Community Notes

The Oglala Lakota Nation, also called Pine Ridge Reservation, is located in southwestern South Dakota. It is a place of incredible beauty, but also of deep pain. The Oglala Lakota people are continuing their struggle of over 200 years for their right to exist. White European immigrants and the United States government have denied them this most basic human right since their arrival on this land. We feel that MCC has a moral obligation to support the Lakota in their struggle to survive as a people. Many Mennonites and Brethren in Christ have historically been among those European immigrants who have settled upon Lakota land, and many of MCC's constituents are citizens of the United States, which continues today in its refusal to deal honestly and equitably with the Lakota Nation.

MCCers who have come to the Pine Ridge Reservation have tried to do a lot of listening as they learn how to be respectful guests in the communities they live in. The current Program Coordinators have talked with many people who are actively building a better life for future generations. Here are a few of the areas where MCC’s Lakota friends and partners are working (in no particular order):

Promoting health and diabetes education; reducing alcohol use in the communities on Pine Ridge; preserving the Lakota language; reclaiming the Black Hills and all of the Lakota treaty territory; improving education; promoting the emotional and spiritual health of children and families; finding ways to make the tribal government system more accountable and culturally friendly; restoring and preserving sacred sites, burial sites, and the environment of the Black Hills region; finding cleaner energy sources; promoting economic development and greater self-sufficiency; improving quality of housing, dismantling racism in the SD justice system, arms of the state and US government, and the towns surrounding the reservation.

This is by no means a complete list, nor can MCC claim to represent the needs of the Lakota people. These are simply some of the concerns that MCC's Lakota partners have shared with us.

Reliable statistics are difficult to come by, but by any measure reservation life is harsh: life expectancy is estimated at between 50 and 60 years. Diabetes, heart disease, alcoholism and cancer are found at high rates. Infant mortality is higher than anywhere else in the United States. The unemployment rate is estimated around 85 percent, and over 60% of families live below the poverty line.

In the midst of this bleak context, MCC’s partners in the Oglala Lakota Nation hold a strong vision of a better life for future generations, and are struggling against an often overwhelming tide of racism and oppression to make this vision reality. MCC considers it a privilege to support them in their work.

Some partners of the MCC Oglala Lakota Nation Unit: Lakota Fund, Lakota Action Network, Defenders of the Black Hills, SuAnne Big Crow Boys & Girls Club, Oglala Lakota College, Porcupine Clinic, Owe Aku

(Statistics from the US Dept of Agriculture [http://www.ezec.gov/Communit/oglala.html]
and the American Indian Relief Council [http://www.airc.org/res_pineridge.cfm])

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Saturday, July 5, 2008
Mennonite Central Committee
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