“A Hidden America: Children of the Plains” (2011) was a White American television documentary about four children who live at Pine Ridge, a Lakota Sioux Indian reservation in south-western South Dakota. The show appeared on ABC as part of “20/20”. It was hosted by Diane Sawyer.
One of the children tried to hang herself at age 11. She drew a picture of it complete with a broken heart. Her mother is being destroyed by drink. Her bedroom is too cold to sleep in. She showed Diane Sawyer all her clothes – on three hangers. She does well at school and wants to become a schoolteacher, teaching children Lakota.
Families: Most parents are absent or hooked on drugs and drink. Most are out of work. Uncles and grandparents try to hold things together. People live in falling-apart, ill-heated houses. In one three-bedroom house there were 19 people.
Schools: lack money and are falling apart too. One school they showed still had asbestos, which causes cancer. What little money they get has to go to books, computers and teachers.
Food: The free food the government sends is not healthy. Half the people have diabetes. Most Lakota Indians never see 60. For many children their only solid meal is at school. When a Subway sandwich shop opened one women was amazed by the cucumbers: fresh vegetables are that expensive.
Businesses: There are no banks or malls or cinemas. The few businesses there are more regulated than a nuclear power plant.
Liquor stores: Just outside the reservation stand four liquor stores. Together they sell 4 million cans of beer a year. They are owned by outsiders.
The show was excellent:
- Visibility: American television almost never shows Indian reservations – or other poor places in America that are far from Hollywood and New York. In American society Native Americans are out of sight, out of mind.
- Large audience: ABC can easily pull in millions of viewers, unlike PBS or YouTube.
- Material help: The show gave viewers ways to help Pine Ridge – and some have. The show even helped one of the children find his father.
But it was terrible too:
- Teflon history: Near the beginning Diane Saywer said, “But tonight is not about history.” We are given almost no way to understand what we are seeing, like the drunken men sleeping on sidewalks. Just passing references to broken treaties, boarding schools and such.
- Helpless darkies: You hear little about what the Lakota have been doing and are doing to make things better.
- White gaze: This show was made by and for white people. It would have been ten times better if Diane Sawyer had just walked down the street and let people speak their minds. Or what about segments written and produced by people from Pine Ridge? Where is the Lakota gaze?
- Do not talk to the old people: Except for Diane Sawyer herself, everyone over the age of 30 appears only briefly and almost accidentally. As if Sawyer is not particularly interested in understanding what is going on.
Thanks to Renee of Womanist Musings for writing about this on her blog.
See also:
- ABC: A Hidden America: Children of the Plains – watch the show (41 minutes)
- YouTube: More than that... – a video made by Lakota schoolchildren in answer to the documentary
- The Sioux today
- race and crime and poverty and television
- white gaze
- darkies
- Teflon Theory of History
- black pathology
- The lies you were taught about Native Americans
“Tonight is not about history.” Wow. Sad.
That’s one of the biggest problems with American discourse; “tonight” is rarely ever about history, at least history as it actually happened. There are far too many hidden America’s and hidden histories.
LikeLike
Another glaring example of Whiteness!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Its Manifest Destiny mandate of theft, assimilation and destruction.
Everywhere IT goes there’s a wide swath of annihilation and ruined lives left in its wake. Will this monster ever stop?
LikeLike
This is sad. Many native americans are living like this on reservations and most of the mainstream media (or people in general) don’t know about it. This needs more light and it should have happened sooner.
A lot of white people like to bury these things so the mainstream doesn’t see it or maybe it’s for them to feel better about what they did and to ‘pretend’ they didn’t do anything to contribute to it.
I agree, It would have been better to show it through the NA eyes and gaze and not scripted, produced and shown by white people. It’s biased and slanted.
LikeLike
I forgot to add, a good blog by a Lakota journalist. He is currently attending grad school at Columbia for journalism. His blog touches on NA issues first hand from a Lakota himself. Good blog and his messages need to be heard more.
http://iamnotamascot.blogspot.com/view/sidebar
LikeLike
Very good post! And yes, “Tonight is not about history”!!!! WTF???? It has everything to do with the history of genocide, mass murders, oppression, terror, almost everything one can imagine. Sometimes I think that as long as USA does not get its history right and accept and aknowledge the facts, it will remain a racist country. How the country treats its minorities, blacks and others, originates from this.
Australia, hardly an oasis in anti racism, officially and absolutely admitted years ago that it had been stealing the lands of aborginales, treating them like BEEP and tried to destroy them for decades and centuries. I wonder will USA do the same? Not that it would change anything in short term but it could be a start for something else.
