Author Topic: Federally Recognized Indians, Descendants, Wannabees and Exploiters  (Read 180065 times)

Offline Rattlebone

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Re: Federally Recognized Indians, Descendants, Wannabees and Exploiters
« Reply #165 on: November 12, 2009, 12:34:34 am »
You don't expect me to believe for one second that there is some poor lady in pine ridge with 5 kids that only gets 80 buck a month it total benefits? Along with it being the fault of some State Tribe that managed to get a crumb of money to help their poor people.
Tell me another one. Any US citizen with 5 kids would qualify for more that 80 bucks a month in food stamps. for that matter even the illegal aliens here get more than that.

I know bull sh!t when I smell it.

If you want to find some one to blame for this poor lady's problem and you refuse to place the blame on her Tribe's piss poor management then blame those illegal aliens.

Tell ya what, 'yall go ahead and give yourselves a big pat on the back for spreading it on so thick.

Now let's see how big of a slime I am for not buying this BS.
Go ahead sock it to me.

 



Quote
You don't expect me to believe for one second that there is some poor lady in pine ridge with 5 kids that only gets 80 buck a month it total benefits?

Would you like to try again???


pay special attention to the per capita income and conditions




1.) According to ‘Red Cloud Indian School’ (Pine Ridge Indian Reservation Demographics, 2009);

• 80% of residents are unemployed (versus 10% of the rest of the country)
• 49% of the residents live below the Federal poverty level (61% under the age of 18),
• Per Capita income in Shannon County is $6,286,
• The Infant Mortality rate is 5X higher than the national average,
• Native American amputation rates due to diabetes is 3 to 4X higher than the national average
• Death rate due to diabetes is 3X higher than the national average
• Other than Haiti, Life Expectancy on the Pine Ridge is the lowest in the Western Hemisphere;
-Men 48 years,
-Women, 52 years



Quote
Along with it being the fault of some State Tribe that managed to get a crumb of money to help their poor people.

 Be specific here in exactly what so called "state tribes" you are mentioning here. I want specific information from you now on whom you are speaking of.

 I also want sources on  things they face such as poverty, disease, infant mortality, per capita income; all in comparison to the so NONS in their state.

 I especially want to know how racism plays into all of this.

Quote
for that matter even the illegal aliens here get more than that.

 On top of you sounding very white in this statement, I would also like sources that let the readers here know just exactly how much illegal aliens are raking in.

 Honestly, I am starting to think by this statement that you are here wanting NONs to cash in on native benefits. What I mean by this is the large number of people on the right wing who do not believe in sovereignty, and I have read some wanting to find an ancestor on the dawes so they can cash in on money they feel NDN's should not get.

 This is usually along with statements such as " get over it," and " it's all in the past, so get over it" etc etc.


Quote
If you want to find some one to blame for this poor lady's problem and you refuse to place the blame on her Tribe's piss poor management then blame those illegal aliens.

 This seems close to a racial tirade on your part when you yet again mention illegal aliens.

 Also since your brought up the topic of how the tribe manage their money. Please explain to me how things such as benefits, and per cap work within NDN tribes within federal laws and guidelines on such topics.

 Also please explain to me how things such as land size, infrastructure, population statistics etc come into play when you make an attempt at answering me.

 Well, if you dare try to answer this.

  I actually know the answers to this, and do very well. I just want to show you how much you DON'T KNOW, and maybe have you do some homework on the topic.


« Last Edit: November 12, 2009, 12:37:26 am by Rattlebone »

Offline Rattlebone

  • Posts: 256
Re: Federally Recognized Indians, Descendants, Wannabees and Exploiters
« Reply #166 on: November 12, 2009, 12:45:08 am »
Paul,

 Do you have a problem with Illegal Aliens collecting money from the federal government such as welfare and if so..why?

