Rezball: Basketball in Lakota Nation - VICE World of Sports

00:10:49
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ouu5LirxBxo

Summary

TLDRThe video explores basketball's cultural significance on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation, home to the Lakota Sioux in South Dakota. It details the challenges faced by the community, which is one of the poorest regions in America, with high rates of poverty and issues like suicide. The video focuses on the rivalry between two local high schools, the Red Cloud Crusaders and Pine Ridge Thorpes, showcasing how basketball, known locally as "rez ball," is a vital source of hope and cultural identity for the youth. This narrative highlights not just the economic difficulties, but the spirit of perseverance, the importance of keeping cultural traditions alive, and the aspirations of the Lakota youth to pursue further education and seek a better life. It underscores the broader vision for the Lakota people to recover and strengthen their cultural identity over the future seven generations.

Takeaways

  • 🐾 Pine Ridge Reservation struggles economically but has rich cultural roots.
  • 🏀 Basketball, or 'rez ball,' is a cultural pillar on the reservation.
  • 🌿 The community is focused on preserving Lakota traditions.
  • 🧑‍🤝‍🧑 Local high schools foster rivalry that unites the tribe.
  • 📚 Students aspire to further education and growth.
  • 💔 The area faces significant social challenges, including suicides.
  • 🎓 Education and military service are seen as paths to a better future.
  • ❤️ Unity and cultural pride are central to the community.
  • 🔭 There is a forward-looking vision for cultural recovery.
  • ⏳ Preservation of tradition is linked to future generations.
  • 💬 The youth have a significant role in cultural continuity.
  • 🌟 Hope persists amid economic and social adversity.

Timeline

  • 00:00:00 - 00:05:00

    The video discusses the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in South Dakota, primarily inhabited by the Lakota Sioux people. Despite being the poorest place in America and the historical site of the Wounded Knee Massacre, basketball, referred to as "rec ball" due to its unique native style, is a significant part of the community's life. A crucial rivalry between two local high schools, the Red Cloud Crusaders and the Pine Ridge Thorpes, highlights the importance of basketball in providing hope and unity among the youth who face challenges such as lack of infrastructure and high suicide rates.

  • 00:05:00 - 00:10:49

    The narrative shifts to the broader impact of the youth's actions on their tribe's cultural continuity. The senior players represent more than just team members; they embody Lakota heritage and the choices they make influence their community's future. Although basketball offers a temporary escape and serves as a source of hope, it also signifies the responsibility of preserving their culture for future generations. The video ends on a high note of hope and perseverance, emphasizing the resilience and determination to restore the Lakota culture over the next seven generations.

Mind Map

Video Q&A

  • What is the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation?

    It is a reservation in South Dakota home to the Lakota Sioux people, known for being the poorest area in America.

  • What is "rez ball"?

    It is a style of basketball unique to Native communities, characterized by fast-paced play.

  • How significant is basketball to the community at Pine Ridge?

    Basketball serves as a symbol of hope and cultural pride, central to community life.

  • What historical event is Pine Ridge known for?

    It is the site of the 1890 Wounded Knee Massacre.

  • Who were the main high schools mentioned in the rivalry?

    Red Cloud Crusaders and Pine Ridge Thorpes.

  • What challenges do the youth at Pine Ridge face?

    High rates of poverty and struggle with issues like suicide.

  • What does the Oglala Lakota name translate to?

    "They who scatter their own."

  • What impact does the high school basketball rivalry have on the tribe's culture?

    It fosters a sense of unity and continuity of cultural traditions among the youth.

  • What future aspirations do the students have?

    Many aspire to attend college, join the military, and be different from past generations.

  • What is the future vision for the Lakota people?

    To rebuild and continue cultural traditions over future generations.

