Federal Review Board visits Wounded Knee Memorial, views sacred belongings, hears testimony from WK Descendants

RAPID CITY SD – Five federal officials, two from the Department of the Interior and three from the Department of Defense, visited South Dakota on Tuesday, September 17, 2024, and Wednesday, September 18, 2024, to tour the Wounded Knee Memorial gravesite, view the Wounded Knee sacred belongings in safekeeping at Oglala Community College (OLC) in Kyle, SD, and hear testimony from the descendants of Lakota relatives massacred at Wounded Knee, SD in December, 1890.

The five officials who visited this week are representatives of a panel ordered by the Department of Defense in July, 2024, to review 20 Medals of Honor awarded to U.S. Army Calvary who participated in the massacre. The Medal of Honor is the highest military award in the U.S. The review of the awards is the result of decades of pressure from Congress and Native tribal leaders who advocate for rescinding the medals.

The memorandum ordering the case-by-case review of the Wounded Knee medals was from Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin. The review panel must send a written report to Austin no later than Oct. 15, 2024, with recommendations and rationale to retain or rescind each of the medals. Austin will then provide his recommendations to President Joe Biden, who has the final decision on awarding or rescinding a Medal of Honor.

An estimated 300-plus Lakota, mostly unarmed, died at Wounded Knee from Army gunfire, including many women and children. The Wounded Knee event and the site of the massacre continue to be the focus of protest, anger and sadness into the modern day. Historians say that the action of the Army soldiers that day is arguably the deadliest act of violence in U.S. history against Native Americans.

Oliver “OJ” Semans (Rosebud Lakota), Co-Executive Director of Four Directions Native Vote, has been active for many years in the effort to have the Wounded Knee Medals of Honor rescinded. He was unable to participate in this week’s events due to a prior out-of-state commitment but provided this statement: “This (visit from the review panel) is historic. The reason for this review is the resilience and the persistence of the Wounded Knee descendants. I am honored to be able to work with the descendants to bring this matter forward.”

Seamans said it’s gratifying to now see some momentum toward rescinding the medals after a long struggle, including failed attempts to rescind the medals through congressional legislation first introduced in 2019 and called the Remove the Stain Act. “Every Medal of Honor (awarded to Wounded Knee soldiers) should be removed,” Semans said.

Marlis Afraid of Hawk (Mnicoujou, enrolled in the Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe), a respected elder and key member of the HAWK 1890 Wounded Knee Descendants Group on the Cheyenne River Reservation attended the events of Tuesday, September 17, at the Wounded Knee Memorial and at OLC in Kyle, SD, along with her brother John Afraid of Hawk and a small group of Lakota relatives.

Marlis’ grandfather survived the massacre at Wounded Knee as a 13-year-old. She carries on the oral tradition of telling her grandchildren how Marlis’ grandfather survived by fleeing through a ravine after a rifle held by a cavalry soldier failed to fire. Her grandfather became a life-long activist for rescinding the Wounded Knee Medals of Honor. Continuing her grandfather’s work, Marlis is a proponent of rescinding the medals.

According to Marlis, her brother John Afraid of Hawk smudged the graves of the relatives buried at the Memorial with sage. After a brief stay at the gravesite, the group of visitors and descendants moved to OLC where descendants spoke and said a prayer. The Lakota hosts gifted the 5 visitors with gorgeous traditional Star Quilts made of satin.

At the OLC gathering, Marlis told the panel the story of her grandfather’s experience at Wounded Knee. She also spoke about her father’s participation as a frail elder in the memorial horse ride of 1989-‘90 to honor ancestors who died at Wounded Knee. She pointedly told the review panel, “Wounded Knee was NOT a battle, but a massacre. …Think with your heart, not your head (when making your recommendations).”

Marlis also commented, “The 20 medals that were awarded to the 7^th. Calvary are a shame and embarrassment to the military and the US government. These medals have the dry stained blood of our relatives (killed at Wounded Knee) on them. There is no honor in that.”

After the speakers, the review panel moved to the room where they viewed the sacred belongings of the victims of the massacre. In the days immediately following the massacre, soldiers stole clothing, moccasins, jewelry, sacred pipes, weapons and other possessions from the frozen bodies of the murdered Lakota. These belongings were held for over 100 years in a community museum in Pennsylvania until returned to Lakota descendants in South Dakota in November, 2022, after decades of negotiations, confusion and delays.

