Children of Pine Ridge
11/10/20 00:57
For several years now, there has been a connection for our church’s recognition of 40 days of prayer for children and deliveries of firewood from our woodlot to partners on the Pine Ridge and Cheyenne River Reservations. South Dakota has nine reservations and designated tribal land areas. That is more than any other state. The Pine Ridge Reservation at nearly 3,500 square miles is one of the largest reservations in the United States. Home of the Oglala Lakota tribe the reservation spans all of Oglala Lakota and Bennett Counties as well as the southern half of Jackson County and part of Sheridan County. It is difficult to have accurate statistics about the number of residents as the official census generally leaves many people uncounted. In 2000, the official census population of the reservation was 15,521. However a study conducted by Colorado State University and accepted by the US Department of Housing and Urban Development estimated the population to be 28,878.
We also deliver firewood to the Cheyenne River Reservation, which is even larger than Pine Ridge and the fourth-largest reservation in the United States. The original Cheyenne River Reservation covered over 5,000 square miles reaching all the way to the Grand River. Both reservations were part of the original Great Sioux Reservation, a single reservation covering parts of six states created by the Treaty of Fort Laramie of 1856. Subsequent treaties broke the reservation up into smaller reservations. Both reservations are predominantly rural with a few communities dotting each.
The coronavirus pandemic has meant that folks in South Dakota, like folks around the world, are not moving about as much as was the case before. However limited access to retail shopping and health care on the reservations means that people must travel from and to the reservations on a regular basis. The history of indigenous Americans and disease is not a pretty one. With European settlers came a variety of serious illnesses for which the indigenous people had little or no natural immunity. Epidemics of measles and smallpox devastated populations in many parts of the US. As a result, there is a collective memory of the dangers of illness on the reservations. This combines with historic trauma from multiple massacres and direct military action against the Lakota people to create a climate of distrust and fear.
The tribes, in response to the pandemic have set up checkpoints to restrict the flow of outsiders onto the reservations. The checkpoints have been the topic of quite a bit of press and at one point the Attorney General of South Dakota threatened a lawsuit to force the end of the checkpoints. There have been plenty of rumors about the checkpoints, mostly based in old fears and prejudices.
Our trip to the Pine Ridge Reservation yesterday went smoothly. We had a letter of authorization for our seven vehicles to deliver firewood to our partner in Wanblee. The license plate numbers of our vehicles were recorded, but we were welcomed onto the reservation at the checkpoint. We were not required to stop as we left the reservation after making our delivery.
Like other communities in South Dakota, there weren’t many people moving around. Usually Wanblee is filled with children outdoors playing and running and asking curious questions of visitors. The town seemed nearly deserted as we made our rounds yesterday with the firewood. We didn’t see many children.
Around the world children are spending more time indoors since the pandemic. Fears of the spread of the illness has reduced social gatherings. Our church partners in Wanblee have been unable to host the dinners and festivals and give aways that have marked their ministries. Boxes of donated items fill the sanctuary of the church as they are working on new strategies to distribute the goods. Health officials are cautioning people to avoid close contact. Wearing face masks, our team quickly unloaded the firewood and prepared for our return trip to Rapid City.
The reservations suffer from a lack of employment and from generational poverty. The forced transition from the lifestyle of semi-nomadic tribes that followed the movement of the buffalo to settled communities was difficult. The vision that indigenous tribes would simply settle on the land and become farmers wasn’t realistic in terms of the particular land on which the reservations were located. Unemployment on South Dakota reservations is as high as 80% in some areas. Life is hard for all of the people who live on the reservations. It is especially hard for children who grow up in poverty and often lack sufficient nutrition and support.
Today, on the last Sunday before Children’s Sabbath, my prayers are with our neighbor children on South Dakota’s reservations.
Great Spirit, you are known in different ways by different people, but we know that there is only one God and that you are the God of all of the people of this earth. Today we ask you to look upon the people of the reservation. You know the effects of poverty and unemployment. You witness the challenges faced by parents and children. You know the struggle to simply survive. This pandemic has brought additional pressures and problems for our neighbors as illness and fear spread across the land.
Pour out your healing spirit upon the people of the reservations. Soften the hearts of policy makers so that thy can become a part of the struggle for justice for all of your people. Inspire us to creative ways to engage in partnerships with our neighbors. May the firewood we deliver warm homes and hearts and become a symbol of shared mission and ministry. May the friendships we have formed through the process of sharing firewood form a new foundation of trust and shared work.
