Well OTH - first of all let me take my hat off to ya - because you provided some very good documentation as requested. I respect that, because it enables me and others to understand where your position comes from, and give that full weight.
I read the link - and I have to make a few observations.
#1 - the Report is almost 4 years dated, but does provide a view of the conditions at the time of writing.
#2 - the writer is a "freelance" reporter and a member of the Native American Journalists Association - and as such it must be noted that "objectivity" is not necessarily maintained since membership requires "tribal affiliation" in some way.
#3 - per the article, while unemployment hovers around 84%, and 97% of the residents live below the poverty level, death and health rates are abnormally bad, the population is RISING! Now say what you want, but that just doesn't add up.
#4 - when taking into account #3, the article also makes clear that "half" the population are registered tribal members - meaning that half the people that are CHOOSING to live within the confines of the reservation are not members of the tribe.
#5 - taking 3 and 4 together - it would appear that the Oglala Lakota nation - as an INDEPENTENT NATION, has a severe problem with immigration - especially since most of the immigrants are apparently unemployed drunks according to the claims made by the article. (And people wonder why some US citizens want controlled borders....)
#6 - The nation has made illegal the sale or possession of alcohol. Then the article complains about the high rate of alcoholism and about liquor stores in a small community outside the limits of the reservation. If possession is illegal, then as long as the drunks stay off the reservaton, whats the problem. I mean, common sense says stick their version of a border crossing sitting at what apparently is the only road going and coming into the reservation from that community, and deny entry to any drunk or person with "contraband". Alchohol problem solved. Oh but wait - that would require them to do for themselves wouldn't it?
#7 - much ado is made about the "rich" tribes who profit from gambling - but the article predates the Prairie Wind Casino - which includes a 78 room hotel (6 with jacuzzis!) that was built at an estimated cost of ~20Million. The tribal government recieves the proceeds - but who knows what they do with them..... Oh they have a restaurant that seats about 180 people too....
http://www.prairiewindcasino.com/index.htm
#8 - the article bemoans the lack of resources/employment opportunities for the reservation inhabitants - due to the level of poverty. However, the USDA 2002 report indicated that there were over $33 MILLION worth of agricultural sales on the reservation during that year, but only a small portion of it went to tribal members. Again we refer to #5 - since apparently all the unemployed drunk immigrants were actually there cultivating and selling some form of agriculture under the very noses of this reporter and the national government - without being noticed.
I could continue, but in the above we can see that the article as written is designed to emotionally pull heart strings and paint the bleakest picture available to the reader. In that - it succeeds, but at the cost of showing the lack of "journalistic integrity" of the writer once the reality is examined.
Do you think a $20 Million dollar casino is going to open up in the midst of a spot where "59% of the homes are substandard" and "33% of the homes lack basic water and sewage systems, as well as electricity"? Yea, thats really going to bring in the tourists. Especially since the article claims that 80% of the residents suffer from alcoholism, people are regularly found frozen to death, there is little to no health care, one mediocre grocery store, etc.
But even though people are dying off left and right from all this - the population is growing with all the immigrants....
I dunno about any of you, but if I was going to invest in a $20 Million dollar casino - that isn't quite where I would go.
Oh - before I forget - lets not forget the article stating that just about every state that borders the reservation is poisioning the water supply with runnoff of pesticides.... My god - is this place built at the bottom of a bowl and every place around is higher so they get all the water runoff?
No - what this is - is a "pity us" piece, ripe with every negative that can be found, ignoring the role of self determination for the people and the nation as a whole, which they are (or were if we take the author at her word) failing at miserably.
I don't say that the US Government is blameless, but remember that as an independant nation - they have a responsibility to their own people, and its obvious by the data shared by the writer if taken at face value, that they have failed in that responsibility. But its always easier to blame others instead of acting to improve yourself. They operate under the same treaties and regulation as other tribes - and those other tribes prosper where they fail - and somehow that is the fault of everyone else.....