A group of Lakota people who journeyed to Washington. D.C. to call attention to poor housing conditions on the Pine Ridge reservation has returned home.
The privately funded Trail of Hope for Indian Housing is being considered a success by those who took part in the historic event.
Security concerns created by the Boston Marathon bombing and the contaminated letter issue in Washington, D.C. didn’t stop The Trail of Hope for Indian Housing from setting up a 50-year old dilapidated house from the Pine Ridge reservation in front of the Capitol building.
But Oglala Sioux Housing Authority spokesperson Pinky Clifford says it did reduce the number of Congressional representatives who visited the display.
“They had a lockdown going on at the time, “ says Clifford, “and the Hart building was closed. They wouldn’t let people out. Security was tighter. We didn’t get a parking permit until ten minutes before we were actually supposed to start setting up.”
Notwithstanding, representatives of South Dakota’s Congressional delegation did stop by, along with members of national housing groups and the general public.
“A teacher had brought her class and talked about how this was a different kind of display,” Clifford explains. “It wasn’t an actual protest, it was where we just brought the house and let it speak for itself.”
The Lakota people hope the house spoke loud enough to breach the walls of Congress and allocate the funds for 4000 sorely-needed new homes on the Pine Ridge Reservation.