter?
The drug addict?
The drunk?
The child molester?
It's simply is not true. Genetics dictate what matters NOT people.

Of course all of those people above matters, if they have a sickness or addiction they need treatment. But none of those mentioned have anything to do with the topic of native american children committing suicide.

The children see their parents.
The parents are losers.
The children commit suicide.
Rather simple really.

Dark Fury, who hurt you in your life?

Nobody, just a harsh look at real life. Some make it some not.

You're disgusting. If you had to live under the conditions those people live, you wouldn't survive either. What a jerk.

 

[Esmeralda]

Why not just give them some blankets infested with measles virus? Oh. Wait.

Never happened....

YES IT DID!! It most certainly did. How can you imagine it is okay to rewrite history to suit your bigoted perspective??? Next we will be told there was no Holocaust. Unbelievable.

 

[Lakhota]

All people matter. If you don't have anything to contribute move along.

Esmeralda, in some cases like this people that feel hopeless as a group will sometimes have a high rate of suicide.
Durkheim talks about it in his fatalistic ideal about it. Society failing people as a whole. It sounds like with hope of a better future including higher education it has the chance to lower the suicide rate.

All people matter?
the looter?
The drug addict?
The drunk?
The child molester?
It's simply is not true. Genetics dictate what matters NOT people.

Of course all of those people above matters, if they have a sickness or addiction they need treatment. But none of those mentioned have anything to do with the topic of native american children committing suicide.

The children see their parents.
The parents are losers.
The children commit suicide.
Rather simple really.

Unbelievable. Are you uneducated? Are you unaware of the historical elements involved? Are you without perspective and understanding of the repercussions of history? I imagine you would need to answer yes, yes and yes to those questions. As well, you have an extremely simple minded understanding of evolution. You are 'rather simple, really.'

Native Americans were a weaken strain from the start. Things like Chicken pox that had NO immunity for. It's genetic and all the good feelings in the world mean squat.

Much like John Wayne, born Marion Morrison, you're also a heartless asshole. He had no respect for Native Americans.

 

[2aguy]

The Pine Ridge Indian Reservation, home to the Oglala Sioux Tribe in South Dakota, is in a state of crisis. Over the past year, 14 school-age children on the reservation have killed themselves.

At the time of their suicides, four of those children were attending Pine Ridge School. On Wednesday, the U.S. Department of Education announced that the Bureau of Indian Education school, which has some 800 K-12 students, has received $218,000 in emergency funds to help its students deal with that trauma.

The school requested the grant money through the Education Department’s Project SERV (School Emergency Response to Violence). With the funds, Pine Ridge will be able to hire an additional counselor and social worker for the next 12 months, better implement a Lakota-based healing program and bring in cultural teachers to provide monthly lessons on healing processes, according to information provided by the Bureau of Indian Affairs.

The 183 Bureau of Indian Education schools nationwide, which are overseen by the federal government, face a number of daunting challenges. Suicide rates among young Native Americans are disproportionately high, while high school graduation rates are disproportionately low. Many BIE school facilities are old and in poor condition.

Between August 2014 and April 2015, Pine Ridge School saw a "significant increase" in suicide attempts and counseling referrals, according to the Education Department. But currently, the school has only two counselors on staff, said Nedra Darling, a spokesperson for the Department of the Interior.

"During the end of the School Year 2014-2015 the mood was somewhat in a mourning state," Darling wrote HuffPost, adding that school personnel were spending "a great amount of time" providing mental health counseling to students and staff.

"However, as graduation approached the mood lifted and many believe it is time to move forward to teach these children to celebrate life," Darling wrote.

The Education Department touted the grant as part of the Obama administration's overall push to improve life for Native youth. The White House launched its Generation Indigenous initiative in February in an effort to remove barriers for this population through new investments and opportunities to engage.

“We are heartbroken about the tragic loss of life and are committed to working with the Pine Ridge community as it heals. These funds will help Pine Ridge School’s continued efforts to restore the learning environment in the face of these great tragedies,” said William Mendoza, director of the White House Initiative on American Indian and Alaska Native Education, in Wednesday's press release. “This Administration is committed to supporting tribes in their work to meet the needs of their students. We all must do more to address the challenges across Indian Country.”

John Yellow Bird Steele, president of the Oglala Sioux Tribe, declared a state of emergency on the reservation in response to the youth suicides in February.

More: Native American School Mourning 4 Student Suicides Gets Emergency Federal Aid

Poverty and suicide are common among Native Americans. They aren't all rich Injuns with casinos.

if you want to save kids...get them off of the reservation.....get them off the government dole and out into the world......as you can see, living under the charity of statists leads to hopelessness and despair.....you don't need counsellors or social workers...you need new addresses.....with better schools through school choice so they can get better jobs, more money, and better lives....

Are you really that stupid and uninformed?

You are simply a leftist who has no clue on how to help these people...more government, more dependence, more government programs.....how has that worked out for them...oh yeah, you guys gave a whole list of problems that they have...and want to keep doing what you have done in the past that created the problem to begin with.......

if the government screws up...you want more of it......you people don't think...please try, there are people suffering because of your stupidity.....

you realize you are a racist...right...you don't think they can survive without your government programs..they are helpless and inferior..so you must step in...what racists...

To any human being living on a reservation.....leave....go out and escape their "good intentions" they are destroying you and the people you love......

 

[Carla_Danger]

Send them Rat Poison, all they do is steal anyway.

Why kind of person wishes death on people struggling in a community, and especially on children?

I'll answer that. A lowlife troll, living off the government, with nothing but time to dwell in his home on wheels.