Dave Archambault, Sr. Still image from TEDx Talks / YouTube

S.D. Government, Black Elk and the Sacred Tree
By Dave Archambault Sr.
www.nsweekly.com

Black Elk said that perhaps there is a root of the Sacred Tree that still lives. He said, “If there is, then we should nourish it so that it will fill with singing birds!” He proclaimed this in 1953 in the twilight of his life. How prophetic his words were and are. Coming from every elder’s lips on every Indian reservation in South Dakota there are expressions of worry. George Iron Shield recently said it another way, “We Sioux Nations are almost out of breathe.”

What needs to be nourished? What is being lost?

For the general public and politicians, it goes beyond simply understanding that the United States of America has colorful small Indigenous Nations made up of beautiful customs and traditions that are in danger of fading into the sunset. It goes way beyond such outward appearances and observations of seeing feathers and dancing. The small and seemingly insignificant Tribes across the America’s possess a stunning treasure chest of thought and philosophy. All of what and who they are must be kept and honored so that they will contribute to the fabric of the multi-pluralistic social experiment that America so proudly touts around the world.

Astonishingly, it is Governor Dennis Daugaard and his director of State education, Melody Schopp, who have taken a daring position to pave the way toward finding and reviving the root that Black Elk prayed for. A prayer that the root might grow and flourish into proud singing birds (children). The force driving their unprecedented action is the simple acceptance of the cold hard facts that Indian children in the routine K-12 institutions are doing anything but flowering.

Read the rest of the story on the all new Native Sun News website: S.D. Government, Black Elk and the Sacred Tree

(Dave Archambault can be reached at joebuckinghorse@gmail.com)

Copyright permission Native Sun News