James Giago Davies. Photo from Native Sun News
Our heroes are alive and kicking
The dearly departed cannot save us
By James Giago Davies
www.nsweekly.com Necessity is the mother of invention, words so old they were spoken in Latin for a millennium before being translated to English. Odds are the Romans borrowed the phrase from a previous culture. When we look back on the historical Lakota we see the truth of that phrase, because these Lakota adapted quickly to circumstance, we see how effectively they adopted the bow, the horse, the gun. Once woodland based semi-sedentary farmers, not particularly feared as warriors, they transformed themselves into the most feared hunter/gatherer horse culture of the Great Plains in less than a generation. This transformation was one of necessity. They had been displaced by force, from their home in Minnesota, displaced by aggressive Algonkian peoples, backed by French muskets, giddily routing age old enemies. After crossing present day East River South Dakota on foot, they reached the council fires of the Arickara, a Caddoan people, cousins of the Pani to the south, and both tribes had little respect or affection for the ragtag, vagabond Lakota pouring into their country like Hispanic illegals pour over our southern border. They allowed the Lakota to camp along their river country, and they helped feed them during harsh winter, but they were never gracious hosts, and told the Lakota warriors, “You are like our women.”
Read the rest of the story on the all new Native Sun News website: Our heroes are alive and kicking (James Giago Davies can be reached at skindiesel@msn.com) Copyright permission Native Sun News
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