ABOUT PINE RIDGE |
ABOUT PINE RIDGE |
The Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in South Dakota borders Rosebud Indian Reservation to the east, Badlands National Park to the north and the Nebraska state line to the south. The town of Pine Ridge is where the tribal headquarters is located. Pine Ridge is 3,000 square miles which is roughly the size of Rhode Island and Delaware combined. The total population is difficult to pinpoint but has been estimated to be roughly 35,000 people. It is a stark land with a big sky, beautiful grassy plains and rolling pine-covered hills and ridges.
Pine Ridge is the home of the Oglala Lakota and it is a powerful place – the land of Crazy Horse, Black Elk, Red Cloud, the Badlands, the Wounded Knee Massacre site, Whiteclay, the AIM standoff and sacred ceremonies rooted in traditions passed down from thousands of years ago. It is a land that attracts Christians, Buddhists, Jews, New Agers, those looking to heal and to be healed and countless others... from across the world. It is also a place of abject poverty, crushing unemployment and a land that plays host to a multitude of social issues that can leave some of its People desperately hopeless. And yet, outsiders still come and most of its People stay... or return. It's a place where the promise of the Lakota – and the best of the Modern World – can (if they choose) dance together in a sometimes confused though powerful dance of possibilities. |