Best Long: Food Deserts and Food Sovereignty: Conditions on Pine Ridge Reservation, South Dakota

Anna Brittan

Food Deserts and Food Sovereignty: Conditions on Pine Ridge Reservation, South Dakota

Can you imagine having to drive upwards of three hours round trip to access your groceries and fresh produce? This is the reality on Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota, home to the Oglala Lakota Nation, where the closest grocery store is 80 miles away (Nittle 2021). With the highest poverty rates in the United States (Re-member, n.d.), communities on Pine Ridge face extreme food insecurity under the conditions of a food desert. Rather than simply “lacking access” to healthy food choices, the people of the Oglala Lakota Nation are facing systemic obstacles to access as a part of a broader system of racial capitalism and racialized violence (Garth 2020). Although marginalized communities across the country are similarly affected by these oppressive structures, the history of colonialism and genocide against Native Americans have resulted in a unique loss of cultural, social, and economic autonomy as well as extreme environmental injustices. These conditions continue today with pervasive intergenerational consequences that have only compounded to exacerbate poverty, food insecurity, and detrimental health issues. Thus, reservations like Pine Ridge require a radical approach to combating food desert conditions to gain more than mere food security, but food sovereignty. Indigenous Food Sovereignty is imperative in cultivating food justice in Native American communities by embedding cultural values and practices into every level of their food system. The purpose of this paper is to examine the wider socioeconomic structures that produce food deserts to oppress marginalized groups across the U.S., as well as to analyze the conditions

of the food desert specific to Pine Ridge in order to highlight the unique struggles of Native Americans in the fight for environmental justice and food sovereignty.

Before we narrow in on Pine Ridge, we must first understand the broad conditions of food insecurity in a food desert. Food insecurity is the state of having limited access to affordable, nutritious, culturally appropriate food, or “having an uncertain ability to acquire acceptable foods in socially acceptable ways” (Bauer et al. 2012). Food insecurity can have detrimental effects on “physical, social, and emotional health” (Bauer et al. 2012). The risk of developing diet-related illnesses is much higher as “residents with a chronic lack of access to adequate food resources are shown to have higher rates of diabetes, obesity, and cardiovascular disease” (Tobin and Weaver 2017). These illnesses can be debilitating and cause premature death. The chronic stress of uncertain food access, health status, and financial instability contributes to increased rates of psychological distress and psychiatric problems (Tobin and Weaver 2017). Food-insecure children experience these same effects as well. Additionally, compared to food-secure children, they are “less likely to have a diet that meets recommended guidelines for nutrition” (Bauer et al. 2012) and are “statistically more susceptible to encountering social and behavioral problems in school,” which often incurs “administrative discipline or academic probation” (Tobin and Weaver 2017). As this can hinder educational advancements and, therefore, decrease economic opportunities, food insecurity is revealed as a major determinant of socioeconomic mobility.

Furthermore, food deserts are prominently classified according to physical proximity to a grocery store, but they can be defined more specifically as areas with limited or unequal access to nutritious food that “also suffer from deprivation and social exclusion” (Howerton and Trauger 2017). Because a lack of access to food increases the likelihood of being food-insecure (Bauer et al. 2012), there is a direct relationship between food insecurity and food deserts in which the existence of a food desert indicates high food insecurity. Food deserts are indicators of more than just public health concerns; they illuminate a microcosm of socioeconomic injustices.

Food deserts do not occur just anywhere or by accident; they are culturally and economically produced. Because “the economic status of a neighborhood is a likely indicator of its physical proximity to adequate healthful food,” food deserts are then “a geographic manifestation of uneven socioeconomic development patterns” (Howerton and Trauger 2017). This uneven development is “both a process and an outcome of capitalist practices that require inequality for the production of surplus,” which also relies on “the production of scarcity in which places are underserved and overcharged for a vital commodity such as food” (Tobin and Weaver 2017). Throughout the U.S., those who are affected are overwhelmingly impoverished and marginalized ethnic groups who have been systematically disinvested from by the government and wider economic powers (Garth 2020). Racial bias is employed through the geographical placement of grocery stores as socioeconomic inequalities are reproduced and exacerbated on racialized landscapes (Howerton and Trauger 2017). For example, “studies have found that wealthy districts have three times as many supermarkets as poor ones do” and “white neighborhoods contain an average of four times as many supermarkets as predominantly black ones do” (Tobin and Weaver 2017). As it is the nature of capitalism for businesses to follow wealth and the majority of wealth is accumulated in white neighborhoods, marginalized low-income communities don’t gain new businesses or economic attention, which catalyzes a positive feedback loop of decreasing wealth, opportunities, and socioeconomic mobility (Tobin and Weaver 2017). Economic powers are motivated purely by profit, and they will utilize and, thus, perpetuate class and racial hierarchies in their development. This is racialized violence as marginalized groups are trapped in an intergenerational cycle of poverty and illness. Therefore, food deserts are revealed as a product of systematic oppression under racial capitalism.

