Realities & Truths from Cankpe Opi (Wounded Knee)

Yesterday at the Wounded Knee Massacre site, and on the 135th anniversary of the massacre, all three members of the South Dakota congressional delegation attended a memorial event recognizing the recent passage of the Wounded Knee Massacre Memorial and Sacred Site Act. This act secures 40 acres of the site for the Oglala and Cheyenne River Tribes... and is being spoken of by the Oglala and Cheyenne River tribal councils, most media sources and the South Dakota government as a significant step forward.

Wounded Knee Memorial and cemetery on the Pine Ridge Reservation. (Photo by Makenzie Huber/South Dakota Searchlight)

I acknowledge that this is a step forward, but ...
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TIMELINE:

1. 1889: Pine Ridge Indian reservation established
2. 1890: Wounded Knee Massacre
3. 1930’s: The Gildersleeve family, purchases the Wounded Knee land from the Good Medicine family for $1,000.  Clive Gildersleeve was born in California and built a trading post on the land.
4. 1968: The Czywczynksi family, born in Boston, MA, purchases the land from the Gildersleeve family and continues to operate a trading post there.
5. 1990:  Congress formally acknowledges that the 1890 massacre was indeed a massacre.  
6. 2019: Legislation is introduced (Remove the Stain Act) to rescind the 19 medals of honor given to U.S. soldiers for their participation in the massacre.
7. 2022: The Oglala Sioux and Cheyenne River tribes purchase the land back from the Czywczynksi family.
8. 2024: The Secretary of Defense orders a review of the U.S. soldiers who had received medals of honor for their participation in the massacre.
9. 2025 (September): The new Secretary of Defense, announces that all 19 medals will not be rescinded and will remain.
10. 2025 (December 19): Wounded Knee Massacre Memorial and Sacred Site Act signed, “securing 40 acres of the site for the Oglala and Cheyenne River tribes..."

And so, yesterday, the U.S. government, some tribal representatives and others celebrated an Act that gave back land to the tribes from whom the government took the land, massacred their people on and then sold the land back to, though it took a legislative Act to acknowledge these realities...

HERE’S WHAT ALSO HAPPENED YESTERDAY:

1. According to multiple tribal members at the ceremony yesterday, there were deep divisions and significant tensions among the more than 150 tribal members attending the ceremony.
2. The ceremony - which was attended by South Dakota congressional representatives, the Oglala Sioux and Cheyenne River tribal Presidents, and just two council members - began up on the hill at the gravesite but quickly divided into two groups.  One group, with the official delegation, retreated down the hill into the parking lot by the sign.  The other group, almost all tribal members – and many on horseback – defiantly remained on the hill.
3. At one point, the riders on the hill began screaming their “akisa” – their war calls - clearly drawing the attention and concern of the official delegation and their prominent security detail.
4. This open defiance was clearly at least partially in response to star quilts being wrapped around the shoulders of the two State Senators (Thune and Rounds) as well as the lone Representative (Johnson).
5. There are deep resentments and anger also from some in the Standing Rock tribe, who did not attend the ceremony, as they were not included in the language on the passage of the bill despite Hunkpapa (those now on Standing Rock reservation) people being victims of the massacre.

And so, the ceremony yesterday was deeply marred and interrupted by what is just under the surface at Wounded Knee.


WHY DOES THIS MATTER? 
For many of us who work with, play with, live with, visit, donate to, volunteer and pray for the Lakota people on Pine Ridge as well as Indigenous peoples on the hundreds of other reservations around the United States, we have come to understand that helping and changing generations of trauma, racism (from all sides), profound poverty, corruption, etc. is an immense challenge. We also know that conventional ways of offering help are not nearly enough, and - in fact - can cause harm in many ways. 
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We recognize that the Act, the time extended by the South Dakota delegation, the presence of the Tribal Council Presidents, and the attendance of those who gathered to acknowledge the signing were likely motivated by good intentions

AND:

• There are 146 bodies of massacred Lakota people buried in the mass grave on the hill.
• The gravesite itself, which until recently had a Catholic church built on top of the same hill (recently burned down by community members), is hardly kept up and certainly does not fully or appropriately reflect the honor, cultural respect and truth of what happened there.  
• There have been additional skulls and skeletons found just over the hill within the past two years. Those are likely bodies from those running in terror away from the original gunshots. They remain where they are as the care of these bodies is lost in bureaucratic limbo, dysfunction and inaction.  
• The modern Wounded Knee community itself and Pine Ridge as a whole, is, and has been, in profound crisis for over a century. 
• The tragic and dismal statistics on Pine Ridge and many other reservations remain unchanged - and will not change because of this Act or the ceremony that took place yesterday. Indeed, the riders on the hill, the security detail, the tribal crowd that took sides and split into two factions – all speak truth to those that were there – and those who are watching.

These realities are stark, unsettling, unjust. We are committed to addressing their underlying causes, born out of the massacre and its surrounding history. To move beyond Acts, platitudes, words, programs and actions that are unsustainable and ineffective.

Along with incredibly devoted, inspired, hard-working and positive tribal members, volunteers, donors and supporters from around the world, we are entering the second year of Vision 2035. We are steadfastly focused and committed to creating long term, sustainable change to the reservations – in collaboration with those living in the communities we serve, as well as with people and institutions from around the world. 

Please join us.

-Dave, Executive Director