OUR OPINION: Indian Health Service must explain Titus reprimand
July 30, 2012 at 7:00 pm in Grand Forks Herald
The Indian Health Service needs to explain itself. Otherwise, the stain on its integrity caused by the situation at Spirit Lake only deepens. Continue Reading
Just standard operations in Indian Country. Shine a light on what goes on there and you are gone. I wish people would realize just how common this type of action is on the reservation. I heard someone complain that every little thing that happens on the reservations makes the paper. My experience is the opposite is true.
Very little of the crime that happens on the reservation ever makes it into the public eye. It simply is a closed secretive society. There maybe historical reason for the distrust but it is there. The children and women are paying the price for it.
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When you look up the word oppression in the dictionary it is spelled R*E*S*E*R*V*A*T*I*O*N.
The system is the problem and the problem will not be corrected until the system is radically changed or eliminated.
When you add this to the fact that government can never be trusted to do what is right of its own volition, you have the making of the quagmire that is US Indian policy.
Quit writing stories about the people and start writing stories about the system got them to where they are today.
SL is nothing special. Put the name of nearly every reservation in the United States in a hat and draw out a name and you will find similar problems.
There are a few reservations that are exceptions to the rule; but they are outliers. They do not reflect the condition of the majority of reservations in this country.
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My God I agree with you on most of what you say. But the story is on Tilus and you need to read his report on April 3rd, 2012 and recognize he was actually on Spirit Lake, then read Thomas Sullivan’s report on June 14th, 2012 and he is in Denver (probably never been to Spirit Lake) . They are night and day. Tilus describes what is taking place on all most every reservation he quotes 5 different reservations where as Sullivan focuses on the current Spirit Lake Government echoed by Purdon (USAND) even though almost all accusations are under previous administrations including the two children. Is there a problem? My God yes, but to try and destroy every member of Spirit Lake should and I believe is actually a crime. Why would you do such a thing? I know what I believe the reason to be, but it is just an opinion at this time. Why would Tilus write this report now when it has been going on for 5 years under his watch? Easy, it was going to be exposed and he needed to cover his butt. Why would Sullivan twist the report? Easy, Spirit Lakes Tribal Government needs to be discredited even at the expense of all the good tribal members. Where is all this coming from? You and I know where it is originating from and it has nothing to do with the children, tragically they are being used to further political and personal agendas. The good news maybe that a nation wide epidemic may get exposed. Also the incompetency of the BIA, Federal Attorney’s, Government Social Services as well as Tribal Social Services and Government agencies may see the light of day.
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——-”When you add this to the fact that government can never be trusted to do what is right of its own volition”——
What? Are you some kind of bagger?
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Does “bagger” mean “tells the honest-to-God TRUTH?”
American government is chock-full of corruption; primarily because we have a two-party system and both parties are pretty much the same. They’re both owned by special-interest groups, they both think the answer to every problem is more government intrusion and less freedom. They both think the middle class needs to be beaten and taxed into submission to provide subsidies for the rich and for the poor. They both believe that America can survive selling pizza, burgers, and insurance to each other while everything else comes from Communist China except for the Cross-border Invaders which used to come mostly from Mexico, but–apparently–now come mostly from various Asian countries.
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Repeat after me. “I’m mad as hell, and I’m not going to take it anymore!!” –Howard Beale in ‘Network’.
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Govt. cannot be trusted. The founding fathers knew this. That is why we have checks and balances and institutionalized gridlock. Government = power. Power corrupts. Checks, balances, and gridlock are built into the system because government is made up of men and women. People cannot be trusted to exercise power except in very controlled environments.
In a democracy we are the controls. If we believe government is inherently good, and exists to do good in the world, we have already lost.
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Whatever…..At least all this has finally put enough light on the situation that things are being done. It’s great that they charged someone for the murders, but what about the living cases? Are they getting the long over due attention that they’ve been needing? I mean we can look at all the faults of the system and point fingers, but the bottom line is…..What’s being done to help the kids who need it now? I might have missed it, but I haven’t seen any articles mentioning the steps that have been taken to improve that part…
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Unfortunately Tundra my guess is there is nothing more being done today than was done before the report was released. That is why I say the problem is the system. Nothing more will be done until the system is changed.
Right now much of what happens is the result of law, policies, procedures, and institutional in fighting. No one wants to deal with it so they pass the problem back and forth like a hot potato.
That will not change until the system does.
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“The Indian Health Service needs to explain itself.”
What a powerful statement on the part of a newspaper that has distinguished itself over the decades for incisive and hard-hitting investigative reporting, unless, of course, the subject was an advertiser.
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We ALL know that IHS “cannot” explain the treatment of Titus without condemning themselves.
They can’t apologize without condemning themselves.
This will never be resolved, and Titus will never get justice.
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Alright…I guess I’m gonna have to eat that comment.
I’m surprised and thankful that I was wrong.
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Being that most of you, at least, are from or around the grand forks area, I’m going to have to say that you don’t understand the unfair advantages that you have. You don’t live on the reservation. If those american indians were white, we wouldn’t be hearing about this.
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