Bill to memorialize Wounded Knee Massacre Land passes Senate Committee
WASHINGTON, D.C—This week, the Wounded Knee Massacre Memorial and Sacred Site Act unanimously passed the Senate Committee on Indian Affairs. This is the identical Senate companion, led by U.S. Senators John Thune (R-S.D.) and Mike Rounds (R-S.D.), to U.S. Representative Dusty Johnson’s (R-S.D.) bill that passed the House unanimously in September 2023.
“The events that happened at Wounded Knee on December 29, 1890, should not be forgotten,” said Johnson. “I’m thankful for the Senate Committee following the House’s lead. This progress brings us closer to properly memorializing and remembering the lives lost and securing lasting protection for the land.”
In the late 1880s, a movement called the Ghost Dance swept across the nation. Indians believed that this dance would give stolen land back to the Indians, bringing about a renewal of Native society. Indians would join together, wearing shirts they believed would protect them from bullets, to dance for this renewal, all at the protest of the federal government.
On December 29, 1890, a group of Lakota Indians led by Chief Spotted Elk had made camp near Wounded Knee Creek on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in South Dakota. There, U.S. Army 7th Calvary troops were sent to disarm the Lakota. A struggle occurred between the U.S. Army and some of Chief Spotted Elk’s band – a majority of which consisted of women and children. A shot rang out, and the U.S. Army opened fire on the largely unarmed group, massacring an estimated up to 350-375 Lakota Indians. Twenty-five U.S. soldiers also died.
(Contact Rep Dusty Johnson 605-646-6454 Rapid City Office)
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December 7, 2023