The continuing plight of the Sioux

Sad statistics, laid out in a provoking article from The Atlantic.

Despite sitting on a trust fund that's worth over $1 billion in equity from a "purchase" of the Black Hills that the tribe never agreed to, the Sioux are suffering from chronic disease and have what's sure to be one of the lowest ethnic life expectancies in the United States:

According to Oglala President John Yellow Bird Steele, almost half of Oglala Sioux over 40 have diabetes, and in the Western Hemisphere, few countries have shorter life expectancies (for men it is 48; for women, 52).

Photo via Flickr / cm195902

Brian Mossop is currently the Community Editor at Wired, where he works across the brand, both magazine and website, to build and maintain strong social communities. Brian received a BS in Electrical Engineering from Lafayette College, and a PhD in Biomedical Engineering from Duke University in 2006. His postdoctoral work was in neuroscience at UCSF and Genentech.

Brian has written about science for Wired, Scientific American, Slate, Scientific American MIND, and elsewhere. He primarily cover topics on neuroscience, development, behavior change, and health.

Contact Brian at brian.mossop@gmail.com, on Twitter (@bmossop), or visit his personal website.