Reservation Child’s Wish: Fresh Water, Bubble Gum and a Backpack

Pow-wow outfits are not costumes (this isn’t Halloween). Please be mindful.

It’s about time America remembers Native Americans, not Christopher Columbus. Columbus Day should be abolished. And this is coming from a Native American. Apache, Comanche, Seminole, and Chickasaw. 100 % Native. We feel forgotten.

While the Government gives Billions in foreign aid to our enemies we allow Native A mericans to suffer.Uncociounable shame on the Congress.

I find this story on the verge of laughable, but with children involved, I won’t even snicker. The American Indians have and still are holding white America hostage to deeds done years and years ago by our forefathers. Deeds, by the way, that have led the way to a better place for all of us to live, American Indians and the white man. I would wonder however why all the tax breaks the AI get from the U.S. Government why such a poor tribe of Indians in South Dakota? Don’t ALL states have to give their AI these privileges?

Oh get ready for this.. Does one really know how much HUD funds the Pine Ridge Reservation for one year for their Indian Housing Block Grant (IHBG)? One posting a comment states ” While the Government gives Billions in foreign aid to enemies we allow Native Americans to suffer.” WELL… I will tell you. Pine Ridge Reservation was just allocated 11,712,526.00 for the new fiscal year of 2012 for their housing program. YES PEOPLE.. one year over eleven million to just one tribe! The government funds over 545 Tribes. HUD has been funding this Indian Reservation with approx. this much each year for the past 15 years! Go figure… that would make the Government giving this one tribe $175,687,890.00… that’s over one hundred seventy-five million! Let’s figure again, they say they have 40,000 people and one home had 19 of them living together, we won’t use 19, instead we will say 5 people to a home that makes 8000 homes, that makes that the Goverment gave them $21,960.99 per home over the last 15 years. Now that’s pretty damn good, wish someone would give me $$$ to fix up my home!. I’m no Indian, I’m one of those who gives part of my check everytime to cover those “we owe them people”. The given figures represent only one tribe, here’s a fact for ya, the total package under the IHBG for the fiscal year 2012 (only one year) comes to a whooping $697,038,824.00 that’s pretty close to that Billion that that one wrote of that we give as foreign aid! But wait just a minute.. this is only ONE program that the Government funds tribes, for their is Aid to Tribal Government (ATTG), EPA $, HUD- Indian Community Development Block Grants (BIG MONEY), Indian Health Service (IHS), Bureau of Indian Affairs $$ to fix their roads, man their fire teams, grants after grants after grants (it’s all public knowledge, just ask your state Representative he/she will let you know of theTRILLIONS we give and give over to the American Indian’s of USA… overall the Government provides for Native American Indians (population 2,180,162) every aspect of their life as if they were our own children. No wonder our Government is BROKE. Our/my pockets just don’t go deep enough to cover all of our dependants in the USA, Can I claim one (or a few) of them on my income tax!

