When good books fail to inspire reviews and politics contributes to mass extinction on Earth, what else can motivate a resumption of blogging but an infamous massacre of approximately 300 children, women and men on December 29, 1890 at Wounded Knee in Dakota Territory? Many have written about this tragic event. They cite the blood lust of the 7th Calvary, the strange awarding of medals of honor to men who hunted down women and children for hours, the fake news of a forthcoming “outbreak” of armed Lakota men, and the Ghost Dance. Too bad James Mooney fouled up his efforts to ‘interview’ the Lakota who knew the most about what transpired as his published interviews provide little insight into what occurred at Wounded Knee and the surrounding area–and he knew he’d ‘failed’ because of an effort to communicate that went wrong at the start ( biography). But he did his best with what information he could gather. The Irishman did take his work very seriously. Take note that ONLY at Wounded Knee was there ever any violence regarding the Ghost Dance even though it had spread through several states and reservations. Hence, the question remains: WHY? Did it all come down to racism? Why doesn’t that seem like the beginning and end of it all? Why issue rations for 370 people you “intend” to kill? Where’s logic in that effort?
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Young Indigenous women are some of the most invisible and unrepresented people on Earth. That is one reason to read Lakota Woman by Mary Crow Dog, nowBrave Bird, with Richard Erdoes even though it was published in 1990. Another reason is that it won the American Book Award in 1991. Yet another reason is for the insight it provides into some of the tough issues young women on reservations continue to confront: violence, rape, alcoholism, drug abuse, racism, exploitation, poor education, grinding poverty. This is not a calm, quiet memoir of a certain time and place written by a woman looking back in nostalgia with some polite veneer of wisdom gained by mature hindsight. Lakota Woman offers the perspective of a very candid, blunt spoken, tough, and passionate young woman who makes no apologies for anything. This is a woman who now knows who she is, where she came from, and why. Part of her story includes giving birth to her first child during the siege at Wounded Knee in 1973 after refusing to leave in spite of the increasing danger. While Lakota Woman does not offer any in-depth analysis of the American Indian Movement, the Trail of Broken Treaties or the Native American Church, it does offer a no punches pulled, first person female perspective based on direct experiences with all of them– a young Lakota female perspective seldom encountered in the mainstream American culture.
I am a iyeska, a breed, that’s what the white kids used to call me. When I grew bigger they stopped calling me that, because it would get them a bloody nose. I am a small woman, not much over five feet tall, but I can hold my own in a fight, and in a free-for-all with honkies I can become rather ornery and do real damage. I have white blood in me. Often I have wished to be able to purge it out of me. As a young girl I used to look at myself in the mirror, trying to find a clue as to who and what I was. My face is very Indian, and so are my eyes and my hair, but my skin is very light. Always I waited for the summer, for the prairie sun, the Badlands sun, to tan me and make me into a real skin. (p.9)
Such are the words of Mary Brave Bird of the Brule Tribe from the Rosebud Reservation in South Dakota. Consider the memoirs current teenaged women of Rosebud, Pine Ridge, Standing Rock and the Cheyenne River Reservations might share–if anyone dared put them into print. Lakota Woman might offend some, might make some very uncomfortable, and distress others. It certainly won’t bore anyone. It definitely offers a great deal to think about regarding women, culture, family, history, spirituality, politics, and values.
Maze of Injustice, the failure to protect Indigenous Women from sexual violence in the USA, PDF file of Amnesty International http://www.amnestyusa.org/pdfs/MazeOfInjustice.pdf Perhaps this report offers one explanation for the legistative difficulties faced by the VAWA. Why would non-Native men want to start allowing arrest and prosecution of the non-Native men who rape Indigenous women on reservations? No rocket science required.
Discovered this petition on the book of faces this morning:
We petition the Obama administration to:
Rescind 20 Medals of Honor awarded to soldiers of the U.S. Army 7th Cavalry in 1890 at Wounded Knee.
Rescind 20 Medals of Honor awarded to soldiers of the U.S. Army 7th Cavalry who participated in the slaughter of 300 or so Lakota Sioux, mostly unarmed women and children (approximately 200) at Wounded Knee on December, 29 1890.
Require all federal agencies and arms to refer to the Wounded Knee Massacre as a “Massacre” and not a “Battle or Battlefield.”
