Life ain't easy for the Sioux

I just read an article about the problems on what is apparently the poorest Native reservation, and the poorest county, in the United States. It's amazing how much life on this reservation is closer to life in a third world country than what is typical for the United States, and how little Native problems are talked about in general. But what really struck me, and even impressed me, where the names of some of the tribe members, which I just have to share. Some of the names I particularly liked were Bear Who Looks Back Running, Has the Big White Horse, White Tail, Liver [Living] Bear, Little Thunder, Bull Dog, High Hawk, Lame, Eagle Pipe and Tashun-Kakokipa, or Young-Man-Afraid-of-His-Horses.

It's a bit awkward to essentially say "Wow, what cool names" because some of the names are those of teenagers who have killed themselves, like one boy with the last name Kills Enemy. The title of this post aside, I don't intend to make light of the issues the article brings up. But I think recognizing the survival of names like these is a reminder that Native American culture (in this case Sioux) is a separate, existing society in the United States, that is still alive though in terrible shape. For me, the strangeness of the names - so evocative of a world I thought had completely disappeared through genocide and assimilation - just strengthens the feeling that this the world described in this article is such a foreign one, right in the middle of the United States, but not really a part of them.