Expert says past genocide linked to high suicide rates

Posted: November 15, 2006
by: McClatchy Tribune Business News
By Kevin Graman -- The Spokesman-Review

SPOKANE, Wash. - Any discussion of the high rate of suicide among young American Indians must begin with an acknowledgement of genocide, a nationally recognized expert in social work among Indian people said Oct. 24 in Airway Heights.

So far, there has been no such official acknowledgement from the U.S. government, said Maria Yellow Horse Brave Heart, a professor at the University of Denver Graduate School of Social Work.

''So much happened to our people, we didn't have time to recover from one trauma before another occurred,'' said Brave Heart, a Hunkpapa/Oglala Lakota who developed the theory of ''historical trauma'' among American Indians.

She spoke Oct. 24 at the Native American Suicide and Violence Prevention Conference at Northern Quest Casino. About 100 first responders and behavioral health professionals attended the two days of workshops that ended Oct. 25.

The conference was sponsored by the Camus Institute of the Kalispel Tribe, the Healing Lodge of the Seven Nations, Eastern Washington University and the QPR Institute at a time when the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention believes the suicide rate of young American Indians is four times higher than the national average.

The discussion may be relevant to the Inland Northwest, where federal officials are currently responding to an increased number of suicides on the Confederated Tribes of the Colville Reservation.

According to the IHS, the peak annual suicide rate for the American Indians in Washington state over a 10-year period ending in 1996 was 23 per 100,000 people. The Colvilles' rate is 5 percent higher than that.

Seven officers and civil servants from IHS, the CDC, the Health Resources Service Administration and the Bureau of Prisons have responded to the Colville tribal leaders' call for assistance in dealing with the suicide rate.

Colville social workers were among those attending the conference, said Sara Sexton-Johnson, director of the EWU Office of Professional Development and External Programs.

Kalispel elder Francis Cullooyah said his tribe was concerned for the welfare of all the tribes in the region, particularly the children.

''It is really important for Indian people to remember who they are and where they came from,'' Cullooyah said.

He and others at the conference stressed the importance of instilling a sense of tradition, culture and Native spirituality in young people. Without it, they said, there is a void that can lead to isolation, drug abuse or even suicide, the second-leading cause of death for Natives between the ages of 15 and 24.

Historical trauma is the intergenerational post-traumatic stress that is the result of the genocide perpetrated on American Indians, Brave Heart said. The resulting ''cumulative group trauma'' was aggravated by the boarding school system imposed on Indian children by both the United States and Canada, robbing them of their traditions, language and families, she said.

The children of the massacre survivors, the boarding school survivors, passed on this trauma to their descendants, Brave Heart said. Hope for American Indian children lies, Brave Heart said, in recognizing that this historical trauma exists and reclaiming traditional culture and spirituality through the power of the tribal community and ''grass-roots healing.''

Special thanks to Stephanie Schwartz with sharing this information.

The following PDF file is from a Special Report done in July and August 2005 by Advancing Suicide Prevention. It covers the overwhelming teenage suicides from Standing Rock in 2005 as well as the terrible tragedy at Red Rock in Minnesota. It's an important resource as it addresses cultural issues and most of all the issues facing people every day, especially our youth that too often leads to the taking of their own lives.

Prevention is the goal, the focus, that communities, services and political leaders come together to do what needs to be done to put an end to such a tragic ending of life.

One section of this report shows the smiling happy face of a young girl, her eyes so filled with life and promise. Below her photograph, it states:

"Far too many Native youngsters live in homes broken by poverty, substance abuse, domestic violence, incarceration and suicide. Communities in Indian Country, scarred by centuries of historical trauma and oppression, bear a disproporitionate burden of these dire ills. Intervening to halt this self-destructive cycle is vital if we are to meet the challenge put forth by the great Lakota leader Sitting Bull.

"Let us put our minds together and see what life we can make for our children."

Report on Teen Suicide and High Rate of Suicide in Indian Country

Just click on the link above and the pdf file will open for you to read. You can also save this file for your own information and records.

In order to be able to read this file, you need Acrobat Reader. This is a free file which you can download free here from CNET.

Contents

April 2007 Reports

Last updated on April 26, 2007