Offline Superdog

  • Posts: 440
Re: Federally Recognized Indians, Descendants, Wannabees and Exploiters
« Reply #167 on: November 12, 2009, 12:58:48 am »
You don't expect me to believe for one second that there is some poor lady in pine ridge with 5 kids that only gets 80 buck a month it total benefits? Along with it being the fault of some State Tribe that managed to get a crumb of money to help their poor people.
Tell me another one. Any US citizen with 5 kids would qualify for more that 80 bucks a month in food stamps. for that matter even the illegal aliens here get more than that.

I know bull sh!t when I smell it.

If you want to find some one to blame for this poor lady's problem and you refuse to place the blame on her Tribe's piss poor management then blame those illegal aliens.

Tell ya what, 'yall go ahead and give yourselves a big pat on the back for spreading it on so thick.

Now let's see how big of a slime I am for not buying this BS.
Go ahead sock it to me.

 

Sorry if you don't believe it.  I think that's probably the truest statement about the state of things.  Most people outside of it don't believe it could really be that bad....not in the US right....but unfortunately it's true and you should really think about investigating that further before you call it BS.  Not all tribes have it that bad...but there are definitely some areas of Indian Country that just as described (and you call BS).  We're talkin' IHS healthcare that only gets enough funding to provide care for 6-8 months out of the year, houses with no running water/indoor plumbing and the list goes on and on, one room homes with no heat (except for the iron stove that serves as heat and cooking as long as you can find wood).  Don't disparage it unless you've lived it or at least taken the time to see with your own eyes.  I don't think you're a slime....just severely got your head in the sand.

Take it from someone who's been through it.  It's not the fault of the people living there or of corrupt policies.  It's the fault of agreements with a Federal Government that promised to provide "basic living essentials and needs" forever in exchange for various concessions (land...no more war, etc) and then State Governments that have, over time, chipped away at those provisions (which were lacking in the first place).  Your own arguments in favor of State Governmental definitions of something that they inherently have no interest in also support their policies that have (intentionally or not) taken away from the Federal Governments promises of basic needs.  Needs rendered to replace the loss of subsistence living (which in some areas is virtually impossible...not enough land, too much pollution) and traditional way of life in those communities.

It's not like that across the board, but the insistence that it's not like that anywhere is foolish.  

Superdog

Offline Defend the Sacred

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Re: Federally Recognized Indians, Descendants, Wannabees and Exploiters
« Reply #168 on: November 12, 2009, 01:03:03 am »
Paul,

By "illegal aliens" do you perhaps mean white people from Europe who have overstayed their tourist visas?  Or might you mean people who are Indigenous to this continent but happen to have been born on the other side of the US government's borders?

Offline BlackWolf

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Re: Federally Recognized Indians, Descendants, Wannabees and Exploiters
« Reply #169 on: November 12, 2009, 01:20:00 am »
Paul123, your bringing up a controversial topic that has ABSOUTLY NOTHING to do with this thread. ( In reference to your comments about illegal immigrants.)

Since you can't win your argument or justify them ANY OTHER WAY, your trying to use the issue of Illigeal immigrants as a diversion. 

Offline Diana

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Re: Federally Recognized Indians, Descendants, Wannabees and Exploiters
« Reply #170 on: November 12, 2009, 01:36:40 am »

I read this about 2 years ago and I think everyone would benefit from this. It's a long essay, about 7-8 chapters and I posted the links to the rest of the chapters. I believe it applies here and is very well researched. It's about the lenghts and deceptions of what one group tried to do to gain state recognition, then federal recognition.

http://threeoaks-onthewingsofeagles.blogspot.com/search?updated-max=2008-04-28T00%3A19%3A00-05%3A00&max-results=7


http://threeoaks-onthewingsofeagles.blogspot.com/search?updated-max=2008-05-19T07%3A11%3A00-05%3A00&max-results=7


 
Saturday, April 26, 2008

A Study Of How Congress Is Manipulated: Chapter 1

I’ve provided numerous commentaries about why and how newly made “tribes” seek federal or state recognition. This is the first of a series that will address a U.S. Senate and a House bill that has been introduced to provide federal recognition to an organization in Florida that is called the “Muscogee Nation of Florida“.

