US Seventh Cavalry air division attempt landing on Wounded Knee Sacred Burial grounds

Wed May 5 13:41:44 UTC 2010

Kweh,

I think what Wilma Thin Elk said was so well put:
"...Thin Elk said she was still trying to make sense of what happened
Saturday.
*"We have an airport in Pine Ridge. Why didn't they land over there and come
to the site *
*... in a car?" she asked. "What was the whole point?"*

Some wonder why we always bring up the past and tell us "get over it!"
but unless we remember it,we become numb, inactive and unaware of
what many in the majority culture choose to remain ignorant about.

What outsiders often decide is "honoring First Nations peoples"
may in its very action , be actually degrading and give proof of cultural
ignorance.
The best Intentions when coupled by Insensitivity can cause the worst
damage.

Richard Zane Smith
Wyandotte, Okl.

On Wed, May 5, 2010 at 7:17 AM, Two Elk <twoelkenterprise at yahoo.com> wrote:

> I believe the LEAST we can do is get the full & correct information Before
> we fan the Flames...shall we...or shall we continue to follow the fools?
>
>
> Lakota protesters chase off military helicopters at Wounded Knee
> Heidi Bell Gease Journal staff | Posted: Monday, May 3, 2010 7:15 pm |
> Oglala Sioux Tribal President Theresa Two Bulls apologized to tribal
> members Monday for giving permission for three Colorado Army National Guard
> helicopters to land near the Wounded Knee Massacre site Saturday as part of
> an educational program.
> "I did not intend to be disrespectful," she said during an Oglala Sioux
> Tribal Council meeting in Pine Ridge. "I just wanted to open the door, to
> start communication, and I apologize that there's a lack of communication."
> But descendants of massacre victims and survivors, many of whom protested
> the Black Hawk helicopters' arrival Saturday, said the way the visit was
> handled was "disrespectful and appalling."
> "That's a sacred site," said Phyllis Hollow Horn, president of the Wounded
> Knee community. "Blood was spilled there by our relatives, by the United
> States 7th Cavalry."
> That was the story Guardsmen came to hear. According to a news release from
> Two Bulls' office, the Colorado National Guard requested permission about
> two weeks ago to visit Wounded Knee. At the site, massacre descendant Marie
> Fox Belly was to tell the Guardsmen how U.S. soldiers killed nearly 300
> Native Americans there on Dec. 29, 1890.
> "The opportunity to hear the true stories from the descendants of the
> Wounded Knee Massacre would enable the National Guard members to realize the
> consequences of weak leadership," the news release states.
> Two Bulls said she informed Wounded Knee District tribal council
> representatives Garfield Little Dog and Philip Jumping Eagle of the visit
> but received no response. She also informed the local Community Action
> Program (CAP) office and spoke on KILI radio about the Guard's visit.
> Somehow, though, Wounded Knee residents didn't get the message until Friday
> or Saturday. For them, seeing three Black Hawk helicopters descending over
> the mass grave site where their ancestors lie buried touched off deep-seated
> fears and emotions.
> As a descendant of massacre survivors, Wilma Thin Elk of Manderson grew up
> hearing the story of Wounded Knee. "I thought, ‘So are we going to be the
> next ones to lay here, to get killed here?'" she said.
> A five-minute cell phone video posted on You Tube shows the three
> helicopters approaching the site. One touches down, staying on the ground
> for about 30 seconds before taking off again.
> The video shows about 20 people who can be heard shouting, "We don't want
> United States military here!" and "This is our land!"
> Debra White Plume of Manderson described how people of all ages, some
> carrying sage or eagle feathers, went running toward the helicopters. She
> said several women ran under the choppers as they attempted to land, waving
> banners and a United Nations flag and refusing to move. The helicopters
> eventually left.
> Tribal Police Chief Everett Little Whiteman said his office was notified of
> the visit and officers were there to provide security. He called the
> incident a "peaceful protest."
> But one local resident observed that many in the community "don't like
> military around" because of the history of Wounded Knee. "Something bad
> could have happened, the way that was handled," he said.
> "There should have been some kind of communication but there wasn't,"
> Hollow Horn said Monday. "I'm just kind of disappointed in our tribal
> president."
> Two Bulls took full responsibility at Monday's council meeting for the
> mishap, saying council members had nothing to do with it.
> "I apologize if I was disrespectful to anybody," she said. "But as a leader
> you have to make choices. And in the past, you've seen tourist buses going
> up there to the (Wounded Knee) site.
> "Why have not the descendants and the people of that community complained
> about that?," she asked. "That's been going on for many years."
> Two Bulls also called on tribal members to help set up a meeting of all
> Wounded Knee descendants from the Oglala and other tribes.
> Tribal council members then approved a resolution by Little Dog that the
