Following my post Tuesday on South Dakota’s rising suicide rate, an eager reader helps me find the updated suicide surveillance report with 2017 data on the Department of Health’s suicide prevention webpage. Here are some key figures:
South Dakota’s suicide rate surged in the 1990s, retreated at the millennium, then grew again. In the 38-year span documented above, the four highest rates have taken place in the last five years.
Over the past decade, our Native neighbors have been far more prone to killing themselves than us colonizers. While we white folks have seen a slow increase in suicide over the past decade, American Indians lowered their suicide rate from 2009 through 2014, only to wipe out that improvement the big spike over the last three years. (Don’t read too much into the rates for “Other”—their actual numbers of suicides were in single digits every year except 2016 and thus don’t make for robust statistical conclusions.)
Over the past decade, suicide rates were higher West River than East. Reservation counties—Buffalo, Todd, Corson, Dewey, Oglala Lakota—had the highest average annual rates. But check out Lawrence County: the American Indian population there is only 2.4%, much lower than the statewide Native percentage of 9.0%. Yet the suicide rate in the Spearfish-Whitewood-Deadwood-Lead metroplex was 19.2 per 100,000, exceeding the statewide average rate of 17.5 per 100,000. The fact that I found my two years of living amid the natural beauty of Spearfish, Spearfish Canyon, Crow Peak, Cheyenne Crossing, and the Crook City Road absolutely thrilling only shows how out of touch I was with some real and arguably unusual despair.
Meade County is similarly low on Indians (2.8%) but high on suicides (22.2/100K). Kingsbury County posts a similar East River anomaly, with only 1.2% Indians but 21.5 suicides per 100,000 population.
Hughes and Stanley County also defies any Indian/suicide correlation with this stark contrast: Hughes County, which includes our capital, Pierre, and the environs on the east bank of the Missouri, had a suicide rate of 16.1/100K. Cross the river to Fort Pierre and out into the high lonesome ranch country, and the suicide rate more than doubles to 37.4/100K. Hughes is 11.6% Indian; Stanley, 7.0%.
We should note that suicides in Stanley County, as in Kingsbury, totaled only eleven over the last decade, and DOH advises caution in interpreting any rates from counties with fewer than twenty suicides. But these two adjacent counties, with arguably equal access to the health care services and employment opportunities of the state capital, show starkly different suicide rates.
Our biggest college counties, Brookings and Clay, are among the counties with lowest suicide rates. Most of the counties with suicide rates under 10/100K are quiet rural counties like Hutchinson, Sanborn, and Miner. Perhaps showing some unreliability in figures from counties with fewer data points, folks around Miller in Hand County had a suicide rate of 9/100K, while their neighbors around Highmore in Hyde County had a suicide rate of 21.6/100K.
Uniquely, Campbell County reported no suicides from 2008 through 2017.
The Addendum doesn’t make clear whether the above figures on hospitalizations include folks who die from their self-inflicted injuries. But consider that while suicide deaths from 2008 through 2015 rose 41% from 123 to 173, hospitalizations for self-inflicted injuries rose 95% from 573 to 1,120. From 2011 to 205, emergency room visits for self-inflicted injuries rose 84%. We thus need to remember that for every ten South Dakotans who kill themselves, there are perhaps a hundred who try. In other words, to understand the extent and risk of suicide, take the number of reported suicides and multiply by at least ten.
3 things: gun availability of course as a nearly fail safe method; the puzzling but fortunate qu.estion in Campbell Cty WY; and finally….
The second one, guns, may not have applicability with Cory’s x10 proposition.
Oh, and obviously gambling in Lawrence and perhaps Meade County, if it correlates to legalization. I wonder of SA Fitzgerald’s long service has spoken to this epidemic?
Our “college counties” low numbers may be inconsistent with Lawrence.
Wow. Nothing coherent there.
I appreciate you in taking the time to increase the awareness of the problem of suicide, Corey. Would the increase in Deaths by suicide be Classified as an epidemic in this country?
Cory writes:
Southern Hyde County—including Crow Creek High School and the community of Stephan—is on the Crow Creek Indian Reservation. The tribal school district actually has a rural Highmore mailing address.
Or at least I think it did until fairly recently. (Google turns up conflicting search results.)
Does anyone know if the state is doing anything concrete to decrease these numbers? “Thoughts and prayers” is not concrete. They’re irrelevant.
Deb writes:
Lord God, in the name of Your only begotten Son Jesus, show Deb that asking You to help us is relevant.
How about asking the big feller for some serious help on the reservation rather than raising hell with this lady Kurt. You make note of the numbers like it does not matter because those suicides may or may not have been Native. Why sir, it almost makes you sound…racist. Are you drumming up votes or did you just bypass your own cynicism? I for one am sick of the thoughts and prayer mantra, it does not seem to stop the carnage or even slow it down.
Exactly Jerry. Sound and fury, signifying nothing. I’m talking about politics Kurt, and the GOP version of religion, which is as fake as their president.
Debbo, your religion is just as fake as our playdough potus, too. Get off your high horse.
Ryan, if you like the Russpublican version of Christianity, you are welcome to it. You’ll fit right in. 👍😊
Huff Post has an excellent video about suicide on farms.
In the 80s I watched Jessica Lange’s movie “Country”, about the farm crisis and suicide. It’s still the only movie I’ve ever seen where the audience was dominated by seed corn cap wearers. It’s also the only movie that accurately captured farm life as I’d experienced it. It was set in Iowa.