Both S. 514 and H.R. 2028, “To extend Federal recognition to the Muscogee Nation of Florida“, contain misinformation and is an attempt by this group to escape the scrutiny required to determine if it is actually a tribe or not. Should the Senate pass S. 514, and the House pass the comparable H.R. 2028 (which contains the same misinformation), a great disservice and carriage of injustice will be made against legitimate tribes and American Indians.

In order to address the misinformation given in both S. 514 and H.R. 2028, comments will be made in certain paragraphs of the bills so that both the Senate and House can be aware of the deceit that is being presented to them. Both bills are identical. The sponsors and co-sponsors of these bills are most likely unaware of the misrepresentations included in the bills, and merely accepted the information given to them by the “Muscogee Nation of Florida“ in good faith. However, this does not negate the potential damage that these bills can cause.

Members of Congress who have accepted the claims of this organization, apparently without question or raise of an eyebrow include: Rep. Allen Boyd (D-FL) Sponsor H.R. 2028; Rep. Jeff Miller (R-FL) Co-sponsor H.R. 2028; Senator Bill Nelson (D-FL) Sponsor S. 514; Senator Mel Martinez (R-FL) Co-sponsor S. 514.

Members of the Senate Committee on Indian Affairs, the “Indian” Committee without Indian members since Senator Campbell left the Senate, also have accepted testimony from the Muscogee Nation of Florida without question. (Hearing: On the process of federal recognition of Indian Tribes September 19, 2007).

The national media and Florida governmental entities have also fallen prey to the “Muscogee Nation of Florida“, rewriting and promoting a false revisionist history of American Indians in Florida. Perhaps the worst scenario includes the hundreds of individuals who have joined the organization under the belief that it’s claims are true.

Extensive documentation, plus dozens of images of historical documents and photographs, have been collected that disprove the Muscogee Nation of Florida claims made in the bills. Because of the limitations of space, only examples of the complete documentation will be provided in the comments. However, these examples will be more than enough to show the validity of my position.

Having filed their own petition and documentation for federal recognition in 1978, perhaps most telling of the true nature of the Muscogee Nation of Florida (formerly as the Eastern Creek Nation) is that some of the leaders and individuals involved in this organization were also involved with other groups claiming to be a Creek Indian tribe and that were petitioning the BIA for recognition during the same general period. In addition, many claims in the different petitions were similar. The other petitioning organizations were:

Creeks East of the Mississippi
Letter of Intent to Petition, Petitioner #010, 1972.02.21.
Receipt of Letter of Intent, Federal Register Notice, 1979.01.02, 44 FR 116-117.
Final Determination, Federal Register Notice, 1982.04.06, 47 FR 14783.
Not Acknowledged

Lower Muscogee Creek Tribe East of Mississippi
Letter of Intent to Petition, Petitioner #008, 1972.02.02.
Receipt of Letter of Intent, Federal Register Notice, 1979.01.02, 44 FR 116-117.
Final Determination, Federal Register Notice, 1981.10.21, 46 FR 5
Not Acknowledged

MaChis Lower Alabama Creek Indian Tribe
Letter of Intent to Petition, Petitioner #087, 1983.06.10.
Receipt of Letter of Intent, Federal Register Notice, 1983.08.18, 48 FR 37528
Final Determination, Federal Register Notice, 1988.06.23, 53 FR 23694.
Not Acknowledged

It should be noted that Walton County, Florida, played an important role in the claims of the above different organizations. For example, 26 percent of the MaChis Lower Alabama Creek Tribe was listed as living in Walton County. Walton County also plays a major role in the current Muscogee Nation’s claims.