@ NATIVEVETERAN | OCTOBER 12, 2011, 2:58 PM 2:58 PM
While the Government gives Billions in foreign aid to our enemies we allow Native A mericans to suffer.Uncociounable shame on the Congress. I Could not have said it any better!!! ok i copied wrong but can’t find this written at . i take bak what i wrote after of just reading this !! Oh get ready for this.. Does one really know how much HUD funds the Pine Ridge Reservation for one year for their Indian Housing Block Grant (IHBG)? One posting a comment states ” While the Government gives Billions in foreign aid to enemies we allow Native Americans to suffer.” WELL… I will tell you. Pine Ridge Reservation was just allocated 11,712,526.00 for the new fiscal year of 2012 for their housing program. YES PEOPLE.. one year over eleven million to just one tribe! The government funds over 545 Tribes. HUD has been funding this Indian Reservation with approx. this much each year for the past 15 years! Go figure… that would make the Government giving this one tribe $175,687,890.00… that’s over one hundred seventy-five million! Let’s figure again, they say they have 40,000 people and one home had 19 of them living together, we won’t use 19, instead we will say 5 people to a home that makes 8000 homes, that makes that the Goverment gave them $21,960.99 per home over the last 15 years. Now that’s pretty damn good, wish someone would give me $$$ to fix up my home!. I’m no Indian, I’m one of those who gives part of my check everytime to cover those “we owe them people”. The given figures represent only one tribe, here’s a fact for ya, the total package under the IHBG for the fiscal year 2012 (only one year) comes to a whooping $697,038,824.00 that’s pretty close to that Billion that that one wrote of that we give as foreign aid! But wait just a minute.. this is only ONE program that the Government funds tribes, for their is Aid to Tribal Government (ATTG), EPA $, HUD- Indian Community Development Block Grants (BIG MONEY), Indian Health Service (IHS), Bureau of Indian Affairs $$ to fix their roads, man their fire teams, grants after grants after grants (it’s all public knowledge, just ask your state Representative he/she will let you know of theTRILLIONS we give and give over to the American Indian’s of USA… overall the Government provides for Native American Indians (population 2,180,162) every aspect of their life as if they were our own children. No wonder our Government is BROKE. Our/my pockets just don’t go deep enough to cover all of our dependants in the USA, Can I claim one (or a few) of them on my income tax!

Racism & stupidity is very much alive. Just look at some of these comments….. Especially, Kathy’s and Cris’s. These 2 aren’t even descendants of any Native American tribe, yet they still wanna criticize and justify their own disgusting behavior. It just angers me when I see stupid comments like these! Anybody can say money is going to a certain place, but is it really?! How does Cris really know? Oh yeah cause some “state Representative” told her/him then that means its true! Yeah, right…. Think people like Kathy & Cris need to volunteer HANDS ON in Pine Ridge or any reservation in the country. Live on the rez, see what its like…. Experience it, let them see if that money is really going to where their “state Representative” says its going to. Pine Ridge is not the reason why the United States is in debt!!! We’ve been in a “war on terror” for about 10 years. War is expensive….

I’m guardian for a 15 year old boy who is 1/8 Lakota, but can’t be “enrolled” in the tribe. The figures you get sometimes are only the enrolled members. There are a LOT more AI out “there”. My boy has asked me “why” they don’t just move? I told him it costs money to move: transportation (many do not have cars), closest “big” city is Rapid City, rent, deposits, need a job (but you need to live nearby to get one), traditions, and most importantly that’s their home and where their families are. Some have managed to move off because of the military or to go to college and have resettled. But even to get that far you need a hs diploma. Check out the Okini project and help out there. Check out Friends of Pine River Reservation and help there. Call Shannon School District in South Dakota and see what they need or would like. EVERYONE pitching in Can make a difference by showing the kids growing up now that we do care. I’ve watched over the years how AI in our area were treated by “original families” – who moved here in the 1800′s – treated them like dirt – wouldn’t help them at the business I was working at & this was only 15 years ago- old prejudices die hard still. Those who still live on the reservations can make a difference in their communities by setting an example for the children or setting the children up to learn, not just survive the situation. The situations that exist on the reservations: crime, theft, poverty, poor housing, drugs, health issues go on everywhere else, but are exacerbated on the reservation when there’s no easy way out (move, change jobs, transportation). When there’s no real economic structure with a lot of businesses providing jobs, thus money to buy more things, life stagnates. Parents can only hope their children have a better life and education is a way to get there.

We have non-natives coming to the reservation all the time looking for a sad story to tell and then take it off the reservation and get raves for it, nominations and notoriety. Then what do we get? nothing, We got non-profits claiming to help us and raise millions of dollars and what do we get? 1% the rest of it goes into their pockets. I think that should all be stopped, They should be escorted off the reservation. We are not here for your gain.

