THERE IS STILL TIME TO DONATE TO THE LAKOTA!

Reminder to POCO readers that the supply drive to contribute to the Pine Ridge Emergency Relief Aid program is still underway. This is a program created by the Lakota Nation in Pine Ridge, South Dakota to mitigate the deplorable conditions that the United States continues to impose on native people.

In the Pine Ridge Sioux community, euphemistically known as “Reservations”, Lakota men have a life expectancy of less than 44 years, the infant mortality rate is 300% more than the U.S. average, and the median income is approximately $2,600 to $3,500 per year. These statistics represent only a few of the conditions the Lakota are forced to live under due to U.S. policy in so-called “Indian Affairs”.

Please donate dry and canned goods, new clothing (all ages, all sizes), paper products (napkins, plates, cups, etc.), and school supplies for the T.R.E.A.T.Y school to the Lakota people. All donations can be sent to 419 Lovett Blvd, Houston, Texas 77006. Donations will be accepted through December 15, 2010.

We also encourage you to visit the Lakota website at www.republicoflakotah.com/humanitarian-relief and make monetary donations to them directly.

Our donations to the emergency relief is not done as an act of charity, it is being done as an act of solidiarty with the understanding that sending goods to the people of the Lakota is not the magic bullet to eliminate the suffering and degradation on their own land. As People of Color, we know that the end game is the end of capitalist, settler exploitation, and that the goal is to support the Lakota and all native peoples in the struggle for their land. Contributing to the supply drive is essentially a tactic to foster strength physically and mentally so that the Lakota and all people of color can be more effective in our efforts to win liberation.

Dec201006

Zari Sundiata

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