For almost 4 months I have been working as a nurse practitioner caring for the Sioux people across South Dakota. I find the complexities of these people, their beautiful culture, and the difficulties their population is facing today very hard to understand and describe. Instead, I will tell you about Kevin.
Kevin Poor Bear of the Lakota Sioux Nation is a proud member of the Pine Ridge reservation, an artist, a husband and father, and a bilateral amputee resulting from a brown recluse spider bite. I had the pleasure of meeting him when he came into the clinic and was kind enough to show me some of his artwork and tell me a little about his Lakota history and culture.
The Sioux are actually 3 major groups of tribes spread over North and South Dakota, Minnesota, Nebraska, Montana and Canada, each with their own dialect. Pine Ridge is in the western part of South Dakota and home to the Lakota people known for their hunting and warrior culture. Sioux history is marked with much tragedy and conflict including the Wounded Knee Massacre of 1890 that left around 150 unarmed men, women, and children dead.
Pine Ridge is the eighth largest reservation in the US, larger than Delaware and Rhode Island combined. It is also one of the poorest areas of the United States with third-world health statistics:
- 8 Times the United States rate of diabetes
- 5 Times the United States rate of cervical cancer
- Twice the rate of heart disease
- 8 Times the United States rate of Tuberculosis
- Alcoholism rate estimated as high as 80%
- 1 in 4 infants born with fetal alcohol syndrome or effects
- Suicide rate more than twice the national rate
- Teen suicide rate 4 times the national rate
- Infant mortality is three times the national rate
- Life expectancy on Pine Ridge is the lowest in the United States and the 2nd lowest in the Western Hemisphere: 47 years for males, 52 years for females. Only Haiti has a lower rate.
The reservation doesn't provide many opportunities for work leaving the unemployment rate at 80-90% and the per capita income at $4,000. Which brings us back to Kevin Poor Bear. Kevin makes a living through his company Poor Bear Art where he sells his original hand painted pastels that embody and preserve the Lakota history and culture. Like many of the Sioux people, Kevin strives to preserve the history, language, and spiritual practices of his ancestors.
" We must appreciate the undaunted courage, the enduring spirit of survival, and the happy spirit of laughter among the Lakota...the Lakota people are here, still proud, still strong, still surviving, in the face of inestimable difficulties. And the victory of a better life will come." -Kevin Poor Bear
If you are interested in supporting Kevin and his family (or wonder where he got his name) please visit his online gallery.
