Shaking Up The Blissful Ignorance 1

For those of you who are interested, below is the paper I wrote based on the Surveymonkey survey I did on Pine Ridge Indian Reservation. I appreciate all of the responses I got. I’m the first to admit that my survey was wildly unscientific, and that my analysis of the results is at best arguable (I’m an English Major, not a statistician). However, the questions and responses are available in the index to the paper, so you can do your own analysis. Anyway, I hope this gives you something to think about:

Shaking Up the Blissful Ignorance:

Asking Americans about Pine Ridge Indian Reservation.

Pine Ridge Indian Reservation is essentially a third-world country inside the richest country on earth. Although the Reservation system, and its history are direct products of our national expansion, and most of its troubles spring either directly or indirectly from government policy, most Americans seem to be unaware that Pine Ridge (or any other reservations) still exist, or that conditions are so bad there. To get a better idea of what average Americans know about Pine Ridge, and how they feel about it, I took an informal survey among “friends” on social media. The results of my survey show that average Americans have little to no idea of the scope of the troubles on Pine Ridge Indian Reservation and have almost no idea of how to help, but that most would be at least provisionally willing to help in some way.

Accurate, trustworthy statistics regarding Pine Ridge Indian Reservation are difficult to find; U.S. Census reports occur infrequently, and are difficult to interpret, and, while numerous websites provide statistics, most can be suspected of at least some bias. The one thing all the statistics agree on is that the numbers are terrible, the only variance being how terrible. For my survey, rather than try to find scrupulously accurate statistics, I chose to ballpark the numbers, choosing neither the worst nor the best statistics, but essentially splitting the difference, in an attempt to arrive at a conservatively accurate estimation. The questions asked can be broken down into three subsets; respondent demographics, opinion, and statistics-based questions about conditions on the reservation.

Of the ninety-four respondents, none had less than a high school diploma or equivalent and roughly 80% had an associate degree or higher. Despite this level of education however, only 5% got their knowledge from either high school or college history classes. Roughly 65% got their knowledge from social media (quite a few from posts by friends, family, and church groups who work at least part time on the reservation), and 32% from personal experience, while only 23% got their knowledge from news media of some sort. 16 people skipped the question (it was the second most-skipped question). These results indicate a couple of things; first, that our education system is woefully inadequate in teaching about the reservation system built by our country, and second, that most people seem to have at least some interest in the subject. The high number of respondents who skipped the question would seem to indicate that a large number of people get their information from other sources, or, that they are embarrassed about, or uncomfortable with how they get their information, or how little they know. Question two, regarding how much the respondent knows about conditions on Pine Ridge revealed that while over 50% felt they knew some, or at least a little, 24% admitted to knowing nothing at all, while only 4% felt they knew a lot.

The opinion-based questions clearly elicited an emotion-based response; of 90 respondents to question four, a question about whether or not the U.S. should either honor its treaties or make reparations, 61% answered “yes,” 26% answered “yes, where practical,” and 3%, “yes, as long as it doesn’t cost anything. No respondent answered “no.” While this speaks to the unspoken national sense of guilt Americans carry over our treatment of Indians, it also reflects our ignorance of the realities of the situation. It is not going too far out on a limb to imagine that, if the respondents realized that in order to honor its 1851 Treaty, the U.S. would have to turn over virtually all of North and South Dakota, along with huge chunks of Montana, Wyoming, and Nebraska, those numbers would probably change. Question five, about whether or not the Sioux people of Pine Ridge have been treated fairly also elicited strong emotional responses; 80% responding “rarely” or “never.” It was the most-skipped question (21 skipped), but many (18) of those who skipped the question commented that they did not know. This would seem to infer strong feelings of, if not guilt, then at least a high level of discomfort with the fact that they do not know.

The remainder of the questions were based on statistics; since, as stated above, the statistics were ballparked, and I was not interested in posing gotcha questions, the answers were based on how surprising the respondents found the statistics quoted. The questions used the following statistics; 80% unemployment, 45-55 year life expectancy, 400% higher infant mortality rate than the national average, and 200-400% higher teen suicide rate than the national average. The most surprising result was the uniformity of responses. Despite the high percentage of people who claimed little to no knowledge of the reservation (50%, 0 skipped), in every case, “not surprised at all,” was the most common answer, from 37% on life expectancy, and 39% on infant mortality, to 58% on teen suicide, and 61% on unemployment. The remainder of the answers were fairly evenly split, on all four questions, between “slightly surprised,” “surprised,” and “very surprised.” Again, taken against the stated low level of knowledge, these results seem to infer a sort of national subconscious awareness, or, at the very least, a spectacularly high level of cynicism regarding the conditions on Pine Ridge.

This survey was clearly an emotional experience for many respondents, judging by the comments. The comments ranged from the expected; “shocking,” (respondent 94, questions 8 and 9), “deplorable” (respondent 55, question 7), and “makes me sad,” (respondent 32, question 7), regarding the statistical questions, to the offended (respondent 45, question 5).  Respondent 45 commented on question 5, regarding whether the Sioux people have been treated fairly. The comment stated;

This is a ridiculous question since your first question asked if I even knew who lived on Pine Ridge. You don’t even give the option of “I don’t know”. I can only assume this question is designed to sway someone based on false information since fair treatment is such a subjective question. Recommend you limit your questions to less emotional questions.

