December 29, 1890 – Wounded Knee Massacre

Today marks 131 years since the Wounded Knee Massacre of 1890. A very sad history of the Lakota.

Dec 31, 2021 – A Facebook user recently commented on my shared post and gave me a link to a list of names honouring the murdered people at Wounded knee: https://www.facebook.com/groups/powwowlife/posts/2141388016023567/ 

Reading the articles and watching the videos, brought me back to when I was a boy watching Little Big Man and the Mystic Warrior on our family TV. In 101 reserve, La Ronge, many of us would sit around watching the movies portraying the Sioux with all kinds of regalia. The teepees and majestic terrain of the wild prairies were very different than what we were used to.

I had seen movies of the Little Big Horn and so I knew about the injustices and unfair practices of the U.S. government. It was not until I attended university classes, that I learned about the Wounded Knee Massacre. Our professor at the time was very angered about the incident. The class was very quiet as we all listened intently to the details of the massacre. We were all horrified at the tale. How could people be treated so terribly?

In 1990, Kevin Costner directed a movie, Dances with Wolves, that captivated the world with its portrayal of a white man assimilating into the Sioux tribe. I enjoyed the movie on VHS, but it kind of bothered me that it took a white man to bring attention to the atrocities that took place so many years ago. The movie is fictional, however,  AMMSA.COM stated that: Natives (were) portrayed honestly and sympathetically (article link below).

Great Sioux reservation in 1888
Great Sioux reservation in 1888

There is an excellent documentary about the massacre. After the discussion of the horrific incident, it goes to the history of Native Americans 1000 years preceding the Wounded Knee Massacre. I would recommend it to everybody and not just Indigenous people.

Episode 1: Wounded Knee Legacy and the Ancestors; 2: Mexico (45:10) 500 Nations

The Truth About the Wounded Knee Massacre – https://indiancountrytoday.com/archive/the-truth-about-the-wounded-knee-massacre 

Wounded Knee Massacre – https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wounded_Knee_Massacre

SOUTH DAKOTA: PINE RIDGE RESERVATION – http://www.nativepartnership.org/site/PageServer?pagename=pwna_native_reservations_pineridge

‘Dances with Wolves’ – Natives portrayed honestly and sympathetically – https://ammsa.com/publications/windspeaker/dances-wolves-natives-portrayed-honestly-and-sympathetically

Old map – https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Great_Sioux_reservation_in_1888.png

Teepee Image by Guy Stefanowich from Pixabay

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