Rob Schmidt: Hiding the real truth about poverty at Pine Ridge

Thursday, November 17, 2011  

"The 20/20 special about the Pine Ridge Reservation, “Children of the Plains” has gotten both positive and negative reviews. The episode certainly shone a light on a neglected part of America. For that alone, it provided a valuable service.

But the critics were right that it was a maudlin mess. It was closer to a morning-show puff piece than a hard-hitting PBS documentary. Here are some of its problems:

The tone is set early as Diane Sawyer calls the Lakota “hidden” and “forgotten.” These terms may be accurate in some sense, but they’re strangely bland and neutral. It’s as if Americans wanted to help the Indians all along but couldn’t find them.

That isn’t the case, of course. In reality, words like “neglected,” “scorned” or “betrayed” would work just as well. But those would shift the blame from the Indians to the white man, and Sawyer doesn’t want that."

Get the Story:
Rob Schmidt: 20/20‘s ‘Children of the Plains’ Was Little More Than ‘Poverty Porn’ (Indian Country Today 11/17)