The Pine Ridge Sioux Reservation of South Dakota has been called the poorest spot in the U.S. encompassing nearly 4000 square miles of the worst land in America. Although many live “off the rez” it remains the home of between 16,000 and 40,000 band members. With an official unemployment rate of 70% and the typical family living on $4000 a year, it boasts the highest poverty rate in the U.S. Houses average 11 occupants.

Garbage cans, chaos disorder, burned out house trailers, centuries of suppression and the decimation of the Oglala Lakota culture have relegated Pine Ridge to Third World status. Here, children are the most vulnerable.

According to the Sweet Grass Suicide Prevention Project, suicide is the second leading cause of death for American Indian youth ages 10-24. The Pine Ridge suicide rate is 3.2 times higher than the national average.

In March 2014, teenage suicide began as a cluster and peeked in December prompting President Yellowbird Stell to declare a state of emergency. By mid-August, there had been 17 successful suicides, 204 attempts and 250 “ideations” officially reported.

The tribal police, most of whom are resident natives, answer a continuous stream of domestic violence, alcohol, drug, and suicide calls of adults and youth.

Brandon Torres, of mixed blood, has only been with the service for 2 years, “This is an amazing place to cut your teeth as a cop. On my first day, I got a call on someone with a gun who we found out wanted to shoot one of us, then himself. And then I got a call on a suicide. A woman had slit her wrists. Then a call on a man who was beating the crap out of his wife. All this happened before lunch on my first day.”

Racism is rampant with South Dakota being the most racist state in America according to Dennis Banks, a founder of AIM (American Indian Movement). Natives who live off the reservation are killed by (white) police at a rate higher than any other ethnic group in the country (http://wwwcjcj.org/news/8113). Since Indians live far from eastern cities, far from the mainstream press and seldom protest publicly, their issues pass under the American radar.