It’s undeniable that there are residents and families in Florida that might be of Creek descent. However, a close study of Muscogee Nation of Florida will show that while it might have an enrollment of a few individuals with actual Creek ancestry to various extents, the organization is also comprised of individuals who have been solicited from disperse locations and who cannot document either a Creek genealogy or historical family ties with the group. An unbiased research will also show that there is no independent historical documentation or study that indicates the Muscogee Nation of Florida existed at all, in any form, before the 1950’s.

The Ward family of Bruce and surrounding Walton County is the primary nucleus of many claims made by the Muscogee Nation of Florida. Ward family records and documents were also included in the original attempt by the Lower Muskogee Creek Tribe - East of the Mississippi, Inc., which the Muscogee Nation of Florida (as the Eastern Creek Nation) was a part of. The Ward family records and documents submitted and showing them to be Creek Indians have since been shown by the foremost Ward family genealogist and researcher, Jerry Merritt of Pensacola, to be recent 1950’s forgeries. The claims that Elizabeth Ward, wife of William B. Ward ( father of William Joseph Ward in Walton County - where the Ward Indian ancestry stories take place) was Creek Indian have also been discounted as untrue.

Fabricated genealogies are common in groups claiming to be American Indian. Unfortunately, the fabricated Ward documents have found their place in Florida record collections beginning in 1978 and continue to mislead Ward family researchers into believing that the family was Creek Indian. These same documents have been used by local Florida organizations to present a false history of their area.

The Muscogee Nation of Florida first gained the attention of a good acquaintance and I in Arkansas early in 2006. This was during efforts to ensure that legitimate American Indians were given the opportunity to participate in American Indian workshops and presentations given by the Arkansas Arts Council, National Parks, State parks, and public schools within Arkansas.

At that time, it was discovered that enrolled American Indians were completely disfranchised from these activities. Every single identified workshop or presentation was being conducted by individuals who had no legitimate tribal connection and were only self-identified as being American Indian. This activity included the selling of arts and crafts in violation of the Indian Arts and Crafts Act of 1990, Public Law 101-644.

One of the individuals involved, Valerie Lynn Goetz of Arkansas, is a member of the Muscogee Nation of Florida. She claimed that the Muscogee Nation of Florida was a state recognized tribe. However, she was extremely unknowledgeable about the history of the group, and was still in the process of researching her own genealogy on internet genealogy boards. Ms. Goetz was very active in presenting American Indian craft workshops in both National and State Parks in Arkansas and Missouri, and is promoted as an American Indian artisan by the Arkansas Arts Council. Besides selling her crafts in Arkansas and Missouri under the guise of being American Indian, her crafts are also being sold by the Pensacola Historical Society, Inc. in Florida as being American Indian made. (Ms. Goetz, under her maiden name of Hanks, had applied as Eastern Creek for the 1971 Creek land claim awards census. She and all other family members were rejected.)

As a result of our inquiries to the Florida Attorney General’s Office, the Florida Governors Office, the Florida State Legislature Office, and the Governor’s Commission on Indian Affairs, we learned that the Muscogee Nation of Florida was not recognized by the state as a tribe - as widely claimed. The synopsis of this discovery is included as a comment under the state recognition claim made in the Senate and House bills.

A spokesperson of the federally recognized Miccosukee Tribe of Indians in Florida told me that she had never heard of the Muscogee Nation of Florida.

The comments that will be made in following posts are directed to certain paragraphs of S.514 and H.R. 2028 are introductory comments only. They are the result of a preliminary look at the claims made in the bills, which are easily identified as misleading by those who make even the smallest effort to research the organization past the story it promotes. These comments provide a stepping stone for my readers and those who are involved with the approval and passage of these bills to use for further investigation before they make a final determination whether or not the Muscogee Nation of Florida should be recognized as a legitimate historical tribe.

As with all my posts, it will be up to the reader to make up their own decisions concerning the veracity of my comments and opinions.