> tribe and its members not allow the U.S. Military to come "anywhere near"
> the 1890 Wounded Knee Massacre mass grave out of honor and respect for the
> dead.
> In a news release from the Colorado Army National Guard, Maj. Gen. H.
> Michael Edwards, the Adjutant General of Colorado, said the Guard had
> welcomed the opportunity to "participate in paying tribute to those who lost
> their lives there (at Wounded Knee)."
> "As a 150-year-old, community-based organization, we value heritage and the
> importance of remembering those who came before us," he stated. "Due to our
> concern for the safety of citizens on the ground, who were closely observing
> our arrival, we chose to depart the area."
> The release also quoted Colorado public affairs officer Army Capt. Michael
> Odgers, who said that "while the Battle of Wounded Knee is a dark chapter in
> the history of the Army, without learning from the mistakes of our past we
> are doomed to repeat them."
> "This trip was taken to better understand our shared histories, and we hope
> those who protested the visit can begin to understand our motives," Odgers
> stated. "It's unfortunate that this valuable learning opportunity was lost,
> and we sincerely apologize for any misunderstanding this visit created."
> On Monday, Thin Elk said she was still trying to make sense of what
> happened Saturday.
> "We have an airport in Pine Ridge. Why didn't they land over there and come
> to the site ... in a car?" she asked. "What was the whole point?"
> Contact Heidi Bell Gease at 394-8419 or heidi.bell at rapidcityjournal.com
>
> http://www.rapidcityjournal.com/news/article_91954776-56cf-11df-a8a4-001cc4c03286.html
> VIDEO: Helicopters try to land at Wounded Knee
>
> http://www.rapidcityjournal.com/html_82c203ec-56cf-11df-b10c-001cc4c03286.html
> Wounded Knee 5-1-2010.wmv
> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4rmTSif15VA
> Update; Helicopters attempt to land at Wounded Knee - KOTA Territory News
> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N-UU9MXfVK8
> Wounded Knee 2010 Press Conference Part 1
> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x0MSSMBwpB8
> Wounded Knee 2010 Press Conference Part 2
> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-MD27uVY_s0
>
> News Alert- pt. 1 Wounded Knee, SD 5/1/10
> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WiE5Nw94ylQ
> News Alert- pt. 2 Wounded Knee, SD 5/1/10
> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oSuK0jLEohA
> News Alert- pt. 3 Wounded Knee, SD 5/1/10
> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H1ZhjfFLPow
> News Alert- pt. 4 Wounded Knee, SD 5/1/10
> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=unRinjsoWCU
> News Alert- pt. 5 Wounded Knee, SD 5/1/10
> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3nhPAllxJUU
> Wounded Knee landing called insult to memories
> STEVE YOUNG • syoung at argusleader.com • May 4, 2010
> http://www.argusleader.com/article/20100504/NEWS/5040333/1001/news
>
> Planned educational presentation becomes Black Hawk fiasco
> By Carol Berry, Today correspondent
> Story Published: May 4, 2010
> (Story Updated: May 4, 2010
> http://www.indiancountrytoday.com/national/midwest/92761779.html
>
>
> "We are all students and we are all teachers.
> We are students of those who know more
> and we are teachers of those who know less..."
>
> TLAKEALEL
> Kalpulli De Koacalco
> Koacalco, Mexico
>
> http://www.twoelkenterprise.com/EducServIntro.htm
>
> --- On *Tue, 5/4/10, Rolland Nadjiwon <mikinakn at SHAW.CA>* wrote:
>
>
> From: Rolland Nadjiwon <mikinakn at SHAW.CA>
> Subject: [ILAT] US Seventh Cavalry air division attempt landing on Wounded
> Knee Sacred Burial grounds
> To: ILAT at LISTSERV.ARIZONA.EDU
> Date: Tuesday, May 4, 2010, 10:14 PM
>
>
>  Indigenous Crisis - US 7th Cavalry Continues to Insult the People of
> Indian Country and the Lakota Territories<http://indigenist.blogspot.com/2010/05/indigenous-crisis-us-7th-cavalry.html>
> Press Release
> Aboriginal News Group Press Statement
> 05.01.2010
>
> “The Pioneer has before declared that our only safety depends upon the
> total extermination of the Indians. Having wronged them for centuries, we
> had better, in order to protect our civilization, follow it up by one more
> wrong and wipe these untamed and untameable creatures from the face of the
> earth. In this lies future safety for our settlers and the soldiers who are
> under incompetent commands. Otherwise, we may expect future years to be as
> full of trouble with the redskins as those have been in the past.”
>
> - L. Frank Baum
>
> To the Original Peoples of the Fourth World and all International Press
> Services:
>
> At high noon today US Army helicopters of the US Seventh Cavalry air
> division attempted to land their Blackhawk aircraft upon Lakota Sacred
> Burial grounds in South Dakota. The presence of military aircraft from this
> unit is a sad and insulting reminder of the slaughter of more than 300
> American Aboriginals on December 29,1890 when soldiers of the US 7th Cavalry
> gunned down more than 300 Aboriginal Minneconjou Lakota refugee children,
> women, infants and the elderly at what is now called Wounded Knee in South
> Dakota Indian Country. The military then left the bodies of their victims to
> decay unburied in the driving snow.
