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About The daily Nebraskan. ([Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-current | View Entire Issue (Nov. 1, 1988)
iJtnvni »vw A p ace to call home Story by Lee Rood Photos by Butch Ireland Indian leaders face challenges to better life on reservations Just outside of Center, Ncbr., Highway 13 heading north toward South Dakota ends and curves west. The smooth, flat high way continues north until it changes into a worn stretch of road winding around hills that seem to appear from nowhere. There are no signs telling drivers that they arc approaching the Santee Sioux Indian reser vation, only subtle hints. Government upkeep of the road seems to stop at Indian territory. Businesses arc few, compared to surrounding areas. Freshly painted houses, new buildings and streets mix with other run-down buildings and dilapidated areas. The tribal headquarters and school arc busy with activity, but the streets arc empty and quiet. The reservation is not like the surrounding rural communities, where homes, people and their way of life seem to blend. The reservation sends a message of conflict. A minority of active, new tribal leaders, who lYlAVlU eoit batiA a -- /\f bt MV' lion Aclof 1968, public law 93-638, has given Indian people on reservations “control of their own fate,” said Stephen Provost, administra tive assistant of the Nebraska Indian Commis sion. Provost said PL 93-638 provided tribes with the ability to contract and use federal monies directly instead of having to go through the government. Despite these advantages, economic and social changes are hindered by the inescapable roadblocks the Indian people face daily. While each reservation is di fferent, lead ers say they face similar problems. Generations of poverty, poor health care, unemployment, lack of opportunity and assistance is common on all three reservations. Individual problems on the reservations are “chain-linked” to other problems, the leaders said. To improve all of the problems, they said, plans need to be developed to encompass all of the factors involved. Along with Rick Thomas, administrative assistant for the Santee Tribe of Nebraska, Winnebago reservations. Many people on the reservations drink alco hol because of the “psychological hangover" of the past, Blackhawk said. ‘The despair, hopelessness and powcrless ness," from the way the American Indian has been treated is a “tribal memory" and many drink to escape it, Blackhawk said. Thomas said Indians drink to escape past oppression. Problems with “fire water," as it was once called, have been reported as far back as 1837, Thomas said. And some Indian families have experienced six to eight genera tions of abuse. “They (white people) gave us alcohol, but they didn’t teach us how to use it," Thomas said. American Indians have learned to drink until they gel drunk, he said. When more people go through alcohol awareness programs and learn the impacts of alcoholism on tne other facets of life, then other problems can be addressed, according to Rich ard Kilto, a member of the Nebraska Indian Tribes also face a huge risk when they attempt to invest in economic development, he said. Land is often “checker boarded” or split between privately owned land and tribal land. Much of the land owned by individ ual Indians has been sold or leased to the gov ernment. Because of this, it is difficult to farm large areas, Kitto said. Tribes can’t use tribal assets as collateral when trying to secure money for development and because most Indians do not own their own land or homes, they have no access to capital or equity, he said. Any loans that arc extended to the reserva tions are usually backed by the federal govern ment, but when the government pays the bank, the debt accrues to the tribe, he said. Every time a plan for economic develop ment is proposed, the tribe is asked to go into debt, Tnmble said. “The tribe will take the hit,” he said. Tribes need help with the technical and planning aspects or development, as well as Upper left: Richard Lincoln, Winnebago, relaxes against a wall on main street in Winne bago. Lower left: A replica of an Indian head coin stands posted on a wall in Barry Blackhawk’s office. Black hawk is the director of public relations at the Winnebago reservation. Commission. People need to be able to reduce the level of drinking and drug abuse on the reservations to a point where other projects can be successfully started, he said. At that point, he said, other economic development programs could be synchronized with substance abuse programs. Many people say that without sober people and leaders, attempts toward growth would be moot. Others say people need to be given reasons to stop drinking. In order to give people a sense of self worth and incentives to avoid alcohol a buse, something must be done about chronic unemployment and lack of economic opportunity on the reservations, according to Charles Trimble, former executive director of the National Congress of American Indians. “An awful lot of people wouldn’t have to turn to whatever peace or fantasy they find in alcohol’’ if they had jobs and if they .. could break free of the strangle hold of colonial bureaucracy,” Trimble said Trimble, who now owns his own developing business for Indian reservations, said the big gest economic problem facing the reservations is growing out of their past dependency on the federal government. “People need jobs and want jobs, but the prolonged stale of dependency has had an adverse effect,” he said. many icaucis agiw; uku biwiiuiuhi ia omung the most serious problems on the reservations because it is an important factor in determining the success of the other aspects of life: family, education, employment and health. A recent report by the Indian Health Service shows that 99.9 percent of all American Indians are affected or effected by substance abuse. A vast majority of the abuse is alcohol abuse, Thomas saiu. “Eighty five percent of youth from 6th through 12th grades are using or experiencing substances, primarily alcohol," Thomas said. Thomas, who was hired bv the Santee tribal government to deal with substance abuse in January 1988, said he has devel oped a comprehensive health curriculum for the community to deal not only with alcohol ism, but the factors that drive the people to drink in the first place. The curriculum is based on "mcology” — the study of self, Thomas said, and-provides a coping mechanism to promote self-esteem and self-motivation. Thomas said he has also unified all the separate entities on the reservation and formed a Crisis Intervention Task Force to deal with alcoholism through education, law enforce ment, social and health services. Similar alcohol prevention programs arc being used or formulated on the Omaha and unanciai assistance, in oraer to avoid economic failures, he said. Kitto, who is also executive development director for the Santee tribe, said people on reservations face other problems when trying to build the economy as well. There are no lending institutions on the reservations, Kitto said, so much of the money spenton the reservation doesn’tgo back into the community. Most of the grant money for development on reservations comes from the federal govern ment, he said. “Grants are very competitive,” he said. So many times, smaller tribes, such as the Santee, don’t have the money to compete with larger or richer tribes for grant writers, even though their need might be greater. “You don’t nave the revenue to find good wnters to reflect the needs of the community,” he said. Onceaplan has been developed, many times the biggest roadblock facing its implementa tion is red tape, Kitto said. “The tribes are developing their own bu reaucracies from contracts with the Bureau of Indian Affairs,” Kitto said. “Whenever a tribe wants to do something, it has to consult a number of agencies,” he said. See RESERVATION on 8 ~ { 5 v « IWUI5VIIVV VI for the future, struggle against a mostly frus tratcd, sileiu or apathetic majority. Innovative projects have helped put a "new face” on the reservation schools and health and work incentive programs, but financing is limited and qualified help is sparce. The Santee reservation is cnanging. So arc Nebraska’s two other federally recognized reservations, the Omaha in Macy and its neigh bor the Winnebago about 2 1/2 hours from Lincoln. Leaders say the challenges and problems facing the communities must be met. Popula tions on the reservation have been slowly rising in recent years and new incentives have rc inspired American Indians to fight for a better wav of life on the reservations. The Indian Relocation Act passed during Dwight Eisenhower’s administration was an attempt to "mainstream” Indian people, ac cording to Barry Biackhawk, public relations director for the Winnebago tribe. Biackhawk said the act was responsible for many Indians leaving reservations dur ing the 50s and 60s until the act was re pealed. Since then, Biackhawk said, many American Indians have relumed to their homes along with others who left seeking job opportu nities or higher education. The Self Determination and Indian Eduea