I am actually one of Robert’s (the boy in the documentary) teacher. I am proud of him and the other girls who allowed their lives to be filmed. I’m not going to get into the politics of it all, but just wanted to say that these are wonderful, terrific kids who deserve the best! Robert is now our school’s class president and is well on his way to becoming an excellent leader in the future as well! Don’t let the conditions of the reservation weaken your perceptions of the people. I am non-native and have nothing but love and compassion for my students! So proud of them all! :) I hope you all are able to gain a better understanding of “child” life on the reservation from this documentary. Thank you!

hi this is for diane sawyer. i saw part of your report on the little girl at pine ridge . is there any way i can help. ie. a back pack gum coats ect. please let me know

Selfish people of the United States. Everyone is so about themselves. They have no compassion for others, regardless of the facts. Let someone come into this country now and force us all out of our homes into shacks on infertile soil, take our heritage away from us, force us to follow their laws, rape our women, kill our husbands, torture our children, then leave us to live in implorable conditions and forget about us. Yes, then you may think before you speak. Although I am not a full-blooded Native American, My great-grandmother was full blooded Sioux. The other great-grandmother was Sioux and Choctaw. I have seen the way they lived. They were hard-working, strong women, something that is hard to come by in todays society. We would rather sit in our nice homes, with our heat, water, modern appliances, etc., etc., etc. As it has always been, the rich get richer, more greedy, more self-indulgent, and leave the less fortunate behind without a glance. Wake up America….this country will never recognize the plight of the Native American or any poverty ridden citizen, we are too selfish. Tanisha, you will be receiving a gift from me. Keep dancing, sweetheart. Tell your story, be brave, make your people proud!

It is easy for the non-natives to make judgements on the Native Americans because they think they are supposedly paying us back for what their forefathers did. Sad to say, but it wasn’t their forefathers but their grandfathers. My grandparents were forced to go to boarding school to “get educated”. They cut their hair, and scrubbed their mouths out when they spoke their language. In today’s society it would be called child abuse, and one really never gets over it, so it is carried onto the next generation, and then the next. Doesn’t all the psychologists say that it is a vicious cycle? So, please, before you make any judgements on Native Americans, please take the time, and educate yourself about thier plight!!!!

Thank you for making this documentry. For years we haue been telling people there were deep needs at Pine Ridge and Wounded Knee. People don’t seem to want to hear the truth about how bad things are on the reserations. For years we shipped semi-truck loads of goods from the Pensacola, Florida area up using a Methodist Church in Gulf Breeze, Florida but then the interest fell away and now nothing goes up.
So, anytime we hear that someone is talking about this subject we get excited. Hope A B C news will do more in the future. H F

FINALLY! Thank you 20/20 and Diane Sawyer for this report! FINALLY…..lets help our own peoples! AMEN to 20/20 AMEN!

post her address and i’ll send her a packback full of gum,its a shame that such a trivial thing could make a child that happy.cant help with the water but i could send enough gum and packbacks to make a few kids happy,not backpacks for school but backpacks just for play because every child deserves a few moments of sheer delight and fun without worry.

It is so interesting to read the comments which have been posted, Most are positive witth a few negative comments. To grow up iin poverty is difficult and the potholes are great and difficult to avoid and/ or recover from. Because someone is in poverty does not necessarily mean that they are totally dysfunctional. Remember that native americans did not request their plight, their plight was forced upon them because they lost the war against America and forced unto reservations. Know your history people and recognize what this country has done to its own inhabitants. Cuddles to Diane for showing the many faces of poverty. I look forward to the special tonight.

I would love to buy this little girl a backpack and some bubble gum and mail it to her. I’m not sure exactly how but if you have any idea please let me know…

The post by Juana | October 13, 2011, 1:35 am 1:35 am does not say WHO is spending the money given to the native americans, IF that is the amount that they are getting from the goverment. That a big IF!!!!!!!
The United States has broken every tready with all the Native American tribes execpt one, that is the only tribe that DID NOT SIGN A TREADY WITH THE U.S. govenerment. Go smoke that people!!!!!!

A hint: they are native to Florida.