LikeLike
“But tonight is not about history”
more reasons not to watch white owned American media.
LikeLike
I may be going out on a limb here but I suspect part of the reason why they didn’t interview many older people is because the show was titled “Children” of the plains, that and they were going for sympathy.
Much less sympathy is given to adults vs children.
Its easier to give sympathy to a child who has to be raised by an abusive alcoholic mom than it is to the abusive alcoholic mom herself.
In doing what she’s done, she’s mistreated her children and abandoned her responsibilities but the child is just a victim.
LikeLike
“But tonight is not about history.”
How telling is this statement. Another ‘double standard’ being set here as it reflects the thinking of some of the Usual Suspects on here who repetitively bring forth only the ‘positive’ things ‘their’ forefathers have done for the Universe!!!!
By contrast they can discuss the so called ‘negative’ things that POC have/havent done for society since the year dot and what they and their forefathers did/didnt do to said POC.
Sadly, the statement is entirely apt – It really isnt about the History of the Native Americans, it seems, this is a ‘made for television’ Story which, takes the reader through the gamut of emotions yet, like a book, once the programme is finished, the book is closed and put back on the shelf until ‘interest’ is revived and it is dusted off again.
LikeLike
@V-4
I may be going out on a limb here but I suspect part of the reason why they didn’t interview many older people is because the show was titled “Children” of the plains, that and they were going for sympathy.
Much less sympathy is given to adults vs children.
But to what end? Granted, I didnt watch the programme myself and yes, the programme is entitled ‘Children of the plains’ but surely, to contextualise the situation that the children are in, they really should be interviewing the adults too? Just my opinion – maybe you/others on here can clarify for me.
LikeLike
@Matari
“Another glaring example of Whiteness!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Its Manifest Destiny mandate of theft, assimilation and destruction.
Everywhere IT goes there’s a wide swath of annihilation and ruined lives left in its wake. Will this monster ever stop?”
I ask myself that question everyday. It seems like it’s not relenting no matter what.
@Abagond
“But tonight is not about history.”
Of course. It has nothing to do with the bloody, destructive history of white people against Native Americans because that happened a long time ago. Give me a break, Diane!
LikeLike
cj-canadian
“But tonight is not about history”
more reasons not to watch white owned American media.
*****************************************
It”s too bad that POC do not/cannot use their enormous collective economic purchasing POWER to boycott products, services and-or engage in crippling work stoppages – to effect real and lasting change.
LikeLike
I wonder if they mentioned the residential schools among other atrocities perpetrated on First Nations people?
LikeLike
Yeah, another pity-fest, for sure. Take out your hanky and cry a bit, then change the channel and go back to laughing. Americans off the rez, if they have enough money to get by, tend to become well-adjusted to injustice. It’s all too easy to compartmentalize, and tuck stuff like this into a drawer with other pitiful knick-knacks and vague conscience-tweakers.
Btw, here’s a better perspective, a 56-minute movie. It provokes outrage, not pity (actually, it’s called “American Outrage”). My local video store (which is still alive!) has it. You should ask your local library to buy it.
I don’t know if the director (Beth Gage) is white or not, but the movie does a great job of portraying the larger forces that bear down on indigenous people in the U.S. And, it doesn’t degrade and infantalize them.The land- and resource-thievery (in this case, for gold, which is mostly used for mere jewelry!) that has centrally characterized white treatment of Native people continues to this day:
http://www.bullfrogfilms.com/catalog/amout.html
LikeLike
@Demera
But to what end? Granted, I didnt watch the programme myself and yes, the programme is entitled ‘Children of the plains’ but surely, to contextualise the situation that the children are in, they really should be interviewing the adults too? Just my opinion – maybe you/others on here can clarify for me.
Honestly if I had to guess its about pulling on heart strings and people’s emotions, kind of like a form of “sadness porn”. More so than any real desire to help.
Or maybe a subconscious attempt to make yourself feel better by watching others who have it worse than you if your a viewer.
@ proudchocolategirl
As to whether the Lakota get reparations; I think they fall under the general ones natives get but I honestly don’t know.
LikeLike
V-4,
I prefer pity porn.
LikeLike
(The term, I mean!)
LikeLike
@ Proud
I do not know of the Lakota getting reparations. My understanding is that the government, after taking most of their land and pushing them into the most undesirable bits of it, promised them free food and medical care. But the food they get is not good for you – high in starch, few fresh fruits or vegetables – and the free clinics are far and few between.
