An Epidemic Of Suicide Among Native American Youth

Photo Credit: Kami Jo

Lorna Thackeray of the Billings Gazette reports on the disturbing rates of suicide of Native American youth:

"All the reasons that put young people at risk of suicide in the country at large are amplified on Indian reservations.

Indian children are more likely to be abused, see their mothers being abused and live in a household where someone is controlled by drugs or alcohol. They have the highest rates of emotional and physical neglect and are more likely to be exposed to trauma.

“The unfortunate and often forgotten reality is that there is an epidemic of violence and harm directed toward this very vulnerable population,” Dolores Subia BigFoot, director of the Indian Country Trauma Center at the University of Oklahoma, testified a before the Senate Committee of Indian Affairs during hearings on the Indian Youth Suicide Prevention Act of 2009.

“American Indian/Alaska Native children and youth experience an increase risk of multiple victimizations,” she said. “Their capacity to function and to regroup before the next emotional or physical assault diminished with each missed opportunity to intervene. These youth often make the decision to take their own lives because they feel a lack of safety in their environment. Our youth are in desperate need of safe homes, safe families and safe communities.”

...Weakening of those bonds and loss of culture and spirituality are among the reasons young people cannot find their way, she said.

Others describe historical and cultural trauma that remains ingrained in the Native American psyche. Colonization and racism and the abrupt end to traditional life still reverberate in new generations, said Clayton Small, a Cheyenne, who works in a nonprofit suicide prevention program.

Generational trauma weighs heaviest on the male population, he said. They commit suicide at a far higher rate than female Native Americans.

“In Indian Country the role of our men has been significantly altered,” Small said. “Then throw in poverty and violence and it descends into drug and alcohol abuse.”

He said one out of three Native American males end up incarcerated at some time during their lives, in part because their cases are brought in the relatively unforgiving federal system. With a criminal record, employment is nearly impossible to find and they suffer the indignity of not being able to support their families, Small said.

“We have to teach kids that they don't have to continue this cycle,” he said. “We have to teach them to cope with the stress and trauma they see every day.”

One organization that is seeking to stem this tide is Nations, a movement that seeks to develop leaders on the college campus by honoring Native American students and faculty by restoring their lives and culture with Jesus Christ. Nations embraces and honors First Nations people while recognizing that there is one true Creator who desires to restore what has been lost by placing his Son Jesus Christ at the center of American Indian life and culture. To learn more about this important organization, click here.

To read the rest of the Gazette article please click here.

(h/t to Racialicious for the link)

My Co-Workers

One of the privileges that I have in my work with The Impact Movement and Campus Crusade for Christ is the individuals that I get to work alongside of on a daily basis. The picture to the left is of our Impact Campus Ministry team, a group of individuals that coach, resource, provide direction and encourage student leaders with The Impact Movement across the country.

Our mission of Impact is to take the truth of Jesus Christ to the campus, community and world by producing leaders of African descent who are spiritually focused, financially responsible and morally fit. One of the ways that we do this is by hosting a national conference which helps to equip the next generation of leaders in the black community and beyond. If you'd like to learn more about Impact 2008 Mission:Possible or register for the conference, please visit the conference website at http://www.impact2008.com/.

Another group of people that I get to lead with is the national leadership team of Ethnic Student Ministries of Campus Crusade. This is a team made up of regional and national directors committed to reaching each American ethnic minority and international students with the gospel. I get the opportunity to meet with these friends a few times a year and it is always a good time to hear how God is working in the lives of students throughout the U.S. This photo was just taken this past week at our meetings in Breckenridge, Colorado.

To learn some more about each of the strategies of Ethnic Student Ministries, check out these links:

Destino (Hispanic & Latino students)
Epic (Asian American students)
Korea Campus Crusade (Korean American students)
The Impact Movement (African American students)
Nations (Native American students)
Bridges International (International Students)

Life on an Indian Reservation

Experiencing life on a Native American reservation is something that few Americans ever get the chance to do, but documentary filmmaker Morgan Spurlock, recently provided a window into this world. On his FX television program, 30 Days, Spurlock spent a month on the Navajo reservation where he lived, worked and played as the people that live on the reservation. Spurlock is perhaps best known for his award-winning documentary, Super Size Me, in which he ate nothing but McDonald’s food each meal for a month and documented the whole experience on film for the world to see. (If you haven’t seen this movie, I highly recommend it. You’ll never view Big Macs or McDonald’s French fries the same).

His television program follows a similar premise by doing something new for 30 days in order to get a taste of what it is like for individuals that live in that lifestyle or engage in those activities on a regular basis. His time on the rez was certainly impactful for him and the episode does a superb job of focusing on issues that impact reservation life. Topics like spirituality, unemployment, poverty, family, alcoholism, injustice, casinos, language and Native culture all play a prominent role. You can view the episode online, entitled “Life on an Indian Reservation,” by following this link.

Essentially forgotten by many in the mainstream culture, Native Americans are still coping with the legacy that our forefathers left them and that our government still perpetuates today. The high rates of suicide, alcoholism and poverty are nothing like those in other American communities and the historically weak attempts at missionary work on reservations is well-documented.

It is why I’m excited about Nations, Campus Crusade for Christ’s outreach to Native American students. We have an increasing number of staff and volunteers that are focused on reaching this segment of students and are seeing God honor their faithfulness. Though Christians have often misrepresented Christ to those on reservations, our staff and students with Nations are seeking to be “salt and light” to those that need to hear about Jesus. Nations embraces and honors First Nations people and recognizes that there is one true Creator who desires to bring restoration to what has been lost by placing his Son Jesus Christ at the center of Native life and culture. May your tribe increase!

You can visit the website for Nations Movement by clicking here.