05 Wounded Knee

Summary

Wounded Knee is a profound exploration of Native American history and a pivotal moment in the American Indian Movement's history. The video details the struggles faced by Native Americans, from the brutal past of ethnic cleansing and forced assimilation to the powerful stand made during the 1973 occupation of Wounded Knee. This event marked a significant turning point, bringing national attention to the injustices faced by Native peoples and sparking a resurgence in Native pride and activism. The narrative interweaves the personal, political, and cultural dimensions of the struggle, highlighting the enduring spirit of the Native American communities.

Highlights

• The video covers the 71-day standoff at Wounded Knee in 1973. 🪶
• Wounded Knee was a pivotal event for the American Indian Movement, which aimed to address poverty and injustice on reservations. 🚩
• After the occupation, Native activism and cultural revival gained momentum across America. 🔥

Key Takeaways

• The struggle for Native American rights has been ongoing for centuries, culminating in the 1973 Wounded Knee occupation. 💪
• Wounded Knee represented a critical moment of resistance and visibility for Native Americans. 📣
• Despite government suppression, the event inspired a revival of Native identity and activism. 🌟

Overview

The Wounded Knee episode marks a historical moment when Native Americans rallied together to fight for their rights and dignity. The narrative is built upon centuries of oppression and survival, showcasing a testament to Native resilience and resistance against cultural obliteration. The occupation brought attention to a wide audience, highlighting Native American struggles through the lens of personal and political battles.

In 1973, approximately 200 Indians, including members of the American Indian Movement (AIM), took control of Wounded Knee in response to the systematic injustices faced by Native communities. This act of defiance against federal authority was a symbolic gesture that resonated deeply across the nation. As the standoff unfolded, it drew wide media coverage, turning a spotlight on issues that had been ignored for too long.

The aftermath of Wounded Knee fostered a sense of empowerment among Native Americans, subsequently leading to increased activism and cultural renewal. Tribal schools, cultural institutions, and native languages began to flourish, while the American Indian Movement's efforts continued, albeit under constant political pressure. The occupation's legacy endures, underlining the perpetual fight for Native rights and existence.

Chapters

• 00:00 - 00:30: Introduction The chapter titled 'Introduction' begins with a musical note, setting the stage for a story that is central to the American experience. The chapter likely provides a thematic overview of what the narrative will explore, possibly introducing key themes or events that are crucial to understanding the broader context of the story that will unfold. This introductory chapter serves to capture the reader's or listener's attention, hinting at the deeper narrative about America that will be revealed in subsequent chapters.
• 00:30 - 01:00: American Experience Overview The chapter titled 'American Experience Overview' explores the rich and surprising history of America that often goes untold. It spans a narrative covering 300 years across a vast continent. The key message emphasizes the importance of power as a significant aspect of personal achievement and experience.
• 01:00 - 01:30: Historical Struggles and Ethnic Cleansing This chapter delves into the historical challenges and ethnic cleansing faced by various tribes. It emphasizes themes of hope, courage, and survival in the face of cultural obliteration. The narrative reflects on the impending threat to the spiritual and traditional lifestyles of these communities, marking a period of extreme horror experienced by every tribe.
• 01:30 - 02:00: Spiritual and Cultural Survival The chapter titled 'Spiritual and Cultural Survival' delves into the historical struggles faced by Southeastern Indian tribes when faced with European colonizers. It describes this period as a form of 'ethnic cleansing' where indigenous people were forced to defend their existence and cultural identity. The narrative reflects on the resilience and the various methods employed by these tribes to resist and ensure their survival against colonization threats.
• 02:30 - 03:00: Funding Acknowledgements The chapter titled 'Funding Acknowledgements' seems to delve into a historical perspective of America viewed through the lens of Native Americans. It emphasizes a narrative that is described as remarkable and inspiring, suggesting the significant contributions and experiences of native populations. The mention of 'the master of life' appointing a place to 'light our fires' suggests a theme of destiny or divine purpose, possibly reflecting the enduring legacy and cultural importance of Native American history and traditions.
• 03:30 - 04:00: Caravan to Wounded Knee The chapter titled 'Caravan to Wounded Knee' seems to be part of a historical documentary or series called 'American Experience.' It discusses the journey or metaphorical caravan leading to the events at Wounded Knee, possibly touching on themes of Native American history, struggles, and resistance. Funding acknowledgments are mentioned, indicating corporate and foundation sponsorship, but details about the content or specific narrative about Wounded Knee are not provided in the partial transcript.
• 04:00 - 05:30: Siege of Wounded Knee The chapter opens with an acknowledgment of various sponsors and supporters, including the National Endowment for the Humanities, the Ford Foundation, the Arthur Vining Davis Foundations, Copa Foundation, and the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. It also recognizes the contributions of individual viewers. This setup establishes the framework and support behind the production or event being discussed.
• 08:30 - 10:00: Rise of the American Indian Movement On a cold night in February 1973, a caravan consisting of 200 Indian men and women, including local Oglala Lakota and members of the American Indian Movement (AIM), traveled to the Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota. They were headed toward Wounded Knee, a site of significant historical and cultural importance as the location of the last massacre of the Indian Wars.
• 20:00 - 24:00: Boarding School Trauma The chapter titled 'Boarding School Trauma' captures the intense emotions and fears of a group of individuals headed to Wounded Knee at night. The ominous setting, highlighted by a full moon, foreshadows an impending battle. The narrator reflects on the gravity of the situation, contemplating the possibility of facing death and feeling a deep sense of responsibility for the young men around. There is a resolute determination to fight for change, regardless of the personal cost.
• 25:00 - 28:00: Government Ultimatum and Spiritual Preparations The chapter titled 'Government Ultimatum and Spiritual Preparations' highlights the inner conflict of a parent choosing to take a stand for their children's future in the face of perceived threats. It suggests the presence of a caravan carrying weapons, hinting at possible violence or unrest.
• 31:00 - 32:00: Declaration of Independence of Oglala Nation The chapter titled 'Declaration of Independence of Oglala Nation' focuses on a pivotal moment at Wounded Knee, where the Oglala Nation faced the threat of cultural and spiritual annihilation. This confrontation marked a crucial period of resistance against federal forces, symbolizing a rebirth of dignity and self-pride among the Indian protesters. For 71 days, these protesters stood firm, defending their way of life against obliteration. The event garnered significant media attention as the conflict unfolded.
