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Native Americans share struggles at gathering

 
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3:00 P.M. EST Oct. 6, 2010 | BISMARCK, N.D. (UMNS)

Native American drummers accompany “Grandchildren of Cannonball” dancers at the Standing Rock Reservation in North Dakota.  A UMNS photo by Barbara Dunlap-Berg.
Native American drummers accompany “Grandchildren of Cannonball” dancers at the Standing Rock Reservation in North Dakota. A UMNS photo by Barbara Dunlap-Berg.
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Fidel Moreno grew up Native American, Mexican-American, Sephardic Jewish and Catholic.

The first nine years of his life were times of love, acceptance and joy.

Then his brother committed suicide. The family moved to Chicago, and Moreno “got beat up a lot,” he said. In retaliation, he became a bully. He was kicked out of four schools before sixth grade. He couldn’t read or write.

It wasn’t until a seventh-grade teacher saw his potential that Moreno began to get his life on track. Empowerment, his story proves, can be as simple as letting a child know he or she has value.

Moreno shared his story with United Methodists and members of other faith groups at a September gathering in Bismarck, N.D., sponsored by the High Plains Initiative. Participants shared cultural experiences and discussed issues confronting Native Americans – concerns such as substance abuse, depression, diabetes, poverty and domestic violence.

Fidel Moreno. A web-only photo courtesy of Fidel Moreno.
Fidel Moreno. A Web-only photo courtesy of Fidel Moreno.

The High Plains Initiative began 14 years ago, when United Methodist bishops from the Dakotas, Rocky Mountain, Yellowstone and Nebraska annual (regional) conferences met to discuss how to offer hope through ministries with Native Americans.

The interfaith initiative’s mission: “to be in a servant ministry to meet the needs of humanity, express our sacred faith in Jesus Christ and provide a network for consultation, support and empowerment.”

‘Too smart to be stupid’

It was the support and encouragement of his seventh-grade teacher that opened Moreno’s eyes.

In response to his poor school performance, the teacher told him, “You’re too smart to be stupid. You’d better learn to read and write if you want to understand.” She took Moreno and several other challenged students to plays.

“Piece by piece,” he recalled, “she gave me books to read.” The first book he finished was “Soul on Ice” by Eldridge Cleaver, the second “The Autobiography of Malcolm X.” He also read a book about Sitting Bull.

Eventually earning degrees in criminology and theology, Moreno befriended Annie Winneshiek, the sister of a Winnebago chief. She gave him a camera from the Salvation Army. He started his film career by interviewing Winneshiek. He co-directed a video, “Wiping the Tears of Seven Generations,” which was nominated for an Academy Award. Other honors followed.

“I didn’t really understand my Native side,” said Moreno, who is Huichol and Yoeme. His greatest blessing, he continued, was “to fully accept my Indian-ness.”

Extraordinary needs

Low self-esteem is a problem among Native young people, leaders at the gathering said.

At the Standing Rock Reservation in North Dakota, the participants discussed this and other crises. Citing the 70 percent unemployment rate on the reservation, Cedric Good House said the problem is “not lack of knowhow, just lack of opportunities.”

Statistics indicate that Native Americans have the highest suicide rate of any cultural or ethnic group in the United States, and radio station exec Virgil Taken Alive wants to change that trend. He weeps for the future lawyers, doctors and educators who decide their lives aren’t worth living.

Ray Buckley. A UMNS photo by Barbara-Dunlap-Berg.
Ray Buckley. A UMNS photo by Barbara-Dunlap-Berg.
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“Our children lack immersion and self-worth,” he said. “The flip side of that is hopelessness.”

Proactive efforts are essential, he noted. “With the money they are spending on (a) juvenile detention center,” Taken Alive said, “they could build a boys’ and girls’ center.”`

“Our children are our gems,” agreed Alan Little Eagle, who chairs the local Boys’ and Girls’ Club board. He strives to make a positive impact on children and their families.

Ray Buckley, an active United Methodist and interim director of the Center for Native American Spirituality and Christian Study, gave closing remarks at the gathering. Buckley lives and works in Alaska, and he sees many of the same issues confronting Native Americans there.

However, he also sees hope—and promise—in United Methodists and people of other faiths working together to strengthen relationships with Native Americans.

“The needs of our people are extraordinary,” he said, “but our people are extraordinary.”

*Dunlap-Berg is internal content editor for United Methodist Communications

News media contact: Barbara Dunlap-Berg, Nashville, Tenn., (615) 742-5489 or newsdesk@umcom.org.

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