- The Nebraska Liquor Control Commission accounted 4.6 million cans of beers sold in Whiteclay alone throughout 2010 (roughly 12,500 cans a day), a vast majority of those sales to members of the Oglala Sioux from Pine Ridge.
- Although only 14 people permanently live in Whiteclay, the sale of alcohol to those living on Pine Ridge Reservation provide an average median income for those residents of $76,500 with none of the population (those contributing to the crisis) living under the poverty line.
- While the rest of the United States population is affected by 10% unemployment rates, the members of the Pine Ridge suffer from almost 80% unemployment. Around 60% of individuals aged under 18 live below the federal poverty line.
- Diabetes greatly affects the Oglala Sioux with amputation rates due to diabetes is 3 to 4 times higher than the national average. The death rate attributed to diabetes in Pine Ridge is 3 times higher than the national average, the sale of alcohol in Whiteclay being a major contribute.
- Life expectancy on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation is a meager 48 years for males and 52 for females, to put that in perspective the US average is 79.8 years while Uganda's (which has experienced immense suffering from AIDS as well as genocide) average is 56 years. The infant mortality rate is over 5% higher than the US national average.
The list can keep going but I will stop there. I believe that sufficiently outlines some of the major problems surrounding Whiteclay and the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation. It is clear that something must be done to help the struggling members living on the reservation.
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| Not a rare sight in and around Whiteclay, NE as alcohol cripples the members of Pine Ridge |
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