• 48:00 - 51:00: Life in the Independent Oglala Nation The chapter titled 'Life in the Independent Oglala Nation' discusses the day-by-day coverage of the siege by global media and the influx of Native Americans from across the country to Wounded Knee. They aspired for a new beginning, with the hope that their collective efforts would challenge the government, marking an era akin to the days of historic Native American leaders.
• 60:00 - 75:00: Casualties and Hardships A group of American Indians has taken control of the town of Wounded Knee in South Dakota, holding it for almost a day. The FBI confirms that the Indians are currently in charge of the town.
• 81:00 - 85:30: The End of the Siege The chapter titled 'The End of the Siege' describes an incident where individuals, presumably protesters, stripped bare the Wounded Knee Trading Post, which was the only store in the village. After this, they took control of a local church and held the minister along with other white residents. The narrator expresses shock and confusion at witnessing the store being emptied and mentions the unfolding of events with a tone of disbelief.
• 88:00 - 92:00: Aftermath of the Siege and Continuing Struggles The chapter "Aftermath of the Siege and Continuing Struggles" details the immediate response to a hostile takeover of a village by a group referred to as the Caravan. On February 27th, the roads leading into the town were blocked as a preventative measure. The narrator received news of the incident via a phone call from a news outlet, reporting the severe actions of the Caravan, who were taking hostages and causing destruction. In response, the narrator quickly organized a group of agents and headed towards the main entrance of the affected village. The situation on the ground was tense, with the presence of law enforcement or federal vehicles, as implied by the term 'Fed car'.
• 95:00 - 100:00: Revitalization of Native Cultures The chapter focuses on an encounter where individuals arrived by car and were subsequently met by the narrator and their group. As the newcomers began to survey the area, the narrator and their group made their presence known, indicating to the newcomers that they had reached the acceptable boundary. The chapter culminates with the narrator proposing a meeting with the newcomers to foster communication and understanding.
• 100:00 - 103:00: Conclusion and Acknowledgements The chapter titled 'Conclusion and Acknowledgements' unfolds with a tense situation marked by a potential for violence. The narrator recalls approaching a roadblock with numerous rifles directed at them, inducing a sense of unease. The presence of Joseph Trimbach from the FBI is highlighted, noting his irritable demeanor, likely due to being awake all night. The environment is fraught with uncertainty, with armed law enforcement present and hostages at risk, leaving the narrator apprehensive about the unfolding events and the possibility of bloodshed.

05 Wounded Knee Transcription

• 00:00 - 00:30 [Music] it is a story at the heart of America one
• 00:30 - 01:00 richer and more surprising than we've been told American Experience presents a story that spans 300 years and a vast continent the greatest thing a person can have is the power
• 01:00 - 01:30 it's scary it is a story of Hope courage and survival we were about to be obliterated culturally our spiritual way of life our entire way of life was about to be stamped out every tribe in this country has a time of horror absolutely abute horror
• 01:30 - 02:00 when they were confronted by this Invader what we did to the Southeastern Indians it's it's ethnic cleansing it was done to them so they did it back but bitter whatever means and manner we could since the Europeans arrived here we've had to fight for our survival
• 02:00 - 02:30 an epic history of [Music] America seen through native eyes too remarkable too inspiring to ever forget the master of life has appointed this place for us to light our fires
• 02:30 - 03:00 and here we shall [Music] remain exclusive corporate funding for American Experience provided by Liberty Mutual major funding provided by the Alfred PE loan Foundation funding for for we shall remain provided by the
• 03:00 - 03:30 National Endowment for the Humanities the Ford Foundation the Arthur Vining Davis foundations Copa foundation and by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting and viewers like you thank you [Music]
• 03:30 - 04:00 on a cold night in February 1973 a caravan rolled through the Pine Ridge reservation in South Dakota the cars were packed with 200 Indians men and women local ogala Lakota and members of the urban militant group the American Indian movement they headed toward the Hallowed Ground of Wounded Knee the site of the last Massacre of the Indian Wars
• 04:00 - 04:30 going into Wounded Knee that night when it was dark and and scary and we were clinging to our weapons tightly it was a full moon and we knew that a battle was going to come I was sitting there thinking of some of these young men that are around me am I committing them to to die I was ready to do whatever it takes for change I didn't care
• 04:30 - 05:00 I had children and for them I figured I could make a stand here they were up to no good I mean why would they be traveling in a caravan with all these weapons and all these Molotov cocktails if they weren't going to engage in some kind of destructive activity by the 1970s native people once masters of the continent had become invisible consigned to the margins of American Life their Ang and frustration would
• 05:00 - 05:30 explode in Wounded Knee we were about to be obliterated cultur our our spiritual way of life our entire way of life was about to be Stamped Out and this was a rebirth of our dignity and self pride for the next 71 days Indian protesters at Wounded Knee would hold off the federal government at gunpoint media from around around the
• 05:30 - 06:00 world would give the siege day-by-day coverage and Native Americans from Across the Nation would come to Wounded Knee to be part of what they hoped would be a new beginning the message I went out is that a band of Indians could take on this government to comea had his day gono sitting B crazy yours
• 06:00 - 06:30 and we had ours we have tonight one of the strangest stories to come along in a long time a group of American Indians has taken over the town of Wounded Knee in South Dakota and they have been holding it for nearly a whole day this afternoon the FBI said the Indians are in charge of the town with had just finished eating our
• 06:30 - 07:00 dinner and um so I looked out the window and I said well For Heaven's Sake who open the store and they're caring things out bringing things out by the carload and I was floored just flored after stripping bear the Wounded Knee Trading Post The Village's Only Store the protesters took over a local church holding the minister and other white residents
• 07:00 - 07:30 hostage they quickly blocked all roads leading into town on Tuesday February 27th I received a telephone call from some news Outlet I was told that the Caravan forcibly took over the village were holding hostages and causing destruction there so I immediately got my agents together and I proceeded to the main entrance to wounded kn we saw a Fed car
• 07:30 - 08:00 coming and then it then it was uh it kind of came drove just right up kind of not too far off so when they come on they got out of their car they went looking around and and as soon as they put the glasses up we we opened up on them let them know where we are here and uh that's far enough I called inside wounded the and I said look let's let's get together have a meeting so we can
• 08:00 - 08:30 stop uh the potential for Bloodshed here let's talk about this as I walked up to them I see all these rifles pointed at me and it gives you an uneasy feeling yes Joseph trimbach with the FBI trimbach came to that roadblock and you could tell he' been up all night and he's very irritable here and we have law enforcement back here that's armed and we have hostages here I have no idea what's going to happen next
