Modern Conditions

Both the Tibetan/Nepalese peoples and the Lakota live in predominantly rural, poverty-stricken areas. The Tibetan "liberation" by the People's Republic of China can be compared to the USA invasion into Lakota territory. In both instances, a comparatively small, rural population was assimilated by the larger, more powerful society. The Lakota were forced onto reservations and learn the white man's way, often with their own language and spirituality suppressed. Tibetans were forced to live under Communist rule, with its own culture and spirituality repressed, The Lakota live in one of the poorest places in the USA. Similarly, Nepal is home to some of the poorest people in the world, with indigenous communities often exploited by the elite.

Tibetan Communist Take-Over:

"In brief, therefore, in the period after the 1959 uprising, Buddhism was destroyed and Tibetans were forced to abandon deeply held values and customs that went to the core of their cultural identity. The class struggle sessions and the constant barrage of propaganda contradicting and ridiculing everything they understand and felt, sought to destroy the social and cultural fabric of the Tibetans' traditional way of life. These were terrible times for Tibetans in Tibet." ~ Melvyn C. Goldstein, The Snow Lion and the Dragon: China, Tibet, and the Dalai Lama, pg. 60

Wounded Knee Massacre:

"I did not know then how much was ended. When I look back now from this high hill of my old age, I can still see the butchered women and children lying heaped and scattered all along the crooked gulch as plain as when I saw them with eyes still young. And I can see that something else died there in the bloody mud, and was buried in the blizzard. A people's dream died there. It was a beautiful dream." ~ Black Elk, Black Elk Speaks, pg. 207

Here are modern statistics about the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation, home of the Oglala Lakota, courtesy of Red Cloud School: http://www.redcloudschool.org/history/facts.htm

The following are a few facts about the reservation today.

• Population: 46,000*
• One half of the population is under the age of 18.
• Unemployment: 73-85%
• Per Capita Income: $6,143**
• Life Expectancy: Male 55 (U.S. Avg. 75); Female 60 (U.S. Avg. 80)
• Infant Mortality Rate: 2.6 times the national average*
• Suicide Rate: 72% higher than the national average
• Diabetic Rate: 37% of the population is diabetic
• Alcoholism: 4 million cans of beer a year (10,958 beer cans a day) are sold just one mile from the border of the Pine Ridge Reservation in White Clay, NE, where the population is 14**
• Children in Poverty: 69% of the children on the Pine Ridge Reservation live in poverty

*Indian Health Services Medical Records
**U.S. Census Bureau

Here is a recent article from ESPN that highlights reservation basketball and is very informative about some of the present conditions on Pine Ridge: http://sports.espn.go.com/espnmag/story?id=3492012&campaign=rsssrch&source=basketball

Here is another informative website on the modern facts of Pine Ridge: http://www.nativevillage.org/Messages%20from%20the%20People/the%20arrogance%20of%20ignorance.htm

Here are some modern statistics on Nepal, courtesy of https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/np.html

Life expectancy at birth: total population: 60.94 years
male: 61.12 years
female: 60.75 years (2008 est.)

Literacy: definition: age 15 and over can read and write
total population: 48.6%
male: 62.7%
female: 34.9% (2001 census)

Unemployment rate: 42% (2004 est.)

Population below poverty line: 30.9% (2004)

Here is a website with some information on Tibet: http://www.nirvanatour.de/tibet/facts.html

Here is a look at Tibet from the Chinese perspective: http://www.china.org.cn/english/tibet-english/index.htm

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