Offline BlackWolf

  • Posts: 503
Re: Federally Recognized Indians, Descendants, Wannabees and Exploiters
« Reply #171 on: November 12, 2009, 01:49:20 am »
Thank you Diana.  This is really good information.  It just goes to show the levels of lies, decit, and deception some of these groups will resort to.  It also shows how ignorant the general public is when it comes to Indian issues. 


Also, as far as I know, Florida refrains from recognizing Indian Tribes.

Quote
In Florida, the Governor's Council on Indian Affairs in 1988 adopted a policy which recommends that state officials refrain from recognizing any group not first acknowledged by the federal government.

Re: Federally Recognized Indians, Descendants, Wannabees and Exploiters
« Reply #172 on: November 12, 2009, 02:23:00 am »
You don't expect me to believe for one second that there is some poor lady in pine ridge with 5 kids that only gets 80 buck a month it total benefits? Along with it being the fault of some State Tribe that managed to get a crumb of money to help their poor people.
Tell me another one. Any US citizen with 5 kids would qualify for more that 80 bucks a month in food stamps. for that matter even the illegal aliens here get more than that.

I know bull sh!t when I smell it.

If you want to find some one to blame for this poor lady's problem and you refuse to place the blame on her Tribe's piss poor management then blame those illegal aliens.

Tell ya what, 'yall go ahead and give yourselves a big pat on the back for spreading it on so thick.

Now let's see how big of a slime I am for not buying this BS.
Go ahead sock it to me.

 

What?  OMG!!  Seriously, I'm reading this?  What, did you crawl out of..  ? 

Let me tell a story, of my brother.  He is deceased.  He was a good man.  He got involved with some sort of publications, or something, I don't know exactly what it was, but he ended up visiting some folks at Pine Ridge.  He found multiple families living in some small shacks with no heat, water or electricity and no money for food. 

The 'poverty' you speak of is a white mans world poverty.  I'm telling you, there is a difference between the white American world poverty, and the poverty found on some of these rez's like Pine Ridge.

Maybe you don't know this.  But instead of flocking off someone's statement and calling it BS maybe you should ask first, how, and why this could be?  For you to think the poverty you see in the American White World is the only type of poverty that exists in America is a sign that you do not know enough, but think that you do.

I don't have anything more to say..
press the little black on silver arrow Music, 1) Bob Pietkivitch Buddha Feet http://www.4shared.com/file/114179563/3697e436/BuddhaFeet.html

Offline BlackWolf

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Re: Federally Recognized Indians, Descendants, Wannabees and Exploiters
« Reply #173 on: November 12, 2009, 03:49:26 am »
Quote
I know bull sh!t when I smell it.

If you want to find some one to blame for this poor lady's problem and you refuse to place the blame on her Tribe's piss poor management then blame those illegal aliens.

Tell ya what, 'yall go ahead and give yourselves a big pat on the back for spreading it on so thick.

Now let's see how big of a slime I am for not buying this BS.
Go ahead sock it to me.

Paul, I have to say that your ignorance and arrogance is appalling and inexcusable.  Have you ever even been to an Indian Reservation or Indian community in the United States and seen it your self?  Most Tribes are not rolling in Casino Money.  Did you know the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation is the poorest place in the United States.  You say your Indian, but nothing you have said so far seems to support any real Indian issue.  You come off as being more Anti Indian then anything else. The Pine Ridge Reservation has an unemployment rate of over 80 percent,  Many of the families have no electricity, telephone, running water, or sewer. Many families use wood stoves to heat their homes.  The population on Pine Ridge has among the shortest life expectancies of any group in the Western Hemisphere: approximately 47 years for males and in the low 50s for females. The infant mortality rate is five times the United States national average.  To blame this on piss poor management is beyond words.

Paul, are you sure your Indian?

