- http://indiancountrytodaymedianetwork.com/article/american-indian-youth-in-crisis:-tribes-grapple-with-a-suicide-emergency-138794
- http://100r.org/2012/10/indian-youth-suicide-soars/
- http://openchannel.nbcnews.com/_news/2012/10/10/14340090-suicide-is-epidemic-for-american-indian-youth-what-more-can-be-done
Provide names of other journalists involved.
N/A
List date(s) this work was published or aired.
October 10, 2012 for all outlets.
Provide a brief synopsis of the story or stories, including any significant findings.
Native teens and twenty-somethings kill themselves at a rate least 3.5 times higher than other Americans, according to the Indian Health Service (IHS). Tribes have declared states of emergency, and the federal government gave nearly half of a recent round of major suicide-prevention grants to tribal organizations. I spoke to Native people working on the issue in communities around the nation. I reported on prevention activities on several reservations — Zuni, Navajo, and three Sioux reservations — and on a meeting of policymakers in Washington, D.C. This issue has quickly and quietly moved to the nation’s front burner; the silence surrounding suicide is broken; and Native youth are beginning to make life-saving connections — to peers, family, community and culture. One of the most intriguing discoveries was that, for Native people, traditional culture is one of their most powerful suicide preventatives. After more than a century of forced assimilation, in the notoriously violent boarding schools and via out-adoption of about one-third of their children by the mid-20th century, American Indians are finally being officially encouraged to practice their spiritualities, speak their languages and remake their traditional clan and family relationships. Some tribes have already seen inroads in the suicide rates, which, if left unchecked, imperil the very existence of their communities.
Explain types of documents, data or Internet resources used. Were FOI or public records act requests required? How did this affect the work?
This story required a great deal of document research to understand the issue, which hasn’t been written about much for the lay audience. I also had a dual readership — Native and non-Native — and had to be prepared to interpret the phenomenon in a way that would be interesting and useful for both. I looked at: * CDC and Indian Health Service stats on suicide and injury by age, race, gender and other factors. * Congressional testimony for several hearings on the subject by the Senate Committee on Native American Affairs. * Suicide Prevention Resource Center material, including on recent SAMHSA grants. * SAMHSA publlications on suicide prevention for Native communities. * Numerous scientific studies, including several by Theresa LaFromboise, leading up to creation of the Zuni Life Skills Development curriculum, later the American Indian Life Skills Development curriculum, one of the most popular evidence-based syllabi for Native communities. Other studies included research on a New Mexico tribe and several examples of protective-factors research (culture as suicide prevention) among US and Canadian Indians. * Related studies on such topics as men and suicide, unemployment and suicide. * Materials, including descriptions of successful programs, from the Indian Health Service Methamphetamine and Suicide Prevention Initiative. * Some important reports on Indian country, including The Quiet Crisis, from the Civil Rights Commission, and Maze of Injustice, from Amnesty International. * Political background, including outstanding economic issues or legal controversies, for each community visited.
Explain types of human sources used.
I interviewed well over 100 tribal officials (for example, tribal chairpersons and mental-health and child-welfare staffers); federal officials and experts, including from CDC and SAMHSA; officers of funding organizations and Native and nonNative nonprofits; scholars; and tribal members, young and old–including survivors of their own or family members’ suicides.
Results:
The story was widely read throughout Indian country, with about 400 shares/likes/tweets on Indian Country Today. (FYI, mysteriously its numbers are lower on the story page now; I will find out what happened when the office reopens after Jan. 7.) It was picked up by reservation newspapers, and all the major Indian country news, law and opinion blogs. It garnered about 3,000 shares/likes/tweets on NBC.com (which at the time had 6,900 all-time likes for the site itself, to give you a sense of the scale). It was named an Aspen Institute Best Read of 2012, and an Indian Country Today Editor’s Pick. Groups including the American Society for Suicide Prevention posted it on the home page. It has been quoted as an expert source by other journalists writing on Native suicide. The Nebraska Commission on Native American Affairs was pleased to use the information I pulled together on protective-factors research in evaluating its teen programs. Because youth suicide is such an immense issue for tribes, reporting this story also provided me a wealth of high-level connections in Washington and throughout Indian country.
Follow-up (if any). Have you run a correction or clarification on the report or has anyone come forward to challenge its accuracy? If so, please explain.
No challenges to accuracy or demands for clarifications. However, there has been positive follow-up. I will do four more stories for Indian Country Today on distinctive tribal projects, from grieving ceremonies to horse programs, that help children and families see a better future.
Advice to other journalists planning a similar story or project.
To report nuanced Indian-country stories, take the time to understand the community(ies) you’ll visit. Each of the 566 federally recognized tribes has its own culture, history, treaties, legal issues and other distinguishing characteristics that are the context for the interviews you will do and the events you will observe. Don’t be blinded by what seems to be the high drama of Indian life — its tragedies and dysfunctions, its colorful ceremonial life. Try to figure out the issues behind your story. Talk to Indians, so their voices and often surprising points of view are part of the story. Outsiders/experts are quickest to respond and seem most eager to talk, and they may provide useful perspective; however, they can also be stunningly mistaken about even the most basic facts. Beware of a locution that has entered the lexicon: “the tribes,” used in an important-sounding way makes it seem as though you’re referring tribes broadly, when you really may mean just one or a few of them. Be specific. If two Pueblos or three Sioux communities are doing something, it’s not “the tribes” that are doing it. And avoid photographs of messy housekeeping or broken-down trailers as a shorthand for poverty. It’s been done.