There was an epidemic of farmer suicides at that time, or maybe it just seemed like it to me because I was terrified my father would be one of them. He was a very troubled man, and depression was one of his issues. Many days he’d wordlessly come into the house, grab his wallet and take off in his pickup. None of us knew if he’d suicide or drink or both. He didn’t suicide, but he did lose the farm.
Watch the video. It will help you understand.
debbo, i don’t like any version of your self-contradictory, homophobic, fear-mongering, freedom-hating cult.
Ryan, mind your manners, please. Debbo is not any of those things, you don’t even know her.
Debbo lives in Ryan’s head. She need only post her name to trigger Ryan’s rants.
You didn’t buy that sense of humor, did you?
Jenny, i said her cult is those things. I think debbo is perhaps only some of them.
mike, do you have a crush on me or something?
Debbo didn’t ask yer opinion on anything, Ryan. You take yerself waaaaayyyyyyyy too seriously.
I will say this much, I am enamored with foolish passion over yer goofiness, silliness, haplessness, etc.
Wow! Somehow, South Dakota is now causing its own chronically record high suicide rate.
Agriculture is flush with cash ($12 billion farmer bailout ensures they feel no pain – while they pretend to endure hardship), and SD churches are healthier than ever. I mean, you can give rurals tons of money and lots of God, but they still can’t figure out how to live, or look at, life.
As for our Native neighbors, I have nothing but sorrow and apologies for their placement amongst some of the dumbest and most incoherent white folks on this side of the world.
No amount of God and money can save rural culture now. The fire has been burning for too long, and they haven’t got any water.
Sorry Ryan honey. I’m just not your type. And vice versa. 😘
Is it America’s or South Dakota’s fault that South Dakota has record high chronic suicides over the last 5 years?
Who do we blame for this?
I submit that it might be a result of a growingly radical isolationist conservative culture in South Dakota which is, by it’s very nature, a far less satisfying way of seeing the world. The only thing that has changed in SD over the last 5 years is how radical our conservative culture has now finally become – a likely direct correlation to our record levels of suicide.
Adam, you are spot on. The BRIBES are just the latest in chicanery of God, Guns, and Money to grease the skids of he downhill run.
There are times when numbers and charts are meaningless, this is one of them.
On Wednesday a friend’s 15 year old daughter committed suicide on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation.
She was a beautiful young lady inside and out with plenty of potential. Her parents were very proud and supportive and nobody knows what went wrong.
She has now become just a number.
I know what you’re all probably thinking. I just want to get out in front of it and let you to know that I do not ever use the term “direct correlation” in any professional context. 😉
another thought: Rates of teen depression and suicide have skyrocketed since 2011. It’s not an exaggeration to describe iGen as being on the brink of the worst mental-health crisis in decades. Much of this deterioration can be traced to their phones.
the twin rise of the smartphone and social media has caused an earthquake of a magnitude we’ve not seen in a very long time, if ever. There is compelling evidence that the devices we’ve placed in young people’s hands are having profound effects on their lives—and making them seriously unhappy.
Teens who spend more time than average on screen activities are more likely to be unhappy, and those who spend more time than average on nonscreen activities are more likely to be happy.
Depression and suicide have many causes; too much technology is clearly not the only one. And the teen suicide rate was even higher in the 1990s, long before smartphones existed.
oh, and cell phones prolly cause cancer (cite later)
https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2017/09/has-the-smartphone-destroyed-a-generation/534198/
Roger Cornelius writes:
I’ve worked with young people in Todd County, Hyde County, Bennett County and Oglala Lakota County, and stories like this are tragically common. For some reason it seems like the kids with the most potential are the most likely to kill themselves. I’m sorry for your friend’s loss, Roger.
“jerry” writes to me:
If I’d thought it didn’t matter, I wouldn’t have bothered to comment.
“seems like the kids with the most potential are the most likely to kill themselves.”
I agree, Kurt. I wonder if it’s because they’re more aware of the world around them, also more compassionate and notice the struggles of others? They don’t dull their hearts and minds with substances to the extent that others do.
That’s my theory.
Not to be trite about any of the above causes, Native American suicides, especially in youth but by no means limited to that, are even more vital than military suicides.
The conditions of poverty, cultural trauma, isolation, lack of adequate food and medical care, alcohol and drug self medication are atrocious. Daugaard should tour some of the less than stellar homes. He’d NEVER be the same. I am sure he’d say, “well, I saw White Clay in the day, or “Granny…blah, blah, blah, but he doesn’t really understand with empathy. And almost no family is really safe from this epidemic.
If we could also take a moment to remember the old EB-5 white guy, who killed his family before burning his house down and then killing himself. What was that guy’s name again?
I am so sorry for the death of your friend’s daughter, Roger. It is heartbreaking to hear this happening so frequently on the reservations, and so discouraging.
It’s a tough world today and I agree with Leslie that technology is playing a part in the increase of mental illness. Also the breakdown of family and community, and it also seems like people are More stressed out than ever. Also there seems to be a lack of kindness and compassion for others especially others from different backgrounds.
In this country there is this mentality that work and making money and a lot of it is what really counts. That is far from the truth, in reality, people need friendships and family that is close and supportive .
So true when we ask ourselves, at the end of our lives are we going to look back and say boy I sure wish I would have worked more, or are you going to say I sure wish I would have spent more time with my family.
Richard Benda Rounds EB5 cab mbr. Platte guy killed his family in MCEC fraud
No, agriculture isn’t flush with cash. It’s still pie in the sky.The tariffs have been economic disaster to family farms, the 12B is not reality, and even if it becomes reality, farmers would prefer a fair market price for their products and the 12B will never make it right.
Wasyour comment supposed to go to another thread, Robin?
Just this Wednesday… awful, Roger, just awful.