Marlis also traveled to Rapid City, SD, for the Wednesday, September 18, open meeting where a “standing room only” crowd packed the venue. The review panel heard remarks from Lakota tribal chairmen, Ryman LeBeau (Cheyenne River Lakota) and Frank Star Comes Out (Oglala Lakota) and Lakota tribal chairwomen, Janet Alkire (Standing Rock Lakota/Hukpapa) and Kathleen Wooden Knife (Rosebud Lakota).

Manny Iron Hawk (Titunwan Okowozu) and his wife Renee Iron Hawk (Tituwan Oohenumpa) attended the September 18 meeting in Rapid City. Manny is a direct descendant of a Wounded Knee survivor. His grandfather’s mother was 10 years old when the U.S. Army Calvary ambushed her people at Wounded Knee. Also, Manny’s grandfather Ghost Horse and his son died there.

Manny and Renee have been active members of the HAWK 1890 since it started 20 years ago. Manny serves as the spokesperson for the group.

He commented at a news conference in Washington, DC in 2019, “… there was no honor in these murders (at Wounded Knee). …And the Lakota, we live with these traumas to this day. Our lives are reminders of our courage, strength, and the will to survive in the 21st century.”

At Wednesday’s meeting before the review panel, Manny related the heartbreaking stories he heard from his elders as a child about Wounded Knee. He asked the panel members, “Who wants to live in tyranny and oppression? (After more than 130 years,) when will our relatives (who died at Wounded Knee) rest in peace? When will we begin to heal?”

Speaking of his generation, Manny said, “We (descendants) are the new Ghost Dancers. The (Ghost Dancers’) dream (of renewal, of restoration of native sovereignty, of peace, of the return of the ancestors) did not die at Wounded Knee. We are living the dream. We are hope made flesh. …” He then emphatically called for the rescinding of ALL the Medals of Honor awarded to the soldiers who participated in the massacre.

As Manny spoke, everyone in the room listened attentively and “you could hear a pin drop,” said Renee. After Manny spoke, the panel called for a lunch break. At the break many of the descendants thanked Manny and told him they agree that ALL of the Wounded Knee Medals of Honor should be rescinded.

After the lunch break, the crowd returned, again creating a packed “standing room only” venue. Ivan Looking Horse (Cheyenne River Lakota), a Wounded Knee descendant, attended the afternoon session. According to Looking Horse, “good people spoke up and the review panel listened. …The mood in the room was sad. We have spent a long time waiting (for acknowledgement and apology). …All we can do now is pray for the best. …The review panel did a good job and made a good effort.” The meeting adjourned around 4:00 pm.

Calvin Spotted Elk (Cheyenne River Lakota, Oglala Lakota) from Scotts Valley, California, documents his direct descendancy from Chief Spotted Elk, a revered Lakota treaty signer, who died at Wounded Knee. Calvin and his wife Michelle have been researching Wounded Knee history and advocating for descendants for over twenty years.

Spotted Elk was not able to attend the events this week in South Dakota but provided this comment:

“…my position on the (Wounded Knee) Medals of Honor is well documented. (My wife) Michelle and I compiled a detailed forty-page historical document outlining why all 20 medals should be rescinded. We addressed each citation, wrote counterarguments, and included statements from other descendants. In our 2008 petition (to President Obama), which gathered 17,178 signatures, we called the medal a ‘STAIN on the Medal of Honor.’”

Violet Catches (Cheyenne River Lakota, Hohwoju) of Pierre, SD, remembers listening as a child to Violet’s grandmother cry as she told the story of their ancestors at Wounded Knee. Catches’ mother’s father survived the Wounded Knee massacre as a 10-or-12-year-old child.

Though she lives in Pierre, Catches has been an active member of the HAWK 1890 Group on the Cheyenne River Reservation for over a decade. She was not able to attend the meetings this week but provided this comment:

“…we (Lakota) were orphaned at Wounded Knee Creek in 1890. They killed our leader/grandfather and most who were with him. We still remember and suffer. …We are still here on the Cheyenne River Reservation. Once the Metals of Honor are rescinded, we and those who are in a mass grave at Wounded Knee, who never had a proper burial, can start our healing journey on both sides. Let us begin our healing journey.”

Marlis Afraid of Hawk reflected, “I’m the voice (for my father and grandfather). I took that role upon myself to honor all my relatives. I do not want my children to have to take my place (in fighting for justice for Wounded Knee casualties and descendants). I want justice (in my lifetime).”

(Contact: Grace Terry at graceterrywilliams@gmail.com)

 

SOURCES:

 

Personal interviews and/or personal correspondence with: Manny and Renee Iron Hawk, Marlis Afraid of Hawk, Ivan Looking Horse, Violet Catches, Calvin and Michelle Spotted Elk, OJ Semans

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