The portrait of Native Americans, their past and current social problems

Chapter 3 - 3.2

Chapter 3: Social problems in reservations

3.2. Suicides
Committing suicide is another social problem in Indian Reservations. It became very popular especially among young people. Sociologists still wonder what are the main reasons of such a high rate of suicides among youths. Some of them explain it as consequence of constant discrimination that began a long time ago in the past and exists nowadays, others say that this is a result of hopelessness, because most of young Indian children experience many tragedies in their families, like alcoholism, poverty, and cannot prevent it. Evelyn Nieves published in The New York Times in 2007 an article which drives the problem of suicides in the Rosebud Sioux Reservation. She describes the history of some teenagers:

“The young man, 19 years old, played varsity football and basketball at Todd County High School. He was admired across the reservation, in that way small towns follow and celebrate their teenage athletes. The girl, weeks shy of her 14th birthday, made straight A’s at Todd County Middle School, played volleyball and basketball and led a traditional Lakota drum corps. They hanged themselves. This happened at the end of a particularly brutal two and a half months, from Jan. 1 to March 13, when tribal authorities were called to three suicides and scores of attempts. The next day, with the reservation (population 13,000) reeling, tribal officials declared a state of emergency.” (Nieves 2007).

Since then, took place also some other suicide, namely a woman in her early 20s killed herself with pills and there were many attempts of killing themselves among young people a total number is 144 attempts during 2007 year. According to Evelyn Nieves, “In May, seven youths who tried hanging, poisoning or slashing themselves to death were admitted to the reservation hospital in one 24-hour period.” Evelyn Nieves writes in the article: “What is happening at Rosebud is all too common throughout Indian Country. American Indian and Alaska Native youth 15 to 24 years old are committing suicide at a rate more than three times the national average for their age group of 13 per 100,000 people, according to the surgeon general. Often, one suicide leads to another. For these youths, suicide has become the second-leading cause of death (after accidents). In the Great Plains, the suicide rate among Indian youth is the worst: 10 times the national average.”

She quotes a statement of Philip May professor of sociology at the University of New Mexico: “Very generally, adolescence is a time of trouble for all youths,” said Philip May, a professor of sociology at the University of New Mexico who has been studying suicide among American Indians for more than 35 years.

“But in many American Indian communities, it’s compounded by limited opportunities, historical trauma and contemporary discrimination. The way the Lakota people and other Plains tribes have experienced history in the last 100 years has reduced the mental health factors that are available to them to cope.” (Nieves 2007) Tribal and community leaders organized after-school programs, sponsored talks leaded by motivational speakers and made school counselors widely available. “At the same time, schools and the community at large are not commemorating those that kill themselves, said Victoria Sherman, the principal at Todd County High School. She refused, she said, to allow an elaborate memorial during this year’s graduation for a student who killed himself last year on graduation day. “We don’t want to encourage desperate acts,” Ms. Sherman said.” (Nieves 2007) On the other hand, according to Chris Mc Greal’s article from 2010, Native American teenagers are more likely to kill themselves than any other minority group. He said: “In fact, Native Americans teenagers are more likely to kill themselves than any other minority group. Some statistics show the rate at three times the national average. But those figures shield the fact that self-harm is most likely to occur on poorer reservations, such as Pine Ridge and neighbouring Rosebud; here rates are far higher”(Mc. Greal 2010).

He also wrote that the tribal government attempted to improve business in reservations, for example by wind farms but it involves a lot of money that only federal government is able to provide. The men’s hopes are directed to Obama who told these people at one a time:” You will not be forgotten as long as I'm in this White House.” Iron Cloud, the former reservation president says that he believes Obama, but he wants to ensure himself that Obama doesn’t forget his promise (Mc. Greal 2010).

In the end I want to quote his word: “What I feel is kinda like a light at the end of the tunnel where the Obama administration is looking at some new beginnings for the minorities and the poor people to have some jobs and give more money to education. Just taking care of our people in a better way than they have been "Obama understands, but then there's Congress. If we can get enough of our tribal leaders – and I'm talking 500 tribes coming together and flooding the halls of Congress – and just say to them that it's time to take a good look at Indian tribes. We were the first Americans – and I know it'd have an impact."(Mc. Greal v 2010).