Sunday November 14, 2010, 2:04 am
FROM THIS WEBSITE:

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

Aaron Huey – Pine Ridge Indian Reservation
I’ve always enjoyed Aaron Huey’s work, but his Pine Ridge project has always struck me as extraordinary. In this video from TED you can clearly see how his passion for this subject matter has taken the photography to the next level.

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 massacre site.

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.

Sunday November 14, 2010, 2:41 am
I'm speechless! That all story is so heartbreaking... What a legacy!... How could it happened in so civilised country?!!!! BRAVO for Aaron Huey for his efforts!

Sunday November 14, 2010, 2:59 am
Noted Kat, and when he mentioned the slaughter at Wounded Knee I know what he's talking about as it was a cowardice massacre on the side of the White soldiers. I read Bury My Heart At Wounded Knee and I lent it to a friend who's reading it at the moment. I will give it to others just to let them know how the Native Americans were treated and it wasn't the Indian's fault that all those Treaties didn't work, They had a right to defend themselves. That is my way of looking at it. I think it's wrong that they don't get accepted by the American People as Normal Americans. That is what they were and the invader took their freedom away from them! Custer didn't get scalped because the Sioux saw him as a coward and they only scalped a soldier they saw as a so called hero, not a coward like Custer was. A soldier who fought fair. The Whites started the scalping, the whites started the mutilation of the bodies and the Natives copied them and why not? If the White man can do it then the Natives can do it as well, that's only fair play! To me anyway! A friend of mine has sent a donation to a Lakota school, I think it's called the St Joseph Indian School, she sent it in my name, which was very kind of her because I could never have given as much as what she did if anything at all! I can't even afford to go and pick my specs up! The Natives ARE a proud people and I admire them for what they have done to defend themselves. I'll come back tomorrow and see if there are more comments and maybe add some more! Good Luck Kat and all the best for whatever reason you are offline!

Sunday November 14, 2010, 3:45 am
It is long long overdue that America has no Native American indian
representing their people & inrerests in the political arena at the
national level.

When will there be a Native American indian elected as mayors,
legislators, congressmen, judges or one sitting on the Supreme Court?

John Echohawk was not chosen as a Supreme Court judge. Obama
passed him over fora woman judge! Can you believe it!!

The Supreme Court has a black sitting proudly on the bench! Why
not a Native American indian after all this time?

Native American indians are the first people of this land. When will
one of them get to be seen & heard in a high profile political position???

When will their voces be heard?

Plant & protect Danny's Trees for............

Sunday November 14, 2010, 4:07 am
I do not know what to say, it is disgrace.

Sunday November 14, 2010, 4:50 am
This video is a good summary of the information of the book I've been reading by Jeffrey Ostler, "THE LAKOTAS AND THE BLACK HILLS: THE STRUGGLE FOR SACRED GROUND". Usually a rapid reader, I have had to pause many times, as my heart becomes sick, as it did watching this video.

I will do whatever small things I can for the Indigenous Nations of the world, who are being decimated. But those who have the power, "who take the best meat" have absolutely no intention of making any but the most empty gestures. It seems to me that they to intend to take ALL the meat & let any who do not wish to serve them drop dead.

Sunday November 14, 2010, 5:03 am

APOLONIA, AGNES, BETTE, VUKAN, and PAMYLLE...

YOU GUYS HAVE GIVEN SOME GREAT COMMENTS... THANK YOU!

SOMEONE ASKED ME WHY I "KEEP HARPING" ON THE PLIGHT OF THE AMERICAN INDIANS. I WILL POST ONE PRIVATE RESPONSE I RECEIVED TO THIS POST. IT IS EXACTLY WHY I "KEEP HARPING", AND WILL CONTINUE TO DO SO...

their message to me:

"I watched it. Very sad of course. But I saw there much dirtiness, carelessness. It is not because of lack of money. If they have no job, no money, it does not mean, that they must be dirty. I dont know the details, but there must be water for washing, and for cleaning the rooms they need only two hands. Maybe they drink vodka and cannot work because they are all drunkers? They have houses, they can keep their homes clean. If there is not electricity, it is not a disaster - they can use the candles. My son is a monk in Norwegian mountains. They also dont have electricity and have very few water, only snow in wintertime and a little stream in summer, but they are clean, their houses are beautiful and they work and pray many times per day, grow potatoes, onions and other vegetables for food. Flowers grow besides their houses. I saw there lots of free ground. Why they dont grow there grain and vegetables for their own food? This gives work and no more time for drinking and crying. The first thing they can do, is to help themselves. Clean yourself and your room, it is the first thing."