You’re right—in that household, in that community, in the hearts of all who knew that young girl and now are left without her, the numbers above mean nothing.
The individual stories are what we must tell to get people to act and vote to change things and implement solutions. The numbers are what we need for different discussions, for the conversations at the committee tables and councils where we try to make the policy that will turn the trend downward and maybe mean fewer people will have to experience such sadness.
Westerhuis wasn’t that old. Adam. 41 is nearly 25 years younger than I and I ain’t that old.
I read all the posts and I did not read anyone write about the cause of the pain that leads some to the only solution for their pain; death. Much of this pain which leads many to addiction, depression, suicide is unresolved childhood trauma. Read Tim Bjorkman’s paper from the law review. Read Gabor Mate’s ‘In the Realm of Hungry Ghosts’. Read the ACE questionaire from Felitti and Anda. What we need is trauma informed training as communities. I for my part will have a booth at National Night Out sponsored by the Spink County Sheriff and Spink County Coalition highlighting the We #2 Movement for Survivors of Childhood Sexual Abuse. The stats used to be 1 in 3 girls and 1 in 6 boys would be sexually abused by age 18. Let that sink in. I am not sure of the purpose of this blog, it seems like bickering about someone’s comment. I don’t find that helpful. Ok I know I have exposed myself to criticism so be it, I will continue my mission of facilitating safe space for survivors to come forward so they can heal.
Francis Schaffer
I understand what you are saying, when it comes to disusing suicide we look at single issues, or what causes suicide. As I said previously, there are as many reasons for taking your own life as the number of people that do take their own lives.
Just like in death being a mystery, suicide is a mystery as well.
Their are at least partial solutions to suicide and that largely includes talking to someone whether individually or in a group.
Ms. Schaffer is absolutely right about this. Childhood trauma is a big risk indicator for possible suicidal ideation and death. Childhood trauma, especially sexual abuse, has a devastating effect on the entire lives of the children and damages the entire nation. Millions of dollars of productivity over a lifetime are lost.
The damage intentionally inflicted on the children the president ordered stolen from their families will be generational, stretching into the future, without equally intentional government intervention to help those children and their families recover. The same is true of the ongoing pedophilia and sexual abuse of adults in the Roman Catholic Church.
A good addiction counselor will be very persistent in looking for the abuse that led the sufferer to the substance or behavior they are seeking help for. On average over 90% of the women incarcerated in this nation were abused as children, over 80% of the men.
Ms. Schaffer is right on the nose. If we truly want to address the issues of suicide, of mental illness, of addiction, of prison overcrowding, of gun violence, . . . we need to begin by truly addressing the issues of child and adult abuse. I guarantee we will find it in 99% of the white male domestic terrorists who have slaughtered so many in this country.
No more winks and nods like this: https://goo.gl/7VJRWc
It’s an editorial in the Star-Tribune about cops failing to Even Investigate rape reports.
No easy solutions folks. But there are solutions and they are doable.
We are the most dangerous place in the developed world. Healthcare is the answer and the United States simply does not have it for anything. We have few doctors and facilities for mental health to deal with our epidemic suicides, our epidemic drug abuse and the care of our mothers. We have failed as a society to greed and racism.
“A USA Today investigation finds the United States is the “most dangerous place to give birth in the developed world.” Every year in the U.S., more than 50,000 mothers are severely injured during or after childbirth and 700 die. USA Today’s investigation, “Deadly Deliveries,” claims women are dying and suffering life-altering injuries during childbirth because hospitals are not following long-known safety measures.
Maternal death in the United States has been steadily rising. The U.S. now has the highest rate in the developed world. USA Today conducted a four-year investigation into the nation’s hospital maternity wards and spoke to several families who lost loved ones and to women who were permanently harmed during their deliveries.” https://www.cbsnews.com/news/us-most-dangerous-place-to-give-birth-in-developed-world-usa-today-investigation-finds/?ftag=CNM-00-10aab7e&linkId=54760827
More depression without mental help leads to more suicides. All of these issues just add to one another. Then we listen to the nonsense about another tax cut for the rich.
Debbw
Thanks for the kind words. Just so you know it is. Mr. I realize it is uncommon for many males to disclose and to research the root cause, yet for me it was a matter of life or become a statistic.
Debbo
Sorry autocorrect strikes again.
Mr. Schaffer, I never get it right about the “es” or the “is” at the end of “Francis.” I’m sorry, and thanks for correcting me.
Many people do exactly what you’ve done for similar reasons. It’s not uncommon for mental health professionals to get into the field because they want to figure out why their family is the way it is.
That’s fueled my interest, along with saving my own life too. I have found that the more I investigate the generations of abuse in my family history, the more compassion I am able to feel for my predecessors. I don’t excuse their behavior, but I understand it.
BTW Mr. Schaffer, I want to thank you for stepping up. With one exception, the abusive people in my family tree are all male. When the males come to a place where they will speak up as courageously as you are, that will be very helpful in creating a new and healthy family dynamic.
Robin Friday had written:
Jenny asks:
She was probably responding to this comment from Adam (2018-07-27 at 11:35):
I was talking with a great friend of mine, a retired farmer (one of the top 2 of the very most astute farmers I have ever met), and he was telling me about when he was a kid – how men came back from war afflicted with PTSD and every other variety of trauma (usually leading to physically abusive behavior within their family) and they just wanted a piece of land they could live on and work with no one ever bothering them. As Ag markets were far more unstable (in old days), many of these veterans lost their farm and felt that the country they just given everything for had turned its back on them – leading to increased mental instability and more widespread child abuse – which later became a rural societal norm.
