Photo of the Week: Taking the Reservation to Washington
Levi Rickert, Native News Network
WASHINGTON – Photo of poor housing needs to be shared.
“Since Washington cannot come to the reservation, we will take the reservation to Washington,”
said Paul Iron Cloud about the Trail of Hope for Indian Housing’s 1,500 delivery of a Pine Ridge Indian Reservation house to the nation’s capital city.
This photo of the week was chosen because the story of sub-standard housing on Pine Ridge is significant.
The purpose was to bring attention to members of Congress of the sub-standard living conditions that exist on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation. The dilapidated structure represented of the overcrowded and sub-standard housing conditions where Northern Plains Indians are forced to live. Many Indian reservations have the worst housing in the United States.
So, the group left last Saturday for Washington with a portion of a house that was erected at Pine Ridge Village in the 1960s.
The house arrived with and was parked out the US Capitol on Wednesday for people to see. Once parked outside the Capitol Hill, some people stopped to ask if the house was really from the Pine Ridge.
On the side of the house was a sign that read: “A month ago, 13 people lived in this 2 bedroom, 1 bath home.”
Unfortunately, for the organizers of Trail of Hope for Indian Housing, only Senator Heidi Heitkamp, D-North Dakota, who sits on the US Committee on Indian Affairs, was the only member of Congress to attend the short program.
Wednesday was a hectic day in the nation’s capital due to national security concerns. Only two days before terrorists disrupted the Boston Marathon by leaving behind two bombs that killed three people and some 180 wounded. A portion of the Capitol Hill was closed down due to a ricin poison-laced letter sent to Senator Wicker’s office.
This photo of the week was chosen because the story of sub-standard housing on Pine Ridge is significant. We hope it gets shared on the internet – especially to members of Congress who were otherwise preoccupied on Wednesday.