In 13 days it will be the 115 anniversary of the Massacre at Wounded Knee. The 7th Cavalry distinguished itself and provided redemption for itself by slaughtering more than 350 mostly unarmed men and unarmed women and children in this most disgusting massacre of First Nation peoples. The only thing these people did wrong was continue to practice their spirituality in direct violation of a US Army order to stop dancing the GhostDance. The Army has historically placed the blame for the massacre upon the victims, stating that one of the men began to fire upon the troops, another version is that a trooper attempted to take a rifle from one of the Native men and it discharged and the rest of the Natives started firing at the troopers and the troopers returned fire to defend themselves. Yes sir that is why more than 200 women and children died that day, only the Army stated it was mainly Indian bullets that killed the women and children.
If you want to read more and understand more I suggest you read Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee by Dee Brown or Black Elk Speaks: Being the Life Story of a Holy Man of the Oglala Sioux, edited by John G. Neihardt. These two books give an amazing insight into this most despicable atrocity perpetuated by the US Army and this Nation upon the Oglala Sioux. The most horrendous insult of this slaughter has to be the awarding of not 1 but 18 Medals of Honor, from now on referred to as the Medals of Dishonor throughout this diary.
The Medal of Honor is awarded for valorous bravery and uncommon courage in time of war with an armed enemy. These Medals of Dishonor were awarded for the slaughter of innocent men, women and children, who were simply practicing their spiritual way of life. I wonder how the Pope, Falwell, Robertson or Dobson would feel if a company of Soldiers entered one of their churches and began slaughtering every man, woman and child present for practicing Christianity. The uproar would be heard around the world.
I am providing links to Two letters written by General Nelson A. Miles to the Commissioner of Indian Affairs in 1917 concerning the Wounded Knee Massacre. The first letter written by Miles in 1917 and another written by Miles in 1920 addressing the slaughter of First Nation peoples at Wounded Knee.
The awarding of these Medal of Dishonor should be rescinded and the names of those who received them expunged from the Medal of Honor Roll. Please write your Congress Members, Senators, and the President of the United States to ask that these Medals be rescinded.
During this Holiday Season, I ask that each of you step outside on December 29th and face east, north, west, south and listen to the spirits of those who lost their lives on that cold December day 115 years ago, listen for the drums of the GhostDance and singing of the song that would return the Sioux to the days when the sun shone brightly and the Buffalo roamed freely into the horizon and there were no white eyes to steal the land. Hear the world as it was 115 years ago and know that you are indeed part of this world and part of the spiritual world of the ancestors. I offer this prayer from Black Elk as one that may help you walk in the spirit.
Hear Me
Hear me, four quarters of the world– a relative I am! Give me the strength to walk the soft earth. Give me the eyes to see and the strength to understand, that I may be like you. With your power only can I face the winds. Great Spirit…all over the earth the faces of living things are all alike. With tenderness have these come up out of the ground. Look upon these faces of children without number and with children in their arms, that they may face the winds and walk the good road to the day of quiet. This is my prayer’ hear me!Black Elk, Sioux Indian
