The Native American Press (Bemidji, Minnesota), 1992-04-03

              Result of national study on Indian youth is no surprise at White Earth
By Steph Corneliussen
It's becoming a household word.
Perhaps rightly so, since that's
where the term "dysfunctional
family" was bom.
But for many American Indian
teenagers, it's a frustrating reality.
Most who attempt suicide do so
because they"re angry at their
parents," said Marlin Farley, director
of Midway Group Home near
Mahnomen. Farley also works with
suicide prevention and intervention
on the White Earth Indian
Reservation.
Farley's own experiences are
echoed in one of the most complete
studies on Indian teenagers ever
conducted, released recently by the
University of Minnesota.
What we found was stunning. We
found that this is the most devastated
group of teenagers we have ever
seen," said Dr. Robert Blum, who
was the study's principal
investigator
Researchers surveyed American
Indian and Alaska Native Students
in 15 States about mental and
physical health, substance abuse,
home life, sexual behavior and other
issues.
The study found 21 percent of the
of girls and 12 percent of the boys
reported having made at least one
sucide attempt.
"There are a number of reasons why
(they try to commit sucide)," Farley
said about White Earth youth. "One
is lack of parental involvement,
another is because parents are using
(alcohol or drugs). Another is
domestic disputes in the home.."
Farley said teens who have
contemplated or attempted sucide
complain their parents are not
spending time with them, are
not taking them to activities and "are
just not feeling loved."
Mark Hanson, counselor for the
White Earth Chemical Dependency
Program said dysfunctional families
are the "bottom line" for the
problems.
"There is no structure in the home.
There is no plan, there are no morals
or values taught in the homes
anymore," Hanson said. "The
bottom line is, parents aren't
teaching anymore. There's no
discipline, no teaching of
responsibility, no motivating the
children toward any long-term or
short -term goals."
Hanson, who has a caseload of 16
adolescents, said those problems
make his job even harder.
"Parents do feel it's our job to
(guide their children). That's not our
job. My job is to educate in the area
of substance abuse, and not to deal
with behavior," Hanson said. "It
disrupts the group. It takes
everybody's mind off the focus of
what they're there for. They're
always acting out for attention."
According to the study, 21 percent
of the teens said they drank less than
once a week. Ten percent were
problem drinkers; nine percent
social drinkers.
The wide acceptance of substance
usage is a frustrating problem for
counselors like Hanson.
"The kids use it while they're in
school, after school and some before
school. Especially the marijuana.
Some are using it with their
parents."
Of Hanson's 16 clients, only two
have guardians who do not use drugs
or alcohol.
Alcohol is still favored most by
White Earth reservation teenagers.
"Marijuana is the second drug of
choice in this area," Hanson said.
"It's so accepted that they use the
two together. And marijuana is
easier than beer to get. You have to
find somebody to buy the beer. You
don't need to have an ID to buy
marijuana from an illegal dealer."
Hanson once sought comparison
by observing non-Indian teens at a
community dance in Ogema.
"Some of them were sneaking
drinks, others were drinking with
their parents, but at least tonight
those kids were being taught socially
responsible drinking," Hanson said.
"That's the bottom line. That's the
difference. They're being taught
socially acceptable behavior.
They're taught if you go out and
drink, remember you've got to go to
school tomorrow or to work or
wherever. Otherwise there will be
consequences."
"Consequences are being set for
non-Indians. Our young people
don't have any consequences. If they
do, they're not followed through."
The Indian culture is not
conducive to social drinking either,
Hanson said.
"Let's face it. We've never been
taught how to drink. Alcohol was
never in our culture. The Europeans
had their beer; the Italians had their
wine. They are taught how to drink
in those cultures."
Substance abuse, however, is not a
major issue at Midway Group
Home, which houses up to 14
emotionally and behaviorally
disturbed Indian youth from White
Earth to as far away as Canada.
"Substance abuse is a secondary
problem. It always is," Farley said.
Farley has seen remarkable
behavioral changes in the children
who are referred to the group home.
"Once they get settled into the
program, leam the rules and trust the
adults, the acting out behavior really
drops off," he said. "Kids need
structure. They need to know rules
and routine, they need to have adults
there to listen, to teach them coping
skills."
White Earth desperately needs
more family-based services, said
Farley, who worked in such a
program for Native Americans in
Minneapolis.
"There have been attempts made
on a volunteer basis to get parents
involved, but they have not been too
successful," he said. "We're trying
to get family-based services on the
reservation, but we also need the
counties to help — Becker and
Mahnomen. All family members
need to be treated. You can't put all
of your efforts into just one."
Teaching parenting skills is one
important service that needs to be
offered, he said.
"It's a generation process of
thinking how parenting should be
done," Farley said about the
techniques most often used. "It's
handed down from one generation to
another. They need to learn that
when a child comes to the age of 10
you just don't let him run."