Sunday November 14, 2010, 5:19 am
Thanks, Kat, that was very moving and powerful. A lot of it I already knew, but I learned some new things too, and it just makes me sick and sad.

Sunday November 14, 2010, 5:37 am
Very interesting article...thank you for sharing...

Sunday November 14, 2010, 5:46 am
Thank you for forwarding this, Kat. The plight of the Lakota is not new in world history. It is the plight of oppressed people everywhere. What does make it particularly shocking is that it happened and happens in America, the land of unlimited opportunity, the land that took in the world's oppressed and gave them a home, while at the same time ignoring its own oppression of the indigenous peoples. America is one of the first nations to cry out 'genocide!' when it happens outside its own borders, but the last nation to admit it has happened and continues to happen within its own borders.

Sunday November 14, 2010, 5:56 am
Thanks, Kat, for sharing that nice bit of ethnocentric judgment, which shows a lack of understanding of the complexity inherent to the intentional destruction of all too many non-European cultures around the world. As I write, colonialism has morphed into corporatism; land-grabbing & habitat destruction is plunging more & more peoples into poverty & despair on tiny parcels of land.

Some people are more worried about "cleanliness", apparently.

I would add that "extra special treatment" continues to be given to the Lakotas, who fought back all too well.

Sunday November 14, 2010, 6:36 am
Once again, I apologise to the people of Lakota.

Sunday November 14, 2010, 7:04 am
I can't apologise enough for what has been done...How can you possibly make up for such a long, disgraceful history that is, to this day, causing the indigenous people to suffer...? What can be done...? A powerful account....A message that cannot and should not be ignored.

Sunday November 14, 2010, 7:08 am
heartbreaking and very moving,thanx Kat

Sunday November 14, 2010, 8:10 am

The photo's speak volumes but it's the lives of the children that tell the complete story...

...." that it is only a matter of time until she is broken "....

Sunday November 14, 2010, 9:49 am
I have seen this video before, not sure where, but I'm glad you put it on here. Perhaps it was on here I saw it, on another thread. In any case it is a powerful video as he reads all the information. One broken legal agreement and promise after another, total lack of care and respect for an entire people.

Bill C., who commented above stated it perfectly, and the amount of damage from our bombs in others peoples backyards, the money could of instead be used to right some injustices within this land.

I hear you Kat on the reasons why you keep doing this. I send what I can, which isn't as much as I'd like to be able to do, but with limited time, and major issues overall on here I'm battling, but my heart is to bring out awareness on this to the general population. I had one woman tell me, why do you do so much concerning the Indians, after all some of them survived!

Well I'm sure glad for that, so I guess because 100% wasn't killed off, hey, what is there to complain about. That statement came from the same woman that I see sending around all sorts of cute little "have a good day" and love love love comments.

The video mentions about the 38 who were hung. The largest mass hanging in the USA under the watch of President Lincoln, who fought hard to emancipate the blacks, yet turned around and hangs 38 Indians with their quilt highly in question. So compassion for others while the Indians were going hungry, cold, and left to die, is what the policy really was. But they didn't all die as that woman so kindly pointed out, some survived.

There is a movie being made about this mass hanging of the Dakota 38 and the deadline to get this funding is only 3 days away. If you can contribute please do, they will accept as little as $1, each dollar helps. Please let others know, I so want this film to get made. It is because of all this video speaks, for the woman who is set on cleanliness that spoke to Kat, to the one that feels well a few survived so no problem here, that these films need to be made.

The link will need to be Copy & Paste, there is less than $3,000 needed to meet this goal, please do what you can.
http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1036929218/dakota-38

Sunday November 14, 2010, 12:11 pm
Huey states that these young men are desperate to be warriors... meaning they need a TRUE purpose to honor their very existence. And our Earth desperately need champions. I am wondering if there is any way to train these neglected and abused children into a force for good... Warriors for our World to help recover what is so quickly being lost. People without a true and honorable goal do not flourish. There needs to be a future given back to the Lakota people. Perhaps this would be a start...

