Wounded Knee South Dakota Oct 6, 2018
On Saturday Oct.6 we went to Wounded Knee Massacre Site. After visiting the Crazy Horse memorial yesterday, I (Glenda) was expecting a well organized landmark detailing what had happened there. But all that was there was a sign giving detail of the massacre and across the road upon a hill was a mass grave and a granite monument with the names of about 50 Native men on it (250 Native people including women and children were killed). We hadn’t even gotten the RV shut off when a young lady, Allie SunBear and her bother, Jessie SunBear knocked on my window and it wasn’t long before an older woman, whose appearance showed that her years had been hard and unforgiving, came on the scene. Wounded Knee is in Pine Ridge Indian Reservation, the land of the Lakota Natives, one of the poorest economic regions in the USA. And its appearance couldn’t hide it. These dear folks are eking out a living selling handmade items (as Allie said “and these aren’t made in China”). The two younger people introduced themselves by name, shook our hands and asked where we were from. Jessie told us that they were Lakota. He explained that the French gave them the name Sioux, which means “cut throat” and the Americans call them Indians. They don’t like those names and for obvious reasons. But that is how they are named still today. Can one imagine bearing the name “cut throat Indian”? Lakota is their name. The older woman’s name is Deborah White Dress. Doug and I got our picture taken with her and Allie.
Allie was the most talkative and I found her to be very interesting. And she touched me deeply with her softness, gentleness and the stories she told. She invited us to read the sign (it is called an “historical marker”) and to visit the grave on the hill. The mass grave holds the bodies of all the Native casualties of that fateful day as well as those of the dead horses. It is rectangular and has a fence with a gate and a cement walkway that goes around the actual burial sight. It measures approximately 12 feet wide and 50 – 60 feet long. On the ground in front of the monument are the evidences of many offerings to the spirits on behalf of the dead: burnt sage, painted rocks, tobacco, a little patty made with choke cherries to name a few. Allie told us to stay on the cement walkway, not to walk on the grass.
It is also part of a larger unkempt cemetery that has narrow pathways that lead to other graves. Lots of them are unmarked, many have wooden crosses (many of which have fallen over) and there are a few with granite headstones. Like the one of a Native war veteran. I saw gun casings around his grave. Allie told me that someone has the gun he used in the war and often will shoot ammo there. She also told me that no one is to pick up the shells. And there is the headstone for “Lost Bird”. She was born in the early spring of 1890, the year of the massacre. She was about 9 months old at the time of the killing. Four days after the massacre, as the cavalry gathered the bodies, she was found alive under her dead mother. A National Guard officer by name of Colby took her home. She lived a short, tragic, abusive life and died from pneumonia (Allie said she died from syphilis) in 1919 and was buried in California. The Lakota people went to California, retrieved her remains and buried her in the cemetery at Wounded Knee. Allie showed me the graves of many of her family members, a lot of them young people: her sister (car accident), a 22 year-old cousin (sclerosis!). She also talked about the abuse of alcohol – “there is nothing else to do” and “it is the only thing that takes the pain away”.
I asked Allie if she is employed. She is not and I got the idea it was because she doesn’t have a Social Security card. She has a number, but not a card and she said she would have to pay to get one. “Employers want to see a card”. She also said that she doesn’t have Medicaid – it terminated when she turned 18 (she is now 26). I’m not sure how that works, but it doesn’t sound like it works well. I asked about tourism and selling handmade items. She said during tourist season a person needs a license to sell – it is no longer the season, so she is allowed to.
We bought a Medicine Wheel from Allie (I got the idea that when a person is sick, they hold it and pray for health), a Dream Catcher from Deborah (it catches good dreams and the bad dreams pass through) and a Sage Grass for burning from Jessie (used for prayers, cleansing and a deeper sense of self). I felt like their culture is steeped in Animism – Allie talked about “praying to the spirits” and “this is what the spirits like”.
I was moved by that meeting and discussion. I heard a sense of hopelessness, a victim mentality. I wanted to encourage her to do something to help herself and in my heart thought that a change of mindset would be a good start. As we drove away and I thought about our encounter, the Lord convicted me and my heart was exercised – Here I am, born a white person in the best country, have basically lived an unscathed life, free from discrimination and in most ways have an advantaged life, sitting on my pompous rear end in my RV traveling to where ever – I have absolutely no idea what this young woman and her people have experienced, the lives they live, the oppression they encounter (inwardly and outwardly), the disadvantages they suffer, the discrimination they face, from fellow humans. I have no idea their struggle. I do have an opinion or two, though – the American government could and should do a much better job of honoring the people at Wounded Knee; and Jesus is the Only Hope for any person, people and nation – how do we bring Him to a people we have wounded so deeply, how do we right such wrongs? I don’t know what the answer is, but I know it isn’t the $20 we gave to each of them for the handmade items we received.
Let's Do The 180! 