Some stats
MORTALITY:
* Lakota men have a life expectancy of less than 44 years, one of the lowest of any country in the World
* The Lakota infant mortality rate is 300% more than the U.S. Average.
* One out of every four Lakota children born are fostered or adopted out to non-Indian homes.
* Teenage suicide rate is 150% higher than the U.S national average
DISEASE:
* Cervical cancer is 500% higher than the U.S national average.
* The rate of diabetes is 800% higher than the U.S national average.
* Federal Commodity Food Program provides high sugar, high fat, processed foods that increase our rates of diabetes and heart disease.
POVERTY:
* The median income is approximately $2,600 to $3,500 per year.
* 97% of our Lakota people live below the poverty line.
* Many families cannot afford heating oil, wood or propane and many residents use ovens to heat their homes.
UNEMPLOYMENT:
* Unemployment rates on our reservations are 80% or higher.
* There is very little industry to provide jobs
HOUSING:
* Elderly die each winter from hypothermia (freezing).
* 1/3 of the homes lack basic clean water and sewage while 40% lack electricity.
* 60% of Reservation families have no telephone.
* 60% of housing is infected with potentially fatal black molds.
* There is an estimated average of 17 people living in each family home (may only have two to three rooms). Some homes, built for 6 to 8 people, have up to 30 people living in them.
DRUGS AND ALCOHOL:
* More than half the Reservation’s adults battle addiction and disease.
* Alcoholism affects 9 in 10 families.
THREATENED CULTURE:
* Only 14% of the Lakota population can speak the Lakota language. The language is not being shared inter-generationally. * Today, the average age of a fluent Lakota speaker is 65 years.
* Our Lakota language is an Endangered Language, on the verge of extinction and is not allowed to be taught in the U.S. Government schools.
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We have a six part strategy for the reestablishment of the Freedom Loving & Freedom Seeking Lakotah People:
1. POLITICAL ACTIVISM We will continue to support candidates for Tribal President in the Reservations within the Treaty Area to see how many will vote for Freedom.
2. EDUCATION Completion of the T.R.E.A.T.Y Total Immersion School in order to preserve the Lakotah language and culture.
Development of the Lakotah Cultural Preservation Council in order to sustain and preserve our Sacred Ceremonies, most importantly, the Sun Dance.
3. HEALTH We are establishing training for doctors, nurses & health care technicians.
Recruiting of doctors and experts in the areas of natural medicine and nutrition.
Through our R.O.L. Humanitarian Relief organization, we are providing food, NEW clothing, propane, electricity and firewood.
Currently, we have an investigator that has already been to the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation to begin the study of black mold infestations within the homes here.
4. ENERGY / ECONOMICS Sustainable Energy for residents of Pine Ridge, including small-scale wind turbines and locally manufactures solar panels.
Establish Greenhouse program for production of local organic produce.
Work to install house-to-house Electrical Grid.
5. INTERNATIONAL AWARENESS We will continue to use the available international forums and Courts to bring attention to the continuing Genocidal policies of the U.S. Government. Excerpt from the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of Genocide: “Article II: In the present Convention, genocide means any of the following acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group, as such:
- Killing members of the group;
- Causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of the group;
- Deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part;
- Imposing measures intended to prevent births within the group;
- Forcibly transferring children of the group to another group.
6. SUSTAINABLE, ENERGY EFFICIENT HOUSING Proper housing is desperately needed to alleviate the over-crowding (17 people per home), mold infestations and lack of insulation and heating in the current government supplied housing. Through our construction company and humanitarian fund raising, we plan to begin construction of free homes for our elders, poor and infirm.
http://www.republicoflakotah.com/about-us/