It is a SHAME that a little girl is asking for CLEAN WATER. Shame on the U.S. goverment and the American people. If you all want to send iligale alians back to where the belong, start with everyone whose familly did come to North Amercian from Europe and everywhere else.

Plesse excuse my spelling, I have ADD and an 80% permiant short term memory lost. I am not uneducated, I have 73 semister hours of collage and I served in the United States Air Force and am a Viet Nam vet.. I cannot prove it but my mother told me that there was Checrokee indian on her side of the family (which makes no different to me). I always treat people like I want to be treated.

The U.S. goverment has broken EVERY tready with the Native American except one. The only tribe they have not broken a tready with is the Semonose Indians of Florida, that is because the indians NEVER signed a tready with the U.S. goverment. Small wonder!!

If people want to get rid of all the ileagle alians, then everyone who is not Native American should go back to where their familys came from, Europe and any other country not in North or South American. Let them put that in their pipe and smoke it.

there a very few jobs in Pine Ridge. go look at youtube, punch in White Clay Nebraska , now this should outrage you !After you look at some of the video, let me know what u think about it.

I’m a 100% Native American from Oklahoma and some of these comments made me just angry. People are complaining about honoring the treaties their ancestors made. Come on now. If the white people never came and took our land over, we wouldn’t be in this situation. Talk about IMMIGRATION REFORM. Why don’t we just SEND all the ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS back to where they came from -EUROPE.!! They are the real ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS !!!!!!!!!!!!

If all we Euro-Americans could leave this continent tomorrow and miraculously restore this Turtle Island to what it was before we exploited it, magically restore the culture of all our Indigenous People to it’s purest state, and say a huge “We are sorry we stole your land, raped and murdered 60,000,000 of your people, destroyed the future of your children, killed your food supply, spread disease…..” It would not be enough to pay these people for what has been done to them. If there are any Indigenous Children out there who decide to go to Dartmouth College or VT Law school please contact me for free room and board in commuting distance with use of car. Pray for restoration and restitution-

True, Diane made a mistake and called regalia a “costume” – if she had been corrected for making that statement, I’m sure she would have regretted any disrespect that people felt, and she would probably never make the same mistake twice! She can’t be expected to know much about Native culture because it’s never accurately taught in the schools in white America. Welalin, Diane, at least you’re trying…

Truly a hertwrenching story, how we can ignore the poverty, need, and despair that our own citizens, Native American citizens are going through and yet help other countries???? No way! Our people, the American people need that help first. Illegal immigrants? send them back to wherever they came from and start helping out the Americans at home first. I who proudly admit to being cherokee/choctaw descent am truly embarassed that people here in the United states needs aid yet do not get it.

TASHINA IRONHORSE & THE IRONHORSE BABYS ARE VERY STRONG & WE ALL PRAY FOR YOU GUYS!! TASHINA YOU MAKE YOUR DAD VERY PROUD & YOU KNOW THAT HE IS IN HEAVEN WATCHING OVER YOU!!!

WOW. A LOT of IGNORANT comments by a LOT of IGNORANT Americans. Again, I’m ashamed to be counted among said “Americans”. This land was STOLEN from the Native American people, and the STILL IGNORANT of today continue to persecute them….AND WITH WORDS SPELLED WRONG, NO LESS!! Look what our proud country is producing. If all the “LOUD-MOUTHED” ignorant fools would have shut up briefly and actually LISTENED to the program, they would have UNDERSTOOD that the Native American people are TIRED of the government hand-outs and desire the opportunity to ADVANCE on THEIR OWN….to MAKE THEIR OWN WAY…possibly OWN their own business. All those making negative, ignorant, racist comments need to SHUT up and THANK GOD for their obviously undeserved blessings in this “LAND OF THE FREE”, where it’s “WITH LIBERTY AND JUSTICE FOR ALL”. (Bunch of bull.)

