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MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 23, 2002

"I'm the tribal chairman of the Cheyenne River Sioux tribe. We're in west-central South Dakota, probably farther away from civilization than any other reservation in the United States. You would think that being out here, we wouldn't be so worried about potential terrorist attacks. I don't think that Al Qaeda is the least bit concerned about Native America. But smallpox is highly contagious. A lot of the tribal council members are jet-setting around the country. One carrier could travel to 10 major cities in the United States in just a couple days' time and spread it God knows where.

I was reared by my grandparents on the reservation. My grandmother would tell me how she had lost uncles and her grandma to the disease, how it had devastated our family. The recent talk about smallpox brought back those horror stories. . ."

Get the Story:
A Pox on Our House (The New York Times 9/22)
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Relevant Links:
Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe - http://www.sioux.org