They were freezing…they were starving…they were scared…they were surrounded. On December 28th 1890 Big Foot and his villagers were surrounded by remnants of the 7th cavalry at Wounded Knee Creek. They were seeking refuge at Pine Ridge Reservation in hopes of being safe with Red Cloud. Most of them, women children and elders, were sick and freezing due to the extreme and harsh conditions of the South Dakota winter and snow storm that they had travelled through. The small band of Lakota people had fled Standing Rock rez after Sitting Bull had been gunned down on the 15th. Government officials were concerned that the Ghost Dance they had been performing was leading to an uprising and were seeking to arrest Sitting Bull. The army caught up with them and ordered them to surrender. They had put Big Foot in a wagon due to his apparent pneumonia and surrounded them. Some of the people continued to dance and pray for help and protection. On the morning of December 29th they were ordered to surrender their weapons. They searched the Tipis and threw all their belongings on the ground. Stories are told that there was one young warrior who was deaf and did not understand that he was to give up his rifle. The army had their guns which included Hotchkiss guns loaded and trained on the unarmed, weak people and as one shot was heard they commenced firing. They fired upon women, old people and children, butchering and slaughtering anyone and everyone; even those who were wounded and trying to crawl away. Children were not spared…after all they could prove to be a danger to fully armed soldiers. There were a few who escaped in the madness and turmoil but by and large it was nothing but carnage. The bodies of the slain Lakota people were left to freeze due to blizzard conditions and later put into a mass grave as if they were nothing more than dead cattle. It was touted as a great victory back in Washington and those soldiers were given Congressional Medals of Honor…
It is my hope and prayer that you will understand the sadness of our people who live on Reservations. Many of you think that they live well and are taken care of by the government and are getting rich from casino money. This is far from the truth. The conditions on most reservations here in the west, especially South Dakota, are worse than any third world nation and yet no one really cares. It seems that the more things change. The more they stay the same. I am writing this not out of anger toward anyone who is non native but to educate. It is my hope and prayer that those of you who read this will take a few moments to remember my fallen ancestors. It is my hope you will pray for our people…for all our people that the walls come down and bridges are built. It is my hope that those who do not understand will realize that mitakuye oyasin (we are all related) and we all walk the same earth and gaze at the same stars.