I’m curious how complications in the earlier days of populating Ag states like South Dakota has lead to a compounding generational dysfunction in raising kids – and possibly effecting our modern day suicide rates.
Many misguided parental strategies get handed down from one generation to the next.
MFI, wow, yeah, 41 ain’t that old – at all. Either that or I’m old – and I don’t want to believe that YET.
Adam writes:
*led
**affecting
Oh, the simple things in life —> like grammar trolling.
Even dietary preferences which lead to health problems get ‘handed down’ through early-stage conditioning. Bad diet can later appear to be ‘genetic propensity’ to develop diagnosis like ‘chronic high triglycerides’ when in fact it has been one’s family who cultivated an unconventional love of foods like cinnamon rolls which was the culprit all along.
We teach our kids as we learned to live – and sometimes to the detriment of the child.
When initial conditioning is unhealthy to the mammal,
…go ahead, finish the sentence.
Adam, you’re accusing farmers of being more abusive to their families than the general population? How would your know that? Or are you just assuming that, along with all the stereotyping, bigotry and microaggressions that are typical on these pages. Do you have the stats? Any 21st century links to support your suggestion that farmers are generationally more abusive than anyone else?
A “rural society norm”? You know this? Source?
I am not giving you the name of my very close, wealthy, retired farmer freind. Obviously, if you know how to read, you can see that he was my source.
And where the heck are the grammar police when you really need them? Kurt, do you care point out err in Robin’s text?
“Microaggressions are the everyday verbal, nonverbal, and environmental slights, snubs, or insults, whether intentional or unintentional, which communicate hostile, derogatory, or negative messages to target persons based solely upon their marginalized group membership. In many cases, these hidden messages may invalidate the group identity or experiential reality of target persons, demean them on a personal or group level, communicate they are lesser human beings, suggest they do not belong with the majority group, threaten
“The most detrimental forms of microaggressions are usually delivered by well-intentioned individuals who are unaware that they have engaged in harmful conduct toward a socially devalued group. These everyday occurrences may on the surface appear quite harmless, trivial, or be described as “small slights,” but research indicates they have a powerful impact upon the psychological well-being of marginalized groups and affect their standard of living by creating inequities in health care, education, and employment.” https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/microaggressions-in-everyday-life/201011
Farmers, ag producers of a good deal of our GDP, are becoming “the new minority”. Societal marginalization has everything to do with suicide.
Adam, I didn’t ask you for the name of your friend. I don’t want it. He is one person with an opinion, not a source. I was asking if you have stats for your contention that farmers are more generationally abusive than urbanites.
Yes, there are farmers who are wealthy. There are many more who are not.
Robin’s comments about the adverse effect of microaggressions on marginalized groups applies during the Trump years to demonized immigrants. For example, calling these people “illegal” and stepping the deportation of family members who have committed no serious crimes, coupled with the damage done by separating children from their families takes a terrible psychological toll. Here is one recent study of the effect of such microagression on immigrant kids and family members based on work by John Hopkins University:
http://www.pewtrusts.org/en/research-and-analysis/blogs/stateline/2018/07/17/an-immigrant-community-haunted-by-suicide
The information presented is saddening. Some examples:
Robin and bear
Between the two of you the information provided is crucial to this discussion, the case studies are disheartening.
An area I wonder about when it comes to youth or childhood suicides is whether or not the child knows how permanent death is.
FWIW, I didn’t find farmers or ranchers to be any more abusive than anyone else in my years of DV work. The dynamic is that “Most abusers were abused as children, however, most who were abused as children Do Not grow up to be abusers.”
The 2nd part of that is critical. Also, military personnel who have untreated PTSD do act out in a variety of ways, but most do not become abusive. What Adam said about the immediate post WW II era makes some sense if you remember that the farm population was much, much higher than it is now.
Robin, I’m not sure that there is as much slamming of rural folks as you perceive. I’ve spent the large majority of my life among such people, both my youth, working life and professionally as a pastor. I treasure those people, finding a great deal to admire and love about them. It’s also true that there is a high level of ignorance among them regarding urban life and POC. This leads to many erroneous conclusions. The same is true of many urban people regarding the rural world. That is not a cheap shot against anyone. It is a careful, unbiased observation. I may not have always come across sounding that way, and I apologize for that. Remember, description is not condemnation.
My dream is to create an interchange between rural and urban. For a month urban youth of color live on farms with willing hosts while the rural children live in the city. I think that would be a wonderful program for the nation.
BCB, that’s heartbreaking and the cruelty of an administration that could do such a think truly sickens me.
Roger, about how permanent death is . . . I doubt it. It’s hard to really comprehend I think, unless you’ve been exposed to a lot of it or have reached a more advanced age. Of course those children who come here as refugees from violent countries probably understand better than many US citizens.
There are many forms of child abuse, and 3 fundamental setting it takes place in (urban, suburban and rural) and the all the combinations of the type and place don’t all lead to same statistical likelihood for suicide later on.
I kinda thought that goes without saying – my bad.
Yes, Roger. That’s one of the things counselors have to stress, to make the child/teenager understand. “Pain is temporary, death is permanent”. When I worked on the reservations, I saw happy, gleeful little children playing as all little children do. When they get to school, they begin to realize how tough life is. And when they become teenagers, and look at what their options might be ine the real world, all they see is despair. My heart breaks for them. To a degree, it’s true for farm kids, too, because in reality, farming is not an option for young people any more. It has become too highly capitalized for a young person starting out.
