The Lakota Elders Of Porcupine S.D. & The Strong Heart Society Again Ask For Your Help!




The picture above is of The Elder's Center in Porcupine SD,On the Pine Ridge Reservation.This building has been condemned multiple times.


The Elders are asking that the Oglala Sioux Tribe use some of the millions of dollars given to them thru HUD to honor their request for a new building and to follow the instructions of the Regional Housing Authority that last condemned it and stated it needed torn down and a new one built during the Elders Occupation of the Center in 2011.


The building has multiple health hazards that just remodeling will not fix.They include asbestos, lead paint, electrical issues and black mold.


Please support the traditional Lakota Elders in Porcupine by contacting Paul Iron Cloud at 1- 605-867-5161


Demand the OST build the Porcupine Elders a New Elder's Center that is Safe & Healthy for them! Do Not Remodel one that has been condemned at least four times already!

Uncle Duane has called me and told me his daughter Joanne 

Marie Martin was injured at School and has been taken to the 

hospital, he did not have any real details other than she was 

in surgery,but he had scraped up enough Gas money to get to 

the Hospital he thinks.

If you can help him Call Cante Tenza @ 
Free & Independent Lakota Nation

Box 512, Hill City, South Dakota 57747

1-605-517-1547

Lakota Elders Share Their Daily Lives 

After a long conversation with several of the Traditional Elders from The Porcupine District of the Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota this evening, I am still heartbroken and shocked that the Traditional Lakota Ways can have become so lost in these modern days.

As my Elders again share with me their daily struggles, and tell me of the violence they face,often from those who are supposed to be protecting them.It is a confusing situation for those of us raised to respect our Elders

Some of the most recent examples can be reviewed here :http://cantetenza.wordpress.com/2012/03/31/march-31-2012-update/

While the Elders were bringing me up to date on their lives,details almost beyond belief were spoken of in a matter of fact way. These Elderly People were reconciled to this as normal living on a daily basis.

Unci (Grandmother) Cecilia Martin who is 92 years old talks about the abuse of the elderly there. She says the CAP Office does not help them. She says that monies that come in, do not go to the Elders and for their care, but goes to the Tribal Council,their families & friends, while the Elders go with-out basic care, like electric service, propane in the winters. Maintenance on homes and roads leading to their homes just does not happen.

She said that she was born & raised in the Porcupine District and lived her life there, but now she feels like she is in a concentration camp , or a slave to those who control the funding of the tribe.

That the food sent from the Elders Meals Program when they get it is not enough to sustain them. One of the women who works there is reputed to have TB and now they are afraid to eat it, since most of them are scared of infection and know that IHS does not really meet their needs when they get sick. Those who have Medicare go to the Gordon Clinic but that often takes money they do not have so they use traditional ways and other-wise go with-out.

She shared with me, that being in a wheelchair, she is paying people $10 to $15 to carry off her trash when she could afford it.  Tribe charges $50 to put a trash can in front of their homes and pick up their garbage. This is part of the frustration of those who own their homes and have no way to maintain them.as age and health make doing so an impossibility.

Enoch Brings Plenty speaks again about the need for a new Elders Center and of the Elders wanting one close to the Post Office. He is worried since instead of the one hundred thousand dollars that was supposed granted to build a new one the Council is discussing raising funds to rebuild the old one that has now been condemned at least four times. He shares with me about how Elders can’t get approved for Homes through the Tribal Housing Authority unless they have a guaranteed income of $12,000, for many $4000 a year is a good year. Then for those who do “Qualify” the homes are not maintained even though they pay monthly rent.

His wife speaks of being mistreated because she is Lakota but not originally from Pine Ridge. She has been married to her husband who is from Pine Ridge for over 40 years and is still denied needed services. Her brother is in the hospital in Rapid City and she had no way or help to reach his side before his surgery today.

All want to see a audit done of the Grants, Federal Funding and other incomes that have been received by the Tribe for Elder Care.

All also agree that a investigation by someone that can force the needed changes is overdue, The Tribal & State Governments continue to make promises they do not keep and the hope that the Federal Government will apply anything other than the system of genocide employed since its inception is rapidly disappearing for these Elders.

They pray daily that something changes, not just for them but for all the Traditional People just trying to survive while keeping their culture and way of life  alive.

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