Lakota Nation in Pine Ridge

A scene of the biggest food store in the town of Manderson in the Pine Ridge reservation, where the Native American residents’ dietary choices are limited, and unhealthy and a huge number of people suffer from diabetes.

On the reservation, Native American Sioux are the majority and most live in poverty due to nearly non-existent job opportunities – the unemployment rate is said to be around 80 percent. Their life span used to be around 80 years, but is now 57 years for men and 63 for women. In addition to rampant health problems – diabetes, heart attacks, cancer – from limited and unhealthy dietary options, the reservation also faces contaminated water from uranium mines and rising youth violence. All these problems continue to be ignored by the federal and state, but even by the local tribal governments.