In the 1970s and 1980s the government built houses for them but since Reagan’s tax cuts for the rich there is no money to maintain them, so they are falling apart. The Lakota do not have enough money to heat them properly.
Meanwhile the land the whites took from them had billions of dollars of silver and gold…
LikeLike
@ Proud
Your suspicions about the show are pretty much right.
LikeLike
@proudchocolategirl: Some nations have received some petty amounts of funding but the real issue here is this: how do you compensate people for taking their land, religion, language, culture? As long as the US government and the majority of americans see the native people as The Other and does not recognise them as The Originals, True Ones, The Real Americans, there is no way forward.
I think this is a very good example of the “White Guilt” and how US is handling it. It does some song and dance, writes a history where the red man, unfortunately, lost and almost got wiped out (so so sorry), hands out some minimal money, calls the places were it has put the natives in as “reservations”, that is the places of reservation, a bit like wild game reserve or a nice zoo, and forgets about them.
One lakota activist wrote once a good piece about his visit to the museum. He saw some natives in some displays and noticed that their clothes were wrong. When he pointed this to the museum staff, they told him that it is accurate. He insisted and told them that he should know since he belongs to that tribe but the museum did not believe him because they had “an expert on indian cultures” who had supervised the display set up.
Basically the US system still does not want to admit that these are people, humanbeings, whose land was stolen, who were almost killed off and who are still the poorest among the people in USA. Oh, it is ever so nice when they build a casino and start to make money in a good ole american capitalist way, but ops, absolute majority of them still live just like in any thrid world country.
Recognition of the Native Nations would be a step forward, but it will never come for one very good reason: doing so, US government would have to recognise them as real people with all the rights and that would reveal what really has happened. USA never had, nor it has, any legal right to treat these people the way they have, not to mention the moral right. Just like the whites in Namibia or South Africa, only there they did not wipe out the natives who were able to come back. But a lot like in Australia.
LikeLike
Not to mention that this would lead to pay actual reparations (as opposed as unilaterally deciding that any handout given so far should be considered as reparations…).
LikeLike
@Bulanik
America was built on conquest and plunder. American’s still live like they are some kind of trail blazing pioneers, seeing dangerous beasts and wild savages everywhere trying to prevent them from fulfilling their holy manifest destiny.
Knowing and revisiting TRUE history, not the idealistic Hollywood folklore a la John Wayne, would force people to acknowledge the fact that their nation and wealth was built upon exploitation and genocide.
And that they would actually have to DO something about it to set things straight, not just handing out pity-pennies.
American charity is not about actually making a difference, it is about making themselves feel good about THEMSELVES.
They don’t want the government to be involved so that the exploited people wouldn’t get TOO much (i.e. their fair share). They would stand Custer’s last stand to fight the gvt off. I mean, they DO need their pools and SUV’s and crap.
LikeLike
Goddamn injuns!
LikeLike
Abagond:
There is no such thing as forever. Whatever evil deeds that were done in the past can be reversed in the future. Native-Americans had their land, freedom, and lives stolen from them in the name of white supremacy. As it turns out, being white is not the “end all be all” that we were brainwashed to believe after all. Amerindians can take back their continent, but, is it in them to make that a reality?
Tyrone
Black Eros Movement
LikeLike
The media uses this tactic all the time. The White supremacist idea; that Black people are incapable of ruling themselves properly because they have low intelligence and a genetic predisposition towards violence, is pervasive in Western societies and believed by most of their people. So when they show the war in the Congo and the atrocities committed there on TV for instance and leave out the White corporations role in fueling it, it reinforces the idea that Black people are too wild violent and dumb to run or participate in a civilized society, without it being explicitly said.
What makes this tactic so useful for the White supremacist mainstream media who use it and effective is that it is sly and underhand. They don’t have to overtly say anything racist, but by only showing outcomes and never showing the causes, they deceive through omission and reinforce existing racist ideas everyday by stealth.
LikeLike
@Robert:
What makes this tactic so useful for the White supremacist mainstream media who use it and effective is that it is sly and underhand. They don’t have to overtly say anything racist, but by only showing outcomes and never showing the causes, they deceive through omission and reinforce existing racist ideas everyday by stealth.
—–
Literally as I type, I’m listening to a CNN story that is highlighting whites in suburbia who are relying on public assistance (food stamps and food banks). I almost fell out of my chair. The media usually shows black people as the recipients of public assistance while omitting the white ones. I’m sure many will see these subjects as good folks who have just fallen on hard times, not as “drains on society.” As you have said, the media doesn’t have to say anything overtly racist. The omissions along with the images it chooses to show do the trick. Unthinking, unquestioning people are then left to come to their own warped conclusions.