Now that we understand the wider systems that shape food deserts and the detriments of racialized landscapes, we have to dive into the ongoing implications of settler colonialism and the largest racial stratification project in the country: the Native American Reservation System. There is a long history of settler colonialism and genocide against Native Americans by white colonizers and the U.S. government. Beginning with the arrival of white colonizers, an estimated 56 million Native peoples were killed over the next hundred years (Kent 2019). Proceeding this initial settler colonial violence, Native Americans have been dispossessed and disconnected from their land through coercive treaties and forced removal from their ancestral lands and relocation onto land with particularly inhospitable conditions (Liddell et al. 2022). This systematic dispossession began as early as 1798 through land allotment treaties with individual tribes, but by 1871, all deals with Native Americans were constructed through legislature. “Perhaps the single most devastating federal policy was the General Allotment Act of 1887,” also known as the Dawes Act (Land 2012). This allowed the government to survey and divide tribal lands into allotments of various sizes for individual Native peoples and families. The reservation land that was surveyed to be the most productive as well as any land that exceeded the required minimum for allotment was labeled as “surplus land,” which was either outright seized by the government or sold directly to white settlers or business interests. This act single-handedly catalyzed Native land holdings to “plunge from 138 million acres in 1887 to 48 million acres by 1934 when allotment ended” (Land 2012). Because so much of this land was unsuitable for agriculture, especially for culturally specific practices, some Native Americans sold their land after the 25-year trust period as they were “cut off from their livelihoods and their previous ways of survival” and, thus, “had no means of supporting themselves” (Land 2012). Over time, a series of amendments and new legislature made it harder for Native Americans to maintain access to and control over their tribal lands, and easier for the government to take over land and control the livelihoods and mobility of Indigenous peoples. Beyond land allotment, a multitude of colonial policies have been put in place “that evoked widespread historical mistreatment,” “removal of [Indigenous] children from their families, disruption of food systems, and criminalization of spiritual activities, including those that involved foods” (Maudrie et al. 2023). In this way, settler colonialism as an ongoing process “has transformed and contaminated the land itself, impacting the availability and quality of food and the overall health of Indigenous peoples” (Liddell et al. 2022). Native American reservations are the embodiment of uneven socioeconomic development patterns and the production of scarcity.

This racial stratification and systemic oppression compounds with exploitative extractivism to produce extreme environmental injustices. The U.S. government has a history of breaking longstanding treaties when land is revealed to be valuable for extractivist industries. The foremost example of this is the conflict over the Black Hills, a sacred ancestral landscape to tribes in the region, which is situated right next to Pine Ridge Reservation. In a 1868 treaty, the U.S. declared the Black Hills as a “part of the Great Sioux Reservation, set aside for exclusive use by the Sioux people” (Exhibit 1996). But when gold was discovered there just six years later, intense conflict over the land and valuable mining industry erupted, and the U.S. confiscated the land back in 1877, disregarding the existing treaty (Exhibit 1996). In 1980, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that because the U.S. government broke the treaty, $100 million in reparations was ordered to be paid to the Great Sioux Nation. Today, this sum is now worth about $2 billion, “but the Great Sioux Nation still refuses the money, saying the land was never for sale” (Filmmaker

