|
|
Article: A people in peril.(Native Americans face unemployment and poverty)
- Article from:
- Current Events, a Weekly Reader publication
- Article date:
- February 24, 1997
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 1997 Weekly Reader Corp. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
|
STANDING ROCK, N.D.--A little more than 130 years ago, proud Sioux warriors fought the U.S. Army in the northern Great Plains--the vast flat sea of grass that once stretched across the north-central United States and into Canada.
Today, much of this vast grassland, now dotted with cities and farms, is covered with deep and blowing snow. And now, not only are the Sioux who live on reservations battling the worst winter weather in living memory, they are also battling for their very survival as a people.
By mid-January, eight people had frozen to death in North Dakota alone, along with 15,000 cattle. On January 21, President Clinton declared the entire ...