Pine Ridge & Conscious Alliance

Four months ago in the middle of March we began to donate 50% of all truffle sales to Conscious Alliance. They are a local organization that has been working creatively to get food to underserved communities across the country for the past 18 years. The very first community they reached out to was the Prisoner of War camp #334, or Pine Ridge Reservation. Their connection has grown and now each week they supply a food pantry to help support youth initiatives on the reservation.

A few things everyone should know about Pine Ridge Reservation.

1862 President Abraham Lincoln signed into law "The Homestead Act" and the result was colonization of native land and violation of treaties with native people, including Lakota Sioux. The Lakota Nation living on what is called Pine Ridge Reservation or Prisoner of War Camp #334, continues to suffer the damage caused by this racist legislature.

1868 The Treaty of Fort Laramie established Lakota ownership of the sacred land know as The Black Hills. Less than a decade later General Custer declared the area rich in gold ore and urges the U.S government to end the treaty however possible leading to the 1877 "Sell or Starve" Act and the seizure of The Black Hills from native people.

Today 2 million tourists visit Mt. Rushmore each year, a massive sculpture carved into what native people call The Six Grandfathers mountain in the Black Hills. Designed by artist Gutzon Borglum the son of Danish immigrants and active KKK enthusiast. The sculpture was meant to symbolize "an accomplishment born, planned, and created in the minds and by the hands of Americans for Americans" and is called "The Shrine of Democracy" in tourism brochures.

The boundaries of Pine Ridge Reservation (POW camp #334) are less than an hour from Mt. Rushmore where 90% of residents live below the national poverty line and the adult life expectancy is between 46 - 52 years old.

In the late 1880s a spiritual movement (with many names in native languages) called The Ghost Dance began to spread through the western United States. The dance and ceremony held the intention returning lands to Native control, goals of clean living, an honest life, and cross-cultural cooperation by Native people.

In 1890 fearing an "Indian uprising" President Benjamin Harrison ordered the United States military to suppress the Ghost Dance and arrest the spiritual leaders. The Hunkpapa Lakota holy man Sitting Bull was killed when community resisted his arrest. To prevent further violence Miniconjou Lakota Chief Spotted Elk led 400 people across the frozen December plain, walking more than 200 miles before arriving at Pine Ridge Reservation, where their descendants remain today.