• 08:30 - 09:00 they came out and gave me this List of Demands the protesters called for a federal investigation of corruption on reservations in South Dakota and immediate Senate hearings on broken treaties with Indian nations the headquarters of the Su people we're angry about losing our land losing our language being uh ripped off of of uh our ability to live as Indian
• 09:00 - 09:30 people our parents was telling us you have to walk the white man Road Indian ways are going to be gone be a Christian you know uh go to school and learn that English but don't learn your own language we wanted to give our lives in such a way that would bring attention to to what was happening in Indian country and we were pretty sure that we were're going to have to give our lives the protesters demanded one change close to home
• 09:30 - 10:00 through a translator the Lota Chief Fool's crow called for the immediate ouer of Dick Wilson the elected head of the tribal government there on Pine Ridge Wilson the Indians sometime threatening them and so forth before the son said we want him out of office and there would be no trouble my initial reaction was this is something Way Beyond my pay grade that someone of
• 10:00 - 10:30 waran is going to have to handle this in the standoff was unfolding on the Pine Ridge reservation home to the ogala Lota not far from where Chiefs like redcloud Sitting Bull and Crazy Horse had once LED their people into battle the Lakota who Americans call the
• 10:30 - 11:00 Sue are iconic in American history and the American imagination these are buffalo Hunters who lived in tepees who were at the battle with with General kuster nearly everything about loota life is firmly implanted in the way that Americans think about Indians by 1973
• 11:00 - 11:30 the loto way of life on the plains was largely in the past the oglalas Su tribal government ran things on Pine Ridge and where traditional Chiefs had once sought consensus elected chairman Dick Wilson ruled with an iron hand he was like a Chicago Ward boss from the 1930s big flower sack of a guy wore dark glasses inside and out was fond of drinking and uh brought all his
• 11:30 - 12:00 friends and family and cronies into office with them effect gave them jobs on the federal payroll on the Pine Ridge reservation as with most reservations the tribal chairman and the council have a great deal of power to spread money around to spread food around or to withhold it or to favor one part of the reservation over another which is what was happening
• 12:00 - 12:30 Wilson favored mixed race assimilated Indians like himself and slided the traditional Sue who spoke their language practiced their religion and remained loyal to the traditional olala Chiefs do you get any help from uh from from the tribal council no Dicky Wilson's the president here he's the worst one I think I mean he's the I don't know he get the most favorite
• 12:30 - 13:00 thing the federal sensus I think every decade through the mid to end of the 20th century show Pine Ridge of aor as jurisdiction in the United States so there's poverty and then there's reservation poverty when traditional olala challenged corruption in tribal government Dick Wilson responded with Force
• 13:00 - 13:30 he had his own Army which intimidated uh the full Bloods mostly the traditional people his goons started beating up the people and no charges were ever pressed and if they did it got thrown out of court he he controlled the whole reservation some of the officers hated to arrest any of Dick's people in spite of the fact that they did break the law
• 13:30 - 14:00 he helped me a number of times so I felt that I owed him a loyalty and um and so I didn't support everything he did but irregardless of what he did I still felt that loyalty well there's been a lot of accusations made here lately and uh one in particular that upsets me is the fact that I am using a goon squad so to speak they are respectable and honest citizens of fine
• 14:00 - 14:30 Ridge we're all Sharpshooters come the goons come let go and get them in late 1972 traditional oglalas came together to push for Wilson's removal they started a Civil Rights Commission aalu Civil Rights Commission and from there they got the documentation of the corruption of the misuse of funds they got the evidence and eventually the Civil Rights they had stack about an inch and a half thick or
• 14:30 - 15:00 of all the testimony and violations civil rights violations nobody ever got charged prompted by the dissident the tribal council held impeachment hearings in February 1973 but Wilson intimidated Witnesses strong armed council members and managed to survive many oglalas felt they had one last desperate option
• 15:00 - 15:30 we've always been uh peaceful and um pretty much mind our own business and making our living and raising our family law abiding well I believe that the time has come that we have to commit violence in order to be heard I don't want to see anybody killed or anything but the time is going to come when violence might have to be committed in in order to wake the people
• 15:30 - 16:00 [Music] up by the second day of The Siege the spectacle of armed Indians holding a town and 11 hostages had put the US government on full alert by this morning the entire area was blocked off by police there were roadblocks as far away as the Nebraska
• 16:00 - 16:30 state line on the far rise is roadblock one we have further roadblocks around the perimeter which encompasses approximately a 15 M area the director said tell trimbach he can have anything he wants which was pretty neat because that was like a blank check so I had agents go up to Rapid City and buy every rifle that they could find in the city because we needed them like right now so they came down and now we at least had rifles for
• 16:30 - 17:00 protection instead of just SOS the military response is overwhelming it involves plans using the US Army to put down this Rebellion clearly there are people within the federal government who see a need to take it to the Limit
• 17:00 - 17:30 I was awaken there was a deep rumbling droning noise and we were looking around and we were surrounded by armored personnel carriers apcs out of a sudden we saw these two fighter jets coming and they circled around and from the south they just came right at us we thought it was over
• 17:30 - 18:00 that's napone Dennis Banks pulled out his pistol and he started firing boom boom boom boom then he were gone you know it was that proverbial uh last Act of defiance you know here's that little mouse and here comes the big huge eagle and the little mouse is standing there like this on the afternoon of the second day South Dakota Senators George McGovern
• 18:00 - 18:30 and James aesque arrived they hoped that if they could resolve the issue of the hostages the crisis had wounded KNE could be ended quickly when they came in it was uh very newsworthy they came in with the news media that's how the networks got in and uh they said we want to see the hostages I thought it was a the agreement I'd had with Russell me was that if we landed at Pine Ridge release the hostages I have
• 18:30 - 19:00 an indication through an intermediary that they will release part of the host and I said well where the hostages were you're supposed to release them you agreed to release them so well they're standing over there so I went over and I said uh you folks we've we've We rescued you you're you can leave now but not anywhere else you wanted to leave the Wounded Knee area could you go they're sitting there on pins and needles asked T we had the people with them and said that they can leave and Mrs Elders slave
• 19:00 - 19:30 The Matriarch we're not hostages we're going to remain here it's your fault that these Indians are here Have you listened to them we're not leaving because you'll kill them if we leave begin once they realized no one was being held hostage the Senators hoped to persuade the protesters to Stand Down by offering to convene hearings on their concerns some sometime in the future
