Suicide

[jlynn605 (deleted)]

Suicide.

[lostspirit (deleted)]

`This is terrible. I hate reading these awful things about how bad the Rez is. I wish I was rich like Angelina Jolie, instead of going over sea's and adopting 31 flavors of ethnic children, I'd put my money in improving Rez life.

I hate just sitting by on the side lines, broke, wishing I could help with no means to do so.

:(

[harmony68 (deleted)]

`a helping hand in any form is always helpful lostspirit doenst necessarily have to be monetary.

jlynn i read your blog earlier. my thoughts are with you and i know exactly what you mean about youngsters not looking past today... its all an immediate satisfaction that is pursued, and anything, even old age really is worth it. worth the travel down the roads we need to take. as i am now about middle aged, like so many others, say out loud, if i only knew then, what i know now... oh WOW!

much love jlynn

[thedragonsaint (deleted)]

[quote="jlynn605"]I know back home on my Rez, there's a lot of issues with us young Nativez
dyin cuz we can't see past today so to speak...
I've lost 3 nephewz to suicide & nearly lost a niece...I know many otherz who've also lost loved onez. This isn't just an issue on my Rez, it's all over Native landz!
There are thingz bein done to help those considering suicide,
& I really hope those who need it will eventually get proper help~I'd hate to lose any more than we've already lost to suicide.

Wow, horrible stuff happening all across this site today O_o Thoughts and prayers are with you (

I've never thought about suicide seriously (who hasn't said a time or 2 "wish i were dead") but I have friends / acquaintances that have tried to do it or have succeeded. Some people just don't think they've got it in them to make it past whatever is troubling them - very depressing thought when you see no way out but for me,the questions that go through my mind is "how much do you want this life, how much are you willing to give of yourself to make sure you push through the problem - do you even want to ?"

If you can't answer in the affirmative, no soul on earth can cover up the gaping hole in your lack of desire to live. For some people, just the fact that they are alive and have made it through whatever it is, that in itself is a victory and gives them the strength to want to make it. You might have the ugliest scars and you may feel like giving up a couple of times a day but what gets you through in the end is your own strength and character - family and friends always help but at the end of it, you're the one who's either left standing or have given up the fight

[firstlastalways (deleted)]

`Wow.. Ok I know this is an old topic but I'm gonna reply anyway. It's really sad to hear lots of people are killing themselves. Just to think, if there could be someone else out there that could make me happy, that's thinking about killing himself or will kill himself soon... that's just horrible. I think of killing myself a whole lot because I'm very lonely & alone. But then I'm just a fat white piece of **** living in a trailer lol. (Yes I say that jokingly.) But yeah, I'm sorry to hear all that.

[jmar (deleted)]

`The summers growing up, the two years I spent in horsecreek on rosebud and going to white river middle school, and seeing the way native kids treat each other, and how drinking is in the least, a weekly thing...it's not suprising that kids get depressed and hide it. I never ever spoke of the way I was treated by my own cousins until I was an adult, and I only did it to emphasize to my mother that I didn't want her to live there again with my little brother and sister. The complete lack of anything to do in those communites make drinking and fighting entertaining. Traditional culture and values are hard to find in places like that. It's there but it's hard to find, and harder for those suffering in their head.

I think racism and poverty mixed are two very detrimental things to have within remote communities.

[mimi07c]

`It makes me so sad to see my people kill themselves. You think Native North Americans have it bad South Native Americans have it worse. They take their land away and tell them them to go away. They get treated worse than nothing. They get discriminated and constantly harassed by the population and police. It goes as far that they say the Native South American Indian won't be around after 2020. They are committing suicide everyday. It's sad that this is happening in this age.

[emme2009 (deleted)]

`I am speechless. For someone to feel suicidal, they must feel that things are utterly and desperately hopeless. So very, very sad...

