Washington, U.S.A. — In response to a recent episode of “Our America” with Lisa Ling on the Oprah Winfrey Network (OWN), the Native American Financial Services Association (NAFSA) issued the below letter commending the show and network for highlighting the problems that plague reservations across the United States. NAFSA’s members include many tribes which have found a solution to these problems through online lending.

The full text of NAFSA’s letter is below:

An Open Letter from the Native American Financial Services Association to Lisa Ling and the Oprah Winfrey Network

Dear Ms. Ling and Ms. Winfrey:

We want to commend you on your recent episode of Our America with Lisa Ling, which highlighted the startling realities happening on the Pine Ridge Indian reservation and throughout much of Indian country. This Our America episode illustrated to the rest of America what those of us who are active tribal members know all too well – that life in Indian country is riddled with a host of problems. Furthermore, these problems put at risk our culture, which has existed on this continent for thousands of years.

Reservations today face very serious and systemic problems that can only be addressed through economic development and job creation. Faced with untenable unemployment rates and extreme poverty on our lands, many of us do not benefit from the revenue streams that some tribes enjoy. Harsh geographic challenges, severe underdevelopment and dwindling populations make traditional business models unsustainable for many tribes.

Luckily, we have found one model that works – e-commerce. Through e-commerce, we are able to provide new and sustainable pathways to economic prosperity for tribes across the nation. By enabling tribes to pursue these new initiatives, we provide jobs and incomes to those in Indian country that need it most.

If, for any reason, these exciting new initiatives were to be threatened, the result would perpetuate the unforgiving cycle of poverty many tribes are facing. Recently, several tribes banded together to form the Native American Financial Services Association (NAFSA) to address this issue and to ensure Native Americans are allowed to freely enjoy the economic independence which has evaded us for far too long.

Through the protection of consumer rights and sovereign immunity, NAFSA allows tribal governments to serve the under-banked with better short-term financial services, furthering the economic development opportunities which have shown so much promise throughout Indian country.

Our efforts are already showing tremendous potential. Montana’s Rocky Boy reservation – home of the Chippewa Cree tribe – has benefited greatly from online financial services, providing hope for the reservation. We produced a short documentary on these efforts, which can be viewed at www.vimeo.com/nafsa. We hope you will take the time to see how we are proactively addressing the needs of our people.

We want to thank you again for highlighting this most troubling problem and for allowing us to shine a light on how it may be solved. We would welcome you on any of our reservations at any time to see how these problems are being addressed in a responsible manner.

Thank you again for your continued advocacy.

Sincerely,

Barry Brandon

Executive Director, Native American Financial Services Association

Image Courtesy of  s_bukley / Shutterstock.com

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Oprah Winfrey and James Earl will be awarded at the next Oscars ceremony.

Winfrey will receive the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award for her philanthropic work.Jones along with makeup artist Dick Smith, will receive awards for their magnificent careers. Both prizes will be handed out at the Governors Awards next November.

Winfrey is best known for her talk show, but that is not the only reason why they have decided to honor her. The Oprah Winfrey Show has been on air over 145 different countries. Her program redefined the talk show genre and made Winfrey one of the most influential women in the US, as well as the wealthiest black women in the world.

Her last broadcasting was last May after 25 years on the air. She was seen alone on stage, telling her viewers how much they had meant to her for the past years. Afterwards, Madonna and Beyonce also took part in the show.

Amy Korin, a Winfrey fan who was watching the recording of her last program said “She said, ‘This isn’t goodbye. This is until we meet again’.”

The last episode filmed in front of 13,000 fans had the intervention of Tom Cruise, Aretha Franklin, Tom Hanks and Stevie Wonder, which paid tribute to the presenter.

Last January, Winfrey launched her own TV network. The channel is called OWN “Oprah Winfrey Network”. It is a joint venture with the Discovery channel and will offer round-the-clock lifestyle programs.

Oprah’s philanthropic work includes the Oprah Winfrey Foundation and the Oprah Winfrey Leadership Academy for Girls that opened in South Africa in 2007. There has been controversy about the decision of giving her an honorary Oscar. Newspapers as Los Angeles Times even call the decision a “boneheaded move.”

Despite every attack, Tom Sherak, president of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences defended their decision saying that Oprah is always ready to give what she has and fight against any injustice.

“Oprah has given and given and given,” he said. “This is not about personality. This is about a person who has come from the depths, risen to the heights and given back.”James Earl Jones has always been known for his appearance in more than 50 films such Field of Dreams, Patriot Games and The Hunt for Red October.

He also gave the voice to the devil Darth Vader in the Stars Wars film and was nominated in 1971 for The Great White Hope.

His co-star Smith is known in the cinema industry as “the godfather of make-up”. Smith won an Oscar in 1984 for his work on Amadeus. He also was in the cast of The Exorcist, Taxi Driver and the Deer Hunter.

According to BBC News, The Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences said their awards were given to individuals for “extraordinary distinction in lifetime achievement, exceptional contributions to the state of motion picture arts and sciences, or for outstanding service to the Academy.”

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