• 19:30 - 20:00 would be removed we knew that a put off a stalling tactic would happen once there was no threat to any other lives other than Indian lives you are going to walk away from here and say after a while do yellow you know and we're not going for DOA anymore we're not going for later anymore Senator I told you over the phone that I've bet and everybody here and down there have bet with their lives a decided that their strategy
• 20:00 - 20:30 would be to confront the government and try to win the public relations battle prior to that time being a Mr Nice Guy didn't really work with the government they didn't give a damn so that's the reason that aim thought this was the way to do it 250 armed us Personnel now surrounded the village of Wounded Knee now it felt good this is why aim was alive this is why we came to be that stand stand up against the FBI and stand
• 20:30 - 21:00 up against the US Marshal stand up against goons you know Tribal Police and inside we've got freedom don't let nobody in since its founding in 1968 the American Indian movement had been divisive its militant tactics controversial even among native people created in Minneapolis by young urban
• 21:00 - 21:30 Indians fed up with police harassment the group had shown a knack for generating publicity members had seized high-profile symbols Plymouth Rock the Mayflower Mount Rushmore and in November 1972 had occupied and vandalized the Washington headquarters of the Bureau of Indian Affairs weeks later in early 1973 aim took its campaign into the reservation border towns of South
• 21:30 - 22:00 Dakota in those days there was a tremendous amount of racism uh especially in the Border towns around the reservations I mean real racism where Indians are practically invisible there was towns you didn't drive through didn't go through especially women you didn't walk down the street of any Border Town by yourself because you'd be accosted by by any white man that felt
• 22:00 - 22:30 like it just weeks before the occupation of Wounded Knee a white man killed an Indian near kuster South Dakota 50 mi from Pine Ridge when local officials charged him with manslaughter not murder 200 angry aim protesters came to town and you charge a white man premeditated murder you charge him with second degree manslaughter and we ain't going for anymore and I know this whole
• 22:30 - 23:00 damn town is an armed camp Hey listen white man I have had all the [ __ ] from your race as I can take when police barred them from entering the courthouse aim members forced their way in open just as we walked in through the door then then we were attacked by uh law enforcement
• 23:00 - 23:30 we were fighting and they come at mebe with the night stick so I blocked it and took it away and started using it on them I know I was right on the steps you know and things were happening we blooded the the guy we took the helmet away we blooded him up then I ran across to help get gas from The Filling Station we're fueling up making moloto cocktails and bus in the bottles on the building and the fire it's just started on the wall and everything
• 23:30 - 24:00 protesters set the courthouse of blades and left kuster in [Music] shambles there was absolutely an element in name that considered itself a revolutionary organization who were comfortable being around guns who absolutely love the idea of aim being Outlaws who just wanted to get it on the confrontation in kuster caught the attention of the aala idents on Pine
• 24:00 - 24:30 Ridge 3 weeks later when their campaign to impeach Dick Wilson fail they asked aim for help calling an name is attractive but it's a role of the dice it's a role of the dice because where aim goes chaos often follows so that when those traditional Chiefs bring in AIM they're doing this in full knowledge that as they go down the road they don't know exactly what's going to happen
• 24:30 - 25:00 the oglalas had exhausted all legal options they believed that to put an end to Wilson's harassment and intimidation they needed what aim could offer aim can bring bodies they can bring people they have the phone numbers of people at TV networks uh who can get on airplanes and bring television cameras out none of the established national Indian organizations can do what
• 25:00 - 25:30 does the American movement's motto was anytime anywhere any place and that was the most important job that we could do is to be where there was Injustice and to confront it at a crowded community meeting dissident oa's five traditional Chiefs and aim Representatives finally arrived at a radical plan together they would seize the town of Wounded
• 25:30 - 26:00 Knee they would force Dick Wilson from office and for the first time in nearly a century draw national attention to Indian concerns nation is at a Crossroads that that can change the course of history for Indian people all across the nation and I would like to ask that the Chiefs listen very closely to what
• 26:00 - 26:30 is being said here there was this hesitation no one could make a decision and uh no one no one would endorse us and then the women started to talk Ellen moves Camp a founder of the olala Sue civil rights organization argued in favor of occupying Wounded Knee this has been going on for a long time before we invited the American Indian movement here because the people
• 26:30 - 27:00 were scared and they are scared of Dick Wilson and all his men I don't see why all these people come from all over I don't see why they they can't take him and throw him out I throw him in jail or something the Way's been terrorizing people here on a reservation and I live in Pine Ridge at that gunpoint but I'm not scared of them anymore she was pushing and she was pushing to to spark something something and and oh it it
• 27:00 - 27:30 did finally fools grow the oldest traditional Chief present spoke go ahead and do it he said take your brothers from the American Indian movement and go to wounded KNE and make your stand [Music] there today a tepee was set up in what is now called the demilitarized zone
• 27:30 - 28:00 both sides are meeting there to negotiate an end to the Takeover but the progress is agonizingly slow there were negotiations going on almost always during the occupation attempts on both sides to reach some sort of agreement government negotiators were uncompromising they rejected demands to uphold treaty rights and insisted that they were powerless to remove Dick
• 28:00 - 28:30 Wilson regardless of the charges against him as he was chairman of a sovereign Indian Nation talk stalled completely when the protesters demanded to deal with the US Secretary of State I understand they went Henry Kissinger out here do you think this is realistic you think he'll come why not you know I I don't see why the North Vietnamese should take president over over the American Indian people you know we've been fighting this war for 400 years and if he can spare the time to go over there he should be
• 28:30 - 29:00 able to spare the time to come here but it would be correct to describe the current situation as an impass if there's such a thing as a as an impass on an impass then that's what we have officials from the Departments of Justice and the interior took the lead in negotiations the attention of the White House was Elsewhere on the unfolding Watergate scandal there's no question that the White House was distracted during this
• 29:00 - 29:30 Wounded Knee Siege although they sent midlevel officials out to run this Siege operation uh they didn't have their mind on it Nixon had his mind on trying to survive the Watergate thing things might have turned out a lot differently had they not been distracted turn that [ __ ] light out within Wounded Knee the days were
• 29:30 - 30:00 relatively calm while the nights exploded with gunfire just uh just take these unarm men and tell turn goddamn light out or I'll shoot the [ __ ] out they were shooting machine gun fire at us tracers coming at us at night time just like a war zone we had some Vietnam Vets with us and they said man this is just like Vietnam there was actually a third Force at Wounded Knee in addition to the Indian
