How do we solve the problems that plague Native Americans, on and off the reservation in South Dakota? (move, acceptance)

[pejuta]

a soldier from spearfish,sd must have arrived from iraq yesterday. city hall and some light poles decorated and soldiers name prominent with welcome home messages. i am 68 yrs. of age,female ,mix white,indian. i have lived in number of places. sometimes shelters,including cornerstone. GREAT FOOD there. 3 meals a day. i never got in trouble, just some hard knocks in life. dont usually ask for any help,but sometimes help comes along unexpectedly. i find a sense of humor is tremendous help. also words have great power. choose what you hear and say carefully. it makes a lot of difference.

[debey]

choose what you hear and say carefully. it makes a lot of difference.
exellent advice, for all.
Thank you, pejuta!

[ElkHunter]

Is it me or has this whole thread turned into a "20 Questions" game?

[Wicked Felina]

Originally Posted by ElkHunter

Is it me or has this whole thread turned into a "20 Questions" game?

No, it's not you. It's seems kind of like when you interview a suspect, and ask a lot of open-ended questions, to which there is no real answer (since there wasn't a definitive question).

Well, since I sure don't have any brilliant insight to offer, and no solutions, I'm out of this one. As my nephew still says, "peace-out."

[msj.1_78]

I'm wondering why no one has any ideas. That was all I asked for at the beginning of this thread, what is everyone elses ideas. What the deciding factor for me was, not God, friends from home, even family, the deciding factor was meeting people that had it much worse than the people on Pine Ridge. I worked for the John Morrell plant in Sioux Falls, South Dakota where a lot of immigrants work. Mostly are legal from every place on this planet it seems. I befriended people from all walks of life and there I learned that I had it very good. I could be homeless in America and still have a better life than them. I heard the stories of their countries civil wars and the atrocities. I listened to men tell me about their entire families being murdered in front of them and the women raped as the men and families were forced to watch. Babies massacred and homes and livelyhoods destroyed. Then, I saw what they had built in the United States, what they had accomplished here in so short a time. That is when I realized, I never had it bad. How can any people i.e. Natives, Blacks, complain about the past and the way they had it bad and not one of them were alive when these problems existed. It was all a smoke screen. Shortly after I joined the Army.

[ElkHunter]

I can tell you why nobody has any ideas. Read through the threads here. You'll find where many times the exact same questions have come up. And when we try to reply or come up with something, we get this scathing post that says, "You don't know what the hell you're talking about. You have no idea how we are or what we can and can't do." So frankly, we're a little gun shy.

For years, in South Dakota, we've tried putting programs together. We've tried to help. We are scorned and taunted.

Until they are ready to admit that there is a problem, then there is nothing we can do. They need to pull themselves up with the bootstraps and be willing to accept change because they certainly can't continue down the trail they have selected.

[debey]

http://www.city-data.com/forum/south...unteering.html
http://www.city-data.com/forum/south...e-poorest.html
http://www.city-data.com/forum/south...ion-sites.html
http://www.city-data.com/forum/south...r-sd-need.html
http://www.city-data.com/forum/south...-signed-u.html
http://www.city-data.com/forum/south...-services.html
http://www.city-data.com/forum/south...th-dakota.html
http://www.city-data.com/forum/south...dge-south.html
http://www.city-data.com/forum/south...th-dakota.html
http://www.city-data.com/forum/south...erance-sd.html
http://www.city-data.com/forum/south...g-rosebud.html

[Jammie]

I'm with the rest of you. This is a state site and the game site is further down the front page. Just say what you want to say because we're not biting. We've all been there and done that. We just don't understand, ya know?

This has been talked to death and the summary of it all is that you can't help people who won't help themselves. Nothing that is given is ever enough and nothing is even acknowledged because, "We don't get anything." PFFFFT!!! When you've grown up with everything given to you~food, clothes, housing, heat, healthcare, dental care, eye care, etc. you get the impression that everyone is given that and you've gotten nothing special.

I'm not sure what this is about, but just say it. If this thread was posted in order to cause a distrubance, don't do it.

[debey]

Originally Posted by msj.1_78

I worked for the John Morrell plant in Sioux Falls, South Dakota where a lot of immigrants work. Mostly are legal from every place on this planet it seems. I befriended people from all walks of life and there I learned that I had it very good. I could be homeless in America and still have a better life than them. I heard the stories of their countries civil wars and the atrocities. I listened to men tell me about their entire families being murdered in front of them and the women raped as the men and families were forced to watch. Babies massacred and homes and livelyhoods destroyed. Then, I saw what they had built in the United States, what they had accomplished here in so short a time. That is when I realized, I never had it bad. How can any people i.e. Natives, Blacks, complain about the past and the way they had it bad and not one of them were alive when these problems existed. It was all a smoke screen. Shortly after I joined the Army.

Young man, you have yourself, already said a bigger mouthful of words, than any other one of us, on this forum, could have SAID. Perhaps, you need to listen to yourself speak. You have honestly stated a major solution, to your hypothosis....

[smitter]

I swiped the following words from an anonymous post, the words moved me enough to share with you, because the words are a type of healing process too.


"If you can understand where you came from...you will have no doubts to where you are going...& who you are...
We cannot move on until we have accepted the consequences by the US government...in order to accept it we must feel the agony of our losses, talk about it...share it w/somebody...let the rage go...then will there be acceptance and peace..."