And, as Dandelion mentioned, the deadline for donating to the Dakota 38 is almost here. It is a story that must be told and each of us can help. I was able to use PayPal to make my contribution. PLEASE, if this story moves you at all, donate at least a $1 or even $5 at
http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1036929218/dakota-38

Thank you....

Sunday November 14, 2010, 12:54 pm
How has it been possible for these Native American indian people to be so ignores?
How?

Blacks ranted, raved, burned, rioted & murdered from 1968 to roughly early 1990's.
And seemingly after all that they have gotten a status in our society that surpasses
anything the Native American indian can't even dream of in 2010!!!!!!

How come the Native American indian has been literally forgotten in light of all
their most basic needs!!
Perhaps the Native American indian need to do a bit of rioting to get the word
out of their situation of poverty. But, my gut tells me they are much too honorable
to blackmail/lay guilt tripping behavior on the American people.

Someday soon I hope to see a Native American indian sitting in the Oval Office!!
America is their land first & foremost above all others who reside here!!!!!

Plant & protect Danny's Trees for.......Life................

Sunday November 14, 2010, 1:46 pm
All I can do is cry for I can feel them in my heart I know how they feel, To strive one day at a time. My mind rolls back each time I read things as this. I can see through his eyes of what they go through and in my heart there pain. I wish I had money out the yen yang for there is where it would go, and to my Grandchildren. Thank you Kat and all for the comments. The one in the Oval Office Walking Eagle one day they will be one there and now can come quick enough. note with love

Sunday November 14, 2010, 2:50 pm
I agree, Jeanette...They are so desperate for an identity...So determined not to be ignored...and yet dominant society has pushed them aside, shrugged them off and said "Get over yourselves" for far too long...They cannot, must not, and will not disappear...Kat, you are not "harping" on their plight.....Far too many people remain ignorant about them...Perhaps they believe it relieves their guilt to do so...Who can say....but ignorance is not always such bliss....Keep telling their story until people start listening...This particular one REALLY struck deep....at least for me...Thank you.

Sunday November 14, 2010, 2:56 pm
Kat........Keep telling it. People need to be continously reminded
of the needs, wants & plight of all the American indian nations.

Plant & protect Danny's Trees for.......Life..............

Sunday November 14, 2010, 3:04 pm
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8FsQhX39Qc0

Sunday November 14, 2010, 3:16 pm
You read my thoughts Bill C. Very powerful and moving posting. Thank you Kat.

Sunday November 14, 2010, 3:18 pm
You cannot currently send a star to Bill because you have done so within the last week.

You cannot currently send a star to Dandelion because you have done so within the last week.

Sunday November 14, 2010, 3:28 pm
Apologies for the advertisement included in the video and website link I've just provided. Perhaps it wasn't the very best example of what I'm trying to say...Really, though, these kids...their families...their elders...they need that feeling of hope that has been stolen from them and from those before them...What can be done...? That's all I'm trying to say...

Sunday November 14, 2010, 4:07 pm
Very interesting article. A lot of it I already knew, but I learned some new things too, and it just makes me sick and sad...Thank you for sharing...and You keep Harping. Hugs Ann

Sunday November 14, 2010, 11:15 pm
Noted, thank you Kat. This horrible reality needs to be told over and over until it awakens the collective conscience of America. I say damn anyone of the dominant culture of which I am so ashamed to be a part of who says "just get over it."

Monday November 15, 2010, 1:03 am
Bette, the Indians didn't fight back in the beginning because they are a people who keep their word and the Great Spirit taught them to keep their word. They are a race who try and keep the peace at ALL times! They had to keep their word! That's why after signing a Treaty which was supposedly from their Father in America. He said that the White Man only wanted peace. The N/A wanted to live in peace and believed the words of the President. But as soon as there was gold found on their property the President wanted to buy the Land, like The Black Hills. He thought it was useless land to the White Man so gave it to the Lakota and no one was allowed to go in there without the permission of the Lakota, but they still did. Which was against the Treaty they signed! They might have told the men to leave so the President sent Custer into the Black Hills to sort those Indians out! Custer also took people with him to see what was in the land and they found gold. That was when the President wanted to buy the land back from the Sioux who said "No" and quite rightly so!

