Cultural Understanding
News! On January 13, 2010 Matthew Uses The Knife spent five hours recording the Lakota Language in Galuminumfoil Studios in Brooklyn, NY. More soon!
The Lakota Sioux life is filled with traditional stories, food and language. Once, this great tribe roamed the plains of North America, hunting buffalo and living off of the bounties of the land. Forced onto the reservations in the late 1800’s, the way of life of the Lakota Sioux was threatened and nearly destroyed.
Many of today’s children on the reservation do not know what culture to associate with. The traditional Lakota Ways are known and practiced by the Elders while the television pumps in images of rappers or the suburban American “ideals”. This dichotomy has left the current generation somewhere in the middle, searching for where their soul lies. This lack of a clear cultural identity is a leading cause of the reservation’s five-times the national average suicide rate.
Through education and pride in their heritage, the Lakota people are working to preserve their rich culture and to share it with others. Simply Smiles is dedicated to supporting, understanding, and honoring the “Lakota Way”.
Matthew Uses The Knife shares traditional Lakota stories with a volunteer group from Connecticut.
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