Fighting addiction on Pine Ridge reservation

we look for something else we look for alcohol we look for drugs some way to get away from that reality you end up with chips going to jail kids raising themselves it's killing themselves I don't think there's racism involved I think it's strictly economic you know it's there because there's a need we learn from Standing Rock they expect us to be violent you know let's do know [Music] case after case of beer loaded up and shipped out for many this image Monday morning becoming a symbol of hope and change white clay Nebraska a tiny unincorporated town that sits on the border with South Dakota with a population of just 14 people it's for liquor stores have for decades sold over four million cans of beer a year almost entirely to members of the Oglala Lakota Sioux tribe on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation where the sale of alcohol is banned Pine Ridge is one of the poorest communities in America over 80 percent of people here are unemployed and up to two-thirds of adults suffer from alcohol addiction but at the beginning of this summer following a spate of violence and unsolved murders the stores were temporarily closed the state Supreme Court is now considering whether to make the move permanent just a few meters down the road a group of Lakota campaigners have camped out since the closure they don't plan to leave until the final decision is made for many here white clay has taken a personal toll that's where they found my uncle my uncle's dead right there what happened to them nobody really knows they were just found murdered and mutilated right there and it was after a rash of murders of people who stood in white clay and drink alcohol and it was such a dangerous place so violent and dirty and you know it was really the it was how what do you think will happen if the Supreme Court decides against and keeps white clay open well we expect it for one thing when have they ever considered us human beings they think of us as childlike not able to to handle ourselves in the modern world they expect us to do something and react and anger we learn from Standing Rock the entrenched issues of addiction and poverty have led to a youth suicide rate that is four times the national average we came to visit the reservations only intervention program run by two women out of the basement beneath the post office they rely on grant money and worry things will get worse if a series of proposed budget cuts by the Trump administration are carried through I res isn't a very good place we hear about guns going off in the night while we're sleeping we hear about our aunts and uncles being shot over drugs and stuff and do you have friends that did take their own lives I had more than 10 friends commit suicide in what space of time 2013-2014 are you worried this is gonna get worse under Trump yes most definitely get worse under Trump cuz he's already had a lot of Native American programs the children's come they come through that during they're hungry we go down to the park they're hungry they want something to eat and it's not their fault this skate park named after Tiny's grandson tobe eagle Boo is one of the few places children can come to hang out he was killed in a car accident he was driving he didn't have a seatbelt on then they were they were drunk alcohol-related he got thrown up in a car so we started to and he loved his skateboarding when he was in college she give him that better tomorrow it takes a lot of people working together you look at these kids to see how happy the air you probably wouldn't know that some of these kids parents are probably living on five thousand dollars a year a year for most people here the temporary closure of white clay marked a victory against what they described as a continuing form of white oppression the liquor stores owned by families in Nebraska made millions selling beards of people here [Music] Lauren L poo Sheridan County Commissioner voted earlier in the year to keep white clay open the State Liquor Commission then overruled the local government it seems to me they're looking for someone else to solve their issues and that's probably not going to happen a number of people that we've spoken to people who have spent time in white clay who are battered their own addiction issues who have lost family members to alcoholism describe the dynamic there as a sort of post-colonial hangover it's a group of white families selling millions of cans of beer to Native Americans do you have any sympathy with that that dynamic they describe what's happened there is what happens when you have free enterprise if you have a demand then somebody's probably going to step in to fill that so its market forces it's got nothing to do with race and racism I think absolutely right it's market forces I don't think there's racism involved I think it's strictly economic you know it's there because there's a need in the summer since white clays closure the tribal police have reported a surge in bootlegged alcohol like many public services here the under-resourced and underfunded department there had a 2/3 of its budget cut in a decade have struggled to cope our biggest thing is resources our officers are wore thin down you know there's right now there's three of us on you know it's a busy time and I 60 miles east to west by about at least 90 miles north to south is the area that my three officers are covering tonight not enough right no no how much is the bootlegging gone up since white clay closed tremendously man there's a bootlegger and every one of our little cluster housings in each of our districts they're killing our people over Reid money at one point in time we was a proud nation through genocide tactics in own taking our land you know giving us rations you know giving us handouts it made us dependent we look for something else we look for alcohol we look for drugs some way to get away from that reality a series of 9-1-1 calls led us to this home where three families with eight children live in a three-bedroom house one uncle lies inebriated at the doorway get up go another family member is passed out at the back wake up [Music] did you ever think about why why this happens here sometimes yeah you know maybe they seen it growing up something that they learned or maybe they got to a point in their life where they don't feel that they can contribute anything anymore so they they dream to forget those things I don't know there's a lot of different reasons why taking the jailing helping it you know cuz we're gonna be tomorrow I won't take them to jail again next night take them again you know I'm just that's it's a revolving door all the time tiny in Aileen often accompanied police on domestic violence and suicide call-outs but here in the center of the reservation earlier in the week no one got to 23 year-old Tyler D Bray in time [Music] this is a really hard thing when our life is cut short we don't have the answers we don't know why and in this particular case we didn't see this one coming Tyler was full of life and when I first met him I walked by him and I went back to him I said my god you're gorgeous and he says I know da when a young child says I'm gonna take my pain and leave the pain stays here it stays here with us but know that you loved him unconditionally know that you were good to him and you have no regrets for the way you treated him Tyla suicide was the 11th in Pineridge since April before I left Pine Ridge I came back to count justice on the morning the Nebraska Supreme Court heard arguments on the white clay case the men and women here trespassed onto private land just outside the township to send a message of resistance I love it when I'm on my tree deal and not the concentration camp the reservation no I'm a Lakota I remember our grandpa's always telling us don't be afraid you know and it seems like that that fear is what kept us kept us back and really held us down for four generations so this teepee rising here represents the end of that oppression in the end of that colonialism you know and it represents that resurrection of the Lakota chi-wai that alcohol and white clay represents the destruction of that once we're sober and we regain our spirits then our minds begin to heal you know we can use the American system against the Americans who try to oppress us even further it just takes time and patience on our side you

Channel: The Guardian

Views: 670,757

Keywords: pine ridge, native americans, native, racism, standing rock, alcoholism, drugs, whiteclay, nebraska, lakota, poverty, murder, supreme court, sioux, lakota sioux, gun crime, guns, guns in america, suicide, mental health, drugs in america, america, pine ridge reservation, indian reservations, native american reservations, liquid genocide, native american genocide, dui, sioux indians, documentary, alcohol, guardian, gdnpfpnewsworld, drink driving, native american documentary, drug use

Id: FoKF8H1l7NU

Length: 11min 7sec (667 seconds)

Published: Fri Sep 29 2017