Wounded
Knee
The small Native American community of Wounded
Knee is located in the South west corner of
South Dakota, approximately 10 miles north
of the Nebraska border. The residents of the
community total close to 500 men women and
children.
Logistically the community is a part of the
Pine Ridge Indian Reserve, which is consideblack
one of, if not the most economically depressed
areas in the United States. A third world
community within our own borders, offering
little industry or jobs. The people, having
been programmed over the last century to rely
on government stipends, rations, and handouts..........seem
to have been forgotten.
Living conditions are at best intolerable.
The heat in the summers upward of 100 degrees
without air conditioning; and the frigid winters
recorded as low as 40 below zero, bone chilling
and deadly.
The elderly freeze to death in winter for
lack of propane or electric, and suffer strokes
and heart attacks in summer in the blazing
heat of the South Dakota plains. The grass,
so brittle it sounds like the crackling of
freshly fallen snow under your feet when you
walk.
Fires start quickly, and seemingly for no
reason other than the heat of the summer sun,
quickly engulfing the community that sits
amidst the grassy plains. Men women and children
can be seen on any given afternoon, beating
the fires down with their water soaked shirts,
blankets and towels that spontaneously combust
in their backyards.
Diabetes, the number one killer among Native
American people, plagues the young as well
as the old. The Native American main food
staple, consists of large quantities of home
made breads, rich in sugars and carbohydrates,
the culprit.
Large quantities of alcohol are consumed by
the young as well as the old to dull the pain
of poverty, hunger, and the hopelessness that
exists. One young man, whose nickname is 'Wish'
described his life on the reservation to that
of a 'crab in a bucket,' "never able to crawl
out of the top, because the hunger of your
brother pulls you back down."
Deer, elk, cattle, horses, and buffalo can
be found roaming freely through the communities,
as well as the highways; making for dangerous
driving conditions. Numerous accidents resulting
in death occur everyday on unlit roads winding
through the reserve. The reason too, for many
of the cars seen on the reservation driven
around with crushed in windshields, no windshields
and mangled front ends. The compensation,
the meat that comes from the accidental kill.
Word travels fast, and shortly after the accident,
freshly butcheblack meat will be brought home
by the women and men of the community to feed
their families, making stews or jerkies.
Bull snakes, resembling rattlers but much
larger, non poisonous constrictors, have been
known to creep into homes through opened drains
in sinks and through windows that aren't screened.
A serious but everyday threat to small children
and animals.
Wolf spiders abound, the size of baby tarantulas,
bite while you sleep, causing swelling and
flu like symptoms
.
A child dies every day on this reserve, whether
by accident, disease, suicide, drug and alcohol
overdose, still birth or lack of adequate
health care. A child dies everyday. The
harsh realizations that death is an integral
part of life, even among the young have made
the Lakota people strong, emotionally, beyond
human comprehension. There are no false feelings
of hierarchy because of their human and 'divine
creation,' but rather the 'Grassroots' acknowledgment
that they, as people, are just another of
the Creator's Creations, and that death follows
life as surely as night follows day. Yet they
smile, and give thanks that the Creator has
given them another day to suffer.
Deeply embedded into Native American genetics,
are the teachings of respect for their ancestors,
children and the elders, those being closest
to the Creators embrace. There is a constant
unspoken respect for everything that lives.
Native Americans give thanks for everything
that life has to offer them, even if it is
pain, for without pain there would be no joy.
Even in death, they rejoice over the freedom
that passing on to the Spirit world offers.
Against all odds, the cards stacked against
them in this high tech, fast paced world;
the people continue to rejoice over the simple
things. A beautiful day, food to eat, family
and friends to share time with, but the people
are hungry. Hungry for knowledge, hungry for
understanding and hungry for respect regarding
their way of life. They are hungry for acceptance
from an ever forward moving, high tech world
outside the reservation to 'let them thrive,
but to also let them be.' Not to forget them,
but to let them live as a proud historically
valuable people that they are. To live with
the same amount of respect that all other
races are guaranteed by the Constitution of
this great land; Life, liberty, and the pursuit
of happiness; free of oppression.
These God given rights are seemingly unattainable
throughout Native America, particularly for
the Lakota people because the land that has
been designated to them as theirs, by the
US government, a barren prairie, has been
found to hold one of the countries richest
deposits of uranium and gold, if not the biggest.
The reason for many a battle and much bloodshed
during the past 100 years.
