Is This True Pine Ridge Indian Reservation Is The Poorest Place In America? (Sioux Falls: rent, home)
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Industrial hemp? Hahahahahahahahahahaha... You have got to be freaking kidding me.
Polycarp I am willing to be money you have never stepped foot onto the pineridge resvervation.
In the current political environment, I do not forsee industrial hemp gain approval. Especially in the conservative-minded politics of SD. Hemp and marijuana are different. Hemp is used for bags, baskets, cosmetics, and other products. Marijuana is smoked as a recreational drug and it can be used for medical reasons. It helps some seriously ill patients cope with the pain with greater ease, more so than the overpriced prescription drugs.
The problems with marijuana stem from how the government treats the drug and having a prohibition-like attitude towards dealing with it that coutnerproductive and adds `an what it would be if it were legal. Did prohibition work for alcohol? No, that way of handling the alcohol was a failure. Plus, the government can tax and regulate hemp and marijuana if it were legal. I do not care for marijuana but think the way that the government is handling it is peculiar and conterproductive, doing more harm than good in society.
With the hemp issue and with Native American issue, we as a society need to think outside the box and come up with creative solutions that will allow for the greatest good in society. The current system of handing out money to Native Amercians and their poor money management and tolerating third world living conditions is appaling in the sense that the tax money is being poorly used. Also the handouts ecourage complacency. This needs to change. To find economic opporunties and hope, it takes intiative from the Native Amercians, reform of the Native American legal system, and cooperation from non-Native Americans.
Yes, I have been to Native American reservations on several different occasions and have found them to be very depressing. The people need enthusiasm and a spark of hope and pride to improve their communities, families, and economies and get back on their feet.
I Learned about growing INDUSTRIAL Hemp in Pine Ridge on a public television show
INDUSTRIAL Hemp was developed by the US govt because World War II deprived us of our sources of it. It isn't for making baskets. It's for making those extremely long, very thick strong ropes that the Navy uses and for making heavy strong canvas. The govt paid farmers to grow it during World War II and provided the seeds it had developed. In recent years a family at Pine Ridge obtained some of the seeds the govt developed and tried growing it on their very dry, poor quality land. It grew very well. It was the first time they had been able to grow something with good success on their land. PBS made a show about it and the court battles that ensued, which I taped. If you go to the PBS website, you might be able to watch it online.
Right now we import industrial hemp from Canada and make it into heavy rope in the South Eastern US. Since INDUSTRIAL hemp doesn't even look like marijuana and contains less than one tenth of one percent of marijuana's intoxicant, taking INDUSTRIAL hemp off of the controlled substance list would not be a slippery slope to legalizing marijuana. As I said, we're already importing it from Canada. If we don't want to take INDUSTRIAL hemp off of the list of controlled substances, maybe the govt could give the same kind of permissions they're giving to the Canadians to the Native Americans.
Pine Ridge definitely has enough wind to support wind farms. The family that grew the INDUSTRIAL hemp successfully installed a modern wind mill on their property. But where would any of the other people get a loan big enough to set up a wind farm? Those windmills are very expensive and hard to transport.
There has been a tourist industry in Pine Ridge for many decades for people to see the sun dance. Unfortunately many of the beautiful beaded buckskin clothes, the drums, and the feathered headdresses that had been handed down through the families were burned in the fire that destroyed the Hagel Mercantile Co. where they were stored. That was in the late 1950s. I think a museum is being developed in conjunction with Holy Rosary Mission and its Red Cloud Indian School. Look up Red Cloud Indian School at Pine Ridge on the internet and see what is happening.
You shouldn't place any bets on my not having any direct knowledge of Pine Ridge. How would I know about the White River and the other local things in my posts?
I don't know what people get on welfare in Pine Ridge, but were I am, one person receives about $370 per month plus foodstamps (that aren't designed to last a month, only to supplement), plus Medicaid. Rents in this area are over $900 per month for an ordinary one bedroom apartment. Unless they can get to the top of the waiting list for govt subsidized low income housing, where they pay 30% of their income toward rent and the govt pays the rest, people on welfare in this area have to be homeless. People get more money if they have children, but it still isn't enough to live on. I don't think it's a good idea to say that the people at Pine Ridge do poor money management. On what they probably get from welfare, since the unemployment rate is in the 90% range, they are doing superb money management if they keep food on the table and clothes on their back.
What drives me nuts about the issue of poverty of Pine Ridge are two opposite views and the moderate views being flacked by polar opposites. There are those who are those who have the "pity party attitude" and wants people to hand stuff out and let the negative, pessimitic attitude prevail. This is often common with Native Americans unfortunately and some of their problems are of their own doing in all honesty. Then there are those who hold narrow-minded views and have racist attitudes towards Native Americans. It is often excercised through hiring (putting a preconceived stereotype on a legitimately good person of the Native American) and treatment of them in public. Yes, there are these people and I have talked to a few and I find it rather unnerving. What about the moderate thinkers who see both sides: Native Americans need to take pride and charge of their own life instead of living a life riddled with social problems and being dependent on social programs (state and Federal) and also Native Americans need a fair chance to succeed and to be guided in the right direction (economic opportunity, education (to fully realize and utilize economic activity)), and change in public policy to promote healthy families and discourage substance use and the abuse and neglect of children.
