|
|
THE
NATIVE AMERICANS
BACK
| NEXT
Wounded Knee, the symbolic
completion of European invasion, happened near
|
The cavalry searched the camp to make
sure they had seized all the weapons from the Lakota. A shot was
fired – each side would later claim it the other pulled the trigger – and
the cavalry’s massacre was on. Guns, cannons, and swords lay waste
to the disarmed men, pregnant women, and terrified children of the Lakota.
When the roar of bullets quieted, more than 250 Lakota corpses covered
the camp over a two mile radius. That night the snow fell, and the wind
turned cold. The bodies remained frozen in death for four days before
being dumped into mass graves.
The government handed out over two dozen medals of honor for bravery to soldiers at the scene. Congress’ investigation ended with a shrug of the shoulders, at the pen of General E.D. Scott: “There is nothing to conceal or apologize for in the Wounded Knee Battle – beyond the killing of a wounded buck by a hysterical recruit.” History records it as the last battle between
the government and the Native Americans, though the Lakota were deprived
of any change to justify their half of that term. This was mass murder
under truce. By whatever name, Wounded Knee was the final curtain,
the symbolic completion of the European invasion. The Ghost Dance, the
Native Americans’ last gasp of freedom, had been snuffed out by still more
government bullying. It was the most brutal
Two stone markers stand at Pine Ridge today; plans for a full-fledged memorial park are ironically hung up over the fact that the government must take reservation land away from the Lakota Nation in order to establish the park. Over a century after Wounded Knee the government remains awkward as it deals with the Lakota Nation. It would seem, then, that a worthy intercessor would be U.S. President Bill Clinton, whose silk-smooth politicking laughs at awkwardness. |
| It’s the economy, stupid,”
Governor Clinton’s slogan shouted, the centerpiece of his first presidential
campaign. It was an easy selling point, with the economy mired in
an early-decade recession. Seven years later, with the economy roaring,
Clinton would pluck the issue from the shelf and hit the campaign trail
again, answering the press’demand to locate a “legacy.”
“The poverty tour” was the ultimate photo op – a chance for the scandal-weary president to escape the embarrassment of Washington and, flanked by poor children, re-assert that he felt their pain. The most poignant photo-op of all would come at the seven-city tour’s most prominent stop: Pine Ridge, South Dakota. Not since Franklin Roosevelt had a U.S. president set foot on a reservation, but you can’t hold a “poverty tour” without Pine Ridge. Over three fourths of the 20,000 Lakota people on the reservation are unemployed. Almost three fourths of children live below the poverty line. Average annual income is $4,000. Pine Ridge is a lousy location – too close to the nearby Badlands for farming and too far away from any industries. Lakota people live 10-20 years fewer than average Americans and suffer rates of infant mortality, suicide, and heart-related death that are twice that of the rest of America. Alcoholism is sky high. So Clinton would preach about selective prosperity: Sure, the nation is enjoying unprecedented growth, but it’s no boomtown in places like Pine Ridge. Not everyone is getting rich off the stock market and swimming in affluence. Here, notions of IPO’s for new dot coms are miles and eras away. At Clinton’s side for the trip to Pine Ridge was Andrew Cuomo, Secretary of the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), to ensure the trip would be more than just a camera-bathed stump speech. Clinton and Cuomo pulled the tarp off a government plan bent on jumpstarting tribal economic growth. They introduced eight new initiatives promising millions of dollars in mortgages, savings bonds, and grants, as well as job training and Internet access. Teach a man to fish, the thinking was, and you
will spur his economy. Just handing the reservation a check would
have been helpful but near-sighted. The trip was hardly shorn of
overt political motivations, but it was the most meaningful and highest
|
Clinton introduced eight
|
