Ivan F. Star Comes Out
Many tribes have no clue about Public Relations
By Ivan F. Star Comes Out While sipping my morning coffee I began reading a White House document titled “2014 Native Youth Report.” As with every other tribal member, I am aware of the long-standing socio-economic quagmire we have been enduring. The fact that we are still alive and well is short of miraculous and thought provoking. In this enclosed Lakota biosphere of ours, we have life fundamentals that should be public knowledge. However, we rely on outside entities to provide skewed numbers or statistics relevant to language, education, and population. We have a severe need to develop and establish our own data regarding areas of public concern. Such statistics will be local, accurate, and up-to-date. Anyway, I share the following statistics used in that presidential report. More than one of every three “Indians” lives in poverty (U.S. Census Bureau, 2013, estimated from a 5-year survey). Accordingly, nearly half of the population residing on the Pine Ridge is poor, which is extremely high compared to the greater society here on the continent. Realistically, I think it is much higher. American “Indian” high school graduation rate is 67 percent (Indian Students in Public Schools – Cultivating the Next Generation: Hearing on Indian Education before the Senate Committee on Indian Affairs 2014). This is reported to be “the lowest of any racial/ethnic demographic group across all schools.” From what I have seen here, I believe our graduation rate is much lower. The U.S. Department of Education reported that the Bureau of Indian Education schools fared even worse with a graduation rate of 53 percent. When compared to the national average of 80 percent, this is awfully dismal (Stetser, Marie C. & Stillwell, Robert, Public High School Four-Year On-time Graduation Rates and Event Dropout Rates: School years 2010-11 and 2011-12). The suicide spate that has been ravaging our youth in “Indian” country in more recent times is a most disturbing statistic. “Suicide is the second leading cause of death” (Hyde, Pamela, “Behavioral Health and Tribal Communities” Feb. 8, 2011). Reportedly, this is 2.5 times the national average and has been occurring among native youth in the 15 to 24 year old age category. The last piece of information is that 39 percent of all Native Americans are under the age of 24 – compared to 33 percent of the greater population. This means that for Pine Ridge residents, more than two-thirds are less than 24 years old. Again, based on my observations, I think our youth population is much higher. Although these stats are disturbing, I have my doubts about their accuracy. Again, we have been relying on other entities to provide this vital information and have been shortchanged in many instances. In all honesty, this area has been largely overlooked by our tribal officials. Actually, tribal government has not engaged in what is known today as public information, public relations, or public affairs. “Public relations” is much more than going to KILI radio to talk about a program or placing public service announcements in local newspapers or publishing a brochure outlining program goals and functions. As such, “public relations” is not a one-time shotgun type of effort. Instead, it is an ongoing activity to disseminate government documents and research vital constituent data. As a result of the lack of understanding of the concept of “public relations,” it has always been on the back burner, as is often said. In fact, federal government does not provide money for tribes to operate public relations programs. In a tribal sense, “public relations” has always been minimized and overlooked for “more important” issue and tasks, like jumping through those federal hoops. This is not to chastise anyone but to raise awareness of the dire lack of effective and efficient communications between tribal government and voters. It is good that some of our programs make an effort to let their public know of their goals and services. However, we must go beyond information dissemination and make it a two-way process. The bottom line is tribal government has a tremendous amount of public mistrust to work with and as a result has not made much progress in terms of easing public needs. Tribal members are now scrutinizing the costs of programs and of tribal government more than ever. Special interest groups have been more vocal and active in recent years. There are several areas that provide the need for a public relations or public affairs office. Currently, informing the tribal public is the most active of “public relations” activity which may have served to improve effectiveness of tribal operations. The other half of a good PR program is to provide public feedback to government officials and administrators. An appropriately schooled PR person can advise top management on how to best communicate a government decision or a program to the appropriate tribal membership. An experienced PR person can represent the public and listen to its representatives. A disciplined PR person can educate elected officials and top management about the role of the mass media and how to work with it. Another side of a tribal PR office is that it can implement a variety of methods to monitor public opinion. Public opinion is the sum of individual opinions on an issue affecting those individuals. It is the collective expression of opinion of many individuals bound into a group by common needs, aspirations, and ideals. A genuine PR person can implement a variety of methods such as surveys, questionnaires, personal contact, media reports, letters and phone calls, tribal-member advisory groups, both staff and district meetings. Elected officials and top management stand to benefit from public opinion. In doing this PR work, tribal government will acquire its own accurate and current statistics that can be used for a great variety of other activities. The Oglala Sioux Tribe will not have to rely on “outside,” often outdated and inaccurate stats. We must absolutely get away from our near-sightedness regarding public relations. If this administration is to initiate a PR office, it must get away from the past enervating cronyism and nepotism and hire schooled and experienced Public Relations people. Although federal money cannot be used for “publicity,” it can be used to disseminate government information and gather public data. (Ivan F. Star Comes Out, POB 147, Oglala, SD 57764; 605-867-2448; mato_nasula2@outlook.com) Copyright permission Native Sun News
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