Offline BlackWolf

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Re: Federally Recognized Indians, Descendants, Wannabees and Exploiters
« Reply #174 on: November 12, 2009, 04:42:27 am »
I’m going to try and get back on track and try to turn back to the topic of the thread.  “Federally Recognized Indians, Descendants, Wannabees and Exploiters”.  A few people have made the analogy of people of Irish descent in America starting their own New Ireland 150 years later. 

I have a more accurate analogy then that.  It would be more like lets say 50 people claiming Italian descent wanting to start a New Italy in New York City in the year 2009.  But in this analogy, 45 of the people are actually of Greek and Russian ancestry, with only 5 actually having Italian blood.  Because you see back then, it wasn’t cool to be Greeks and Russians.  Their Russian and Greek Grandmas weren’t cool enough for them, so they told everyone that their Grandmas were Italian Princesses. 

Of the 5 that do have Italian blood, their ancestors, CHOOSE to leave Italy on their own accord.  Italians were persecuted  at the time in Europe and in the United States, so they thought it would be better to “just blend in” to the surrounding population in New York.  They just told everyone that they were “Native Americans” like everyone else.

Now, If I was an Italian from Italy that was proud of who I was.  I would probably refer to all of the 50 people as Wannabee Italians.  As far as the 45 people of non Italian blood, well, they’re not of Italian heritage anyways, so their just always going to be Wananbees to me. I also never really appreciated these people trying to pass off St. Patrick’s Day as an Italian Holiday.   

And of the 5 or 6 that actually do have Italian ancestors.  Well, they abandoned their people.  Their ancestors did their best not to be Italian.  So you know what.  As far as I’m concerned, their ancestors, got what they wanted in the end.  Because their descendants ARE NOT Italians anymore.   As far as I’m concerned, they are all just a bunch of Wannabee Italians. 

Offline earthw7

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Re: Federally Recognized Indians, Descendants, Wannabees and Exploiters
« Reply #175 on: November 12, 2009, 04:44:06 am »
Helllooooo from the reservation here, Standing Rock not Pine Ridge but still
we have 70% unempolyment here and YES people live off 80 dollar a month
and they get commodities............which will not last out the moth, plus due
to the housing shortage many family live in one house. I can't believe people
call this bullshit. they need to come out here to the reservations and see for
their self.  You will understand very quickly that we are native with our dark
skin, dark hair and very very poor.
blackwolf good words
In Spirit

Offline Diana

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Re: Federally Recognized Indians, Descendants, Wannabees and Exploiters
« Reply #176 on: November 12, 2009, 06:21:11 am »
Quote
Thank you Diana.  This is really good information.  It just goes to show the levels of lies, decit, and deception some of these groups will resort to.  It also shows how ignorant the general public is when it comes to Indian issues

Thanks Blackwolf, I know it's a long read, but worth it, actually the whole blog has some very good info. I suggest reading it in it's entirety.


Lim lemtsh,

Diana

Offline Paul123

  • Posts: 148
Re: Federally Recognized Indians, Descendants, Wannabees and Exploiters
« Reply #177 on: November 12, 2009, 12:20:36 pm »
Oh crap,,,
After reading all of your posts, I can see that the statement about the lady living on 80 bucks was not just a case of yanking my chain. No,,, I had no idea that something like that could be true. It seems so far fetched that I couldn't believe it. It had to be BS. That couldn't be true.




Of course I will never find words to express my embarrassment, so I won't say any more than,,,












I'm so sorry.   




Offline earthw7

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Re: Federally Recognized Indians, Descendants, Wannabees and Exploiters
« Reply #178 on: November 12, 2009, 12:58:39 pm »
Paul have you ever been to Pine Ridge or the other Lakota/Dakota reservations?
I live on my reservation life is hard here being Native is hard. We have a lot
of death here, in fact this week end five more funerals, we still have babies
who do not make it their first year. Many family have no food or for that
matter beds to sleep on. We wonder why people want to be like us.
In Spirit

Offline Diana

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Re: Federally Recognized Indians, Descendants, Wannabees and Exploiters
« Reply #179 on: November 12, 2009, 02:58:39 pm »
Good interview and great pictures. My bold.


http://lens.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/10/20/behind-22/

October 20, 2009, 12:00 am

Behind the Scenes: Still Wounded

By JAMES ESTRIN

Correction Appended | Aaron Huey
arrived on the Pine Ridge reservation in South Dakota at the start of a
self-assigned photographic road trip to document poverty in America.