Interestingly, while many of the comments lamented the conditions, respondent 45 was the only one to offer any sort of remedy; while his comments all revolved around the need for personal responsibility and making good choices instead of bad, he quite astutely pointed out the need for the Sioux people themselves to take the lead in correcting their predicament, while also indicating that he would “love to help the Sioux people.” His responses in total, show the need for hard-nosed, practical, conservative participation in finding solutions, as well as the willingness of those hard-nosed, practical conservatives to help.

The final question of the survey was simply; “If there was something you personally could do to help the Sioux people of Pine Ridge Indian Reservation, how likely is it that you would?” This question was skipped by no respondents, and 95% responded that they would be likely to help (at least within limitations). The comments appended to this question showed that many just don’t know how they can help, due to physical and or economic constraints. Some comments reflected a concern about misuse or abuse of monetary assistance. Perhaps the most telling comment is the following, from respondent 74: “I tried to help when I was in my early 20’s. I was young, bright eyed, optimistic, etc. After spending time there (6 months) and seeing the reality of the situation, it seemed almost hopeless to change anything. I left there with a broken heart.” This comment reveals the real problem with trying to help on Pine Ridge. If just six months of trying to help was enough to drive the respondent away, heartbroken and hopeless of change, how likely is it that people who spend their entire lives mired in that hopelessness will be able to overcome it unaided? The only solution would seem to be one that involves a dedicated, long-term effort on the part of all concerned; State, Federal, and Tribal governments, the Sioux themselves, and the citizens and private organizations, nationwide. In his response to question 10, respondent 45 suggests they look into micro-loans like those occurring in Africa and India to spur entrepreneurship. This very idea is considered in the 2001 paper, “Cultural Aspects of Credit Institutions: Transplanting the Grameen Bank Credit Goup Structure to the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation,” by Dr.s Kathleen Pickering and David Mushinski of the University of Colorado, in which they review the Lakota Fund, an experiment in microfunding entrepreneurship on the reservation which ultimately failed due to numerous reasons. Even though the effort failed, it represents an attempt at outside-the-box solutions from practical, conservative people like him.

The conditions on Pine Ridge Indian Reservation (as well as most other Indian reservations) have been created by the nation, and require national attention for remedy. Feelings of guilt and sympathy are not enough; action, sustained action, is required. New ideas need to be tried that reflect the economic realities of the reservation, and the nation. If this survey is any kind of indicator, the people of this country, of every stripe, are willing to try.

 

 

Appendix

The following comprises the survey questions, answer options, and number of respondents selecting each answer:

Question 1: What is the highest level of school you have completed or the highest degree you

have received?

1. Less than High School 0
2. High school degree or equivalent 5
3. Some college 15
4. Associate degree 17
5. Bachelor degree 34
6. Graduate degree. 23

Question 2: How much do you know about conditions on Pine Ridge Indian Reservation?

1. A lot 4
2. A fair amount 15
3. Some 25
4. A little 27
5. Nothing 23

Question 3: Where have you gotten most of your knowledge of Pine Ridge Indian Reservation?

Check all that apply.

1. High School history class 2
2. College history class 2
3. Personal experience 25
4. News media 18
5. Social media 51

Question 4: Should the U.S. honor its treaties with Native Americans or make reparations to

them?

1. Yes 61
2. Yes, where practical 26
3. Yes, as long as it doesn’t cost anything 3
4. No, it’s too late now 0
5. No 0

Question 5: Have the Sioux people of Pine Ridge been treated fairly?

1. Yes, always 0
2. Yes, in modern times (1950 – present) 1
3. Sometimes 13
4. Rarely 39
5. Never have they been treated fairly 20

Question 6: The unemployment rate on Pine Ridge Indian Reservation is estimated at roughly

80%. How surprising do you find this?

1. Very surprising 6
2. Surprising 14
3. A little surprised 12
4. Not surprised at all 61
5. I don’t believe this statistic 0

Question 7: The average life expectancy on Pine Ridge Indian Reservation is estimated at

roughly 45-55. How surprising do you find this?

1. Very surprised 16
2. Surprised 21
3. Slightly surprised 19
4. Not surprised at all 37
5. I don’t believe this statistic. 1

Question 8: The infant mortality rate on Pine Ridge Indian Reservation is roughly 4 times the

national average. How surprising do you find this?

1. Very surprised 20
2. Surprised 17
3. Slightly surprised 17
4. Not surprised at all 39
5. I don’t believe this statistic 0

Question 9. The teen suicide rate on Pine Ridge Indian Reservation is roughly 2 – 4 times the

national average. How surprising do you find this?

1. Very surprised 12
2. Surprised 15
3. Slightly surprised 9
4. Not surprised at all 58
5. I don’t believe this statistic 0

Question 10: If there was something you personally could do to help the Sioux people of Pine

Ridge Indian Reservation, how likely is it that you would?

1. Very likely 35
2. Somewhat likely 26
3. It depends on what it is 30
4. Not likely 2
5. Unlikely 1

Works Cited

Pickering, Kathleen, and David W. Mushinski. “Cultural Aspects of Credit Institutions:

Transplanting The Grameen Bank Credit Group Structure To The Pine Ridge Indian Reservation.” Journal Of Economic Issues (Association For Evolutionary Economics) 35.2 (2001): 459. Business Source Complete. Web. 7 Nov. 2016.