• 30:00 - 30:30 activists inside of wounded KNE and the Federal Marshals and FBI agents surrounding Wounded Knee and that third force was the Goon Squad what is the mood among your people at this time they're very ticked off what are they doing right now shining their guns up as tribal chairman Wilson wielded supreme authority on Pine Ridge he erected his own roadblocks outside the federal perimeter even us officials had to go
• 30:30 - 31:00 through him as far as you're going well I want him to go in I'm well then you'll have to get in cuz I'm taking them in you're who I'm Wayne P the director of US Marshall [Music] service well what do you think you let him in
• 31:00 - 31:30 get these goons were armed and they frequently uh got in between the federal lines and the Wounded Knee perimeter and shot and in both directions with the intent of provoking firefights because they were angry that the government didn't go in and take over Wounded Knee inside the village the protesters had their own military operation led by Indians trained by the government they now took up arms
• 31:30 - 32:00 against there was a lot of people there that were had been in Vietnam and a lot of people had just been in the military some uh older people had come in and they'd actually been in Korea they knew how to give orders they knew how to take orders and they knew how to do things that didn't have to be told twice I knew we were making history for our people it didn't all happen in the 1800s we're still fighting in the modern day I mean that's how I felt that it was
• 32:00 - 32:30 a continuation and I that's why I was not afraid I Was Not [Music] Afraid in the 19th century the Lota fought furiously to defend their territory against Relentless American expansion in 1868 in battled Lakota Chiefs signed the fort laramy treaty to protect more than 30 million Acres of the land but the United States soon reneged
• 32:30 - 33:00 and forced the Lakota onto small desolate [Music] reservations Americans like to think that American Indian history is something in the past I'm one generation removed from the genocide of My Tribe and every tribe in this country has a time of horror I'm in a Time of absolute horror when they were
• 33:00 - 33:30 confronted by this Invader and some it happened almost 500 years ago but as they come across the plains our time of horror came in the late 1800s and we remember it very well in The Frigid winter of 1890 Chief Bigfoot was leading a group of Lakota mainly women and children to shelter on the Pine Ridge reservation on the morning of December 29th they
• 33:30 - 34:00 were attacked by the US Army on the banks of wounded KNE Creek my great grandmother is Katie warbonnet she was a Survivor at Wounded Knee when the shooting broke out she and her sister got Kik sa ran down into the Ravine and made it to some Plum bushes and she could hear the the firing and the fire in and hollering and and
• 34:00 - 34:30 then finally it was quiet more than 300 Lakota people lay dead after remaining untouched in the ice and snow for 3 days they were buried in a mass grave the massacre would Mark the brutal end of centuries of armed Indian resistance
• 34:30 - 35:00 for those who came nearly a hundred years later wounded KN was sacred land I walked over to a gully and I picked up some sage and I I went wash myself and I prayed to those ancestors that were there in that Gully and I said we we're back we have returned my relation
• 35:00 - 35:30 [Music] wee this is where the television Crews await the hour by- hour events in wounded KNE this privileged position is protected by the Indian chiefs clearly the Chiefs are anxious that this rebellion and its out come receive as much publicity as possible it would have
• 35:30 - 36:00 been very simple for the federal forces to go into wounded KNE and take over there would have been some casualties but probably uh the government would have considered them tolerable what made it so interesting was that the Indians existed underneath a protective bubble of publicity and shame because everybody knew that this was the site of the last Massacre of the Indian Wars and the last thing the government government wanted to see was a massacre on the same site
• 36:00 - 36:30 one week into the siege all three television networks had stationed reporters in Wounded Knee polls estimated that more than 90% of Americans were following the crisis on the Nightly News if they came and killed all of us it would be recorded and it would be seen by the world you where the 1890 Massacre wasn't and if they didn't if they decided you know that that media was there so they don't want to murder
• 36:30 - 37:00 all of us well then the media is there to tell our side of the story they wanted this stoic you know American Indian man with a gun America's picture of the Indian we didn't care as long as the word was getting out I puton
• 37:00 - 37:30 there was a lot of folks here a lot of Foreign Press were here and they made it out to be kind of a cowboy Indian Adventure you know more people wanted confrontation that seemed to attract the viewers you guys get up so tight to start panicking you get down on the Press yeah we want him to film this [ __ ] d I'll heard him fire first with that auto open up with automatic
• 37:30 - 38:00 weapons we got to get that filmed we got 22s in our hand against apcs so don't be jumping on the frice department the news out of South Dakota held Indians around the country Spellbound some were ashamed by am's armed display of defiance but many were inspired but critical problems remain to be worked out before I left school and me and another guy left and we drove in his car from uh we were in central
• 38:00 - 38:30 California we drove up to Oakland and from Oakland we drove back to South Dakota up until 73 when it started I was never involved in anything politically doing with uh either Native Americans or any any other organization I just felt like I should go up there and I did you all are not aasu I chip you chip you from Minnesota what about you sir
• 38:30 - 39:00 where are you from wo Wisconsin Cheyenne Oklahoma and you're not necessarily all members of aim huh we didn't say that oh are you members of a let we didn't say that either we're here to support our Indian people that are this generation of Indians in the late 60s early' 7s who for the most part they've been to boarding school or their parents have been to boarding school which was explicitly about getting
• 39:00 - 39:30 Indians off the reservations to not be Indian to not speak their language for those Indian people it was this moment in which you could see on television there was another way there was another possibility it was electrifying [Music]
• 39:30 - 40:00 [Music] there is one dark day in the lives of Indian children the day when they are forcibly taken away from those who love and care for them from those who speak their language they are dragged some screaming and weeping others in silent Terror to a boarding school where they are to be remade into white
• 40:00 - 40:30 kids by the late 19th century the Indian wars were over the United States seized on a ruthless strategy to assimilate native children to a subordinate place in white dominated Society government run boarding schools I was 5 years old my mother was crying and they were taking us off and and my sister Audrey uh who who also you
• 40:30 - 41:00 know was was uh like a second mother to me and a very close friend as as a sister and my brother Mark they were they were very sad within 2 hours or so after the buses filled up and we're down the road this is the furthest i' ever been from my home in my life and then of course turns into evening and we arrive at this
• 41:00 - 41:30 [Music] place I ended up in a place where nothing nothing nothing made any sense at all you know it wasn't home it wasn't uh I didn't know anything about school nobody ever told me anything about school I didn't know what the education was I remember that I wanted to go home period I didn't want to be that just