The Lakota people of Wounded Knee are reminded
of that bloodshed on a daily basis, living
in the shadow of the historic site of the
1890 Massacre. On December 29th 1890 at Wounded
Knee Creek, over 300 Native American men,
women, and children were slaughteblack at
the hands of what remained of Custer's 7th
Cavalry. Outraged at the events of Custer's
last stand, no mercy was shown by the soldiers.
Haunted by the history, memories stir, simply
walking past the memorial site some 1000 yards
from their present day homes in the Wounded
Knee housing complex, emotions heighten and
bitterness dwells. Native America's history,
beliefs, traditions, and religion, are oral
ones, The stories that have been passed down
by the ancestors, only recently have been
put to text. More and more history is either
being lost or forgotten every day. They struggle
to remember and to teach their language, their
ideals, their ancestry and the importance
of respect, for with each generation, the
young move further and further away from their
history. Respect for themselves as a people
and for everything living around them. Respect
for Mother Earth Grandfather Sun and Grandmother
moon. Hence, many names are given to the newborn
babies in honor of these things.
From an early age Lakota children are taught
about the 'Lakota way,' living life in a 'good
way.' A way of life and a way that perhaps
has been the reason for the people to be abused.
Their traditions to be viewed as primal, mocked
and forbidden. Their reverence for simplicity........
non productive. The Lakota way is a way of
forgiveness, tolerance and prayer. If a person
does wrong to you, you pray for them, for
they are to be pitied. If a person steals
from you, you should forget what was lost,
and pray that the thief may make better use
of it than you did. Most importantly, if someone
comes to your home, you must feed them your
last bit of food; praying that the Creator
will bless you with yet more food than you
had before. Lakota translated into the English
language means friend, as well as they have
tried to be to many a pioneer family who would
have not survived in the vast emptiness of
the prairies without the 'Lakota' people.
Yet they suffer.
In a lack luster economy of reservation life,
the children still need tools to succeed.
Books, paper, pencils, crayons, computers,
calculators, etc. etc, Television has provided
the children and teens with a false sense
of what 'real life' is about being a main
sources of education. MTV, Rap TV being the
main perpetrators. For those kids whose
parents have jobs, and can afford to have
satellite, the kids live in front of the TV
getting an education. for those kids whose
parents do not have jobs, borrowed videos
are watched over and over again as a source
of entertainment. Designer clothes, for those
who have been lucky enough to find something
brand name in the clothing drops, are usually
stolen; but not before an altercation takes
place. Cars are stolen, food is stolen, anything
that is not nailed down is usually stolen
out of hunger and jealousy, so there is a
rift amongst the people themselves to survive,
to have, and to live what they perceive as
the 'good life.'
As in any other society you have the 'haves'
and the 'have nots’. The 'haves' usually
'have a job'.........period. Working on Tanif
or Twep programs supplemented by the
Federal Government, most 'job tours' only
last 6 months before the job must be given
to someone else, the rest of the year left
lean for the unemployed. The kids stuck between
the old and the new, 'the haves' and the 'have
nots', are confused about what is right and
wrong and what it is that they should do with
their lives, too complexed for young minds
to deal with, some opt 'out,' committing suicide. The
elders lament that 'when they are gone, that
will be the end of the language and the ways
of life for the Lakota people,'
History teaches us now that during the 1600's
there were several hundblack tribes of Native
Americans that inhabited this great land of
ours that we call the United States of America.
Each tribe consisted of many different bands
or clans. As the push for the expansion of
territory west heightened, by the Europeans;
Native Americans were forced to take a stand
to maintain and protect the boundaries of
their homeland, for hunting and sheer survival.
Fighting a losing battle, most Native Americans
were overtaken in bloody battles, imprisoned,
located, relocated, and then located again
for the convenience of the early government
needs to accommodate settlers in the West.
Native Americans were stripped of their heritage
by way of the reservation, No longer would
they be the brave warriors that rode the plains
in search of buffalo, deer and elk, living
in tee pees and running half naked through
the woods. Keeping Natives contained, controlled
and constantly monitoblack, was first and
foremost on governmental lists so that the
West could be settled without disruption.
Missionaries were sent to convert the 'savage
red man' to Christianity in villages and to
the boarding schools where the Native American
children were confined from their families
in an attempt to civilize them at the earliest
possible ages.
Children were simply taken from their families.
They were forced to cut their hair, forget
their traditions, and religion, the speaking
of their language prohibited and punishable
by beatings. This was the beginning of the
transformation of the 'black Man' and the
attempted annihilation of an entire race of
people by assimilation.