Debbo, thanks, but I disagree. Unless you are the recipient of the micro-agression, you don’t even realize that it’s there. Your list the other day was all micro-aggression. Usually I’m on your side, but you don’t even realize your own thinking toward farmers is discriminatory. I know you don’t mean to be, but that’s what micto-aggression is. It’s ingrained and usually unrecognized. Each farmer in America feeds 70+ people, and we get annoyed and exhausted with being called “welfare queens” or your own made up word, “welfarmers”.
The very word “welfare” is micro-aggression when applied to farmers. Politically, farmers are being blamed for electing Trump. Yes, the whole center of the nation went Red, but farmers have been about two percent of the population for decades, and declining ever year, so farmers did not elect Trump.
Bear, good post. Thank you.
IMO, when people suicide, it is because they can see no other escape from the pain. The saddest thing is, sometimes they’re right, especially in the case of the pain caused by terminal illness.
What?? My leg is long enough Robin “The very word “welfare” is micro-aggression when applied to farmers. Politically, farmers are being blamed for electing Trump. Yes, the whole center of the nation went Red, but farmers have been about two percent of the population for decades, and declining ever year, so farmers did not elect Trump.”
Farmers have been bitching about the very world welfare for quite some time. Not there own, but those who depend on food stamps and on other forms of welfare that are denied by the vote of farmers. Who do you think elects Thune, Rounds and NOem? The whole center of the nation went red in a big way thanks to the Reds and the farmers who put those three into Washington to vote down everything that could have made a better trade deal.
Now they are worried that what they did was a step too far. It was, but they can expect a nice paycheck for that vote and for what is expected of them come November. Nice try Robin.
Nope, Robin. You’ve no idea what micro agressions I’ve endured, nor how well I recognize them simply because I disagree with you on this particular issue. Sharing information is not micro aggression, regardless of how strongly you insist that it is.
“Welfare” is not a micro agression. It is a word used to refer to government assistance. It can be used in a demeaning way and then it is indeed a microagression. Or it can be felt in a demeaning way even when that is not the intent. Do you want certain words erased from the national vocabulary because you find them hurtful? That is not sarcasm. That is what it sounds like you are proposing in regard to the word “welfare.”
Lastly, regard your insistence that I’m purposely demeaning farmers– that’s so far off base. However, it appears that you’ve decided and there is nothing I can say to change your mind, so I’ll leave you with your opinions.
Just before the 2016 election, a trade journal did this poll. Turns out, Robin just wants us all to act like farmers and ranchers are just misunderstood. They put trump in just as sure as the rest of the Russians did. Now they reap the whirlwind of bribes and feeling sorry for themselves.
“Meanwhile, Donald-mania burns bright among at least one subset of the population far from the rollicking events in Washington, DC: farmers and ranchers.
Few places combine embattled white identity and economic stress quite like farm country.
According to a new poll by trade journal Agri-Pulse, conducted October 5 to October 18, Trump leads Democratic rival Hillary Clinton by the commanding margin of 55 percent to 18 percent among farmers with operations of at least 200 acres. Of the rest, 15 percent were undecided, 8 percent declined to answer, and a combined 3 percent supported third-party candidates Gary Johnson and Jill Stein.
While farmers make up a tiny part of the national electorate—there are about 662,000 farms that are more than 180 acres in size, according to the latest US census numbers—they actually could make a difference in the election in a key swing state: Ohio, where Trump enjoys the support of 68 percent of farmers, the poll found.”
Our state has some terrible terrible suicide rates with by far the most coming from Indian Country. The rates seem static for the Whites, but seems like in the years that Obama was president, those numbers speak for themselves..they were better. Still unacceptable, but shows that the trend can change.
This is just what we’ve been talking about in regard to childhood abuse . . .
Based on police reports and call logs: “The reports document hundreds of allegations of sexual offenses, fights and missing children.” [In separated children camps.] Pro Publica
https://goo.gl/mjqR6X
Schools report increased numbers of suicide attempts by Latina girls and boys not involved in Tangerine Wankmaggot’s child snatching. They say they’re afraid it will happen to them. Plus, taunting by white children taught to be racists is tormenting children of color. The rate of suicidal ideation or attempts is highest among Latina children.
Francis is right: policymakers interested in doing something about this problem should read every word of Bjorkman’s policy paper. Among his stats: “Roughly 90% of those who die by suicide suffer from mental illness.” Get serious about treating mental illness, and suicide may well become less frequent.
Adam had written:
I’d written:
Adam writes:
Adam’s worldview: “There’s no credible historical evidence that Jesus Christ rose from the dead, and traditional evangelical Christians like Kurt Evans are intellectually challenged.”
Also Adam’s worldview: “Homophones are HARD!”
Adam writes:
*The phrase “care point out err” presumably translates as “care to point out the error”…
The answer depends. Does Robin routinely suggest that Christians like me are intellectually challenged?
“bearcreekbat” quotes:
It seems to me that paying one’s own way would make a person less likely to commit suicide, not more likely. It’s only been two or three generations since large numbers of American teenagers were quitting high school to start businesses and families.
Kurt writes to show everyone how smart he is with the King’s English. So then Mr. Kurt, as you seek a public office in the state, how would you solve this crisis on the reservations? The white guys seem pretty flat and have been for sometime, what would you do as concerned as you are?
Two or three generations ago, what the hell was high school? You were lucky if you got to go to grade school. Your presence was needed walking behind old Bessie and the rest of the team singing the blues.
All you gotta do is mention farmers in a realistic light, and rurals be all like, “you can’t do that! – you ain’t fair!”
Kurt tries to cover up his retarted ideology with a decent understanding of grammar – HUGE FAIL – fake grammar policeman only critiques grammar of those he disagrees with – SAD
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m4G03rqEzTM
THINK!