2023). The exploitation and destruction of these sacred landscapes continues today with the construction of oil pipelines across the Midwest plains. The famous 1,172-mile-long Dakota Access Pipeline has been slated to cross under the Missouri River, which is less than a mile

upstream of the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe’s boundary (Dakota 2016). Oil pipelines like this pose an imminent threat to the health of the water, ecosystems, and local communities as the statistically likely oil spills will result in complete contamination of all nearby resources. Studies find that Indigenous peoples are already exposed to disproportionately high levels of pollution in the air, water, and land (Liddell et al. 2022), and these pipeline projects are a part of the problem. Polluting pipelines throughout the region threaten agricultural lands, which “contributes to concerns about contamination of these food sources,” and “not only disrupts cultural subsistence practices, which contribute to resilience and bonding through intergenerational transmission of knowledge, but it also impairs Indigenous peoples’ ability to consume traditional diets, necessitating the purchase of more processed and expensive foods” (Liddell et al. 2022). This is another example of the U.S. government deliberately undermining Indigenous health, cultural autonomy, and food-security. This reveals a direct correlation between extractivism for economic gain, environmental injustice, and food insecurity.

Now that we understand the wider oppressive systems that produce food deserts as well as the geographical and socioeconomic context of Native American reservations, we can illuminate the alarming reality of the food desert on Pine Ridge. “Colonial policies have led to a dire lack of infrastructure” with severe impacts on the food system on Pine Ridge (Davies 2023). There are 46,855 members in the Oglala Lakota Nation, and the 2010 U.S. Census recorded at least 18,834 people–of which 16,906 are Native American (Re-member. n.d.)–to be residing on the 3,500 square mile reservation, but the closest grocery store is 80 miles away in Rapid City

(Nittle 2021). According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, “the dearth of grocery stores and the high poverty rate put residents in a profound state of food insecurity” (Nittle 2021). The officially reported poverty rate for Native Americans on Pine Ridge is 53.75 percent, while the U.S. average is 15.6 percent (Re-member. n.d.). Because of the history of Native Americans’ distrust of the U.S. government, “verified and accurate statistics can be hard to come by on the reservation, and only paint a partial picture of the realities endured by the residents of the communities on Pine Ridge,” so drawing from other assessments and sources beyond the U.S. Census data, the actual poverty rate is calculated to be at least 80 percent (Re-member. n.d.). In fact, the Oglala Lakota County within Pine Ridge is ranked as the poorest county in the nation with the lowest per capita income of $8,768 (Re-member. n.d.). This exemplifies the great need on the reservation.

Furthermore, according to the Lakota Food Sovereignty Coalition, “an estimated 95 percent of the food consumed on the reservation is imported, while most of the food produced there is shipped away” (Nittle 2021). This results in most of the food on the reservation being highly processed. Because the first obstacles to accessing healthy food options are affordability and transportation, this leaves local gas stations, convenience stores, and fast-food restaurants as the most accessible options (Bauer et al. 2012). Some local convenience stores sell produce, but in limited quantities at inflated prices with consistently poor quality that is described as “bottom of the barrel,” “rotting,” and “expired” (Nittle 2021). Due to these conditions, in a 2012 research study, 39.9 percent of the 216 participating families on Pine Ridge reported experiencing food insecurity within the last year, which is nearly double the national average in households with children (Bauer et al. 2012). This state of poverty and the broken food system on Pine Ridge causes drastic health consequences. Approximately 50 percent of adults over 40 years old have

diabetes, and this in conjunction with exploding rates of heart disease results in the lowest life expectancy in the country at 66.81 years, although “other statistics, attributed to the Pine Ridge hospital, cite an average life expectancy for men of just 47 years” and 55 years for women (Re-member. n.d.). Residents’ mental health is also severely impacted by the chronic stress of survival, resulting in alcoholism affecting 85 percent of Lakota families and a teen suicide rate 150 percent higher than the U.S. as a whole (Re-member. n.d.). This illuminates the severe repercussions under the conditions of the food desert on Pine Ridge Reservation.

