Brandon Ecoffey
A note from the editor’s desk
By Brandon Ecoffey
Lakota Country Times Editor
www.lakotacountrytimes.com For the last two weeks our entire community has been engulfed in worry as we were forced to contemplate what may or may not have happened to the three men who went missing since Saturday, May 7, 2016. As most of us have learned, their bodies were found inside of a vehicle that preliminary reports are saying drove off a 50-ft cliff that sits next to the White River located southwest of Oglala and northwest of Pine Ridge. There are still many questions to be asked and Lakota Country Times made the decision on the night of the incident to wait until we knew that the family members were made aware of the discovery prior to releasing anything official. The same cannot be said for local TV stations and one national Native news site who chose to publish the news online. We understand that there is a need to get information out in a timely manner but unlike our competitors we know the families involved and out of simple respect for them we opted to wait. Throughout the last two weeks I’ve have had daily conversations with my family and closest friends about the circumstances surrounding this entire tragedy. Much of the details of these conversations will soon play themselves out in public as we were not the only ones who were forced to see the world that exists in our homeland just below the surface. If anything positive can come from the loss of these men, it is a new and profound awareness amongst our community that our worst fears could actually come to fruition at any moment as some problems on our reservation have reached a boiling point. As a community many of us have grown numb to experiences like this. As a freshman in High School I had my first run in with suicide as my cousin who was more like a sister made the decision to take her own life. The week prior to me leaving for my freshman year in college my best friend lost his life after a drunk driving accident. For most of America, encounters with tragedy and trauma are rare. For us Lakota, it feels like these tragedies are always present. The only choice we have however is to mourn for and remember those who have left us too early. There are many lessons to be taken from the last two weeks and I have no doubt that many remaining questions will be answered in due time, but as a people, it is important to see that these men also showed us that we can still come together when our nation are in need.
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Hundreds and hundreds of our people stepped forward to show these families that as a community we still cared for them. We showed them that in their time of need so many of their fellow Lakota chose to stop what they were doing, put their lives on hold and gave of themselves in the hopes that we could wipe the sorrow from these families’ spirits. We came together because we all know that what these families have been forced to endure could happen to any of us. I just hope that we can remember how we came together as a people when we need to again. (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.
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