Help us rewrite history and forge a better way forward. We do not remember these tragedies to hurt, we remember to heal. We are facing the holocaust head strong, we are coming through it. We are lifting our heads and reclaiming our dignity.
Link to petition to President Obama regarding a request to rescind the Medals of Honor awarded USA Army soldiers at Wounded Knee in 1890.
Hi folks. What’s your weather doing today? Yes, I really want to know. If you’re inclined please drop a link to your weather conditions in the comments. If you’re living on a nice clean beach near clean water then color me green with envy. As for mine, it’s thinking about stretching to a chilly 29 degrees C.
While doing this post the temperature at Pine Ridge, South Dakota is 21 degrees, C. A little nippy to be outdoors without a hat or coat (more about coats coming up). If you share a stocking cap consider yourself well thanked.
Definition: A close-fitting knitted cap.
Yeah, these things.
One Spirit could use a few of these for the Future Generations Riders.
“Spirit Road From Wounded Knee” is only one simple rendition of the possible spiritual paths of those journeying into the spirit realm after the massacre at Wounded Knee on December 29, 1890.
On December 28, 2010 the Big Foot Memorial Riders/Future Generations Riders will arrive at Cemetery Hill. Safe passage and all things good to the Riders and all their relations awaiting their arrival at Wounded Knee this day.
Tune into to KiLi online at http://www.kiliradio.org/ to hear the voice of the Lakota people. Kills Straight is being interviewed now about the history of the ride.
Heads up–this coverage ended at 1pm cst on Dec. 27. But you can still discover Kili’s community coverage via the link.
This year the Big Foot Memorial Ride transitions to the Future Generations Ride. This is a passing of the ‘torch’ from the older generations to the young people. The ride commenced in 1986 in order to help heal the long-term grief of the Lakota people regarding the Massacre at Wounded Knee of Big Foot’s band on December 29, 1890. Since 1986 men, women and children have ridden on horseback through all sorts of winter weather conditions across several hundred miles of rough terrain in honor of the dead. Freezing winds, blizzards, ice storms, deep snow have never stopped the riders or their support system. The ride ends on December 28 when the riders reach Cemetery Hill at Wounded Knee. Unlike some survivors of the 1890 massacre like Comes-Home-Crawling, no one rides alone.
For in depth information regarding this ‘transition’ and the people involved –> http://64.38.12.138/News/2010/022278.asp Indianz.com for the article written by Randall Howell @ Native Sun News.
The images are linked to their sources.
Video uploaded by darknkreepy who admits his pronunciation of Lakota names could use some work. It’s not a capital offence, at least not in my opinion.
Truth by Jules Joseph Lefebvre (1836-1911) French painter, oil on canvas, 1870
Is there anything more hated than the truth? People work very hard to hide knowledge of all sorts of behavior, thoughts, words and deeds. If people lived and behaved with common decency, mutual respect and tolerance they probably wouldn’t have so much to hide from others. Current affairs range from the imprisonment of a man for revealing some truth about how the world operates to the exclusion of the participation of the people on the front lines of environmental devastation from the “talks” in Cancun. Huh–now why wouldn’t anyone truly concerned with addressing the issue of climate change want to hear from people already experiencing the consequences? Oh yeah—the profit motive is still in play in certain minds that believe the endgame is making money instead of survival of everyone, including their greed driven asses. Apparently it’s okay to do negative things as long no one is ‘caught’. It seems we’ve come a long way from Watergate. Not that anyone was behaving better during Nixon’s tenure in that house that tries so hard to claim the purity of wearing white. Nixon, 1973, Wounded Knee, South Dakota = some very bad times for Lakota people. Now it’s perfectly acceptable for arrogant politicians and very ignorant–but sexually attractive –women to advocate violence and murder. Obviously I missed the inclusion of such family values in the moral minority’s spiritual handbook. Or did someone blackout the entire New Testament? Now a new war has commenced—the war for the internet, a cyber war of hacked off hackers fighting Big Brother and all his known associates. If you think the outcome of this engagement means nothing to you—think again. True colors are being shown, the lines have been drawn and crossed. The internet offers information and knowledge. Knowledge is power. If the internet is “controlled’ in order to prevent the sharing of knowledge, then where will the power be?
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