The poverty he found on the reservation stopped him cold.

“It was emotionally devastating,” Mr. Huey said. “I‘d call my wife late at night crying.”


Overwhelmed by the poverty — and at the same time by scenes of
people trying to maintain the Lakota way of life — Mr. Huey abandoned
the rest of his nationwide project to focus on Pine Ridge. Five years
later, he’s still photographing on the reservation, which includes the
Wounded Knee battlefield.

Mr. Huey, 33, is a photographer for Smithsonian, National Geographic
Adventure and National Geographic Traveler. He also freelances for The
New Yorker and Geo. In 2007, he photographed in Afghanistan for The
Times.

I interviewed him by telephone and e-mail.Q.What were you first impressions of Pine Ridge?

A.I stayed with families in the most violent town on the reservation, a place called Manderson; often referred to as “Murdertown” by locals. I could have never imagined the living conditions that I saw. I knew the statistics about poverty, but the living conditions went far beyond poverty to even deeper, more dysfunctional problems. Black mold all over the walls of childrens’ rooms. Kids eating off the floors. Infants watching violent films on TV all night.

One of my other first impressions was people showing me their scars — self inflicted scars from their gang initiations. A knife heated on a burner until it’s red hot is then pressed on the skin, usually in stripes on the upper arm, creating terrible burns.

Q.Why did you end up going back?

A.I went back because the families invited me back, and because I was so floored by what I had seen that I couldn’t stop thinking about it. Now, I go back because they are family, and because I haven’t found the end of the story. It seems to get more confusing each time I return. I am not getting closer to a conclusion. It just is what it is. My photos are a witness, not a solution. They are the dark and the light and every struggle between.

Q.What was your approach and working methods there?

A.I started by not shooting many photos. I hung out, and I always asked the young kids who took me in to tell me what they thought the world needed to know about them. In my first interactions, I let them guide the story. They needed to feel like someone cared about them. They needed to be heard. So I listened. I spent a lot of time not working. I watched movies with them, ate meals with them. Sometimes I’d beat myself up about not shooting enough photos. My eyes would get tired and I’d stop “seeing” photos. But I believe that it was all for the best. Over time, it has helped me go much deeper.

Q.Who are the Lakota?

A.Answering the question, “Who are the Lakota,” is very difficult. In many ways, I feel like it is not my question to answer. The Lakota are a people who have been wronged many times over. Coming from the dominant society and attempting to define them is a guaranteed failure for a white journalist. I have no right to define them.

Q.Who were the first people you met? And how did that result in the early gang work?

A.The first people I met were gang kids and a few stand-offish officials in the tribal office. What lead me down the darker, more gang-oriented path initially was that they wanted to talk and others did not. They had a story they wanted to tell me. They didn’t care that I didn’t know much about the Lakota. With others I felt a huge wall — “Another white man come to do a story on us” — and they were right. I wasn’t well armed with a lot of knowledge about the situation. A lot of “wasi’chu” come through to do quick stories on the natives. But in the darkest corners, I was accepted. And they told me much of what I needed to know. In the youth, I found a big part of my story — a new generation desperate to be warriors again.

Q.What are you trying to photograph now?

A.After I spent several trips with these gang kids and did my first major assignments on them, I realized that it was all a bit superficial. Magazines were really into the gang thing. It was an easy story for them to digest and it was a way to make an old story new and relevant. But the bigger picture doesn’t really make a good story. It’s long and murky and loaded with pain. There are no easy outs. Deconstructing hundreds of years of oppression to understand why we now see these statistics just isn’t catchy enough for the mainstream press. But I couldn’t stop just because the magazines couldn’t handle it. I wasn’t sure where it would all lead, but I knew I couldn’t stop.