>
> According to reports from Indigenous Rights Movement Radio host Wanblee
> this afternoon, Lakota resident Theresa TwoBulls was given less than 24 hrs
> notice that three US Army 7th Cavalry helicopters would make a landing on
> the sacred burial grounds at Wounded Knee. As of this writing, the US
> military was confronted by angry but peaceful and steadfast community
> resistance as the Aboriginal people of the area have so far, according to
> reports from Lakota people on the ground, managed to prevent the aircraft
> from touching Indigenous ground.
>
> For all American Aboriginals of the Americas, this is a sacred area. This
> is the place where the promise of a people died while fleeing from a
> genocidal US military unit hell-bent on liquidating the continent of its
> Indigenous population. There has never been any official apology offered for
> this massacre and the military awards bestowed upon the genocidal aggressors
> involved in this conflict still stand, as does a physical monument in honour
> of the US Army killed during Custer’s “last stand” against a defiant and
> united Indigenous resistance to their own demise.
>
> The history of the US Army 7th Cavalry is important to understanding the
> level of violence used against Indigenous peoples. It is important to
> remember that after the US Seventh Cavalry officially ended the "Indian
> Wars" at home, they were then dispatched to do battle against Indigenous
> Filipinos struggling to maintain their hard-won national independence from
> the colonialist Spanish. In other words, the US War Department sent this
> very same unit to do overseas what was done here to the Indigenous peoples
> of the Americas. In this historical light, it is only logical for Indigenous
> peoples to assume that the Obama administration is attempting to make a
> political point out of this spectacle. Only, what sort of message are you
> sending by insulting and humiliating a people already suffering from five
> centuries of continuous pro-Europocentric, anti-Indigenous genocide?
>
> This domestic military action is a deliberate insult and an obvious message
> of ongoing colonialism, state-sponsored racism and apathetic Indigenous
> genocide to all Indigenous peoples across the Fourth World; to the whole of
> the Lakota/Dakota Nation; and to the Indigenous residents of Pine Ridge and
> Wounded Knee. The symbolism of dispatching the Seventh Cavalry to Wounded
> Knee in an attempt to land weapons of mass destruction on Aboriginal sacred
> ground tells us how little this government, and this particular
> administration, respects the people of Indian Country and our significant
> historical perspective as survivors of the racist Euro-settler xenophobic
> purges waged against the Indian in the Americas.
>
> To make matters worse, this action comes on the heels of newly-passed
> legislation in Arizona state that requires law officers to racially-profile
> anyone they believe “looks”, “sounds” or “dresses” like an illegal
> immigrant, a thinly veiled “race law” that directly effects both our
> Indigenous sisters and brothers native to Occupied Mexico as well as the
> Native American population of Arizona in the United States. Given that most
> Indigenous peoples of the Americas share the same general physiotype and
> more often than not, similar Spanish last names, the passage of this
> guideline will without a doubt lead to widespread abuses against that
> state’s brown-skinned population. The legal door now opened, Texas and other
> states led by neo-confederate constituencies are moving to pass their own
> anti-immigrant/anti-Indigenous directives that will broadly effect anyone
> and everyone who could be perceived by the colonial European majority as a
> “foreign invader”.
>
> The Obama administration has shown America and the world that they are no
> different than any other previous US government in their view that the
> American Indian on both sides of the US border is nothing more than a prop
> or a tool to be displayed only when it is useful to promote the
> “contemporary” 21st century neo-colonialist capitalist agenda. The Obama
> administration, an office headed by a man of African descent, has shamed
> itself and all those who have supported his candidacy in arrogantly
> dismissing the memory of our people interred at Wounded Knee by rubbing the
> military might of the historically anti-Indigenous 7th Cavalry in our faces
> by forcibly entering Indian Country in an attempt to land their machines of
> war on top of the bodies of our ancestral dead.
>
> Clearly, the culture war against the American Indian is not over. Welcome
> to the new American century.
>
>
>  The Aboriginal News Group
> --
> The Aboriginal News Group is an international association of Indigenist
> blog-journalists working to provide accurate under-reported Indigenous news
> items to the people of the Fourth World and others with a concern for human
> justice and Aboriginal political issues.
>
> --
> -------
> wahjeh
> rolland nadjiwon
> ______________________________________________
>
> Light travels faster than sound.
> That’s why some people appear bright until you hear them speak.
> ______________________________________________
>
>
>
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