We give you thanks for the people of the reservations. Today we offer our prayers for the children who are growing up in reservation communities. Protect and guide them. Grant them a strong sense of their roots and history and a deep sense of hope for their future. Together we pray in your name. Amen.
We also deliver firewood to the Cheyenne River Reservation, which is even larger than Pine Ridge and the fourth-largest reservation in the United States. The original Cheyenne River Reservation covered over 5,000 square miles reaching all the way to the Grand River. Both reservations were part of the original Great Sioux Reservation, a single reservation covering parts of six states created by the Treaty of Fort Laramie of 1856. Subsequent treaties broke the reservation up into smaller reservations. Both reservations are predominantly rural with a few communities dotting each.
The coronavirus pandemic has meant that folks in South Dakota, like folks around the world, are not moving about as much as was the case before. However limited access to retail shopping and health care on the reservations means that people must travel from and to the reservations on a regular basis. The history of indigenous Americans and disease is not a pretty one. With European settlers came a variety of serious illnesses for which the indigenous people had little or no natural immunity. Epidemics of measles and smallpox devastated populations in many parts of the US. As a result, there is a collective memory of the dangers of illness on the reservations. This combines with historic trauma from multiple massacres and direct military action against the Lakota people to create a climate of distrust and fear.
The tribes, in response to the pandemic have set up checkpoints to restrict the flow of outsiders onto the reservations. The checkpoints have been the topic of quite a bit of press and at one point the Attorney General of South Dakota threatened a lawsuit to force the end of the checkpoints. There have been plenty of rumors about the checkpoints, mostly based in old fears and prejudices.
Our trip to the Pine Ridge Reservation yesterday went smoothly. We had a letter of authorization for our seven vehicles to deliver firewood to our partner in Wanblee. The license plate numbers of our vehicles were recorded, but we were welcomed onto the reservation at the checkpoint. We were not required to stop as we left the reservation after making our delivery.
Like other communities in South Dakota, there weren’t many people moving around. Usually Wanblee is filled with children outdoors playing and running and asking curious questions of visitors. The town seemed nearly deserted as we made our rounds yesterday with the firewood. We didn’t see many children.
Around the world children are spending more time indoors since the pandemic. Fears of the spread of the illness has reduced social gatherings. Our church partners in Wanblee have been unable to host the dinners and festivals and give aways that have marked their ministries. Boxes of donated items fill the sanctuary of the church as they are working on new strategies to distribute the goods. Health officials are cautioning people to avoid close contact. Wearing face masks, our team quickly unloaded the firewood and prepared for our return trip to Rapid City.
The reservations suffer from a lack of employment and from generational poverty. The forced transition from the lifestyle of semi-nomadic tribes that followed the movement of the buffalo to settled communities was difficult. The vision that indigenous tribes would simply settle on the land and become farmers wasn’t realistic in terms of the particular land on which the reservations were located. Unemployment on South Dakota reservations is as high as 80% in some areas. Life is hard for all of the people who live on the reservations. It is especially hard for children who grow up in poverty and often lack sufficient nutrition and support.
Today, on the last Sunday before Children’s Sabbath, my prayers are with our neighbor children on South Dakota’s reservations.
Great Spirit, you are known in different ways by different people, but we know that there is only one God and that you are the God of all of the people of this earth. Today we ask you to look upon the people of the reservation. You know the effects of poverty and unemployment. You witness the challenges faced by parents and children. You know the struggle to simply survive. This pandemic has brought additional pressures and problems for our neighbors as illness and fear spread across the land.
Pour out your healing spirit upon the people of the reservations. Soften the hearts of policy makers so that thy can become a part of the struggle for justice for all of your people. Inspire us to creative ways to engage in partnerships with our neighbors. May the firewood we deliver warm homes and hearts and become a symbol of shared mission and ministry. May the friendships we have formed through the process of sharing firewood form a new foundation of trust and shared work.
We give you thanks for the people of the reservations. Today we offer our prayers for the children who are growing up in reservation communities. Protect and guide them. Grant them a strong sense of their roots and history and a deep sense of hope for their future. Together we pray in your name. Amen.