Q.Tell me a little bit more about the traditional Lakotas.

A.I think finding more “traditionals” is a natural direction after all these years of darkness. In many ways, it’s the harder part of the story. I’m not sure if it all needs to be wrapped up that way, to balance the dark and the light. It isn’t a nice, neat little package. But I have to see what is there. For now that is my reason for returning. I want to find the light in this darkness.

The horse culture, sweat lodges, sun dances and attempts at preserving the language are all incredibly positive influences and steer the youth away from the false warrior model of gangster violence. The youth need heroes like Crazy Horse and Black Elk, not Tupac and Biggie.

 Q.How about the children?

A.I have been watching several children in a dozen families grow up over the past five years. This is one of the hardest parts for me. When I see their father or mother coming home drunk every day, I know what the future holds for them and it hurts me.

I remember calling home to my wife crying because I had just held a beautiful 3-year-old girl on my knee. She hugged me and called me uncle, and I love her so much. But I know that it is only a matter of time until she is broken. Soon she will be drinking, and pregnant, and abused, and dying. Right now she is still perfect, but no one can last in an environment like that.

That’s the part I hate. Knowing that there is nothing I can do to change it. And there are so many things I want to change. But it seems the story is already written. Even with a strong traditional family, many of the youth are sinking. Without it, they are totally lost.

I keep looking for the light in the story because I want to believe there is a way out. Maybe if I find it, I can help some of the kids I know move that direction. I know for sure that change has to come from within the reservation. It cannot be imported. I cannot run away with these children. Someone in their own town has to lead them, preferably someone from within their own home.

Q.Is there anything that the rest of the country should know about what you saw?

A.One very important thing to know is that there are a small handful of very positive people and places on Pine Ridge and that they are making a difference. Red Cloud Indian School is a leader among these positive forces, with 13 Gates scholarship recipients graduating from its school in only two years. As one of the most successful schools in the nation, they have completely flipped the paradigm on its head.

As for the problem and what people need to know about it, I’m not sure there is much to do. The Lakota, like most tribes, are self governed. Handouts aren’t the answer. Church groups painting over the gang signs on houses every few summers is not the answer. Pity is not the answer. The Lakota are an incredibly beautiful and proud people. There are pockets of strength in this failed state. They are usually formed around a school or a traditional teacher-medicine man or a strong head of a family who spreads it to his extended family.

I think I honestly want these photos to hurt the viewer. I want people to understand that what they see in these images is a result of a very long and very calculated oppression. It’s convenient that we can now step back and say: “Oh, no! Look. They are doing it to themselves! There is nothing we can do!” Very convenient for us. The story of the Lakota is the story of all indigenous people on every continent — they are steamrolled by the dominant society and pushed to the verge of extinction. Assimilate or die.

When I would return from these trips, people would ask why they don’t just “get over it” — the old pick-themselves-up-by-the-bootstraps argument. But you don’t just “get over” hundreds of years of oppression. Just because the guards went away one day and the prison camp was opened up doesn’t mean there was any place to go. Just because the prison door was opened doesn’t mean that the prisoner mentality doesn’t remain. It does remain, for generations and generations after. And it has left a deep scar on the people.

Correction
An earlier version of this post incorrectly quoted Mr. Huey as saying, “Pine Ridge is the scariest place I’ve ever been — more so than in a Taliban ambush.” Instead, he said, “Pine Ridge is the scariest place I’ve ever seen — not more so than in a Taliban ambush.” Mr. Huey also made the point that although Wounded Knee may be referred to elsewhere as a battlefield, as it was in an earlier version of this post, it is more accurately called a massacre site. “Battle connotes some kind of fair fight,” he wrote in an e-mail message. “It was a massacre with Gatling guns.”