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El Laberinto, 1971-1987
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Lost Generation Torn between their native culture and that of the surrounding American society, Indian reservations have often been visited by despair and violence. The Native American suicide rate is far above the national average, but even that depressing fact could not account for the events of the past two months at the Wind River Reservation (pop. 6,000) in Wyoming, where nine young tribesmen have taken their lives. That rate is some 24 times the average for Indian men ages 15 to 24, and 60 times the national figure. Last week tribal elders returned to a long-abandoned tradition in the hope of saving their children. TIME correspondent Dan Goodgame reports from the Wind River: They looked like kids on a high school field trip, clad in Levi's and Springsteen sweatshirts, lining up by the hundreds at the entrance to a tepee. These students, though, were Indians, and the healing ritual to which they were invited was solemnly dedicated to saving their lives. Inside the tepee, redolent of burning herbs, tribal elders daubed the students with scarlet paint to cleanse them of evil spirits. This was "big medicine," last invoked during the killing flu epidemic of 1918 and now revived to banish the modern-day evil that has lately infected Wind River. The nine recent suicides admit to no pattern, except that all the victims were young men and all died by hanging. They ranged in age from 14 to 25. Friends and relatives saw no warning signs among most of the victims, and no explanation could be found in the two notes left behind; one youth simply willed his stereo to his brother. The rash of suicides began August 12, when 19-year-old Indian, in jail for public drunkenness, hanged himself with socks taken from a sleeping cellmate. A 16-year-old pallbearer at his funeral became the second victim, using a pair of sweatpants to hang himself from a tree. In turn, one of that youth's mourners became the third victim. Says Fremont County Coroner Larry Lee: "it seems to be a copycat; domino kind of thing." Lee, however, has found no evidence of a suicide pact. He believes that alcohol or drugs were factors in fewer than half the cases. "Many parents of these kids are friends of mine, and we can't explain it," he says. "These kids haven't even lived yet, and they're killing themselves." Some tribespeople view the suicide epidemic as a reason to reexamine the reservation's social and economic ills. About 70 percent of the Wind River work force is unemployed, and jobs for the young are espsecially scarce. AT the same time, the reservation's oil and gas wealth provides royalty payments of up to $300 a month per person, thus fostering a debilitating welfare culture. Howard Smith, fiscal officer for the Arapaho tribe, which shares the 2 million-acre reservation with the Shoshones, says, "Too many of our young people have time on their hands, so they drink and watch TV and get depressed. Set apart from American society, yet unable to escape its corrosive influence on tribal life, young Indians often face suicidal despair. "Our Creator can be cruel when he wants to open our eyes," says Wes Martel of the Shoshone Business Council. "Our tribes have great Continued on next page
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Lost Generation Torn between their native culture and that of the surrounding American society, Indian reservations have often been visited by despair and violence. The Native American suicide rate is far above the national average, but even that depressing fact could not account for the events of the past two months at the Wind River Reservation (pop. 6,000) in Wyoming, where nine young tribesmen have taken their lives. That rate is some 24 times the average for Indian men ages 15 to 24, and 60 times the national figure. Last week tribal elders returned to a long-abandoned tradition in the hope of saving their children. TIME correspondent Dan Goodgame reports from the Wind River: They looked like kids on a high school field trip, clad in Levi's and Springsteen sweatshirts, lining up by the hundreds at the entrance to a tepee. These students, though, were Indians, and the healing ritual to which they were invited was solemnly dedicated to saving their lives. Inside the tepee, redolent of burning herbs, tribal elders daubed the students with scarlet paint to cleanse them of evil spirits. This was "big medicine," last invoked during the killing flu epidemic of 1918 and now revived to banish the modern-day evil that has lately infected Wind River. The nine recent suicides admit to no pattern, except that all the victims were young men and all died by hanging. They ranged in age from 14 to 25. Friends and relatives saw no warning signs among most of the victims, and no explanation could be found in the two notes left behind; one youth simply willed his stereo to his brother. The rash of suicides began August 12, when 19-year-old Indian, in jail for public drunkenness, hanged himself with socks taken from a sleeping cellmate. A 16-year-old pallbearer at his funeral became the second victim, using a pair of sweatpants to hang himself from a tree. In turn, one of that youth's mourners became the third victim. Says Fremont County Coroner Larry Lee: "it seems to be a copycat; domino kind of thing." Lee, however, has found no evidence of a suicide pact. He believes that alcohol or drugs were factors in fewer than half the cases. "Many parents of these kids are friends of mine, and we can't explain it," he says. "These kids haven't even lived yet, and they're killing themselves." Some tribespeople view the suicide epidemic as a reason to reexamine the reservation's social and economic ills. About 70 percent of the Wind River work force is unemployed, and jobs for the young are espsecially scarce. AT the same time, the reservation's oil and gas wealth provides royalty payments of up to $300 a month per person, thus fostering a debilitating welfare culture. Howard Smith, fiscal officer for the Arapaho tribe, which shares the 2 million-acre reservation with the Shoshones, says, "Too many of our young people have time on their hands, so they drink and watch TV and get depressed. Set apart from American society, yet unable to escape its corrosive influence on tribal life, young Indians often face suicidal despair. "Our Creator can be cruel when he wants to open our eyes," says Wes Martel of the Shoshone Business Council. "Our tribes have great Continued on next page
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