Guardian Angels Going to Indian Reservations

From The Havre Daily News: Fed up with growing gang violence, Montana tribal leaders this weekend will start the first-ever American Indian reservation chapter of the Guardian Angels. The new chapter of the citizens' crime-watch group — whose members are known by their red berets in New York, Chicago and other U.S. cities — will begin training about 50 recruits on the rural Fort Peck Indian Reservation. The sprawling reservation on the plains of eastern Montana is home to 6,000 of the approximately 10,000 enrol led members of the Assiniboine and Sioux tribes. Chauncey Whitwright III, vice chairman of the Wolf Point Community Organization, said the children of the 3,200-squaremile reservation are vulnerable to gangs that have crept in from the outside. Other Montana tribes, including the Blackfeet, Rocky Boy, Crow and Northern Cheyenne, report the same problem, Whitwright said, and he hopes the new Guardian Angels chapter will eventually expand its programs and patrols and give teens there an alternative. "There are all kinds of gangs roaming around up here," Whitwright said Thursday. "Our kids are in danger, they're being influenced, they're being targeted. It's going on every day of the week ... and they're busy recruiting." The Guardian Angels, started in New York City more than 30 years ago, has chapters in 14 countries and 140 cities. Curtis Sliwa, the outspoken founder of the Guardian Angels, called it a breakthrough that the traditionally insular Native American leaders invited the Guardian Angels to the reservation. The new chapter will be a model for other tribes and reservations in the West and among Canada's First Nations, he said. " http://www.havredailynews.com/cms/news/state_headlines/story-171661.html
I used to live in that area, by Havre MT. Being a Gurdian Angel in an urban is a far cry from being a Guardian Angel in a rural area.
I used to live in Dunseith ND and Havre MT. and both areas surround Indian Reservations. Crime is a huge problem, welfare along with alcoholism, dropping out from school and crime.
When I worked as a volunteer fireman in Dunseith, we would respond to fires in homes on the reservation land. If their house burned down, the reservation will build them a new one. We had a lot of arson fires and many of those involved people burning down their homes to get a new one.
Another problem is education. Native Americans have a huge drop out rate from school. Very few go on to college. One of the main reasons that I heard was that if a Native American went to college, they would be considered too white. There was huge pressure on Native Americans going to college from family and friends. While some Native Americans in high school were very good in sports, they would rarely recruited for college teams because the coaches understood the pressures the individual was under to drop out of school. More than once, I read about a athlete was given a full ride scholarship and the athlete, after a year or two would decide they didn't want to go to college and move back to the reservation.
So, if the Guardian Angels come on to the reservations, good luck. They face problems not seen in urban areas. They will discover the poverty, the government welfare and addictions, along with isolation from larger communities. It's not going to be easy.