"Talking about suicide is uncomfortable. It's painful. And it's necessary.

At a field hearing of the Senate's Indian Affairs Committee Monday in Bismarck, Sen. Byron Dorgan opened an uncomfortable, painful, necesary dialogue.

As reported by Tony Spilde in Tuesday's Tribune, a federal agency says 10 teens on the Standing Rock Sioux Indian Reservation killed themselves last year. Dozens more, Spilde wrote, attempted suicide.

The problem is a tangle of economics, education and culture. The realities involved in dealing with the situation are harsh. The realities of not dealing with the situation are harsher still.

The problem is not unique to Standing Rock. The Indian Health Service, Spilde wrote, reports suicide rates among Great Plains Indian teens as 10 times higher than national numbers."

Get the Story:
Editorial: Hearing a start at tackling problem (The Bismarck Tribune 5/8)

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