Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire Gov. Noem & Tribal Covid Checkpoints

Now that’s funny

Wounded knee II

IIRC there’s a former AIM guy on Pine Ridge who has claimed that at least one young White woman was raped and murdered during the occupation at Wounded Knee, said young woman having gone out to support the Indians.

I was there twice; in ‘83 when I brung a truckload of blankets out there a regular guy with a family brung me up on the hill to the burial pit and chapel. Mid-February, snow on the ground, a cold wind blowing, really gave a sense of the tragedy.

Second time was twenty years later, end of June, we drove through there coming back from the Little Big Horn/Devil’s Tower/Sturgis. The whole place had changed a lot, a lot more houses than I remembered.

One of the AIM guys had built a “Wounded Knee Museum” on the road right next to the hill. Not much in there but photographs.

The local elementary school was having a bake sale right across the street from the hill. Those ladies were good people. They told us the AIM guy who built the museum was the biggest drug dealer on Pine Ridge.

More’n a few Indians in San Antonio, I’ve taught some of their kids, met their parents, some of whom were nominally AIM people. Only reason I point that out is to say just ‘cause they were AIM doesn’t mean they supported all that criminal crap.

"https://www.fbi.gov/history/famous-cases/resmurs-case-reservation-murders"

Was a time I'd get angry about that on reflex. Was a time.

Sad isn't it. Got friends who are Sissetonai-Wahpeton members. Nice people so long as you don't bring up Chippewa. Old enmity die hard.You have to understand the culture. Was talking with a nice lady in the supermarket line some years ago. The general discussion in the community was some payment to the tribe and we talked about it.

She agreed that it was a boon for the tribe. but she finished with, "If they are dumb enough to give it to us we're smart enough to take it." We shared a laugh.

Anyway the Cheyenne River chairman is feeling his oats and issued a statement. KELO scroll down if you careSo far it's all posturing. Will be interesting to see where it goes, this sort of thing usually runs out of steam quickly.

I think the hidden motivation is not Covid19 but their anger about not getting their way in stopping the Keystone XL pipeline as well as being pissed about Gov. Noem's steadfast intent to slam down any pipeline protests that tend towards being unruly or violent.

Made contact with an Indian rancher and his wife on the Cheyenne Indian Reservation SE of Eagle Butte back in the ‘80’s and he gave us permission to hunt antelope and mule deer on his ranch-res land. Made several trips over the years. He was thoughtful, intelligent, a good host, and had a pretty progressive operation.

He had the Oahe Reservoir to the East, a river to the the south, with brushed coulees leading East and south down to both. Great hunting.

We were there the last time as a blizzard descended on us and We later heard he lost most of his cattle herd as they bunched up on top of each other as they crowed the head of these draws for cover. Tragic. Felt very badly for him and his family.

Just like us, Native Americans are not a monolith of thought, opinion, or attitudes.

Things are different here, never met an Indian farmer. But then the last real Indian I saw was in front of the Sportsman's Bar before it closed. Some claim more than half but I'm not so sure. The Sissetonai (people of the fishing village) and Wahpetonai (shooters among the leaves) were a smart and well lead people and were given some dandy land for a reservation.

Don't recall the year but the tribe helped put down a band of renegades who were terrorizing Minnesota. In recognition tribal members were allowed to claim acreage in fee. After perfecting their claim they could sell it with the approval of the Dept. of Interior. You can see the attempted ripoffs in the title abstracts. I'm sitting on what was a 200 acre tree claim.

And so the res diminished But the land remained Indian Country and under jurisdiction of the tribe whether owned individually (by tribal members) or collectively. So over the generations we have a real checkerboard of jurisdiction and ownership. Some titles have a list of owners like a phone book.The only real option is to lease all those little parcels to an operator. That's where the industrious Scandinavian immigrants come in.

With a little cooperation it's worked out rather well

Yep a majority of them give a few a bad name.

They are pissed off about everything, including themselves. The way they treat each would make most cringe. Have more than a couple friends that have worked on the reservations, There is no way I could stomach it.

Not a lot of sympathy for them. Tremendous amount of respect for those who have left and are living their life.

Way back the state and tribes had a sort of wacipi to work their differences. The common joke was the tribe would open negotiations with, "OK, what are you going to give us?" Sad but no little truth in that, it's how things seemed to work out. So cut the diplomatic niceties and get to the heart of the matter. Cultural thing, the tribe isn't into butt kissing like Europeans are. So I think that's whee we are, preliminary posturing. The chairman also has a constituency to impress to keep himself and family in power.

Make sure those trade blankets are checked for Covid-19- - - -need lots of it to solve the problem!
Jerry

You would not make that joke if you lived in Indian Country. A very volatile matter and rightly so.

Other than my personal experience above, I only have other secondary experiences but in my mind, there is analogy to be made with many places in Africa; I’m thinking of Ghana, Africa where there is garbage everywhere, illiteracy, broken down buildings and equipment, roving packs of feral dogs, and seemingly little chance for the poor to escape “upward”.

A church group has been involved in the Rosebud Res in SD and while there are some people there who have embraced Christ and are making an impact to improve life, it’s a difficult road with a broken culture, alcoholism (alcohol is banned but the black market thrives) child abandonment, ubiquitous garbage, and for most, a short life..

I don't know George, it's a different scene here. More like inner city problems. Had friends like Althea who grew up in inner city DC and became a professional accountant. The biggest problem was social pressure from friends and family. When your uncles and other family are getting by selling drugs and running scams who are you to do differently. And as she rose academically the fewer friends from her social structure she had. And the more you get away from that life the more you are shunned. Went ti high school with a girl that was half Cherokee. Her father was an Air Force Lt. Co. and she told the same story. Said she hated to go to the res to visit family, broke her heart. Funny, she had white friends but no black friends. Maybe because she was taking college track courses. Blacks thinking about an academic track were shunned and physically intimidated. Here you see similar. Great little kids. Then puberty and they're looking more to adults around them and everything changes.

I have no idea what the solution is. This native pride thing the tribe has been pushing seems to help but it is, in the end, divisive.

Phil Sheridan was right.

You cant be a success on the Rez....or at least its very difficult.

Even with some exclusive advantages.

If they had a work ethic they could make a fortune selling meth on the rez...

Unless it's your family's turn to control the tribal council. It's the environment. Had a young well educated guy get elected as chairman, everybody had high hopes. Ended up convicted of embezzling funds from some government program for the tribe. It's tempting with the feds tossing money around and it's been done sine there were reservations. A big pot of money, from far away (not our money) no safeguards, helluva temptation.

My favorite story comes from the bag plant. The tribe built a plastic bag plant - think trash bags - that came with government contracting advantages. Knew a guy they hired to keep the machinery running. Why they couldn't find a tribal member with sufficient ability to keep the machinery running, or the desire to learn, I don't know. Anyway one of the employees stumbles in drunk one morning and passes out on the break room floor. Fired. His defense was, " What do you mean? I showed up for work, I was here!" An uncle I think) was on the tribal council and he got his job back. And for all it's advantages the bag plant can't make money on a competitive basis.

I believe its not even so much the corruption at the higher levels.


A lot of it is a Tall Poppy deal where the ones making it are torn down.

Accused of being sell outs....or not indian.

If you are seen to have more than your neighbors.....they take it.

Make a little money and the cousins move in and use you up.

Not always the case....but often.

Sort of a cultural problem.