Mike from Iowa
Nice link. Sounds like where I lived as a child. I will not say I lived through it and I am okay; because the evidence says otherwise.
Cory, may I print your post and show my wife – you know the part about were you say ‘Francis is right’.
I will not post any links to You Tube, yet I encourage all of you interested in helping solve our societal ills please search Gabor Mate on You Tube and just listen to some of what he has to say about the root causes of addiction, PTSD (not just a military problem), hopelessness, lack of connection, etc. For those of you who will not look into information, keep in mind childhood trauma causes physiological changes in the brain. Let that sink in. The brain has been altered in an adverse direction some of which cannot be rewired. Most human conditions which are also physiological changes in the body; cancer, diabetes, heart disease, etc. we are empathetic toward those people, yet those with childhood trauma need to – ‘just get over it, that is in the past’. That my friends does nothing to address the issues that cause people difficulty in life. One other thing – ‘Nobody has pulled themselves up by their bootstraps’. Total myth, many have been successful, yet only because someone helped them when they needed it.
Kurt, just out of curiousity, at what age do you believe it is good for an orphaned immigrant child’s mental health (i.e. “make a person less likely to commit suicide, not more likely”) to be “forced” to work to pay for their food and rent?
Francis, I’m in love with you. I’d like to have your children. 😍😍😍😍😍
“jerry” writes:
I’m not sure what I’d do, and I doubt I’d solve the crisis.
I’d written:
“jerry” writes:
Yes, that was my point.
I’d written:
Adam writes:
*retarded (one t, two d‘s)
“bearcreekbat” writes:
The age determined by his or her guardians.
Wow. Nasty thread devolution…jason the troll is not even involved!:)
But on the permanency of death comment, i wonder if communities with great exposure to death, say in war time, are more resilient to suicide?
And Campbell Cty SD? What that stat all about?
Kurt, your quoted claim of my world view (twice now) hardly touches on reality. If I ever need a radical crazo to grade an English paper, I’ll give you a call.
To bad though, you give paragraphs a pass, and papers an A+, as long as it has a conserva-slant (bad teacher). SAD
Debbo,
That is nice to say. I don’t know how it works in Minnesota, but in South Dakota we aren’t allowed to just give our kids to other people. I have one we are having trouble with who needs some time away from our family, maybe respite time. Let me know.
Thanks for the offer though.
You done it now, Debbo. :)
😁😁😁
Adam, “rurals” have as much right as anyone to call their neighbors on unrecognized discriminatory language and misunderstandings as anyone else. Have we been “infested” by a troll? Or are people just not recognizing their language sometimes for what it is? What would our world be like if we still used words like the n-word, or others, just because they’re accepted, or if we called Native young men “bucks” as some people do. Language has meaning and language has impact on societal change and I’ll reserve my right to call you on it, and everyone else, too when it’s appropriate. People just don’t realize what they’re saying when they denigrate farmers, because even though farmers are your neighbors and friends, you don’t mind using inappropriate words to describe us all.
Debbo, I agree with you on most things, but the word “welfare” is a microaggression when applied to farmers. And that is because it hurts the person it’s applied to, when it’s applied to us, just as it hurts women when they are routinely called the c-word or the b-word just because they are women. Language has meaning, and I’m sure you know that being a woman pastor, and I’m sure you’ve endured more than your share of gender discrimination, as I’ve endured language discrimination and stereotyping against farmers.
BTW, “retarded” or “retard” is NOT a word that’s used any more to describe a person who’s developmentally delayed, because it’s just another mean word that we’ve left by the wayside because it’s become hurtful because of the way it’s used–it’s meant make fun of disabled persons.
Nope. Farmers, businesses, corporations, individuals, entire countries all receive various forms of welfare, though it goes by a variety of other names. You’re selling hard, but this farm kid isn’t buying.
The word “welfare” is not discriminatory for one unless it’s discriminatory for everyone. If you want to strike it from the nation’s vocabulary entirely, I’ll go along with you. It’s a descriptive word, an adjective that is not pejorative in and of itself.
I am not microaggressing against myself. Farmers are not a special class when it comes to the word “welfare.” I recognize that it flies in the face of decades of lore, beginning with Jefferson’s “yeoman farmer.” That doesn’t make it untrue. Farmers need some help in the modern world, just like every other industry.
Some young people, not just Natives, commit suicide because they don’t see any way out of the stagnation and despair they live in. There’s no future for them. And regarding immigrants, when they country they find themselves in is fighting them on every level, they know there’s no way out. It’s not about being forced to pay room and board and work–it’s about being trapped. It’s just that they know, or they believe, there’s not going to be anything better for them, no matter how hard they try. Look at what happened with DACA. If ever there was a case of “merit-based” immigration, that was it. And look what the country did and is doing to them.
People use the word “welfare” to denigrate other people. End of story.
Welfare is a fact, whether it applies to farmers or not. “financial support given to people in need.” So farmers claim they are in need, then they get welfare and they should just shut up and take it. The poor, disabled, elderly along with veterans and a host of others in need. Take the welfare and survive. Welfare for farmers is no more of a microaggression than saying that poor people do not deserve welfare. How are they different?
Poor Mr. Evans, the reason you will never get elected to a high office is because you offer no solutions. I can ask my cat what he thinks of something and he just looks and then looks off. Here is how you do this, make a platform and then stand on it. Stand for something or folks will know you stand for nothing. Paying your own way?? Wow, how profound. This ain’t going to the movie night.
Hang on to yer hats because Drumpf and company want another 100 billion taxcut for the koch bros and if congress won’t do it, Drumpf will try to figure out away he can gift the wealthy some more on his own. Welfare for the needy is going the way of the Endangered Species Act.