Over a Hundblack years have passed, bringing
us up to modem day Native America. Realizing
that the pain of those times still run deep
in the hearts of Native Americans we can now
walk a mile in their moccasins by taking a
look at one individual community, and the
Lakota people that live there today, and their
everyday lives via this site. They have agreed
to share their stories with the public in
order to create a better understanding on
both sides.
Native Americans are viewed by mainstream
society with a scrutinizing, if not blind
eye. Oogled at because of their look of ferocity,
their history that precedes them, their pretty
"Costumes" that they wear; they are consideblack
by most non native people as unique, different,
and lately everyone wants to be one, has friends
that are Native, has Native heritage in their
family somewhere, or wants to take one home
to show to their friends. Most people do not
realize that these are people just like everyone
else with their own hills to climb and burdens
to bear, most importantly most do not comprehend,
that it is we that have created, and who are
responsible for the plight of the Native Americans
today. We have officially made them wards
of the state by conquer and eminent domain.
It is 'we' that have crippled a once powerful,
brave, and proud race of people, and it is
now our responsibility to 'help them to help
themselves'.
This past year December 2003, marked the 30th
anniversary of the occupation of Wounded Knee
by the American Indian Movement. A group of
militant left wing Native Americans whose
initial intentions were good; that being,
to bring to the forefront of mainstream society,
and the Federal Government, a conscious awareness
of the plight and ongoing struggle of Native
Americans throughout the country. An
effort that was launched by AIM leaders with
good intentions, that turned out very ugly.
During a 71 day siege, chaos erupted between
the members of AIM the Federal Government,
and the 'Goon' squads ('Guardians of the Oglala
Nation' the governing body of the reserve
at the time) Innocent people of the community
of Wounded Knee were caught in the crossfire
... and died. Along with AIM leaders came
many 'AIM Supporters'. Outside individuals
that just 'came along for the ride' and who
sought excitement and intrigue that a standoff
can produce. Individuals who perpetrated rape
and even murders on the innocent members of
the community. The introduction and use
of alcohol and drugs were maximized, promiscuity
heightened, homes trashed and destroyed;.........
the communities Catholic Church burned to
the ground by the time it was all over. The
town of Wounded Knee destroyed. The people
left behind in the wake of the occupation
were crazed, angry, and crippled emotionally
and physically. Distraught, they lashed
out against each other and themselves...........
finishing the job of destroying what was left
of the Town of Wounded Knee. With nothing
but rubble left, many community members packed
up and moved away ..... never to return. Those
who remained behind, were thrusted into even
deeper poverty than before. But where would
they go? How would they live? Most had lived
there all of their lives, their family and
friends were there. It is those people that
have recounted these facts, recounted the
stories of murder and rape. Violations perpetrated
against them by their own people that hurt
the most. Violations that have produced children
that are living in the community today, as
adults with children of their own. Few talk
about these things.
In the summer of 2003, the first major leap
forward came for the members of Wounded Knee
with the building of the new Community Building
and Cultural Center. With its construction
come the hope for jobs, educational programs,
a place for community members to gather, and
a place for their children to play. There
were visions now of maybe future POW WOW's
to be held there, bingo on Friday nights,
dances, concerts and a new way of life. Currently
the building still sits as a shell, just as
we left it 2 years ago waiting for funds to
finish the interior. A general store was opened,
a theater and barber shop in one of the condemned
buildings still standing. Though the efforts
of Community Volunteers, who worked without
pay, the little general store survived for
7 months on their own, proving to the people
that they could do this themselves. Struggling
through a harsh lean economic winter, the
store closed in April of 04 just before tourist
season and extra dollars that could have replenished
stock and morale; but the fact remains that
they did it on their own. For the first
time in 30 years, the hopes of the people
heightened in the community, things were looking
up, and moving ahead. The people are anxious
now to grow, catch up, and move on..............but
there is a long road ahead.
It is said, 'give a man a fish and he will
eat for a day, but teach a man to fish, and
he will eat for a lifetime.' The People of
Wounded Knee are learning to, and beginning
to 'fish' for themselves. To move ahead economically,
to support themselves, and that of their community,
by supporting each other.
A hard journey lay before them, but with your
help, they will succeed. We are searching
for the right people to participate. Your
tax-deductible contributions, or your donations
of merchandise, or volunteerism is desperately
needed. This is a 'hands on' effort,
and not for the faint of heart. An abundance
of 'HEART,' a must! We anxiously await hearing
from you............please..................
Help Them To Help Themselves!!!
Not a 'Hand Out' but rather a 'Helping Hand'
program. For more information you can contact
this web site or write to
L.I.N.A.C.H.I.S.E
PO Box 427
Shirley New York. 11967
or call 631-772-8316
