As the American middle class sinks slowly below the threshold of middle classness, as fear, anxiety and uncertainty generate more of the same, think about those who never reached middle class, never reached suburban utopia-1.2 kids, a 2 car garage and a two person income. Think about those living in the nation's poorest areas, the American barrios, ghettos and reservations.
Last year, after receiving a press release from a friend who works with a not for profit organization in one of the nation's most impoverished areas, I put pen to paper (OK, I hit the keyboard and typed myself nuts) and tried to paint a picture of the bone chilling poverty on the Rose Bud Reservation in the Dakotas.
Last year, things were bad. Elders were freezing due to lack of fuel to heat their homes. The rate of poverty, domestic violence, infant mortality and illiteracy was comparable, or worse than that of a third world nation.
At least, last year, the economy was strong enough for donors to feel comfortable giving to various heating ministries and utility assistance plans on the Rez. This year, the need is greater than before.
The Dakotas are blizzard country. Wide open plains, big sky country, birth mother to howling winds, skin scouring blizzards, death hand smiting the helpless from the very sky.
In the early part of this month, a blizzard hit the area, knocking out power, sending hundreds to shelters. As one newspaper wrote:
Spending five days without electricity or running water has been an ordeal for people in Wanblee on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation. (Rapid City Journal, 11-10-08)
My information is that areas right outside of Wanblee were without powr and running water for 12 days. Imagine, spending nearly two weeks in a shelter, braving frigid cold, dealing with 20 foot snowdrifts, 4 feet of snow and howling 85 mile an hour winds. No electricity, no water, with the price of kerosene out of this world. Imagine having to drop your children off at a shelter, then leave them, because you are afraid thieves will steal you blind if you leave your home unprotected.
...several families have dropped their elders and children off at the shelter and returned to their cold, dark homes to protect them from thieves. (Ibid)
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