[stuckinadream (deleted)]

`I don't know much about living in reservations, but i do feel that what i read here today is just not right. Where are those people who take iniciative, and reach out their hands? I believe that some reservations are better managed than others socialwise. And the decisionmakers within each community should definately wake up and treat the problem if they aren't aware of it.
Jlynn, I am very sorry for what has happened to your family. I hope you find a way to live for those is you family who didn't. Show them that there are many reasons to hang in there. Life is so radical and can take a milion unexpected turns. And in the long run, if you give a little good spirit, life will give you a lot in return.
We all feel sad and depressed sometimes. Some have it worse than others, and it is well known that teenagers especially, and not only the native ones, have moments where every day feels like a black hole. I hate the stereotypical comment that people usually say if you express the desire to go somewhere else and have new experiences: ,,you are just running away from your problems." If you are sad in the place you are, and feel like an outsider in your environment, the natural thing to do, which also every animal does, is try to find happiness somewhere else. Find an environment which is stimulating your soul, your inteligence, and most important give you hope. Humanity has been wandering for thousands of years. Why is that running away? For every teenager outthere who feels depressed in their current situation all i can say is....make some goals for yourself, see life as a challenge, and more importantly.....feel proud of yourself! Every human being is beautiful in his / her own way, and the native people you have more reason to feel proud of where you come from than anyone. You are the ones who have wandered the longest trough history of mankind. Your ancestors knew how to live with respect towards everything that gave them life, which is more than you can say about most cultures. And there is a world out there full of people who sees good things in you. It might just seem invisible sometimes. But it is not. Just reach out for it.

[marleyblack (deleted)]

`Suicide for Northern Indigenous Peoples ("American Indians" or “Native Americans) is pretty unique to all other peoples that commit suicide each year within the US. For us Indigenous Peoples, within the boundaries of the US, our history is a holocaustal history that was perpetuated (and continues to be perpetuated, now through genocidal means) by the US ever since we first had contact with the Euro-Americans.

The high rates of suicide among our people, namely our youth, reveals the continuing legacy of genocide through US colonial dominat..., i.e. oppression, that we currently exist in. And, the fact that our own people - our so-called "leaders" and "tribal officials" - can't find a viable solution to this urgent crisis of our youth dying everyday within our respective homelands, makes evident the continuing relationship of oppression that we have with the US: where we, the oppressed/the colonized, are dominated by our oppressors, the colonizers.

You see, we continue to be dominated and controlled and are continually denied our inherent right to have true sovereign status and true self-determination. And since we do not have either of these fundamental needs to live as self-determined and responsible peoples, it shows in the deteriorating states our respective homelands are in...

Ahhh, what a great, but complicated subject to hash over casually. I think it cannot be done effectively by merely disclosing our individual, personal feelings of how we feel about suicide. I believe in order to really get somewhere in discussing this critical issue so we can begin to discover the solution to these problems that plague our respective homelands is, we need to define what is primarily causing the suffering for us Indigenous Peoples?

The answer is: Colonization has caused and IS causing all this for us today; so, the solution must be: Decolonization. To give you all a working definition of colonization, and one that I recommend you never forget, I will quote from the must-read book For Indigenous Eyes Only: A Decolonization Handbook,

“colonization refers to both the formal and informal methods of (behaviors, ideologies, institutions, policies, economies) that maintain the subjugation or exploitation of Indigenous Peoples, lands, and resources. Colonization is detrimental to us because the colonizers power comes at the expense of Indigenous lands, resources, lives, and self-determination. Not only has colonization resulted in the loss of major rights such as land and self-determination, but most of our contemporary struggles (poverty, family violence, chemical dependency, Suicide, and the deterioration of health) are also direct consequences of colonization.

From the same book, the definition for decolonization is short and sweet, and this “is the intelligent, calculated, and active resistance to the forces of colonialism that perpetuate the subjugation and/or exploitation of our minds, bodies, and lands, and it is engaged for the ultimate purpose of overturning the colonial structure and realizing Indigenous liberation.