LikeLike
@Hannu Lipponen
I would agree with you about charity; its one of those things that occurs to me from time to time, that if most americans really wanted to “fix” alot of the problems they donate money for.
Than a basic universal welfare/medical system would do a lot to even that gap right there.
But they don’t want to fix it; they just want to feel good about themselves.
LikeLike
So I tried to begin watching it; but the way they were talking just seemed cheesy and cloying as hell.
One thing it made me think about; seems like whenever you see something on the Natives, it usually mentions something about braves, warriors etc……but how often do you see the same thing applied to germans or scandinavians inregards to being warriors, vikings or barbarians?
I’m not sure what that means exactly but its something.
LikeLike
Walters first line already foreshadows as to what will be the focus of the whole event. The U.S. does not want to pay for anything even with the casinos on Reservations it is said that they are used for them to gamble away their land. Maybe Walters didn’t want to interview the older people heavily because they wouldn’t sugar code the reasons for what they are going through and/or cause they look younger than her.
LikeLike
I am not sure I am able to say a great deal on this subject since I am neither American, nor incredibly familiar with Native Americans. However, it seems to me this is another event where White people are presenting a narrow view of an entire group of racialised people. One negative view that is often generalised to the entire population.
If anyone is interested, there was an article about this and a video response from young Native Americans on Racialicious: http://www.racialicious.com/2011/12/19/native-students-rebut-abcs-children-of-the-plains/
LikeLike
I saw this and as you note there was no historical context. But if they had given context then most Whites would have changed the channel. Since we all know it was Whites that caused their situation and Whites that keep them in it.
All of these shows are designed to let White society off the hook. Like those CNN Black in America shows. They don’t give historical context either.
And with no context it’s just Black or Native dysfunction on display for Whites.
LikeLike
commentarybyvalentina
“… But if they had given context then most Whites would have changed the channel. Since we all know it was Whites that caused their situation and Whites that keep them in it.
All of these shows are designed to let White society off the hook. Like those CNN Black in America shows. They don’t give historical context either.
And with no context it’s just Black or Native dysfunction on display for Whites.
**************************************
You’re absolutely correct Valentina.
“Minority Pathologies” (dysfunction) ON DISPLAY according to the white racial frame. It’s part and parcel of how white supremacy/racism’s superiority complex is subtly maintained..
This type of programming is designed not only to let whites off the hook, but to also cast doubt, fear and suspicion … while bolstering their belief in American meritocracy as they play their “blame the victim’s INFERIOR culture” card.
Interesting how they never look at any pathologies that are overwhelmingly white. They might implode or self-destruct if that were to happen on a wide scale.
LikeLike
I did not like Diane Sawyer’s tone either. “Such hopeful, vital, brave warriors!” or something like that. Never once asking where the hopes, vitality and courage of their parents went.
And yes, I believe she avoided old people because they would not speak in Sugar Codes for the whites folks watching at home.
LikeLike
It followed the pathologies frame in that it showed the dysfunction while allowing whites to think it has little to do with them. And like Gene Marks in Forbes, she allows us to believe that if they just try a little harder they can get into a good private school and be all right.
On the other hand Sawyer did not moralize and did not wheel out a Rented Indian to blame Indians for the mess they are in. In fact their values were not bad but wise! Despite the high rates of substance abuse, unemployment and teenage pregnancies. She allowed the Lakota to play the Tragic Victim of History, even if she was not going to tell us all about those broken treaties.
LikeLike
I was reminded of something when Diane asked one Native American, ‘Why don’t you (Native Americans) leave?” It had to be explained to her that the reservation is their home, their nation. For those of you who are not American, reservations were set up (pun intended) by the Feds, to be little nations within a nation, each having its own system of government, court system, etc. The woman interviewed went even further to provide an analogy: It’s like someone asking why Americans don’t leave the US because of the recession. The ‘Why don’t you just leave?’ question is very telling. Years ago I attended a course on race relations in the work place. After listening to various accounts from black people regarding racism they had experienced, a white woman spoke out and said, ‘Then why don’t you guys just leave?’ (as in leave the country). I couldn’t believe my ears at the time. . .