Standing Against The Wind – “growing stronger in the storm” <3

Tribal Buffalo ranching , Badlands Solar power fields selling on the grid, a government water line established from an out side source, after all Vegas and Hollywood were established off of fresh piped water.There needs to be hope, and men need to be leaders in order for a people to survive , Pineridge needs an state of the art vocational School that teaches in what is indigenous and will benefit only the local area to live and remain………the people need to stop hating and move on with life or the children will continue to suffer their parents and grandparents ignorance and way of viewing life, complaining does no one good , it drives through life with the emergency brake half on. There are many options but people need to understand that all and everyone live in the 21 century and live and deal with 21st century problems and joys of life, living as the elders and the ancestors is the same as a 21st century Norwegian living as a nomad or a Viking and little harvest comes in life , the ways can be respected but people who are walking alive must also live in the present in order to flourish in this life. No matter the opinion, at the beginning of the day until the sun goes behind the hills each man is responsible for himself and the moral choices he makes throughout his journey.

Can you please send me the school information along with the Pricipals name? Thank you

I was not able to watch this tonight, as I have no television. I do wonder, however, if there was any discussion as to why Tashina might be in need of fresh water? Local ground water polluted by unregulated mining of uranium and other precious metals? Why, when there are many, many (virtually all white) people who are doing very well economically in those areas, no economic benefit from it seems to work its way into the actual native communities? I will say one thing to the individuals who pay hundreds or even thousands of dollars in taxes, probably a tiny fraction of which goes into payments for the BIA, who complain about it as if there are people on the rez mismanaging those funds. The BIA structure has historically been a very mixed bag, but primarily a way for white american companies to extract funds from the government, under the guise of “helping” the native people. While I do acknowledge that there undoubtedly have been individuals who’ve sought to make good use of those funds (ON BEHALF of the natives) over the last 130+ years, on the whole the approach has been to try to make white people out of them.

When you take people who are happy doing what they are doing, living free and in connection with the spiritual world around them and try to make them live in a box, they will not like it. They will fight it, they will resist it, they will become depressed and they will die. There are some who say that this was the actual intention of the BIA all along, including turning the children over to puritanical boarding schools they wouldn’t in a hundred years send their own kids to.

I don’t know, I wasn’t there.

All I ask, is that before anyone makes a judgement, they seek to understand the history, from the point of these people. Read the interviews with the Lakota who survived the wars in the late 19th century. Try to understand it from their perspective. Got to YouTube and watch some of the clips of John Trudell or Russell Means. Ask questions. Why did the 7th cavalry kill 300 virtually unarmed old men, women and children (as well as a number of their own troops) and get rewarded with multiple Congressional Medals of Honor?

The Lakota did not live easy lives, by our standards, but they were singularly and uniquely free – a condition which the dominant culture has sought to replace with its own version thereof.

I have seen pine ridge.and mission. I have seen the housing, the drunk people in the streets. The goverment housing miles from a store, or even gas station, several don’t even have a car to get to a store, so they walk miles along the highway to go get food I know I have seen them. I am not native. but it has bothered me for years, its almost as if “we ” want them to fail? How can any one say any thing negative? alcohol is destroying lives, can’t we all just help one person ? 1 child? Make a difference and change a life? it may just make us all better people……

A. M. Relations………the 7th cavalry kill 300 virtually unarmed old men, women and children (as well as a number of their own troops) and get rewarded with multiple Congressional Medals of Honor?…….what could this possibly even have to do with feeding a hungry child on Friday October 14 , 20011, there either must truly be something in the drinking water or in the continual teaching of bitterness and hatred……whatever happened is done, finished and over with, never to be seen again, reclaiming the Black Hills is more important than feeding a hungry tummy? What gives? What is more important to you? Arguing and whining about the past or blessing the present and the future? I had a very nice bicycle stolen from me when i was a boy, i will never own that bicycle ever again, however i have a very nice car sitting out on the driveway of my present and my future home………………………………..All I ask, is that before anyone makes a judgment, they seek to understand the history, from the point of these people……………..Why?………..why not do something right now in 2011 and send representatives to congress to bring in a fresh water line from an outside source which would create many native jobs and many native paychecks to benefit all people, why not put in a facsimile to a base exchange that has a constant supply of fresh food and baked bread, that no matter what, there will always be groceries, military people eat for free everyday……well nourished people have strong thinking minds as well as happy content children……………………..CHILDREN………..empty minds taught to be bitter?……….Why?