Hanson says he sees the cycle
starting over and over again.
"Children are having children and
the cycle keeps on going," he said.
"When will it end? Not until we get
some laws enforced here with
mandates to follow. If people can't
set up healthy environments for
themselves, then maybe someone
has to do it for them."
Lisa McCarson is the White Earth
youth recreation coordinator.
She helped get a program up and
running a year ago that gives Indian
youth a place to be besides the
streets.
"It provides recreation and positive
Study/ See page 2
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1992
Native family forced to live in condemned house while city decides fate
"When we first moved in here," she said, "we didn't have any water for the first week and no refrigerator for an
even a longer time; we had to use an ice chest When the landlord finally did fix the water pipes, we still couldn't
take a bath. The floor under the bath tub was so rotten we were scared to get in the tub."
Upper left: Stove for the house has seen better days, yet it does work some of the time, and it is wanner than the
outside. Lower left: The ceiling is in very poor repair, hopefully the flakes that float down aren't too laden with lead
particles and the light fixture still does work - it is condemned, it should be torn down. Center: The outside of the
house at 2705 could use a coat of paint, the foundation is crumbling, and it was classified as a dump five years ago,
this is where the extended family of Victoria Sailor hang their hats. Right: This house isn't even healthy for the
critters, but there is an extended family of them living here too.
"We don't have any place to go, the landlord, Mr. Scott Cooper, wants us to move into another place that is even
worse," Mrs. Sailor told the Native American Press.
By Gary Blair
The crises for Victoria Sailor's
extended family, including 5 adults
and 11 children, began the day her
landlord announced that she would
have to move because the
condemned building where they had
been living and paying rent was
finally going to be torn down under
a City of Minneapolis housing rehab
program.
"We don't have any place to go,
the landlord, Mr. Scott Cooper,
wants us to move into another place
that is even worse," Mrs. Sailor told
the Native American Press.
During the course of several
interviews with the Sailor family, it
was learned that their problems go
much deeper than just finding
another place to live.
Flag Builders owned by the very
same Mr.Cooper, of New Hope,
Minn., had applied for funding under
the city's Rehab Incentive Fund
(RIF) to remodel the home at 2705
13th Ave. South. He stated in his
application for RIF funds, that the
Sailor family was acting only as his
employees and that they were just
watching the place for him and they
weren't his tenants at all. (The RIF
program allows only unoccupied
buildings to receive such a grant
from the city.)
During an interview on March 24,
Cooper stated that he felt he had
done the Sailor family a big favor
when he let them move into 2705
13th Ave. So., knowing full well
that they could have to find another
place to live very soon.
In a meeting on March 26 with
officials of the Minneapolis
Community Development Agency
(MCDA) and Cooper, the Sailor
family learned that the RIF funds
had been approved.
The Minneapolis City Council
may decide not to go through with
its commitment to Flag Builders
because Cooper misrepresented the
application for funding.
MCDA officials, looking confident
that Cooper's documentation would
support the claims, looked surprised
when Mrs. Sailor produced her own
documentation showing something
very different.
It seems that on October 13, 1990,
Cooper had filed an Unlawful
Detainer Complaint (Eviction
Notice) against Mrs. Sailor's family
for non-payment of $100 in rent at
their present address. On that
complaint, Cooper clearly referred
to Mrs. Sailor as his tenant. Mrs.
Sailor said they later paid the rent
and Cooper dropped his complaint.
Now the Sailor family will have to
wait to see if the City Council will
allow their landlord's application to
go through and, at the same time,
agree to pay them the relocation
money they have coming under the
city's relocation program. If the city
now rejects his application because
the property was occupied and
doesn't qualify under the program,
the Sailor family could end up being
evicted from their home without
being paid any relocation funds.
During our initial interview with
Mrs. Sailor and her family on March
24, John Paiz, who works in the
Indian community of South
Minneapolis, asked about of the
history of her living there.
"When we first moved in here,"
she said, "we didn't have any water
for the first week and no refrigerator
for an even a longer time; we had to
use an ice chest. When the landlord
finally did fix the water pipes, we
still couldn't take a bath. The floor
under the bath tub was so rotten we
were scared to get in the tub." The
neighbors started laughing and
telling us about what had happened
and finally how die landlord put some
boards under it so they could use it.
Paiz then told Mrs. Sailor that
District III Representative, Shirley
Heyer, of the People of Phillips (POP)
organization, a neighborhood group to
Minneaplois' City Hall, had said that
she had heard you were a drunk."
After hearing Paiz's remarks, Mrs.
Sailor just sat there and looked
down, with a hurt look on her face.
Her family showed support and
waited for her to respond.
Finally, she spoke with new-found
strength, "All we want is the
relocation money that we were told
we would get, so we can move."
She paused, then continued, "I just
asked my 14 year old son if he'd
mind having to live in our old car."
