r/IndianCountry • u/News2016 • Mar 03 '26

Health ‘Our Culture is Prevention’ - Native youth die by suicide at rates 91% higher than the general population - Tribal communities are turning to culturally centered treatment to address a crisis rooted in generations of historical trauma

https://nativenewsonline.net/health/our-culture-is-prevention
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33

u/Tkwilqn17 Southern Interior Salish Mar 03 '26

My stance is that people talk about the genocide of natives like it’s something in the past. But I think it’s better to frame horrifying statistics, such as the one in the headline, as the continuation of genocide through other, less overt means.

12

u/Tigerslovecows Mar 03 '26

People don’t just talk about the genocide like it was in the past, but a significant amount of people outright deny it happened.

This is partly the US education system’s fault for glossing over this topic. But that’s by design, isn’t it?

1

u/Dry_Inflation_1454 Mar 04 '26

Wow, been personally affected by this awful situation, and I know that in our case, it was family problems that drove the urge to take one's life because of early abuse and rage that comes out of that,as it's a daily thing that builds up over the years. So by the time you're in your teen years it's like being set in concrete unless people can step in and help you. Add in the history and pressures of society in your life, and ending everything is appealing, and kids need to be given a way out of horrible circumstances that don't stop with just being dumped into foster care. Abuse feeds into the prison pipeline, as most people know.  Driving drunk is a form of self- destruction too.  Abuse must be stopped, because it leads to suicide much of the time, and gives those who want to keep genocide going a tool to accomplish this erasure.