I spent a number of years in government & catholic Indian boarding schools. Eventually moved to
the Pacific Northwest near Seattle, washington. My daughter has a Masters in Education and
has lived on & near the Pine Ridge Reservation. It appears to have worsen since my years
living there. Please do a special on alcolol and its affect on all of us as a society.

I found it a very well done story overall. It brought to light the situation of many Native Americans in this country, those living both on and off the rez. I thought it was interesting though that when Dian Sawyer said the quote “kill the Indian, save the man” she said it wrong, the true quote is “kill the savage, save the man” and it was said during the beginning of the boarding school era. While I feel as though 20/20 did a good job for a first try I think they should dive deeper and have Native Americans as lead writers or better.

Well, if tax money went to something as ridiculous as clean water for citizens instead of a bunch of new gigantic autonomous robot trucks for the military, with, I kid you not, an Xbox-like controller, then maybe the Pine Ridge Reservation could at the very least get a little healthy. Someone should start a campaign: TerraMax Trucks versus kids getting clean water! lol

Like someone else pointed out about the gardening problem, I knew the land (and weather) wasn’t suited for your typical vegetable garden, so I was happy to hear another commenter say people are getting tips from the Amish, many of which also live in colder climates. It seemed the biggest problem with the food/weight was the distance to get to a store, and of course a lack of transportation. So you’re like JUST relying on government carbs! Of course people are going to be overweight.

It’s terrible that people aren’t able (?) to open businesses easily. It’s almost as if the government set the reservations up to drive people out of them so they could just take the land. I visited the Pine Ridge reservation in 1992 from Atlanta as part of Native American history class and I remember seeing an old building (I think a restaurant) that was JUST outside the reservation. Painted on the building in big letters was “NO INDIANS ALLOWED” except someone had halfassed-ly tried to fade out the “NO” but it was still extremely obvious. Terrible.

I’m chuckling at the “billions in foreign aid” comment. The inability to pay back the aid is the reason they get no aid. Natives claim “Sovereign Nation” every chance they get. So, be a sovereign nation.

The 20/20 report was a good OUTLINE of Indian Country and the complex issues involved. History and current conditions are a continuing interaction showing us reality. Seeds produce plants reflecting the DNA planted. Many try to instill a get over it senerio (SP) yet their spouting off does not go under the surface to understand the roots of the current harvest of domination thrust upon First Nation’s people of the Americas. The men changed at the door of the PUSHERS/TRADERS who carry on the historic concept loosen them up with “spirits” to gain advantage in trade. This “trade” continues today how much money crossed the counter the reporter leaned over? Those protectors providers nurturers are enslaved to the same “spirits” their fathers and elders were “fed” to take away their land their identity. the women – widows and orphans are ghettoized. Points can be made concerning corruption greed and so on, however, culture striped from one leaves the one striped having to put on the covering of the stripper. Read history with truth seeking instead of coverup and truth tells us that the generations of elders learned corruption well from Indian agents and other BIA and Church officials mentoring them. This is the root of the harvest presented! The only way to get weeds out of a garden is to cut out the root. The correction is to complicated for this format but this truth remains the Native learned well from their domanaters how to take.

I sat with tears running down my face while watching “Children of the Plains”. This is so shameful and disgraceful to our government who has created this travisty with their “charity” by taking away these wonderful peoples incentive to be self sufficient. When our present president was elected, I sent him an e-mail urging him to remember our Native Americans and help ease their plight. Obviously that plea fell on deaf ears. These children are worth saving and shame on any who feels differently.

After watching the program with my daughter, I asked her what she thought. She said frank and flatly “We are American’s, we are selfish, we get what we want the easiest way we can, basically we stole America” This is the same child that got detention because she said something similar in History class.