• 41:30 - 42:00 wanted to go home and we all had to strip down naked and then they put the DDT on us uh they Lin us up they're cutting our hair you have long hair you have braids and then that gets cut off and I would say within a matter of hour and a half half were standing there all looking
• 42:00 - 42:30 [Music] alike between the 1870s and the 1960s over 100,000 Indian children were sent to one of the nearly 500 boarding schools scattered across the United [Music] States through the agencies of the government they are being rapidly brought from their state of comparison savagery and barbarism to one of
• 42:30 - 43:00 [Music] civilization we couldn't sing any any any native songs or tribal songs they just started using English you could only you could not use any other language and we'd whispered pastor pqu pqu got pass the bread over it's like I had to be two people I
• 43:00 - 43:30 had to be now coming I had to be Dennis Banks now coming is my real name my my uh OJ name Dennis Banks had to be very protective of of now coming and so I learned who the presidents were and I learned um the math I learned the social studies I learned the English and uh now cing was still
• 43:30 - 44:00 there this is education that was promised us that was guaranteed us through the treaties but it wasn't it's torture brainwashing they called us many different names so of each [Music]
• 44:00 - 44:30 dumb got to beat for looking like an Indian smelling like an Indian even speaking [Music] Indian everything I did their de indianization
• 44:30 - 45:00 program it failed but it the the toll was was devastating it destroyed our family it destroyed that relationship we had with our with our mother I I could never regain that friendship lovehip relationship that I had with my mother I it wasn't there anymore and that's what to this day I keep thinking that you know damn this
• 45:00 - 45:30 government what it did to me and what it did to thousands of other children across this country [Music] [Music]
• 45:30 - 46:00 if the leaders at Wounded Knee are bent on violence that is their concern but I call upon them now to send the women and the children both resident and non-resident out of Wounded Knee before Darkness Falls tomorrow the United States government sent an ultimatum to the people in Wounded Knee that if they didn't leave on a certain day that they were coming in they would remove Us by force we are going to reject any kind of conditions
• 46:00 - 46:30 that pushes us out of the Wounded Knee area until all of the issues of the oala Su are met I told Den just burn it not that time we all started making preparations for making that last we smudged everybody as they came up and painted when you go off to war in battle then they'll and the paint will signify that you went there with
• 46:30 - 47:00 the with with the with the blessings of the pipe and that you'll go to the spirit world with great honor I had this little bitty bag little bitty bag little bitty fringes on it I had one bullet in there and I had a semi-automatic and I only put one bullet in there and somebody said how come one bullet I said I'm going to wait cuz if I'm going I'm going to take somebody with
• 47:00 - 47:30 me where your the government just backed on on on that 6:00 thing beautiful two days after issuing the ultimatum us officials shifted tactics hoping the occupation would simply Peter out they removed roadblocks around Wounded Knee and persuaded Dick Wilson to remove his Federal officials would keep the
• 47:30 - 48:00 inflammatory tribal chairman on the sidelines for the rest of the [Music] occupation but when the roadblocks were lifted new protesters and fresh supplies flooded in on March 11th revitalized occupation leaders made a startling announcement the leadership of the oala here present in wounded need have declared wounded KN an independent
• 48:00 - 48:30 country from here further if any spy from the United States of America is found within our borders they will be dealt with as any spy in a time of war and be shot before a firing squad The Battered Hamlet of Wounded Knee was now the independent ogala nation while us officials hurriedly put roadblocks back in place the new nation
• 48:30 - 49:00 asserted its sovereignty a delegation led by Chief FSC traveled to the United Nations to put the oglalas case before the world they arrived almost an hour late they said taxi cab drivers just wouldn't stop to pick them up wearing a medal given to the tribe by the United States Government after the signing of the Treaty of 1868 78-year-old Chief Fool's Crow through an interpreter explained why the group came to New
• 49:00 - 49:30 York it is our last effort in this trouble I think we have exhausted all other means of a settlement of the trouble the trouble we have at wooden KNE the delegation failed to get official recognition at the UN and returned to wounded there inside the borders of the independent olala nation the Chiefs and
• 49:30 - 50:00 medicine men introduced Lakota culture to the protesters many of whom had come from cities and were disconnected from Indian traditions one of the first things that we did when we got in the W is we built a purification Lodge a NE sweat lodge we all were required everybody was required to to go in there and purify themselves and to pray and ask the Creator for help
• 50:00 - 50:30 everything that we did uh was preceded by prayer and Gathering smoking of the of the Sacred pipe and tobacco operates everything the Indian movement was different than other political movements of the time because it defined itself as a spiritual
• 50:30 - 51:00 [Music] movement their trajectory in a way mirrors what a lot of the IM world was about which was trying to connect with traditional knowledge culture religion one of the things things that aim tried to do was to return indianness
• 51:00 - 51:30 to all Indians whether folks lived in the city on reservations whether they spoke the language or didn't speak the language if you were Indian you could return to the [Music] tribe many of the protesters had left reservations behind along with thousands of other Indians as part of the federal government's Indian relocation program
• 51:30 - 52:00 of the 1950s and 60s the government thought one way to solve the Indian problem was to relocate Indians from the reservation to the bigger cities they couldn't kill the Indians anymore that was out of fashion by the 50s uh so they decided to experiment they did a lot of experimenting with Indians relocation program was one such experiment it was exciting relocation
• 52:00 - 52:30 you know you get to go to Big City and they'll help you find a job and uh you'll get to you know see the rest of the country of course you weren't forced to go on relocation but they made it look good streets paved with gold we ended up in Cleveland Ohio over 100,000 Indians were relocated in just 15 years the government promised to help them find schools housing and
• 52:30 - 53:00 employment but for many the promise rang Hollow they put us in a real dumpy motel and I was just sitting there thinking I wonder what's going on at home I could just see the Rolling Hills and the small small town they're all just moving and walking and going real fast and nobody's stopping to look around that's why we
• 53:00 - 53:30 stayed in our apartments or stayed in our rooms if you went and uh applied for a job you better not tell them you're Indian you better tell them you're French or you're some Italian or some other nationality you wouldn't get the [Music] job by the 1970s half of all Indians lived in cities but the relocation program produced an unanticipated
• 53:30 - 54:00 [Music] result it pulled us all closer together we could always spot each other in the city so if we'd see an Indian on the street walking down Market Street we'd look at each other and we'd just smile and kind of shake our head or you know an acknowledgement of each other we didn't care what what tribe anyone was we were Indian people we were