Koch-Funded Hit Piece Backfires: Shows Medicare for All Would Save ‘Whopping $2 Trillion’ Over Ten Years While Covering Everybody. There ya go Mr. Kurt, there is your answer to the question posed to you. You’re welcome.
https://www.commondreams.org/news/2018/07/30/koch-funded-hit-piece-backfires-shows-medicare-all-would-save-300-billion-over-ten
The ignorance of the Comrades is astounding. Medicare for all would save us trillions and give all of us Americans a real sense of security knowing that we will be able to find the treatments needed such as mental health to counter the suicide numbers we are seeing.
Of course that would open the door to the microaggression of something that those on social welfare would argue goes against their got mine and to hell with you attitude. What do you say Robin?
Jerry,
You have some math to do in the other thread regarding medicare for all.
Here is a non-Koch study.
https://www.urban.org/research/publication/sanders-single-payer-health-care-plan-effect-national-health-expenditures-and-federal-and-private-spending
I agree with Robin regarding the term “welfare” being a derogatory term. At one time it was just a word, but Ronald Reagan turned it into a hateful derogatory insult with the phrase “welfare queen.”
Indeed, the term “welfare” has lost any other meaning as best I can tell. Does it mean recipient of a government payment? Then SS is “welfare,” as is military pay, as are the wages paid to government employees, et al. Or is it payments to undeserving people in need as Reagan suggested with the term “welfare queen?” The latter use seems to be the current context in which the term is used. Accusing someone of being a “welfare” recipient or “welfare” dependent is not a statement of fact, it is a derogatory insult.
But when certain quite wealthy individuals are collecting billions in welfare, I’m sure the name doesn’t bother them at all. They can afford to either ignore it or sue the people who hurt their feelers.
Mike, do you KNOW (or know of) any “quite wealthy individuals” who are collecting “billions” in welfare? Or is that another myth? I don’t. I do know that the Environmental Working Group a few years ago named Wells Fargo as one. I’m not sure that’s what we mean by “family farmer”. I’m not looking forward to any kind of “welfare” including Trump’s 12B nor do I support it, because I know it’s just more big talk and won’t solve the problem of the ongoing disabling crop prices, and another way for the administration to say “here, take this and shut up until the election’s over”. In other words, another way for farmers to get screwed over.
Exactly, BCB, words do change meaning over time, according to the way they’re used. The n-word was acceptable at one time, because it was derived from the word “Negro”, meaning black. And I don’t believe the word “yeoman’ is used much any more, either. Or lots of words which don’t mean what they once did.
Mike, do you KNOW (or know of) any “quite wealthy individuals” who are collecting “billions” in welfare? Or is that another myth?
Are you serious? Do I know these people personally? No, but, when korporations make 30 billion in profit and Drumpf’s taxcuts hand then another 29 billion, what do you call that if not welfare? ( Berkshire Hathaway)
https://www.google.com/search?q=+welfare+for+the+qwealthy&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&client=firefox-b-1-ab Take yer pick of articles describing welfare for the wealthy.
Republican mega-donor Sheldon Adelson spent $82.5 million in the last election cycle; gets $670 million corporate tax payback.
You get the idea?
Robin, I know a lot of wealthy farmers that collect millions in welfare, Kristie Noem being one,and also several in my SD county I grew up in that have collected millions.
Big farming is what it has become today, Robin, unless you are just in it as a hobby on the side. Maybe 10-20 farmers (more or less) own the land in each SD county today and get the vast majority of the “welfare checks” handed out. Let’s talk about what it really is. Debbo and jerry are speaking the truth.
And so it is just in a Farmer’s best interest to support these ag welfare programs and to sign up for as many subsidies as they can get and to support political leaders that will work to keep passing these ag subsidy (welfare) bills. A farmer has to be a smart business person today to be able to survive.
At the end of the year, farmers needs have a good paper trail/documentation for tax write offs and when the deadlines are for getting these checks, when to sell, when not to sell their grain.
Is their hypocrisy with some of these farmers? Absolutely, when they complain about poor families getting some food stamps.
I have yet to see a real proud conservative wealthy republican farmer opt out of the farm welfare program.
I am not sure how we got to post 105, but I have tried to state true to the article and provide what I see as helpful information to identify the root causes of this and other societal ills. One other factor for addiction, depression is maternal stress, even in utero as high cortisol levels in the Mother enter the fetus rewiring the amygdala – the fight/flight center of the brain making the child hyper sensitive to stressful situations. So now the point; financial stress can be completely debilitating for some so I believe in basic income for people who need assistance.
On a side note, farmers are business men and women who follow the governmental rules imposed upon them.
It isn’t a matter of what the farmer wants, ever. We farm as required by law. We don’t set our markets. It isn’t a matter of what’s in the farmers’ best interests, it’s what’s in the interests of the politicians who set the programs. A farmer always had to be a smart businessperson to survive, because a farm IS a business, a highly capitalized business.
Farmers don’t get checks at the end of the year. Do you really know anything about farm subsidies, or do you just buy into the stories you hear? I’ve never complained about anyone receiving food stamps, because 1. people are poor and need to feed their kids, and 2. most of the ag program goes to feed the poor.
It would be in farmers’ best interests if there wasn’t a madman in the president’s seat thinking he can control the economy of the world with his tariffs and big talk and big ego.
Actually I do know about subsidies, Robin. Two thof my brothers farm and ranch in Central SD. I just said end of the year to just say it, that’s all. Documentation is everything when running a business including farming.
