"The Heartbeat of Wounded Knee: Native America from 1890 to Present" (A Review)
The United States government massacred
185 Miniconjou women, children, nursing babies, and men (1)
Under the clear plains sky.
185 last breaths
185 dreams deferred eternally
185 deaths at Wounded Knee
Yes 185 American Indians died, Ojibwe author Treuer acknowledges
BUT “no Dee Brown,” the American Indian did not die at Wounded Knee.
President Harrison could not bury the Indian with the weight
Of 20 awarded Medals of Honor (2)
Twenty times, written
The President of the United States of America, in the name of Congress, takes pleasure
The President’s pleasure at the soldiers’ conspicuous bravery
In the murder of Miniconjou women and children
Could not bury the Indian
Nor did Congress’ deep regret 100 years later resurrect those bodies.
The Indian Appropriations Act could not kill the Indian
60,000,000 Bison slaughtered could not kill the Indian
TerminatinonRemovalRelocationAssimilationTheGreatMigration
None. Of. It.
The hundreds of Treaties Of
All bro ken
Could not extinguish the Indian
The American government could bury
the bodies
But not the spirits
The spirits could not be buried
Spirits float on and lift those living
Spirits like
Joseph Oklahombi’s World War Two bravery
Spirits like
Sean Sherman the Sioux Chef
Spirits like
Sierra Frederickson the teacher and connector
Spirits like
trapper Bobby Mathews
Spirits like
David Treuer’s words
out
Tendrils floating
Seeking our hearts and minds and souls
The Indian did not die at Wounded Knee
Instead they strove, they struggled, scraped, fought back,
they persisted
the only reason there were any Indians left all
was that they had fought
They had fought against the government,
and they had fought with it.
Deprived of every conceivable advantage
or tool
or clear-heated advocate,
they continued to fight.
Not just…as warriors astride horses
roaming free across the Plains,
but rather as husbands and wives and fathers and mothers.
As writers and thinkers.
As farmers and soldiers in the Great War.
So yes Dee Brown.
Bury those children’s hearts.
Bury those mothers.
Bury those warriors and ghost dancers.
But the Indian will not be buried.
Indians lived on,
as more than ghosts,
as more than the relics
of a once happy people.
We lived on increasingly invested in
and changed by–
and in turn doing our best to change–
the American character.
The Heartbeat of Wounded Knee pulses on.
Notes:
(1) Estimated numbers vary widely on the number of deaths (e.g., 128, 146, 156, 200, 300). There are primary source documents (letters and telegrams) from the soldiers and headquarters. I took a middle of the road number. Regardless of the exact number it’s clear that many women, children, and nursing babies were killed in the massacre. https://armyatwoundedknee.com/2013/12/30/lakota-casualties-at-wounded-knee/
https://www.westrivereagle.com/articles/list-of-those-killed-and-wounded-at-the-massacre-in-wounded-knee/
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