• 54:00 - 54:30 a race the new pan Indian identity led to the growth of activist groups around the country the American Indian movement was the most radical there were a lot of native people that were afraid to stand up Dro demonstrated man Crazy Horse demonstrated and for us the baby boom generation circumstances were right we could raise our
• 54:30 - 55:00 voice over the course of The Siege government forces would pound the village with more than 500,000 rounds of ammunition it was inevitable that there would be casualties where's that apparently has a wounded
• 55:00 - 55:30 party bug me that much I really don't mind getting shot we are willing to sacrifice our lives for our children so they will not have to grow up in the society we grow up in today Milo and M got hit uh we knew that no one was no one was going going to go through this completely unscathed
• 55:30 - 56:00 there was somebody that was going to get it [Music] again with the White House increasingly preoccupied with Watergate the government had allowed the occupation of Wounded Knee to drag
• 56:00 - 56:30 on but at the end of March the justice department sent a new negotiator who changed tactics shortly after I arrived the lifestyle was somewhat changed of the occupants of Wounded Knee uh the electricity was cut off the water line was cut then friselle cut off the protesters
• 56:30 - 57:00 most vital Lifeline he ordered reporters to leave town y'all get back in cars okay just get back in cars we get the word don't touch my hand either just get back in the car we get to word I frankly think the barring of uh the news media has had an effect effect on negotiations a positive effect from the
• 57:00 - 57:30 government's point of view because all of a sudden those in Wounded Knee weren't seeing themselves uh on top of a pony waving an AK-47 at the American Personnel on the ground just when The Siege was officially kicked off the airwaves it got renewed publicity from an unlikely Source Hollywood that he very regretfully cannot accept
• 57:30 - 58:00 this very generous award Marlin brandoo refused his Oscar for best actor in The Godfather in protest of the negative portrayal of Indians in the movies excuse me Brando sent an Apache actress named sashen Little Feather to represent him at the award ceremony watched by millions later backstage she explained Brando's absence I have indicated in this statement that Marlon
• 58:00 - 58:30 Brando was on his way to wounded KNE at that time you will have to take me for his word Brando never made it to Wounded Knee but a poll taken 4 days after the Oscars showed his sympathies were widely shared most Americans sided with the protesters within a week the two sides reached a deal the sagee of w Wounded Knee South Dakota ended today representatives of the Indians and US Interior Department
• 58:30 - 59:00 officials formally signed the pack this afternoon inside the embattled village government officials promised to investigate corruption on Pine Ridge and to immediately convene a white house meeting and Congressional hearings on treaty rights for their part the protesters agreed to lay down their arms [Music] you know the first thing Indians do is break out a drum you know so they
• 59:00 - 59:30 started banging a drum and singing and victory songs and and everybody was hooping and cheering and that was a time when we really thought we won and not only that we thought that uh we had survived I talked to Chief fools scrow an elder and a full blood I offered him a ride on my helicopter if he could get this young Indian lad to let me ride his Pony he thought it was a wonderful
• 59:30 - 60:00 gesture and I did the same as I galloped off uh on that pony bearback Chief bad cob Medicine Man Leonard prog and Russell Means rushed to Washington for a meeting at the White House but the deal quickly collapsed over the critical detail of what was to happen first the White House meeting or the disarming of the [Music]
• 60:00 - 60:30 protesters the White House will not negotiate while guns are pointed at Federal officials in Wounded Knee that is our position I believe it offers the only hope for a peaceful solution and I for one am prepared to stand by the agreement until hell freeze is over can we give up our arms hello that is so stupid it's beyond Bel that they would even they would even say that to the Press what these stupid Indians are going to go to negotiate
• 60:30 - 61:00 after they lay down their arms what nobody does that in the entire world in history after the agreement unraveled Russell Means was arrested he would spend the rest of the occupation in jail fun and games so far as I'm concerned are over a United States Marshall has been seriously
• 61:00 - 61:30 wounded many of the some 300 persons in Wounded Knee are sick with bad colds doctors here report at least 15 persons have pneumonia the garbage is piling up the food is running short one meal a day is now the rule and that's not much of a meal one time one of the guys came in and he had a sack and shoulders and it was I don't know maybe a 50 lb bag of
• 61:30 - 62:00 what they fed calves so we just that's what we ate we made pancakes out of it and whatever we just treated like flour we had been rationing ourselves to one meal a day one full meal a day we are cutting that effective today to 1/2 meal a day at the time I was minding my own
• 62:00 - 62:30 business in Boston following the wounded KNE story in the news like everybody else one day uh somebody walked into my office that I knew um within the Boston anti-war movement they had heard that I was a pilot and they needed somebody to go in there who could fly over the federal blockade and bring them some food if there's any plane comes by here today we don't want anybody taking any pot pot shots at them things because it's going
• 62:30 - 63:00 to be making a food drop to us today we operated out of Rapid City South Dakota 3:00 in the morning we were over Wounded Knee about 40 seconds made the drop and we were gone and 2,000 lb of food landed in the village at first we thought we were being attacked we thought it were they were gassing us you know because what it was was the flower exploding and creating uh a big cloud
• 63:00 - 63:30 you know but then all of a sudden you know we say oh this is food you know so we're all out there Gathering the food and the FBI opens up on us the night before a man named Frank Clearwater and his pregnant wife had arrived in the village clearw said they had hitchhiked all the way from North Carolina when he came in he had his own gun he had a kind of a big long barrel shotgun
• 63:30 - 64:00 and looked like he came out of the hills too you know she said he was Cherokee you know yeah he look like one of those mountain men they had ready-made cigarettes which was a very big deal because uh we were all smoking in those days and uh and we were smoking Cherry Bark and things from uh from from the ground and here was a ready-made cigarette and so I remember Frank Clearwater lit it up and we passed it around in a in a circle like a form of [Applause] communion when bullets began to fly on
• 64:00 - 64:30 the day of the food drop Frank Clearwater took Refuge with other protesters in a church as they hugged the floor in an effort to stay out of Harm's Way a bullet tore through the plaster board wall and struck clear water in the head he had been in Wounded Knee for less than 24 hours a brother named Strawberry had his head his hand on the
• 64:30 - 65:00 back of his head and he's holding his skull and I put my hand on his skull try to hold his brains here and we took him took him in the clinic and they couldn't save [Music]
• 65:00 - 65:30 him the first death intensified the government's determination to bring the siege to an end in mid April a unit was put on alert at an army base in Colorado according to plans leaked to the press the government was prepared to move into Wounded Knee with armored helicopters and tear gas the White House the Department of
• 65:30 - 66:00 Justice were concerned with the confrontation going on all during the month of May into the summer the college campuses I was told would be emptying out and all the Adventure Seekers would be infiltrating Wounded Knee I was given a 10-day deadline