Never have I been so ashamed to be called an American. I do not know if words can describe how humiliating and devastating what we the American’s have allowed our government to do to the true American. I would wager there are very few among us born Americans that can actually tell of a 100% heritage. Myself, at best I am a mutt; a mixture of so many nationalities that I do not know where I come from. We Americans can not teach our heritage because we do not know it. I can only imagine the joy and pride that would come from knowing exactly where we came from and not blindly following what a website says. Can you imagine knowing that the past of your ancestors were such strong, brave and kind souls. How would it feel to make your own ceremonial outfits that mirror your ancestors. We have no idea, but the Native American does. Native America history should be included in every history class and I agree down with Columbus Day, isn’t Columbus day just a way that the blue collars can have a 3 day weekend? Ask someone on the street I bet they do not know what Columbus day is.

Ok so we can not change the past. It really does us no good to sit here and go back and fourth saying this one is right this one is wrong. Blah blah Complete waste of time. I challenge each and everyone to put yourself in the same place as anyone on a reservation. How would you feel? What would you change? How do we change it? So how do we make the future brighter? In the report I did not see one clinic or health facility. Yes it is unmentionable for 19 people to live in 3 bedrooms but what about their health? Why is there no AA on the reservation? Why not give incentive or a bonus for anyone who stops drinking and seeks help? If there is no Alcohol allowed then who is policing the reservation? I say put the young and healthy in a position to destroy the contraband; fine or incarcerate the violators. Why have rules if no one is following them?
The housing is deplorable; why not give the young warriors the tools, material and the skills to rebuild what is there. How bout an “EXTREME RESIVATION MAKEOVER” Where is Ty Pinnyton when we need him? Everyone knows when you have put your own work into something it means so much more. If the land is so barren that no vegetables can grow, why not have community greenhouses where each family can have an area to grow fresh vegetables. It was unreal to hear an elderly woman say she has not had a fresh cucumber in 8 years! Come on people, wake up! When is the last time you waited 8 seconds, 8 minutes, 8 hours, 8 days, 8 months for something anything you wanted, less alone 8 years! I do not have the answers but I am just one person who is willing to help make a change. I admit I am completely ignorant about the Native American culture but I am willing to learn. We need to aid in empowering these true Americans so that they can have the pride in everything they do. One way is to teach, educate and just care. The old saying feed them for a day or teach them to feed themselves for a lifetime. (I am sure someone will correct that saying for me)

None of us can do anything to change the past, but we can build a better future for our young people. Growing up in a city with a university, I had opportunities that kids on the reservation here we live today have never had. Before anyone judges & says “why don’t they just leave” ask yourself where you would live if you wanted to go to a city for jobs, but had no money, credit cards, car or place to stay. It’s VERY difficult to rise from such crushing poverty without assistance. I got Pell Grants & Guaranteed Student Loans, which my high school counselor wouldn’t even tell me about. And we STILL face discrimination!!! It’s crushing when people treat you bad for no reason, even for a battle-hardened 53 yr-old mixed-blood corporate veteran & college-educated woman! We are as smart and ambitious as anyone else, give us just a little bit of help & you’ll be amazed what we can do!

As of all of Diane’s documentaries on Hidden in America, her team does a wonderful job of highlighting the challenges this population faces without making them pitiful. Can you imagine the resiliance and pride this culture has. We could all learn to have some of the same. My church is doing Operation Christmas Child AGAIN this year, and I have requested that we do something more local, if it’s for the res, for kids in Appalachia, for people living in Detroit or Denver. It doesn’t matter. Despite the politics and the numbers, and the false information, we owe it to all the kids in America to take care of them before we give away all our riches to other countries.

Please send donations to Wounded Knee School District, any help to the Lakota immersion department would be great. School supplies, kids clothes, any type of donation for the kids at this school in Manderson S.Dakota. Thank you.

We would like to know where we could send money for tighing to this reservation and the needs of the children