Spilyqy Tymoo, IVqm? Springs,
Reservation
By D. "Bing" Bingham
Spilyay Tjmoo
Reaction to the articles in The Orego
nian was sure and swift on the reservation.
The emotions ran the gamut from anger to
sadness to a commitment to make changes.
There was even resignation:
"At first it just really made me ill to see
our people plastered all over the paper. I
got so mad I wouldn't read a lot of the
; articles," says Myra Johnson. "After the an
ger comes the reasoning and you think, 'What
good can come of this?'"
Wilson Wewa Jr. sees the articles as a
wake-up call.
: "It's probably true that a lot of deaths
have occurred on our reservation, and it
has come to the point where some of us
have become numb to the number of deaths
that are occurring," said Wewa.
'Half the story
The series began in The Oregonian on
Sunday, Dec. 7, and continued for the next
four days. While it was common knowledge
v; on the reservation thai- rennrfprs frnm Thp
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Oregonian had been asking questions here
for about a year, the result was something
of a shock and many felt it told only part
of the story.
"I feel the articles are only half the story,"
. says Austin Greene. "There are obviously
, ' more caring people in the organization who
aic uuiy uumg puMuvc tilings lur our com
munity, youth and families."
when asked about the articles, people
, haven't minded letting their feelings be
; known. Some people were upset with pho
i , tos in the series, because they were still in
mourning for relatives who had died. Oth
ers were unhappy with the idea of the tribes'
dirty laundry being aired in front of the
whole state.
"I thought the articles were pretty nega
tive," said Oliver Kirk. "They put the reser
vation in a bad light to the public." Kirk
, didn't like the idea of the articles from the
beginning. "I'm glad I didn't make myself
available to be interviewed," he says. "A re
; porter tried, but I redirected him elsewhere."
When the hurt and anger are finished,
the questions and the need for answers start.
"I think it's something our tribe needs to
look at." savs Mvra Tnlmsnn. "Tn rpallv lnnl-
at our people, to talk to our people and lis
' ten to their valued opinions."
All too often these questions elicit the
opinion that there is a lack of communica
tion on the reservation - top to bottom and
back to the top, department to department,
and between individuals.
"Some of the attitudes are, "Why say any
thing? They're not going to do anything,
they're going to do what they want to do,'"
says Johnson.
Despair. Why say anything or do any
thing if nothing gets done? That leads to
' finger pointing in every direction.
People expressed anger and frustration
about the lack of money in tribal coffers to
imnlpmpnt rhnnnne
Johnson has an idea: "Money isn't the
answer," she says. "It's the ability to com
municate with our people and to reinsert
tribal values, culture and tradition, so we
can continue to survive. We've survived for
the last five hundred years based on our
values, languages and our culture."
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reacts to Oregonian series
"I think it helped to open
people's eyes."
Darryl Smith,
Purchasing Department
"I thought it was bad that
they came here and did that,
because a lot of families
were hurt by it."
Karla Kalama,
Recreation Department activity aid
"I felt they could have fo
cused more on the positive
than the negative... But it is
true we need more for the
kids. We still don't have a
new school or new commu
nity center. And we need to
remember that raising chil
dren is the parents' respon
sibility, they can't rely on the
system to raise children."
Lovie Ike,
Police officer
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Youth reaction
"I think it's a total exaggeration," says
Madras High School senior August
Scott. "I know there are deaths in the
Warm Springs community, but there
are deaths in every community. I don't
think it's a dangerous place to live, and
I grew up here."
With few exceptions Native students
at Madras I ligh School felt like they'd
been picked on and singled out.
"The articles might be accurate, but
they're offensive," said junior Michael
Bobb. "Most of those people in the
articles are family members. The re
porters are questioning deaths saying,
."Why do so many young ones die on
the reservation?' Growing up Indian,
we were taught never to question death,
regardless of the circumstances of how
they die, when or why. I was taught
never to question it. It just is."
He goes on, "To solve a problem,
you don't exploit it. You solve it from
the inside and work your way out. To
exploit it just puts pressure on the spot
right then and there to solve it. Regard
less of whether or not the reporters
started writing good stuff about us, the
Warm Springs Reservation has a repu
tation of killing young ones. It's not de
served." Not everyone feels betrayed. Leland
George says he thinks the reservation
was portrayed accurately, and he's not
sure why everyone's so upset by it.
"The reporter Brent Walth came
to me and asked me and I told him
how it was," he says.
Photos a problem
However, the photos of deceased
friends did make Leland George un
comfortable. His year of mourning
wasn't finished. He understands the
mourning tradition of not displaying or
viewing a photo for a year after a per
son is deceased.
"But some people don't know that.
They wouldn't understand it. It's just
how it is," he says. "It's how we were
taught. I know I'm not supposed to see ' '
a picture for a year, so my yearbook is
put up now."
On the whole Michael Bobb feels
The Oregonian reporters spent too
much time talking to people who are
well known locally.
"They didn't talk to average fami
lies on the reservation," he says. "They
didn't really get the whole story. They
only got about half."
Now that the articles are out, Leland
George says that for him everything
on the reservation is about the same -with
one possible exception. After read
ing the article on his grandmother
Lucinda Green, he has a lot more re
spect for her. "She's really way up
there," he said.
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