Isolation, Despair on the Reservations

A report today from CBN News paints a stark picture of life on the reservation.

The article mentions the broken treaties and isolation many Native Americans were forced into on the reservations, stating that isolation continues today.

The article concentrates on the Crow Creek Sioux Reservation in South Dakota, but many of the problems cited are common to other reservations in South Dakota, including the tremendously high suicide rate which made headlines repeatedly last year.

Substance abuse is also a big problem:

Sandy Gabe was also an alcoholic. He says substance abuse is a big problem with many Native Americans using their government assistance checks to feed their habits, instead of their families.

"It's the first thing they do," he explained. "It's drugs and alcohol. Later on, maybe it's some groceries. Maybe they feed their kids. Their priorities are all wrong."

The article mentions a number of factors behind the despair, including historical mistreatment, forced cultural changes, and the poor living conditions.

I've never lived on a reservation, but I've visited a number of times and spent some time at the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation on missions projects with my church. There are exceptions, but most of what I saw demonstrated a rough life.

Some call the situation on the reservations a man-made crisis.

Rod Vaughn founded the Christian non-profit organization, Diamond Willow Ministries, to reach out to Native Americans on the Crow Creek Sioux reservation.

"To me it's a train wreck," he said. "When you have reliance on a federal government with a shrinking deficit for your health care, for your housing -- for everything, and you really don't have much of a political voice," he explained. "So when there's cuts, the cuts seem to be deeper here. It is a real critical situation."

Bruce Whalen, the 2006 Native American Republican candidate for South Dakota's lone U.S. House of Representative seat, said that year that the socialism which is a way of life on the reservation exacerbates the problem.

From a CNN report in 2006:

"Socialism doesn't work, folks," Whalen said.

Despite the depressing tone of the CBN article, there were some bright spots.

It pointed out that the warrior culture of Native Americans continues, and they have served in the U.S. military at a greater rate than any other ethnicity.

In the article, Vaughn also points out the hope available in Jesus Christ:

"Pray that the barriers, the generational sin, the darkness can be broken," Vaughn told CBN News. "Prayer is so powerful."

"All they have to do is reach out their hand like I did," Gabe said. "God took my hand and gave me something, and I'm glad of that."

There are a number of ministries to the hurting people on the reservations, and many churches send short-term help from all over the country.

But more help is always needed.