BY KRISTI EATON
PINE RIDGE — The Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in southwestern South Dakota has for years attracted journalists and activists eager to tell the stories and share the plight of the Oglala Sioux Tribe.
The allure for journalists, community activists and gawkers is simple: The Connecticut-sized reservation is home to some of the poorest counties in America, one in four children born on the reservation suffers from fetal alcohol syndrome or fetal alcohol spectrum disorder, and the average life expectancy for tribal members is estimated between 45 and 52 years — the shortest in North America except for Haiti.
The statistics on Pine Ridge make for powerful, heart-wrenching stories, but some Oglala Sioux tribal members both on and off the reservation think it’s exploitative, with too little emphasis on the people who are working every day to try to make a difference.
“For more than 30 years I have greeted reporters from around the world who came to Pine Ridge to do the ultimate story on ‘Indians,’ and I cringe when I see some of the articles after they have been published,” said Tim Giago, a tribal member and longtime journalist who has founded several Native American newspapers.