Looking very serious, she added,
"I've also been thinking about
getting a tent, and pitching it up on
the reservation; my son said he'd
like that better."
Mrs. Sailor is enrolled at the White
Earth Reservation in northwestern
Minnesota.
The Sailor's extended family, for
three months during the fall of 1990,
had all lived in a small two bedroom
apartment just down the street from
their present home.
When Mr. Cooper came to collect
the rent from them at that place, she
asked him if he had anything that
some of them could move into. "We
just couldn't live that way anymore;
we are a close family, we slept any
place we could," she said.
Gerald Hanson, a member of
Sailor's extended family, added,
"Hell, this is survival, plain and
simple. It was either that or we
would have been out on the street."
Hanson, who has been unable to find
full time employment since 1979,
continued, "I've been on all the
work programs the welfare
department has, trying to get a job
and I still don't have one." He
admitted that when he can't take the
stress anymore, he either gets drunk
or goes to play bingo.
As we sat and watched, their
landlord approached the door. He
later told me he could see us all
sitting there through the window,
and that made him mad because the
yard was dirty.
Before he entered Mrs. Sailor
quickly said, "We're supposed to be
moved today."
In a scene I've never witnessed
before, I listened to a "slumlord" in
action. He came into the apartment
and stood still for a time, not looking
at anyone. Then he spoke, in what
seemed to be a friendly tone at first.
"Are you going to move?" he asked
Mrs. Sailor.
"No," she answered. He remained
silent for a time, then continued,
"What do you want to do, move or
hassle?"
Mrs. Sailor looked toward me before
answering, "We have no place to go
and we are not moving into the other
place you have above my daughter's.
It's worse than this place."
Cooper asked Mrs. Sailor if she
had the rent. Again, she looked
toward me before answering, "I
don't have any money for rent."
After introducing myself, I asked
Mr. Cooper, "Did I just hear you ask
her for rent?"
Surprised and visibly embarrassed,
he answered, "No, its really just
expenses."
When asked about the type of
expenses he was attempting to
collect, he stated that it was for heat
and electricity.
Cooper spoke to Mrs. Sailer again,
asking her what was wrong with the
place above her daughter's place.
Mrs Sailor responded, "It's dirty,
and there are dead mice laying all
over the floors."
"What's wrong with that, it shows
the poison is working." Cooper said.
"I have too many kids to live in a
place like that." Sailor shot back.
Sailor's daughter, who now lives
there, told me that one of her
children was bitten by a mouse that
he had picked up.
Cooper then began to tell Mrs.
Sailor about another rental unit he
had available on Portland Ave.,
saying that it was better than the unit
above her daughter's.
Everyone present started laughing,
and somebody said, "I don't think
you have any nice places."
In a later telephone interview with
Cooper, who was straightforward
with his views on the living
conditions of Indians, he said, "They
come down from Red Lake, or from
Chicago, or they could be poor
whites. They end up on welfare and
they don't have enough money to
rent alone, so a bunch of them get a
place together."
I asked Cooper if he was speaking
about all Indian people.
He said "Yes," and went on to say,
"if they still don't have enough
money, they get an AFDC woman to
move in with mem. Pretty soon they
start drinking, then the next thing
you know, the windows are broken
and there are holes in the walls."
"You get tired of fixing things up.
I am not the only person that rents
places like Mrs. Sailor's. I know of
worse places that people are renting
right now."
When asked if a lot of Indians lived
in similar conditions, he responded,
"Yes, and it's not my fault."
Mrs. Sailor also stated that she
knows of at least 20 other Indian
families that are in the same
situation that her family is in.
In another interview with the
Sailor family, the discussion focused
on the community service agencies
in the Phillips Neighborhood, and
the cyncial view that the Sailor
family holds concerning those
agencies.
Mentioned were the Minneapolis
American Indian Center (MAIC), the
Division of Indian Works (DIW),
Hennepin County Social Services,
and RIF that are systematically
forcing many Indian families out of
the Phillips neighborhood, adversely
affecting those extended family units
because they have to move away
from each other.
One of Sailor's daughters moved
to Fridley in order to find decent
housing. She said that there is only
one other Indian person living
nearby, and that they don't talk to
each other that much.
She added, "I want to be close to
my mother, but I can't be living way
out there."
Mrs. Sailor also mentioned that
her 6 year-old son, Calvin, was
recently killed by a car when he
tried to cross the street.
I learned that Hennepin County
makes rent payments to landlords
whose rental property is substandard
without first checking conditions.
The Sailor family talked about the
negative effect bingo has had on their
family's budget, and why they, and
other Indian families, still play
anyway, "I'm hooked on bingo; that's
what I do when the pressures get too
great for me. I play bingo and end up
with not enough money." she said.
Crime is also becoming a problem
on the block where the Sailors live.
Women get beaten up, people fight,
and things that seem to never get
reported to the police.