I have heard of too many kids, many in our foster care system, that fall through the cracks, especially with the yo-yoing of the kids between their parents and foster parents (confuses the kids). If the parents are unfit to raise kids (no matter what race), their parental rights need to be revoked.
If we make bold reforms and get stern with the social problems facing the reservations, then we will see some progress and get Pine Ridge and others back on their feet and into more of an even footing with the rest of the state and with whites.
Cry around about the rez in south dakota. i got the heck outta there as soon as i was able. which is really hard to do. i can't understand how the people ther can just "tolerate" what they put up with, no employment, and lack of transportation to get there. people doing the same thing everyday. NOTHING. in such a desolate place. oh well i'm far away now, and i plan to stay there. i never want to go back. my dad and mom are both gone, so i have no need to nor want to ever even visit that stinkin poor rez........ever again!!! good luck to those who can handle it. i can only say i am lucky to get out of there. nothing worth stayin for, or going back to. lessons, hard lessons was all i got.mainly from family, wjo in the end wasn't really family to begin or end with. thank God for having my own 4 boys. they are all i need.
Mica, I'm so glad for you that you got away and made a good life for yourself. You sound like a self-sufficient, ambitious person who is very happy with their current situation. People like you are an inspiration.
Cry around about the rez in south dakota. i got the heck outta there as soon as i was able. which is really hard to do. i can't understand how the people ther can just "tolerate" what they put up with, no employment, and lack of transportation to get there. people doing the same thing everyday. NOTHING. in such a desolate place. oh well i'm far away now, and i plan to stay there. i never want to go back. my dad and mom are both gone, so i have no need to nor want to ever even visit that stinkin poor rez........ever again!!! good luck to those who can handle it. i can only say i am lucky to get out of there. nothing worth stayin for, or going back to. lessons, hard lessons was all i got.mainly from family, wjo in the end wasn't really family to begin or end with. thank God for having my own 4 boys. they are all i need.
I admire you... You took the steps to improve your life. You didn't wait for someone else to make those improvements you did it your self. I admire you for doing that. Kudos!
Cry around about the rez in south dakota. i got the heck outta there as soon as i was able. which is really hard to do. i can't understand how the people ther can just "tolerate" what they put up with, no employment, and lack of transportation to get there. people doing the same thing everyday. NOTHING. in such a desolate place. oh well i'm far away now, and i plan to stay there. i never want to go back. my dad and mom are both gone, so i have no need to nor want to ever even visit that stinkin poor rez........ever again!!! good luck to those who can handle it. i can only say i am lucky to get out of there. nothing worth stayin for, or going back to. lessons, hard lessons was all i got.mainly from family, wjo in the end wasn't really family to begin or end with. thank God for having my own 4 boys. they are all i need.
Working in Sioux Falls, I have assisted in processing many into Military service. I haven't had as much exposure to Native American's in my previous 18 years in service as I've had here in my short 9 months on the job. I can't say as I am ANYWHERE near knowledgable to the situation with reservations, but I'm at least aware. One thing I can say is, there have been many Native Americans that have entered into one of the branches of service since I started doing this job and if things are as bad as they seem on the reservations, I wonder why there aren't more.
If the average income on a reservation is that low ($3500.00 per year) then joining the service would INSTANTLY increase ones income by $13,500 per year and that's for the lowest ranking private with a high school diploma and no job experience. That doesn't include the free medical and dental for them and their family, educational opportunities, and numerous other incentives. Granted, people aren't knocking down the door to go to war, but I'd take a year being deployed to a warzone if it meant my family was going to be taken care of. Then again, that's just me... I will have to educate myself on this some more.
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I Learned about growing INDUSTRIAL Hemp in Pine Ridge on a public television show
W t fffff
Cry around about the rez in south dakota. i got the heck outta there as soon as i was able. which is really hard to do. i can't understand how the people ther can just "tolerate" what they put up with, no employment, and lack of transportation to get there. people doing the same thing everyday. NOTHING. in such a desolate place. oh well i'm far away now, and i plan to stay there. i never want to go back. my dad and mom are both gone, so i have no need to nor want to ever even visit that stinkin poor rez........ever again!!! good luck to those who can handle it. i can only say i am lucky to get out of there. nothing worth stayin for, or going back to. lessons, hard lessons was all i got.
mainly from family, wjo in the end wasn't really family to begin or end with. thank God for having my own 4 boys. they are all i need.
