If you do one thing this Bank Holiday, watch this slideshow.
Written by Ciara Leeming
Photographer Aaron Huey has spent five years getting to know the Lakota Sioux and shows his work in this TEDx lecture.
This talk should be essential viewing for Americans – but its truths could equally apply to other countries where indiginous peoples have been repressed.
100 years after the so-called Indian Wars, America’s first nation live a disturbing parallel existance from the mainstream. The average male life expectancy on the reservations is 44-48 years old. Unemployment is 85-90 per cent. The school drop-out rate is 70 per cent. Half of all adults suffer from diabetes. Drug and drink abuse is rife. And so on and so forth.
It’s a stain on the soul of America.
Discussion (9 Comments)
This is definitely worth watching, it’s a crime people still live like this in the richest nation on earth.
Interestingly, I started watching but ended up just listening to Aaron’s words – I found them far more powerful than the images.
Hard to watch. Unbearable to listen to.
Ending with a simple request: ‘Give back the Black Hills to the Lhakota.’
That seems right.
And insignificant.
(How much died at the Battle of Wounded Knee?
How much is left to save?)
I agree with you wholeheartedly Susan … right but insignificant.
What photojournalism could be and usually is not: investigative and poignant
In the US there are a number of internal “colonies” that could well benefit from this kind of investigative work. Appalachia and The Gulf regions are two that quickly come to mind.
As good as this piece is, it should be remembered at 15 plus minutes there probably is barely a page worth of text/information. As such the piece is more emotional than informational and gives the viewer no place to go. The web doc Prison Valley has tried to come to terms with this medium problem with embedded “additional information” buttons as well as an ongoing forum discussion.
Perfect for this Memorial Day weekend, and the next, and the next, and…
The First People in Australia relate intrinsically to the First Nations, their stories are linked by the utter incomprehension of such capitalist democracies to grasp the fundamental elements of Indigenous life. The special magic of Indigenous people that goes well beyond anything that can be bought or sold, traded or merchandised for gain or profit is the reason that white people will always be seen as children in the eyes of Aboriginal peoples. This is a story I know very well and one that needs to be explained carefully as the imagery doesn’t always do the story justice and can set up all sorts of negative stereotyping.
@Robert Gumpert. Indigenous life is emotional and spiritual, it has a different set of values other than the gaining of knowledge simply for knowledge sake. It is I believe one of the hardest stories to do justice to with the medium of photography. So whether you add more text information or not I am not sure whether it helps in the telling of this story.
I have shot a lot of work of Aboriginal communities in Australia, some which is under legal threat because the communities themselves are under poilitical coersion. The communities are being starved of funds for infrastructure so that the government can force them into signing over their very resource rich land (The Northern Territory is one big Uranium deposit) The Aboriginal connection to ‘country’ is everything and simply can’t be bought or sold. So removing Indigenous people from their land is akin to committing genocide.
I don’t think it is insignificant to return people to their land but I can almost guarantee that it is the one thing that governments and white people do not have the will to attempt. Indigenous people know that whatever their future that white fellas will never understand or actually own the land. And for some reason this causes more venom and racism and negative stereotypes than anything else. Maybe its because the earth is made of stronger stuff than the white men who think they can control it…
http://www.lightstalkers.org/galleries/s/jfnpup7k4hhnlk9el7s1
and if you don’t believe me
http://www.wabusinessnews.com.au/en-story/1/80872/Royal-receives-grant-for-NT-discovery
Heart-wrenching. give back the black hills.