Let us not forget the Lakota people

Danilo Anton

The Lakota of the Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota are extremely poor. Unemployment is 80-90%. Their income is US$ 4,000 per capita. The vast majority live below the poverty line. Life expectancy is among the lowest in the world; 48 years for men and 52 for men. Alcoholism is widespread. The Lakota language is disappearing. Of the 120,000 Lakota, only 20,000 speak their language. Without identity and future young people are killing themselves.
However, the Lakota or Sioux were among the most dynamic and prosperous towns in North America. They were farmers and buffalo hunters in their ancestral territory of more than 200,000 km2.
From 1870 to 1882 buffalo were exterminated. The government of the United States through its army and professional hunters managed to kill 20 million in 12 years, which were the food supply of the Lakota communities. Then, the United States took their land. Today we conserve less than 10% of their original lands and only in the less fertile and less productive areas.
The United States have forgotten the Lakota and still worse they do not care.
But we should not forget them.