It is my belief after having read the above book and studied and reflected on these two definitions, that a “massive decolonization movement in North America must one day take place if we are to ever liberate ourselves from all that we suffer from.

Please, read this book, it changed my entire way of thinking, and thus, my entire way of life¦

[marleyblack (deleted)]

`Let me leave you all with some quotes from some of my most favorite authors about the subjects of Colonialism and Decolonization.

"Until America begins to build a moral record in her dealings with the Indian people she should try not to fool the rest of the world about her intentions on other continents. America has always been a militantly imperialistic world power eagerly grasping for economic control over weaker nations...There has not been a time since the founding of the republic when the motives of this country were innocent." - Vine Deloria Jr.

"When substance abuse and family violence ravage our communities, the system tells us that we are to blame, rather then the society and institutions that continue to dehumanize and oppress Indigenous Peoples and denigrate everything Indigenous." - Waziyatawin

"Truth is that which hurries on the break-up of the colonialist regime; it is that which promotes the emergence of the nation; it is all that protects the natives, and ruins the foreigners." - Frantz Fanon

"As long as the oppressed remain unaware of the causes of their condition, they fatalistically 'accept' their exploitation." - Paulo Freire

"Decolonization never takes place unnoticed, for it influences individuals and modifies them fundamentally." - Frantz Fanon

"The colonial condition cannot be adjusted to; like an iron collar, it can only be broken." - Albert Memmi

[jodyne]

`I have lost many, many from my childhood home in the village (I lived in the Far North, in Alaska). I remember well my childhood days and early youth all the families and all the kids of my village of 300 Inupiat. I left before my teen years ended, but when I returned I was shocked at the changes in our community, so many broken families and so many were simply GONE whether moved from the village, and the most devastating were to learn of the ones who had taken their lives. MY childhood friends and playmates.

I have always been interested in what can be done. In my personal studies I have found one on-line site that really speaks deeply and to the core: (removed) Every statement and story [in MY opinion] profound. And I really hope that others who are interested and those who work professionally will consider the principles shared on this web-site. The issue of suicide seems complex yet this information may seem simple and I hope that the simplicity it may appear to have does not cause people to overlook or to read quickly, agree and move on and not discover it's truths. I have been reading and re-reading what I have found there [I even printed most of the web-pages] and I want it to be so memorized I can take the information, the principles and stories I found there with me for the rest of my life.

[anewmoon]

`This topic is a hard reality to swallow.

firstlastalways from Jan 18.
jokes candidly,
Often in the worst of the worst mind weather
Begins with a joke that never laughs


I do feel that I'm not alone...
And when it's calm tomorrow
We, made it better.

A gaining faith in psychology and pharmacy will never replace a season, day by day with an elder, or ageless friend that has something to share
to help you forget you care about anything now, but, here.
Unity
Here needs time and attention to youth
Even if you think you are old
The Land saves what is Shared

Who and what else are not being equally reciprocated here?
It won't just go away

With sincere respect to all.

[spiriteyes777]

`hi one that topic of suicide is dam dam sad and i blame the whites as they are the ones who got indians into ''whiskey drinking sukkers and now the results Die of Siabetes slowly sorry its a long sad life i had been somewhat suicidal tendencies of over 17 car accidents several Concussions Caused me to go Color Blind i had most horrible Childhood in 3 foster homes abused beaten left for dead twice .then i dd die 2 min in a car accident D

[aurora616]

`Don't know if this post is closed, but I'll try it anyway! PTSD is very high among Native Americans. It might be a good idea to read up on it and depression ,too , if you see the signs of either ,amongst your kids, or friends or anyone for that matter, try to get them help ASAP!!! If a kid seems listless ,forlorn, not excited about the future, ask questions!! Many parents say and do things(like fighting) in front of kids which upsets them! Think what your kids are seeing you do.If they see you both arguing ,fighting, unhappy , how do you think it makes them feel? If you present a happy loving relationship to your kids, that is what theysee and of course it makes them happy as a result!