Custer was known to have said that if he were an Indian he'd rather live in the open Plains then in a Reservation, but that was not allowed to be printed was it! Custer let others do the dirty work for him and that was why the Sioux saw him as a coward. The Indians were never the first ones to attack but they would when the Braves would come back from hunting Buffalo and found their camp burnt down and the Old People and women and children shot and mutilated beyond recognition. They wanted revenge and attacked the first battallion they met! To them they did the same as the White Men had done to their people who could not defend themselves!

It was the Peace Treaty that stopped the Indians from fighting as much as they did and was being shown in Custer's Last Stand. The young Braves got fed up with coming home from a hunt just to find their property burnt and family shot! And for the person who wrote what Kat wrote down that they aren't clean and all that Jazz. I think the people in Norway get more help from the Government than the Indians do from theirs. That's the way I see it. The Indigenous people here still get treated the same as your Indigenous people. They have a right, why should an African have more rights that the orriginal people of America? They were welcomed and fed and given somewhere to stay the night and got repaid by being slaughtered! That's the plain Truth. If they could govern themselves like some Tribes are there would be less poverty as they could have shops and so forth. The casinos only pay them with alcohol instead of money! That's no way to treat a person be it white yellow red or black. Most wouldn't stand for it but the Indigenous people can't even look after their own or punish their own in their way. That's not good enough. Were they allowed to do that they would be a lot better of

Monday November 15, 2010, 3:49 am
It may take a very long time for an Native American indian to
be elected as president of his own country. But, you can be
absolutely certain there will never be another Obama or his
Mama rambling around the White Houe again!!
And, if & when an American indian is elected as president
of the United States it will not be rigged as Obama's election was .

Plant & protect Danny's Trees for.......Life.............

Monday November 15, 2010, 5:16 am
Thanks for the article.

Monday November 15, 2010, 9:48 pm
I think it'll be a very long time indeed before a N/A will be in the White House for several reasons. The N/A are so hated by the Westerners for some reason as a few said they don't get over it. Well do the Jews get over the gassing of their people by the Nazi's? They never will and the N/A are still haunted by the slaughter of their people. They aren't accepted by the Westerners like the Jews have been. There might have been a Native President if they were allowed into the normal schools and still have their own traditions and religions and dresscode like everyone else can! But the Native children can't and I just wonder why?

If they allow the Native children to keep their rights, dresscode or the way they have their hair, they might see it as a triumph over the White people and they might feel stronger! Is that so wrong? It is to most people in America. I wish it were the N/A who'd discovered Europe, but their Religion told them that they had to stay in their country that was big enough. They weren't to cross the Ice in the North according to the Hopi Rules or danger would come over them! But there are so many religions around the world which shows that those people either have been in America as they have the same methods of healing or teaching as some of the Tribes in America. How come? There's only one answer to that, someone has taught them and that same person has taught others. Some Tribes in India have the same methods of healing as the N/A, now how can those people manage to get the same as the N/A? But because they sort of live in the middle of nowhere they haven't been changed by the teachings of the Westerners. They were able to keep their own traditions which should have happened to the American Indians. Instead they were slaughtered almost to extinction!

Tuesday November 16, 2010, 4:29 am
Noted, signed and thank you.

Tuesday November 16, 2010, 7:14 am
Thank you Kat. He said in pictures what cannot be said in words.

While he recited the atrocities committed against the Lakota, I couldn't help think of all the Tribes who were and still are persecuted.

The Emancipation Proclamation didn't free all the people.

Wednesday November 17, 2010, 11:54 am
I just got about two thirds through the video, need to stop and recover now. With this emotional mixture of heartbreak and anger it' s even difficult to say thank you Kat for bringing this on, yet I will say thanks "Yat Kazzie" (ever since Hugh -probably in error- called you so I'm now adopting cuz I like it :-)). One thing came to my mind while watching: That script Aaron Huey was using ,-KUDOS KUDOS to him !!-, need to be mandated for use in EVERY AMERICAN SCHOOL. I have a gut feeling that even this dark and dirty chapter of American history may be taught srewed or perhaps even not at all. We know of examples from Texas..
I'll get back to the video and finish watching in a while....although it's quite difficult to bear..

Wednesday November 17, 2010, 1:10 pm
well, I have finished... Citing Aaron H. "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."
He definitely succeeded in this as far as I am concerned and I am also grateful for learning all of this I had not known before.
A question for Kat on this occasion: I remember several months ago the Pine Ridge Reservation was participating in the voting race presented by Pepsi Refresh project. I had casted my votes every day for this cause, I believe it was for building solid houses; but never learned about the result. Would you know if that made it to a winning position?

