A tribe forgotten

[NVMojo]

MCDERMITT -- While the nation was riveted to scenes of devastation of Hurricane Katrina, a fire on the Fort McDermitt Paiute/Shoshone Reservation that burned 3,000 acres of reservation land and 12,700 acres total received little attention.

No one was killed in the blaze that quickly snaked through homes on Aug. 29. One home was destroyed and 16 sheds on tribal members' property burned at the reservation on the Nevada/Oregon border.

"It wasn't much but it was everything to them," said Richard Harjo, chairman of the Nevada Indian Commission, an agency created to examine the social and economic well-being of American Indians in Nevada. "We've never had a catastrophic event like this."

Unaware of where to go for aid after a disaster, the tribe went to the usual agencies only to find themselves in a web of bureaucracy and without answers.

more...

http://news.rgj.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20051023/NEWS07/510230318/1010/NEWS

photos:


http://cmsimg.rgj.com/apps/pbcsi.dll/bilde?NewTbl=1&Avis=J7&Dato=20051023&Kategori=PHOTOGAL01&Lopenr=1023001&Ref=PH&Item=3&MaxW=350&MaxH=400

[callady]

1. nominated n/t

[NVMojo]

2. Thank you on their behalf, callady ...

here's a bit more ...hard to believe that America is satisfied with poverty as a gold standard in development ...

MCDERMITT- Nestled beneath the Santa Rosa mountains at the Oregon border is a sleepy town with little economic opportunity.

The unincorporated town of McDermitt has 269 residents, seven white and 262 American Indian, according to the U.S. Census. Four miles south of the town is the Fort McDermitt Paiute-Shoshone Tribe reservation of about 400 residents.

The impoverished tribe has struggled even more after a fire swept through the reservation Aug. 29, destroying one home and 16 sheds. Many lost the wood that would have been used to heat their homes this winter.

"They're really, really poor," said Delora Snapp, a social worker for the tribe. "Two or three families to a home. And there is no job. The economic situation is real poor."

http://news.rgj.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20051023/NEWS07/510230317/1010/NEWS

[callady]

4. Not only satisfied

but creating it everywhere it tramples- essential to Empire.

Thank you for bringing it to the light of day. Too few will read this for it sheds light on the deep and dirty truths. Reminds me of the genocidal tale of conquest and coup in Haiti which shows in full detail how it all works and not too many seem interested. Shakes the belief system.

Peace to you my friend.

http://www.waronwant.org/

[medeak]

3. Her prosthesis burned in the fire.

where's the media on this story? Was it even covered in Winnemucca?

[NVMojo]

5. Medeak, I doubt it was even covered in the Winnemucca papers ...

I forwarded the story on to our local paper ...did you check out the photos? Now that is poverty ...

[medeak]

6. have been there... it's incredibly isolated

McDermitt closest town is a one house street just about. A lot of affluent ranchers live there tho? Why aren't they helping?

[NVMojo]

7. good point and where the hell is our Governor? Harjo runs around with him

and Randolph Townsend ...I hope they see this news series and photo spread in today's Reno Gazette Journal. Good for them for doing their job.

These photos tore out my heart ...I am ashamed ...I had no idea this happened. I heard about the fires in brief in our local rag but that's it. Shame, shame, shame ...

:cry: :cry: :cry:

[NVMojo]

8. shame for minimizing the news benefits of this story

that is why these things are not being addressed ...oh, I forgot, these people are brown-skinned ...not news

[Cults4Bush]

9. I think its a classist distinction, "Oh its only a few sheds and a house",

Most people in America do not understand the abject poverty that our First Nations people face in many locales.

One day people will truly start to care about the least fortunate amongst us.... that day is very far off.

[stevedeshazer]

10. Thanks for posting this

I drove through McDermitt just two months ago. I had no idea this had happened since. It sure wasn't in any Oregon newspapers that I know of.

McDermitt is one hardscrabble kind of place. Hauntingly beautiful yet a tough place to live, as much of the Great Basin is.

Those pictures in the RGJ gallery should be seen by everyone. The tribes live in a poverty most Americans will never understand. Our treatment of these folks is every bit as shameful as that of the victims of Katrina.

[burrowowl]

11. Kick!

And for the other forgotten of this so-called Great Nation the U$ (GREED) of A.

[callady]

12. kick