To fully grasp the true impacts of the environmental injustices and food insecurity on Pine Ridge and Native American communities, we must understand their cultural values and perceptions of land. There is a fundamental difference between white and Native understanding of land; “In contrast to the Western view of ownership of the land, the relationship to land for Indigenous peoples is based on recognition and reciprocity for the sustenance it gives” (Liddell et al. 2022). Throughout Native American cultures, there is a spiritual connection to and deep respect for the earth. This commands a responsibility to protect and honor the environment, which is why the Great Sioux Nation has and will never accept the reparations for the Black Hills from the U.S. – land is not a commodity to them, rather it is a part of their identities. The spirituality and culture of Native Americans are inextricably intertwined with the land and is embedded in their food practices. Native Americans “were sustained by their relational foodways and their reciprocity-based relationships with one another, plants, animals, waterways, and land,” so when analyzing food security, one must consider “the spirituality carried through foods, and whether the food was stewarded in a way that promotes well-being not just for humans but also for plants, animals, land, and water” (Maudrie et al. 2023). This is why cultural autonomy within the food system is critical to combating food insecurity and the food desert on Pine Ridge.

In order to address the cultural loss of food practices and socioeconomic injustices within the food system on Pine Ridge, we must go beyond mere food security and work towards food sovereignty. Building a new supermarket simply isn’t enough. To cultivate justice on the reservation, it is imperative to embed the cultural values and practices of interconnectedness, respect, and reciprocity into every level of their food system, which is why a holistic approach like Indigenous Food Sovereignty is critical. “Food sovereignty is the right of peoples to healthy and culturally appropriate food produced through ecologically sound and sustainable methods, and their right to define their own food and agriculture systems” (Maudrie et al. 2023). The central goal is not self-sufficiency, as the concept is “rooted in individualism and settler-colonial values,” rather, “focusing on restoration or maintenance of reciprocity-based kinship in our food systems is key to moving beyond surviving to thriving” (Maudrie et al. 2023). Initiatives using this methodology are beginning to take hold across Pine Ridge.

The Oglala Lakota Nation is experiencing the worst of the negative effects of a food desert, but they are also spearheading transformational solutions. One of these initiatives is Oyate Teca Project’s Medicine Root Gardening program, which serves to foster food autonomy and combat food insecurity by teaching gardening skills and reconnecting students with cultural food and land practices. Medicine Root provides seeds, soil, and tools for families to establish home gardens as well as training in financial literacy and business planning, so “students learn how to make seasonal income by canning their crops or selling surplus produce at farmers’ markets” and are equipped to “channel their garden expertise into a career” (Nittle 2021). Each family in the program harvests hundreds of pounds of vegetables each season, and Medicine Root was able to help community members in need by distributing up to 125 bags of vegetables a week. They anticipate over 75,000 pounds of fresh produce to be grown on-site this year, and

they plan for their mobile market to “travel to remote communities on the vast reservation to deliver produce to elders and families who cannot make the long drive into town” (75,000 2024). Medicine Root’s course also focuses on preserving the Lakota culture by reconnecting with cultural knowledge and food practices as students learn food names in their native language, about ancient permaculture methods, and how to make traditional dishes (Nittle 2021). “By some estimates, only 4 percent of Pine Ridge land is conducive to agriculture due to the overgrazing of cattle and… the federal government’s history of forcing Native Americans onto inhospitable lands,” but Medicine Root’s composting techniques are helping home gardeners to regenerate and rehabilitate their soil (Nittle 2021). Another initiative on Pine Ridge is Makoce Agriculture Development’s Food Hub, which aims to connect food producers, entrepreneurs, educators, and community members. Their goal is to foster a local, interconnected, regenerative food system and ensure culturally appropriate, ethically sourced, nutritious food for all. These community and family-based efforts in combination with nutritional education and “building social networks and social capital in communities… can buffer the harmful effect that poverty, unemployment, and discrimination have on health” (Bauer et al. 2012). These programs will have profound effects on gaining food sovereignty on the reservation.

The food desert on Pine Ridge predicates conditions of extreme poverty and food insecurity. Food deserts are an economic and culturally produced manifestation of racial capitalism, which illuminates the multitude of socioeconomic injustices in low-income marginalized communities due to uneven development on racialized landscapes. The history of settler colonialism and genocide against Native Americans produces a unique microcosm of these injustices on reservations, resulting in detrimental social, environmental, and physical health effects. Working towards food sovereignty is crucial to restore cultural, social, and

economic autonomy to Native American communities like the Oglala Lakota Nation on Pine Ridge.

Works Cited

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