Yes, Francis, you’re right. We started with suicide and from there it broadened to suicide in different groups, farmer’s among them. That’s alright, as Cory has said, sometimes you can’t control where a blog goes. And maybe that’s alright. Lots of information shared.
It’s not in the farmer’s best interests? Oh please, Robin. It is so much the farmers best interest to support subsidies and to NOT opt out of the welfare subsidy program!! Come on and be honest with us! Trump is just being a sleazy politician and buying their votes!
Yes, Jenny, and do you call your brothers “welfare queens” or “welfare recipients”? And do they like it if you do? Well, maybe they don’t want to fight with their sister. I don’t either, but I resent being accused of of that word because I grew up poor, too, but my parents would never take welfare, even when good-hearted people wanted to give us a turkey at Thanksgiving. I resent being put down by the word “welfare” and I’ll continue to say so, though nobody cares, because I have a right to. Just like POC and women had a right to say “don’t put me down with your language”.
“It’s not in the farmers best interests”” Where did I say that? And of course Trump is just being a sleazy politician. I DID say that. What I said was the bail-out is not the way to do it, and tariffs are also not the way to do it. Fair prices are the way to do it. And nobody said anything about opting out. It’s not our idea, and it won’t work, but it’s not up to us.
And “documentation”? Tell me about it.
Spreadsheet is the best and favorite usually. :)
“Farmers are business men and women who follow the governmental rules applied to them. Well said, Francis.
I’d written:
Adam writes:
It’s deeply rooted in the reality of your own past statements.
“jerry” writes:
I offer many solutions. I’ve only admitted I’m unlikely to solve the entire reservation suicide crisis.
My deepest sympathies to you Roger C. and her family and friends. As many of you know here, I have been there; it has been 20 years for my 18 year old who took his own life with a gun.
So what are your “solutions” Mr. Kurt? Not only on the reservations, but for everyone? You are to spooked to bring it out or you don’t have a clue. Come on Mr. Kurt, write it in that good hand of your’s.
In the past 10 years I have worked with numerous clients who receive welfare in Minnesota. That’s what it’s often called, and not in a pejorative sense. Rather, there is gratitude that it is available when needed. Those who receive it refer to it by a specific name, such as Medical Assistance, or welfare in general. It may be that most Minnesotans don’t feel getting help in the form of welfare is a shameful thing. It’s something to be grateful to receive and to offer.
Maybe that’s the difference between a blue state and a red one.
South Dakota ranked second happiest state in the nation
In a new study by MagnifyMoney, researchers ranked South Dakota as the second happiest state, just behind Minnesota.
Researchers looked at 20 factors in several categories including health, lifestyle, and prosperity.
Dr. Josh Biberdorf is the owner and chiropractor of Mountain View Chiropractic.
He says health is related to happiness, and a big part of being healthy is diet.
http://www.blackhillsfox.com/content/news/South-Dakota-ranked-second-happiest-state-in-the-nation-489585051.html
Farmers’ suicide rate won’t go up because they receive welfare checks. Farmers’ suicide rate will go up because the White House engages in reckless trade policy that drives the farm economy into dire straits that require welfare checks.
Even Jason can’t come up with statistics in which South Dakota beats Minnesota.
Some more on farms. Cory, start a new thread if you wish, and if this is off-topic.
“The National Farmers Union has publicly denounced the Trump Administration’s plan, calling it “a short-term fix to a long-term problem”
Zippy Duvall, the president of the American Farm Bureau Federation, agreed, “This announcement is substantial, but we cannot overstate the dire consequences that farmers and ranchers are facing.” Iowa farmer Dave Struthers stated, “We would prefer trade not aid,” and the executive director of Farmers for Free Trade, Brian Kuehl, put it simply, “The best relief for the president’s trade war would be ending the trade war.”
More: https://www.nolabels.org/blog/five-facts-on-president-trumps-proposal-to-bail-out-farmers/
Could any of these “suicides” have been drug overdose’s? I have been looking at the incredible statistics on the opioid epidemic in the United States. We are now at 45,000 deaths a year and could be more depending on how they are classified.
“(Reuters Health) – – Deaths by drug overdose are more likely to be classified as accidental or of undetermined cause, compared to deaths by gunshot or hanging, say U.S. researchers who conclude that drug suicides may be underestimated.
With drug overdoses, there are often few clues to suggest suicide, such as a suicide note, according to the first large study of U.S. death investigations and inherent biases in determining the manner of death.
“The opioid epidemic is killing more people every year at a higher rate,” said lead author Ian Rockett, a professor of epidemiology at the West Virginia University School of Public Health in Morgantown. “Death investigation systems are highly stressed. It’s going to make it very difficult to do the kind of assessments we need to do about their intentionality.” https://www.reuters.com/article/us-health-suicide-drug-overdose/drug-overdose-suicides-may-be-going-undetected-idUSKBN1F0319
Depending on the classification at time of death, an overdose could be classified as a suicide. That would make the numbers of deaths a little easier on big pharma’s look on Wall Street. It would also make law enforcement seem like they were doing a better job of policing and that makes the Attorney General’s office look better, as one explanation might be.
CONTAGION EFFECT: the fear that suicide publicity exacerbates an epidemic. I haven’t seen recent research but west river there is a survivor group director who would be the expert along with connected mental health professionals.
A few decades ago I think Pierre area lost a half dozen kids in a devastating short period of time.
Here’s a warming suicide story. Homeless guy saves depressed jumper. https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2018/8/4/1785386/-Depressed-Woman-Jumps-Off-Bridge-At-2AM-And-Was-Swept-Down-The-River-Until-A-Homeless-Man-Jumps-In