On December 29th, 1890, evil existed in its most pure form as blood from innocent men, women, and children - all unarmed - were executed en-masse by the United State's Government via the US Army's 7th Cavalry at Wounded Knee. The US Army has the incident on record as "The Battle at Wounded Knee", but history has correctly recognized this as a massacre... a massacre in a long line of genocidal policy towards indigenous tribes and peoples of the American Continent.
For those of you who do not know about the Sioux wars, or the massacre at Wounded Knee, here is a short lesson:
In watching this version of the story, my heart sank as it often does during the retelling of the story... but my soul was crushed at 8:30 into the clip - the story of the old woman and the thirsty child... tears burst out of my eyes instantly as I pictured my little girl, and her simple thought that drinking would make the burning in her throat go away... so innocent.
These stories should be taught to all Americans... even the children... and with tears in their eyes they will ask you, as the adults - "why?"
It will be up to you to say, "because good men did nothing"
The west was won by evil, greed, murder, and genocide. There was no God-sent manifest destiny... We lied to ourselves, claiming that we were doing the work of God when we were doing nothing but conducting evil on a scale that would make Mao Zedong, Lenin, or Hitler blush. The west was not won - it was conquered by genocide.
Genocide is the deliberate and systematic destruction, in whole or in part, of an ethnic, racial, religious, or national group.
Genocide is the single most wretched act of evil that humanity can embrace... and it is most important for us to talk about it... to ensure that it never happens again.
More importantly, the events at Wounded Knee Massacre led to the awarding of 20 Medals of Honor to US Army servicemen and scouts. It should be our struggle to force Congress to rescind the awarding of these 20 medals to accompany the already stated "regret" over the incident. Congress and the President should then disband the Bureau of Indian Affairs, and grant full autonomy to tribes over the lands established in treaties such as those at Fort Laramie - which under direction of the US Constitution, article 6, are supreme law of the land.
The time is at hand to make retribution for the wrongs our forefathers brought upon this land. It is time to make amends, to heal the hole in our collective hearts which has been left unhealed over the years, especially since acts like those at Wounded Knee. Our hearts have grown hard, stony, and evil. The hardest thing and the right thing are usually the same... so let us take the hardest thing in this nation to task - recognize in a meaningful way the errs of our past and right the wrongs in our lifetime.
The ghost dance can still be heard in the heart of the Sioux... listen carefully... what is beating in your heart?
Read every word, and you're absolutely right of course. My only worry in all this, however, this rescinding of medals, is that it'd give our Dear Leader the opportunity to truly dip his hands into our history and begin righting all kinds of imagined wrongs. I simply do not trust this government (both in Congress and in the WH) with our history. Yes, absolutely, rescind the medals, they weren't deserved...I'm just saying I'm worried about the emergence of some sudden new initiative to cutting through history fixing things from a radical's perspective. Because I'll tell you where it will eventually wind up, as sure as water rolls downhill: reparations for slavery, which our Dear Leader said with his own mouth "don't go far enough". Reparations being one example, I'm sure he can provide us with many, many more.
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