Another interesting moment in the clip was when Diane asked. ‘Is it the federal government’s fault that there are no businesses?’ Her voice had a ‘How CAN it be?’ tone. She was told the Feds “purposefully” created a system that makes starting businesses confusing and difficult. Apparently the Feds use more regulations than it does for “nuclear power plants.” The word ‘purposefully” really got my attention.
LikeLike
Someone mention most of these “native americans” are living like this and mainstream media don’t know about it.”
Listen…mainstream media DO know about this. They just don’t give a damn. THEY (mainstream media) got what what they wanted if you know what i mean and they’re glad its like this. They don’t care about “the natives” anymore then they care about blacks. YAAHOOO! Proud to be an American. (rolliingeyes)
LikeLike
@ Nom De Plume
“The ‘Why don’t you just leave?’ question is very telling. Years ago I attended a course on race relations in the work place. After listening to various accounts from black people regarding racism they had experienced, a white woman spoke out and said, ‘Then why don’t you guys just leave?’ (as in leave the country). I couldn’t believe my ears at the time. . .”
**********************************
Good! That works both ways. Now I know how I’ll respond to the next person that plays that (ever growing in popularity) – REVERSE RACISM card.. “they” like to play.
LikeLike
@Matari @commentarybyvalentina:
I don’t care for those Black In America/Latino In America specials. As you have said, they give no historical context. ‘Black In America: Silicon Valley’ was especially disturbing. The network chose to highlight a particular group of young, black entrepreneurs who arrived in California unprepared to pitch their ideas. It left viewers with the impression that investors didn’t fund them because they (young people) didn’t have their acts together. The racially-biased system that favors whites and east Asians in Silicon Valley was barely mentioned. If the network had chosen to highlight a group of black entrepreneurs who were thoroughly prepared, the apparent racism would have been in the forefront. Talk about being let off the hook! A south Asian man in the story said he had to resort to using a white guy to pitch his product to investors. He ended up getting the funding he needed.
LikeLike
I’d like to see a special about Nunavut, Canada. It was established in 1999 as the “official” home of First Nations people. Today, Nunavut has the HIGHEST suicide rate in the country with 33% of the popn (all Natives) killing themselves annually. Almost all the suicide cases are people under 30.
LikeLike
@ abagond
That ‘bootstraps’ narrative is almost always in play when the mainstream media covers People of Color. The system which actually causes the problems is almost never examined or even mentioned.
@ Matari
And the worst effect of this, displaying non-White dysfunction with no context, is that a lot of People of Color actually believe that what ails People of Color is their own fault. Which I suppose is how Black and Brown Conservatives are created.
@ Nom De Plume
I agree, Black In America: Silicon Valley, was very problematic. All one has to do is take a walk on Facebook’s or Yahoo’s campus to see there is something going on with regard to race there.
LikeLike
I really hate Western media, especially the news media when it comes to crime and poverty. Sad thing is even though you try to avoid it, you’re still confined in a world where it’s used as a “resource” by almost everyone around you.
Also Abagond, while on this topic, I have a link to send you, and I hope that you will do a post about it if possible.
LikeLike
I’m glad the problems with this show are being addressed.
There has never been a formal reparations process for American Indians. Although the government apologized for their actions against Natives in 2009, it was not made public as apologies were in Canada and Australia.
http://www.dailyyonder.com/quiet-american-apology-indians/2011/12/07/3634
There have been settlements to rectify abuses of treaties. There also was the historic Cobell lawsuit against the govt. for mismanagement of trust monies and the KeepsEagle class action lawsuit against the USDA for discriminatory loan practices.
http://www.cobellsettlement.com/
http://www.cohenmilstein.com/cases/95/keepseagle
However, as others noted, no amount of money can pay us back for the theft of our land, language, and culture.
LikeLike
I wonder if they talk about the massive number of troops that are Native American, including Lakota. A sad story I have was that one of my coworkers pretended she was Mexican so noone knew she was Lakota.
LikeLike
This show was good in some aspects, but viewed on our Reservation (the Rosebud Sioux) as “poverty porn.” It does nothing to acknowledge what the Lakota people are trying to do for themselves, and lumps the Lakota together, as though every Lakota views his/her life as Diane Sawyer does. When this show aired, I was teaching on the Rosebud (grades 9-12) and showed this to my students. After viewing, I asked them, “Are you a child who lives in poverty? Yes or no? Why, or why not?” 99% of them stated they were not living in poverty because they had clothing, a place to live, and someone to care for them. Most of them did not like the way the show portrayed the Lakota at all and had strong opinions and reactions.
http://www.nativeamericancolombe.blogspot.com
LikeLike