Pine Ridge Indian Reservation

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Pine Ridge Indian Reservation

Flag

Location of Pine Ridge Indian Reservation, South Dakota

Country

United States

State

South Dakota

Counties

Shannon, Jackson, Bennett, also Sheridan County, Nebraska

Established

1889

Government

- Governing body

Tribal Council of the Oglala Sioux Tribe

Area

- Total

3,468.86 sq mi (8,984.306 km²)

Population (2000)

- Total

15,521

Time zone

MST (UTC-7)

- Summer (DST)

MDT (UTC-6)

The Pine Ridge Indian Reservation (Oglala Oyanke in Lakota, also called Pine Ridge Agency) is an Oglala Sioux Native American reservation located in the U.S. state of South Dakota. Pine Ridge was established in the southwest corner of South Dakota on the Nebraska border and consists of 8,984.306 km² (3,468.86 sq mi) of land area, the eighth-largest reservation in the United States, larger than Delaware and Rhode Island combined.

Most of the land comprising the reservation lies within Shannon County and Jackson County, two of the poorest counties in the U.S. In addition, there are extensive off-reservation trust lands, mostly in adjacent Bennett County, but also extending into adjacent Pine Ridge, Nebraska in Sheridan County, just south of the community of Pine Ridge, South Dakota, the reservation's administrative center and largest community. The 2000 census population of all these lands was 15,521. However, a study conducted by Colorado State University and accepted by the Federal Department of Housing and Urban Development estimate the resident population to be approximately 26,000.

The reservation was the setting for Adrian Louis' novel "Skins" as well as the 2002 Chris Eyre adaptation of the same name, and the 2000 book, On the Rez, by Ian Frazier.

1 Economy
2 History
3 Famous Residents
4 Communities
5 External links
6 References

[edit] Economy

Although Pine Ridge is the eighth largest reservation in the United States, it is the poorest reservation. Unemployment on the Reservation hovers around 20% and 49% live below the Federal poverty level.^[1] Adolescent suicide is four times the national average. Many of the families have no electricity, telephone, running water, or sewer. Many families use wood stoves to heat their homes. The population on Pine Ridge has among the shortest life expectancies of any group in the Western Hemisphere: approximately 47 years for males and in the low 50s for females. The infant mortality rate is five times the United States national average. Reservation population was estimated at 15,000 in the 2000 census, but that number was raised to 28,000 by HUD, following a University of Colorado door-to-door study. ^[2]

Despite the lack of formal employment opportunities on Pine Ridge, there is a great deal of agricultural production taking place, yet only a small percentage of the tribe directly benefits from this. According to the USDA, in 2002 there was nearly 33 million dollars in receipts from agricultural production on Pine Ridge, yet less than 1/3rd of that income went to members of the tribe.^[3]

The Pine Ridge Indian Reservation has some commercial businesses with private operators, but most employment is provided by the Oglala Sioux Tribe, Oglala Lakota College, Bureau of Indian Affairs, and the Indian Health Service. The tribe operates the Prairie Wind Casino, a Parks and Recreation Department, guided hunting, cattle ranching and farming.^[4] The Oglala Sioux Tribe also operates the White River Visitor Center near the Badlands National Park^[5] There is one radio station, KILI-FM in Porcupine.

In the past, the tribe attempted a moccasin factory, a meat-processing plant, and a fishhook-snelling operation, but all of these business ventures failed.^[6] The Prairie Wind Casino is an exception to the rule for businesses on the reservation. The casino began in 1994 in 3 doublewide trailers, but a new $20 million casino, hotel and restaurant was unveiled in early 2007. The casino provides 250 jobs and most are to tribal residents.^[7]

[edit] History

[edit] Late 1800s: Creation and massacre

Tashun-Kakokipa (They-Fear-Even-His-Horses) at his lodge on the Pine Ridge Reservation in 1891

Pine Ridge Reservation was originally part of the Great Sioux Reservation established in the Fort Laramie Treaty of 1868 and originally encompassed approximately 60 million acres (240,000 km²) of parts of South Dakota, Nebraska and Wyoming. In 1876, the U.S. government violated the treaty of 1868 by opening up 7.7 million acres (31,000 km²) of the Black Hills to homesteaders and private interests. In 1889 the remaining area of Great Sioux Reservation was divided into seven separate reservations: Cheyenne River Agency, Crow Creek Agency, Lower Brule Agency, Rosebud Agency, Sisseton Agency, Yankton Agency and Pine Ridge Agency.

