Some people are going to hear about Wounded Knee second hand, and it’s going to get all turned around.

A little more background on the purchase of Wounded Knee
By Native

The announcement in last week’s Native Sun News that our former publisher, Tim Giago, has signed an agreement to purchase the land at Wounded Knee has caused quite a stir.

The point Giago made that is often not considered is that he intends to set up a trust so the land can be owned in common for all 9 tribes of the Great Sioux Nation. He suggested that after the land is turned over to them that they form a board of directors to make any decision as to what they wanted to do with the land.

He recommended that a Native American Holocaust Museum be built on the site to tell the terrible history of not only the massacre at Wounded Knee, but of the many other such massacres that happened all the way from Sand Creek to Washita.

Giago suggested that a large pavilion be constructed where the artists and craftsmen and women can have a place to set up booths where it is warm in the winter and cool in the summer and sell their art and crafts to the many tourists from all around the world that would surely visit the museum.

He acknowledged that there would be some who totally disagree with what he is trying to do, but he is sure there will be many more who agree with him.

“I will not make a single penny out of this because that has never been my intent,” he said. “I want the land to go back to the Lakota/Dakota/Nakota people who are the true inheritors of the land and if they choose to build a museum or whatever on the land that will be up to them to decide.”

Birgil Kills Straight, a Lakota man who helped to organize and participate in the first Big Foot Ride in 1990, and also a man with a background in working in a museum culture, agrees that building a holocaust museum to honor those who were massacred there 125 years ago is a good thing. Kill Straight believes that Americas need to learn the true history of the Indian people.

Giago said, “I am now 81 years old and I want to take the few years I have remaining to do something good for the Oyate. When I was a boy I lived at Wounded Knee when my father worked at the Wounded Knee Trading Post and I always felt that the land was sacred.” He said he had never claimed to be a descendant of those who died there, but has always said that he was a former resident of the Wounded Knee Community.

And for those who do not know the difference, the land does not include the sacred gravesite so that is not included in the sale of the land.

If anyone wishes to contribute to the purchase of the land they can send any amount no matter how small to: National Historic Site of Wounded Knee, 2650 Jackson Blvd., Suite 12, Rapid City, SD 57702; or donate online at www.wounded-knee.com.

Read the rest of the story on the all new Native Sun News website: A little more background on the purchase of Wounded Knee

(The Editorial Board of Native Sun News can be reached at editor@nsweekly.com)

Copyright permission Native Sun News

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