THE OTHER
AMERICANS
ten that, we will continue to remind
them. This is not about handouts.
The government has not provided
assistance for tribal lands because
they felt it was the charitable thing
to do. It’s because they have a treaty
obligation to the Sioux Nation and
to our tribe. This was an exchange.
This was a business deal.
“This whole economic downturn and the country’s struggle,
we have compassion and recognize that many people in this
country have suffered a great deal
because they lost their homes
and their jobs and their savings.
We have a lot of compassion for
that,” Briggs added. “But that’s
been our reality for 100 years.”
TURNING THINGS
AROUND
On a blazing June afternoon, Ale
Obregon, one of the leaders of the
community where Elia and Rogelio
De La O live, stands at the local
county watering hole armed with
a video camera. He’s arranged to
meet with the Webb County utility supervisor, Johnny Amaya, to
discuss the lack of official supervision at the site, the need for better
maintenance of the pump, which
occasionally breaks down, and the
HUFFINGTON
10.21.12
inadequacy of the facility to meet
growing needs of residents.
As he waits for Amaya to arrive,
a queue of cars pulling flatbed trailers and assorted pickup trucks—all
bearing empty plastic tubs and
drums—begins to form. As their
turn arrives, drivers maneuver their
vehicles under a fat hose dangling
alongside a rusty steel box the size
of a small van. They stuff the hose
into the mouth of a container and
then drop a couple of quarters into
a slot on the side of the box: 50
cents for 150 gallons. The pump
motor inside the box revs to life,
and a stream of water begins to
flow. The stink of sulfur fills the air.
When Amaya arrives, Obregon
complains that many customers are
taking more than their prescribed
limit, 500 gallons, whi