On December 29, 1890 at Wounded Knee, over 300 men, women and children were killed by the United States 7th Cavalry. The Native Americans were being transported to the Sioux reservation at Pine Ridge (see: Wounded Knee massacre).

[edit] The 1970s: Protest and violence

Starting on February 27, 1973, the reservation was the site of the Wounded Knee Incident, a 71-day stand-off between entrenched American Indian Movement (AIM) activists and FBI agents and the National Guard. The AIM activists were led by Dennis Banks and Russell Means. During the firefight, two FBI agents were killed and a U.S. Marshal was paralyzed.

Following the peaceful conclusion of the 1973 stand-off, the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation experienced several years of violent incidents. The murder rate between March 1, 1973 and March 1, 1976 was 170 per 100,000. Detroit had a rate of 20.2 per 100,000 in 1974 and at the time was considered “the murder capital of the US.” The national average was 9.7 per 100,000.^[8] It was originally noted by AIM representatives that there were many unsolved murders of a number of opponents of the tribal government installed by the Bureau of Indian Affairs,^[9] In 2000, this theory was "debunked" when the FBI released a report accounting for most of the deaths.^[10]^[11] AIM, in turn, offered its own rebuttal to the FBI report.^[12] One of the murders during that period involved a civil rights activist, Ray Robinson, who worked with Martin Luther King, Jesse Jackson and Andrew Young in the 1960s. His body has not been found.^[13]^[14]

On June 26, 1975, the reservation was the site of an armed confrontation between AIM activists and the US Federal Bureau of Investigation in an event which became known as the Pine Ridge Shootout.^[15] This resulted in the death of two FBI agents and one AIM activist. The hunt for the killer(s) of the two FBI agents led to the controversial acquittals of AIM members Bob Robideau and Dino Butler as well as the extradition, trial, and conviction of Leonard Peltier.^[16]. The perceived lack of substantive evidence in Peltier's trial is the subject of much controversy.

On February 24, 1976, Anna Mae Aquash, a Mi'kmaq activist and member of AIM was found shot to death by the side of State Road 73 in the far northeast corner of the Pine Ridge Reservation. The alleged motives for the murder was the mistaken belief that Ms. Aquash was a government informant but that she also knew Leonard Peltier killed the FBI agents in 1975. In 2004, one of Anna's captors was found guilty of murder. Another suspect was recently extradited to the U.S. to also stand trial for the murder. (see: Anna Mae Aquash)

[edit] 2006: Conflict over abortion

On March 21, 2006, Oglala Sioux tribal president Cecilia Fire Thunder announced her intention to bring an abortion clinic to the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation, which would provide abortions in the event that the South Dakota abortion ban signed into law by South Dakota Governor Mike Rounds were to take effect.^[17]

On May 31, 2006, the Oglala Sioux tribal council unanimously voted to ban all abortions on the reservation, regardless of the circumstances (i.e. no provision in case of rape, incest, health of the mother). According to Indian Country Today, the ban also includes "the use of any drug that would prevent a pregnancy or abort a fetus the day after any sexual activity." The council also voted to suspend tribal president Cecilia Fire Thunder for 20 days pending an impeachment hearing.^[18]

A month after her suspension, on June 29, 2006, Fire Thunder was impeached from her duties as Tribal President. Six charges were made against Fire Thunder, the most topical being that she organized the aforementioned clinic outside of her authority as president and that she didn't consult with the council about the project and get their permission. Other charges were that Fire Thunder used the media, the U.S. Post Office and the Oglala Sioux Tribe to solicit funds for the clinic.