Attached is a text of a commentary by Lakota Children's Enrichment Founder, Maggie Dunne, urging former President Clinton not to forget about American Indian communities when speaking about domestic poverty. The Hyperlink to the original published article has expired. Attached below is a pdf version of the original article and the text is set forth below. Please note that the average life spans were erroneously edited in the online edition to read as "mortality rates" and the caption under the photograph on the online edition are not the views of the author.
Poverty in Our Backyard
by Maggie Dunne
Published:
Thursday, December 2, 2010
Colgate Maroon News
The Clinton
Foundation has done remarkable work at home and abroad, and has made huge
strides towards making the world a better place for those less fortunate.
President Clinton remains one of only a few United States Presidents to ever
visit the Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota, home to the Oglala Lakota tribe,
a community where I have worked over the last four years. Reportedly, the
former President was moved by the poverty he observed there and his staff was
shocked to find the community without a reliable means for communication.
Consistent with his giving nature, President Clinton arranged for the
installation of a phone service that allows the Lakota to communicate with one another
for a nominal fee, following his visit to Pine Ridge.
I have spent a
lot of time on the Pine Ridge Reservation and I repeatedly find myself shocked
that such conditions exist in our country. When I first visited the Reservation
I pledged to never forget about the Oglala Lakota. In his October 29, 2010
speech at Colgate University, addressing his work in Haiti, former President
Clinton distinguished poverty in Haiti from poverty in America, in part,
because all Americans have access to an infrastructure and essential services
that can enable them to rise above poverty.
This sweeping
statement about domestic poverty, which was meant to justify and explain his great
commitment abroad, is not true with regard to many American Indian communities.
Similar to
many parts of the "developing world," in South Dakota the Oglala
Lakota tribe still lacks essential services in almost every aspect of life. The
Reservation, roughly the size of the state of Connecticut, has unpaved and
inaccessible roads, extremely limited mass transportation options, inconsistent
access to water, underfunded schools, medical clinics operating on shoestring
budgets and unemployment hovering around 80 percent, among many other issues. The
Lakota have survived and maintained their traditions, against all odds.
When the
federal government unilaterally displaced the Lakota, took their sacred lands,
took their natural resources and then ousted them from the Black Hills (upon
the discovery of gold), it agreed to provide housing, education and health care
into the future. As anyone who has spent any time on Pine Ridge knows, the
cumulative impact from over a century of government failure in all three of
these areas is mind-boggling. The complete inadequacy of the conditions on Pine
Ridge is perhaps best evidenced by the Lakota's reported average life span of 48
for males and approximately 52 for females, second lowest only to Haiti in the
Western Hemisphere.
The extreme
conditions on Pine Ridge have been cited repeatedly by the United Nations,
which in its
most recent report in 2010, "Rethinking Poverty" again found Pine
Ridge one of the most marginalized and impoverished indigenous communities in
the world, with an infant mortality rate as high as some areas of the
"developing world." This is a dubious distinction for a community
located in the richest country of the world, one that should have made headlines
and one that should be a source of considerable embarrassment for our wealthy nation.
It is a finding that should not be overlooked or forgotten by current or former
Presidents – it is a finding that all Americans must face.
I applaud
President Clinton's work abroad. As an advocate for poverty alleviation who has
access to large audiences, however, I hope that in the future he acknowledges
that extreme poverty exists in our own country and that he does not forget
about the Oglala Lakota and other communities facing similar obstacles to
advancement. If the Oglala Lakota are going to cross the poverty line it will
happen, in part, because an educated public no longer permits our nation to
turn a blind eye to its own treatment of its indigenous people. The same basic notions
of fairness that morally compel us to provide assistance to the
"developing world" also compel us to address the injustices in our own
nation.
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| Online edition not currently available. Colgate Maroon News December 2, 2010 |
