Brandon Ecoffey
A note from the editor’s desk
By Brandon Ecoffey
Lakota Country Times Editor
www.lakotacountrytimes.com Since May 7, 2015, my work has basically consisted of doing everything possible to try and help the families of Tevin Tyon, Tyrell Wilson, and Juan Lamont spread information in the hopes of locating them. As a community, the people of Pine Ridge village and others from the surrounding areas have come together in a show of solidarity unlike anything I have ever seen before. To see so many of our people willing to show caring and compassion for these families is uncommon in this day and age. At one point in history our people had that ability to put aside our differences in times of great peril. Our people displayed this trait over the course of the last two weeks as searchers have spent every available hour of daylight frantically searching for these missing young men. Every day I hear someone different ask me the same question: “Three able bodied men do not simply vanish, right?” I would say that is true in most parts of America but not in Indian Country. Where else in the United States has society broken down to a point where there is essentially no police presence at all? Our homelands have become like the Wild West as a direct result of federal policy. As I sit here and write this column these families are once again going out to search our reservation for their missing loved ones. Their desperation is growing as each day passes. I know this because I hear it in their voices when they talk to me. Like many of us, they are tired of enduring the burden of not knowing where their sons are. What does it take for Congress and the White House to see that there are third-world countries in existence right now in the heart of the United States? This country has spent trillions attempting to rebuild nations across the globe but has allowed for society to break-down in Indian Country. Most Americans would never understand what it is like to be forced to live in a society that looks more like Juarez, than it does Spearfish or Sioux Falls.
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The federal response to this emergency was completely inept. Why is it that the BIA did not allow for its firefighters to go out and look for these men when alerts first came out about their disappearances? These firefighters manage hundreds of trails across the reservation and have crucial knowledge about places many have never seen. The agency superintendent failed to act and crucial hours were wasted because of petty red tape. When lives are at stake the duty of all federal agencies is to provide services to our community. This simply didn’t happen soon enough. So our people filled the void. Right now we have four able bodied men missing from our reservation. Alejandro “Tank” Vasquez has been missing since October of last year. What will it take for somebody in Washington to recognize that the types of societies that this country is attempting to stamp out across the world in places like Iraq, Mexico, and Syria are currently incubating right under their noses? Able bodied men are not supposed to simply disappear in America. (Brandon Ecoffey is the editor of LCT and an award winning journalist who was born and raised on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation. He can be reached at editor@lakotacountrytimes.com) Find the award-winning Lakota Country Times on the Internet, Facebook and Twitter and download the new Lakota Country Times app today. Related Stories:
Lakota Country Times: Native men still missing after two weeks (5/23)
Lakota Country Times: Search continues for missing Native men (5/17)
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