• 66:00 - 66:30 officials were destabilizing the occupation using covert tactics I have some information I think that you'll be interested in and it's based on a source that we have utilized in the past and has furnished us information in the past within Wounded Knee now very frankly I cannot identify him for obvious purposes there were almost surely spies within wounded need the US government had infiltrated
• 66:30 - 67:00 American India movement like it had infiltrated every political organization in the US during that time aim knew that they had spies in their midst and that was part of the FBI's game not just to have the spies to get information on what aim was doing but to get AIM guessing as to who those spies were to get them paranoid and pointing fingers at one another what is that what did you point at
• 67:00 - 67:30 me one effect of that paranoia inside wounded KN is that there are purported cases of people who disappeared and who were thought to have been killed mainly because people didn't know who they were and who assumed that they were
• 67:30 - 68:00 spies I got daily reports I got in former reports this information came to me through uh the tribal government and through the FBI on April 26th wounded KNE sustained the heaviest barrage of gunfire since the start of the siege when the shooting subsided buddy Lamont a 31-year-old olala from Pine Ridge came out to
• 68:00 - 68:30 investigate Lamont was a Vietnam veteran who'd been in Wounded Knee since the beginning everybody started getting up and and going back to about the RO normal routines and Buddy came got up and walked over to the trenches where we were at a sniper at at a good thousand yards hit him squarely in the heart and he wasn't even aiming the gun he had his back turned you know and his his his uh
• 68:30 - 69:00 weapon was on his shoulder you know to me that that was murder negotiators agreed to a ceas fire so that Lamont's family could bury him at Wounded Knee on May 6th buddy Lamont was laid to rest next to the victims of the 1890 Massacre they asked me if I would say a prayer for him which I did it
• 69:00 - 69:30 said 2,000 people came and one remained buddy Lamont's Death Becomes really the the final blow to a lot of people inside Wounded Knee especially the oglalas from Pine Ridge he was somebody that everybody knew
• 69:30 - 70:00 everybody knew his mom and he was there for all the right reasons fighting for something that he cared about and for Buddy Lamont to die was more of a tragedy than most people could bear Fool's Crow and the other olala leaders had had enough despite am's objections they insisted on bringing the occupation to
• 70:00 - 70:30 an end on May 8th 1973 after 71 days the siege of wounded KNE was over in final talks with the government aim leaders agreed to disarm and submit to arrest but many of the protesters were already making other plans we asked the medicine man we said we want a we want to get out of here we don't want to leave no weapons here so he says we'll have a ceremony tonight
• 70:30 - 71:00 and we're going to pray so we prayed all night long we sang This American indan movement song an honor song a memorial song [Music] soon it started getting cloudy the night evening started raining wind rain so
• 71:00 - 71:30 they couldn't shoot the flares lots of people walked out the spirits had a lot to do with it the one that brought us out was a owl and every time he hooted in a direction and then we'd go that way and they did it right under the Marshall's noses [Music]
• 71:30 - 72:00 as the protesters fled wounded KNE a triumphant Dick Wilson toured the remains of the town are surprised what you're saying I expected this why they're hoodlums clowns this is the way they live Not only was Dick Wilson still firmly in charge he would exact revenge on his opponent as the federal government looked the other way the don't like what happened and if
• 72:00 - 72:30 he FBI don't get him the ugala will we have our own way of punishing people that way shooting on the reservation you said it we'll take care of them after wounded me was a period of time that the dissident called the reign of terror it was a time when Dick Wilson truly Unleashed his forces on the folks who had supported wounded KN in the three years following The
• 72:30 - 73:00 Siege two FBI agents and more than 60 aim supporters were killed giving Pine Ridge the highest per capita murder rate in the country as the reservation spiraled into violence the government went after aim in the courts one thing that wounded KN gave the federal government an excuse to do was to try to litigate the American Indian movement out of existence you and your bunch of hoodlums take over down
• 73:00 - 73:30 there you destroy people's property within months more than 500 indictments were brought against a members most on minor charges that were later dismissed they succeeded in tying up aim in court and aim at this point with all those resources going into court uh lost its way aim fell into disarray and violent infighting and would never again have
• 73:30 - 74:00 the impact it had in 1973 but the hopes inspired by The Siege would echo in the decades to come despite the chaos that followed in its wake Wounded Knee would prove to be a turning point in the history of native people we need to let the rest of the world know what was going on two states over they had no idea about Indian people we were just
• 74:00 - 74:30 invisible we were the ones that kicked the doors open on Indian issue and let the world see the good that came out of Wounded Knee was the entry into American Indian political life of people who had not been there before who had not had a real voice people learned that could tackle problems create opportunities and I think that coming out a wounded knee
• 74:30 - 75:00 people knew they could make a [Music] difference there was a lot of sense of uh we're important and we can do something within our own people our own tribe our own homes I didn't go back to what I was doing before I felt maybe I can do something to help not only my people but other people
• 75:00 - 75:30 too native activism would spur the revitalization of native cultures in the Years following The Siege at Wounded KNE Indians would create tribal schools and cultural institutions charged with preserving Indian traditions and passing them on in the late 60s and early 70s these were still emerging ideas about reconnecting
• 75:30 - 76:00 with traditional culture language religion that was starting to happen but this became the majority sentiment in the space of just a handful of years it was really about identity it was about affirming we're still here we want to be here and we want to be here on our own
• 76:00 - 76:30 terms whatever went on in the 60s and70s it's an extension it's a continuation that's no different than what king philli was about or Crazy Horse was about and whatever means and manner we could since the Europeans arrived here we've had to fight for our survival what the 19 1973 occupation did was people started saying hey we're Indians it's okay to be Indian we are
• 76:30 - 77:00 Indian we really should be who we [Music] are the struggle that we have in the 21st century is to remain ourselves every one of us has to do our part to remain Lakota to remain Indian and to teach our children to teach our grandchildren and make sure that there
• 77:00 - 77:30 will be children sitting in sweat lodge standing at the Sundance in a thousand years [Music]
• 77:30 - 78:00 [Music]
• 78:00 - 78:30 oh
• 78:30 - 79:00 [Music] [Music] exclusive corporate funding for American
• 79:00 - 79:30 Experience provided by Liberty Mutual major funding provided by the Alfred PE loan Foundation funding for we shall remain provided by the National Endowment for the Humanities the Ford Foundation the Arthur Vining Davis foundations Copa foundation and by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting and viewers like you thank you