Wednesday November 17, 2010, 8:43 pm
Posted on my Twitter page for ALL TO SEE !

Wednesday November 17, 2010, 8:45 pm
Forgot to give the link: http://twitter.com/#!/babar2/status/5118392298110976 Friends are invited to click Follow to read posts from others, especially Betty Tuininga
@BJTuininga Binghamton, NY
artist;Graphic Designer;NH native;activist for rights of the American Indian,& Indigenous & human rights worldwide;vegetarian;art historian
http://bjtuininga.blogspot.com/.

Wednesday November 17, 2010, 11:31 pm
The terrible atrocities that were inflicted upon the Native Indians have largely been hidden away and what is still happening today is disgraceful - I remember watching a film called "Soldier Blue" in the '70's which brought to light some of the atrocities that were inflicted upon them. Thanks to Aaron Huey for his film. The Black Hills should be given back to them as everything else has been taken.

Friday November 26, 2010, 2:57 pm
Tyrants, timber will not see their own ass. The eyes of someone else sees the straw garbage. .. So embarrassing

Friday November 26, 2010, 3:05 pm
Thank you Kat for sharing with us.

Friday November 26, 2010, 3:06 pm
I do not understand.
Big government is sending aid to all parts of the world.
America's original owners live in poverty.
I wonder still carry the fear of Native America Do? Under Consciousness.
Include it as a nightmare.

Friday November 26, 2010, 3:15 pm
I'm so sorry.
My dear Indian friends
. I wish I had great power in my hand.
To transform your life perfect.
'm Shy. So ashamed.
Human descendants to come.
'm Human. Cruel to people because it is similar to the physical construction. I wish people would not ashamed.

Sometimes I'd rather be an insect insensitive.

Friday November 26, 2010, 4:49 pm
Many Blessings upon you Suheyla. Your Heart speaks Well of the person in whose body writes the words above. Do not feel shame for one who has such compassion, such as you do, need not feel shame. Shame should be worn by those who truly deserve the shame. Just keep learning Suheyla, and then speak the words of Truth concerning the American Indian or any injustice you see within this world.

Monday December 13, 2010, 1:21 pm
I am glad I saw this. There is so much suffering in the world. We take things for granted. It is people like Aaron who have the courage to make a difference. Thanks so much for posting this.

Sunday January 30, 2011, 4:53 am
Noted.

Sunday January 30, 2011, 5:09 am
Quote from Kat's first posted comment:
"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?

As I see it the Lakota's & all other Native American indians
are a proud people who have not gone the route of riotng,
burning & looting to bring about attention to their much
neglected cause.

I respect these great first people they do know what great
patience is & how to apply the rules of dignity to finally attain
their place in this American society.

Aaron will make a difference for & with these great
prideful people..........Some do not know patience is a virtue.

Finally, there will be a Native American indian sitting on the
Supreme Court & then in the Oval Office.

Plant & protect Danny's trees for life in 2011...........

Sunday January 30, 2011, 1:42 pm
noted

Sunday February 13, 2011, 10:33 pm
Noted Kat, I have watched many videos and studied many things on the Lakota and the oppression that never seems to end. I watch with many tears and pain, and then anger sets in. Angry because I feel so helpless, trying to figure out, there has to be a way to over throw what our wonderful, (NOT), government does to the Native Americans. It's not just the Lakota, but they seem to be treated the worst of them all. Many of the reservations across our nation are still carrying water for a day in tanks on the back of pickups, and they do not have electicity in many places. Why, because our government refuses to give them access to water mains that run right thru some of their lands and so does the electricity. They can't start business because they have no running water in most areas and no electricity, no buildings that would support a business, therefore there are no jobs there to make money to support or start their own businesses. Our government is like a big black evil cloud that hangs over the Native Americans and just dares them to try to better themselves. But a better is coming, I believe that and they have to believe it too. The Great Spirit is going to rain all over those who are doing the oppression. Until that day is upon us, we must all find ways to help those still on what little land they have left. They must hang on to the hope that their lands will be restored to them, for to give up is to close the eye of the heart.

Wednesday March 9, 2011, 5:04 pm
noted :0