Off the Rez

‘IF you want to start a business on the reservation, here’s what you have to do,” says Mark St. Pierre, executive director of the Pine Ridge Chamber of Commerce, on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in South Dakota. “First you have to go to the tribal government to see if there’s an appropriate piece of land for you. Nothing’s been set aside for business development, so this is harder than it sounds. If you do identify a piece of land, you apply for a five-year lease, which won’t help you with the banks because they prefer 25-year leases. Next, your application goes before the tribal land committee, which often doesn’t have a single businessperson on it. This part can get very political, and it matters who’s in your family. If the committee approves your application, then it must go before the Bureau of Indian Affairs. This is usually a rubber stamp, except that it can take months or more than a year before you actually receive it. If the BIA signs off, you’re finally done. And what does it give you? A short-term lease on a bare piece of prairie.”

It’s no wonder, then, that few businesses get started on the Pine Ridge reservation. The reservation’s boundaries box in an area about the size of Rhode Island, just south of the desolate Badlands. Nowhere in its rolling spaces is there a store to buy shoes. There’s not a single bank, hotel, or movie theater within its borders, either. Many of its tiny towns don’t even have a barbershop. Yet the place is home to about 41,000 Lakota Indians (also known as the Oglala Sioux). They are the direct descendants of Crazy Horse, Red Cloud, and Sitting Bull—some of the fiercest fighters to roam the Great Plains. Yet none of them can walk into a store on their own reservation and purchase a pair of pants, because nobody sells them.

About the Author

John J. Miller

John J. Miller, a former national correspondent for National Review, is the director of the Dow Journalism Program at Hillsdale College. He is the author of A Gift of Freedom: How the John M. Olin Foundation Changed America.

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‘IF you want to start a business on the reservation, here’s what you have to do,” says Mark St. Pierre, executive director of the Pine Ridge Chamber of Commerce, on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in South Dakota. “First you have to go to the tribal government to see if there’s an appropriate piece of land for you. Nothing’s been set aside for business development, so this is harder than it sounds. If you do identify a piece of land, you apply for a five-year lease, which won’t help you with the banks because they prefer 25-year leases. Next, your application goes before the tribal land committee, which often doesn’t have a single businessperson on it. This part can get very political, and it matters who’s in your family. If the committee approves your application, then it must go before the Bureau of Indian Affairs. This is usually a rubber stamp, except that it can take months or more than a year before you actually receive it. If the BIA signs off, you’re finally done. And what does it give you? A short-term lease on a bare piece of prairie.”

It’s no wonder, then, that few businesses get started on the Pine Ridge reservation. The reservation’s boundaries box in an area about the size of Rhode Island, just south of the desolate Badlands. Nowhere in its rolling spaces is there a store to buy shoes. There’s not a single bank, hotel, or movie theater within its borders, either. Many of its tiny towns don’t even have a barbershop. Yet the place is home to about 41,000 Lakota Indians (also known as the Oglala Sioux). They are the direct descendants of Crazy Horse, Red Cloud, and Sitting Bull—some of the fiercest fighters to roam the Great Plains. Yet none of them can walk into a store on their own reservation and purchase a pair of pants, because nobody sells them.

About the Author

John J. Miller

John J. Miller, a former national correspondent for National Review, is the director of the Dow Journalism Program at Hillsdale College. He is the author of A Gift of Freedom: How the John M. Olin Foundation Changed America.