RANDOM JACK: WOUNDED KNEE MEMORIAL
LAKOTA MEMORIAL DAY
The 129th
Anniversary of Wounded Knee
December 29, 1890
One hundred and twenty nine years ago today, the Seventh
Calvary of the United States Army opened fire on an encampment of disarmed
Lakota men, women and children. Employing
the infamous Hotchkiss guns – guns that fire many bullets – they killed over
250 Lakota. Their crime was daring to
dance the forbidden Ghost Dance.
For a hundred years the massacre was christened by the
American government: The Battle of
Wounded Knee.
Twenty-five soldiers died in the massacre and twenty were
awarded the Medal of Honor. No man and
no woman of honor should ever again accept that medal until those awarded to
the Wounded Knee soldiers are rescinded.
Further, the government should declare December 29th Wounded
Knee Memorial Day.
In honor of the Ghost Dancers buried at Wounded Knee:
NOT AT WOUNDED KNEE
In the land of the Lakota long ago
Deep in the winter of the frozen earth
The people gathered in circles
Hand in hand line after line
To dance the dance of the ancestors
I was not in the lines of dancers
I did not sing the sacred words
My spirit did not rise above the land
To look down upon this scene
I did not see the soldiers circle the camp
I did not hear the order to disarm
I did not see them mount their guns
That shower bullets
I did not hear the cry of mothers
I did not hear the thunder
I did not smell the cloud of smoke
I did not see them fall
I was not there to give my blood
My heart did not explode
My body was not pounded by bullets
Nor pierced by bayonets
I did not die at Wounded Knee
I was not buried in a common grave
But I have walked those hallowed grounds
I have mourned and shed my tears
And I have said my prayer aloud
And I have heard the buried dead
And I am sworn to heed their plea
Remember Wounded Knee
From Wasichu: The Killing Spirit:
Wo Lakota!
How can I explain the sorrow of Wounded Knee?
My heart has been pierced by a thousand arrows
My spirit is broken and my soul is in flames
The sorrow runs through me like a mother’s pain
And my tears flow like rivers
But it is not for the right reason
Here lies Big Foot in his dance of death
Here lie the Ghost Dancers
The followers of Crazy Horse and Sitting Bull
The keepers of the faith
Here on this sacred hill
I should have no thoughts but this:
The Ghost Dance survives!
Instead the thought that will not leave me
Is this: It should
not be this way
Here on Memorial Hill at the head of the table
Where the father should be
There is a place of worship bearing the sign:
Sacred Heart Church
So the church of the Black Robes
Lays claim to this most sacred ground
Wo Lakota! It should
not be this way!
[Sacred Lands to Native Peoples! Free Leonard Peltier!]
Jazz.
