Tim Giago. Photo by Talli Nauman
Remembering old Lakota friends at Christmas
By Tim Giago
Notes from Indian Country As Christmas Day draws near, I think of my friends who have journeyed to the spirit world. I suppose Christmas is not the time to reflect on these things that should be saved for Memorial Day, but it is the moments in their lives they shared with me at this time of the year that brings them to mind. I am reminded of one of my dearest friends. His name was Enos Poor Bear. A veteran of World War II, Enos always carried the memories of his days in the army with him. He was proud to have served and if you visited his house near Wanblee (Eagle Nest) on the Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota you would see portraits of him and his army buddies hanging on the walls. Enos died of heart problems several years ago. He wanted to die at home, but he died in the Veteran’s Administration Hospital at Hot Springs, S. D. instead. During the days known as “Relocation” that took place in the 1950s, Enos took the option to “relocate” and, along with his family, he was sent to Chicago. The object of this failed Bureau of Indian Affairs program was to get the Indians off the reservations by sending them to the ghettoes of the big cities, training them in a profession, and encouraging them to become a part of mainstream America. I say failed program because most of those sent on relocation got homesick and came back to the reservation where they were raised. Nonetheless, this government experiment did a lot of damage to the Indian people. It disrupted the lives of close families. It introduced many rural Indians to drugs and alcohol. And it separated families from their traditions and culture. It also cost the taxpayers of America millions of dollars.
Read the rest of the story on the all new Native Sun News website: Remembering old Lakota friends at Christmas (Tim Giago, an Oglala Lakota, is the former publisher of Native Sun News. He can be reached at: unitysodak1@vastbb.net. Giago was inducted into the South Dakota Hall of Fame in 1994) Copyright permission Native Sun News
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