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  • 00:00:09
    [Applause]
  • 00:00:27
    we are on Pine Ridge Indian Reservation
  • 00:00:30
    in South Dakota it is a community that
  • 00:00:33
    is primarily made up of the Lakota Sioux
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    people now it's been well-documented
  • 00:00:38
    that there are challenges to living in
  • 00:00:40
    an area like this but we're gonna tell
  • 00:00:42
    the story through a different lens
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    [Music]
  • 00:00:55
    there's not a lot happening here on the
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    rez crossing 3500 square miles and three
  • 00:01:02
    County lines the Pine Ridge Indian
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    Reservation is statistically the poorest
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    place in America it's the site of the
  • 00:01:11
    Wounded Knee Massacre where in 1890 US
  • 00:01:14
    troops killed nearly 300 men women and
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    children of the Lakota tribe today it's
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    home to hundreds of trailer parks
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    without electricity or running water
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    there isn't a bank or a movie theater
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    the Pine Ridge but there are basketball
  • 00:01:31
    courts
  • 00:01:32
    [Applause]
  • 00:01:46
    [Music]
  • 00:01:53
    this isn't basketball
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    it's reds ball because the native style
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    this game is played one way
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    it's been that way since the beginning
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    for decades Indian tribes everywhere
  • 00:02:10
    have co-opted basketball into a non-stop
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    running gun game and today on Pineridge
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    this tradition flows through one rivalry
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    between only two high schools in town in
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    spite of their namesake the Red Cloud
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    Crusaders wear the blue jerseys with
  • 00:02:27
    pride and they've got a roster of
  • 00:02:29
    seniors who've been playing together
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    their entire lives but standing in their
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    way is stiff competition from the
  • 00:02:37
    younger Pineridge thorpes as in Jim Thor
  • 00:02:40
    one of the greatest athletes of all time
  • 00:02:42
    and while the students from both teams
  • 00:02:45
    all come from the same tribe the rivalry
  • 00:02:48
    splits the resin - every year we've been
  • 00:02:57
    playing together since like yes
  • 00:03:00
    everything you built like a mini like
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    got like built like man I just dislike
  • 00:03:09
    sixth grade people see their raises like
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    dangerous hostile and all that nonsense
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    play we're just friendly
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    I know basketball has kept you guys
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    focused but you're not on the court all
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    the time how do you guys a void those
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    opportunities to you know make a bad
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    decision for a night I mean just being
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    together very much
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    it's cuz the res it's in bad shape
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    there's a bunch of suicides
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    last hope I lost my dad to suicide three
  • 00:03:45
    years ago so I was pretty big at the
  • 00:03:49
    time when he killed himself we had a
  • 00:03:51
    game you went out and played after you
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    found out as soon as I go on that court
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    it's like my main focus was to get the
  • 00:03:59
    win and actually I went straight to his
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    wake
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    I stayed there for like two days
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    straight
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    I was just I wouldn't wish that on
  • 00:04:10
    anybody that feeling just served man
  • 00:04:14
    what would you say basketball means to a
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    kid growing up here it's like hope Oh
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    why there's a park down here called the
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    Oh Park every night of the summer
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    there's games going on every night and
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    my kids can turn to it so it's like the
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    main focal point in there is for
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    centuries this land has been home to a
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    sub tribe of the Lakota people known as
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    the Oklahoma translated from the
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    traditional dialect Oglala means they
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    who scattered their own and while traces
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    of the Oglala heritage are still visible
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    around the rez that name has never been
  • 00:04:58
    more relevant than it is today the
  • 00:05:02
    language itself is endangered but the
  • 00:05:05
    Lakota people aren't ready to give up on
  • 00:05:07
    it yet
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    the seniors who line up on either side
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    of the ball tonight they have a lot on
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    their mind because they're not just kids
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    playing in a high school rivalry they're
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    Lakota kids and what they do or where
  • 00:05:25
    they go next
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    that's a choice that affects the entire
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    tribe it's reality you know I don't go
  • 00:05:35
    on forever
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    I'm a man clergyman in the Medical
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    College this is your last year you guys
  • 00:05:44
    live in this life that you've always
  • 00:05:46
    lived together how do you see life after
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    basketball at Red Cloud I plan on going
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    to college for two years
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    get my associate and go into the
  • 00:05:58
    military afterwards
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    so it's pretty pretty intense kind of
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    scary to think about
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    he's our hero
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    [Music]
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    what's it gonna be like for you when he
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    does get to go off and go to college be
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    some miso broth and make a family not to
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    see you know I hope he has to go home to
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    go so I'm happy is gone no sin my uncles
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    and people around here like what they go
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    through when they don't take back the
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    right right choices like I don't want to
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    have it I want I want to be somewhere
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    out there is I'm on my own family and
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    just seeing the struggles within raised
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    within my family
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    like I want to be different like I want
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    to single myself out and be different
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    and help them at the same time
  • 00:07:44
    [Music]
  • 00:07:50
    kela hina-chan
  • 00:07:53
    [Music]
  • 00:07:57
    key lady glue ha no
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    [Music]
  • 00:08:12
    in the hallway of the Red Cloud
  • 00:08:15
    gymnasium right now inside that gym a
  • 00:08:18
    thousand fans packed strong they've
  • 00:08:21
    locked the doors and said no more people
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    can come in
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    I have read Bob
  • 00:08:31
    [Applause]
  • 00:08:34
    [Music]
  • 00:08:36
    [Applause]
  • 00:08:47
    the one thing that stands out to me
  • 00:08:49
    about this style of basketball that they
  • 00:08:52
    call res ball is that they don't need a
  • 00:08:55
    shot clock basically you get 35 seconds
  • 00:08:58
    I haven't seen the clock run off more
  • 00:09:00
    than five to eight seconds
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    possession back and forth
  • 00:09:04
    back and forth even the reps are getting
  • 00:09:07
    worn out
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    this year's matchup between Red Cloud
  • 00:09:13
    and Pine Ridge was an old-fashioned
  • 00:09:15
    blowout it was the kind of game that
  • 00:09:18
    almost no sports fan would care about
  • 00:09:21
    but the Oglala Lakota tribe on Pine
  • 00:09:24
    Ridge Indian Reservation
  • 00:09:26
    they came round here high school hoops
  • 00:09:33
    means something because the kids playing
  • 00:09:36
    it are now the tip of the spear for
  • 00:09:38
    another fight you talked earlier about
  • 00:09:41
    basketball being hope what are you your
  • 00:09:44
    hope for this place for your home it's
  • 00:09:48
    kind of like a really big part of us for
  • 00:09:50
    like a sovereign nation
  • 00:09:52
    you know we stick together the people we
  • 00:09:54
    got to keep our traditions alive in our
  • 00:09:56
    culture and we got to learn so we can
  • 00:09:58
    keep teaching into the younger
  • 00:09:59
    generations and then we can just even
  • 00:10:01
    build on each other's back
  • 00:10:05
    seven generations that's how long the
  • 00:10:09
    Kota elders say it took for their
  • 00:10:10
    culture to come to the brink of
  • 00:10:12
    extinction but the conversation here is
  • 00:10:15
    not about the past it's about the future
  • 00:10:18
    about the seven generations it'll take
  • 00:10:21
    to get it back
  • 00:10:28
    you
  • 00:10:34
    you
  • 00:10:39
    [Music]
Tags
  • Pine Ridge
  • Lakota Sioux
  • Basketball
  • Reservation
  • Culture
  • Hope
  • Community
  • Rivalry
  • History
  • Tradition