National

Native Sun News: Year of Reconciliation marks 26th anniversary

Wednesday, June 22, 2016

Tim Giago, left, is shown with the late Gov. George Mickelson in this file photo. It was Giago who successfully lobbied the governor to proclaim 1990 a year of peace between Indians and whites to honor the 100th anniversary of the Wounded Knee Massacre and to change Columbus Day to Native American Day.

Year of Reconciliation and Native American Day mark 26th Anniversary
By Native Sun News Staff
www.nsweekly.com

As the 100th Anniversary of the Massacre at Wounded Knee approached in 1990, Gov. George Mickelson (R-SD) proclaimed 1990 as the Year of Reconciliation to commemorate the memory of that dreadful day of December 29, 1890.

Mickelson had taken up the challenge of newspaper editor and publisher Tim Giago to proclaim a year of peace between Indians and whites to honor the victims of Wounded Knee and to push the state legislators to drop Columbus Day as a state holiday and change that day to Native American Day.

Mickelson, with the lobbying of Giago and his staff, plus with strong support from the 1990 state legislators accomplished both of the objectives that many Lakota and whites believed to be an impossible dream.

On October 8, 1990, Mickelson asked Giago to join him at the Crazy Horse Memorial in the Black Hills to celebrate the Year of Reconciliation and Native American Day which was held for the first time in South Dakota’s history just four days later.

Giago was awarded the plaque shown above on the momentous day. In speaking that day Giago said, “South Dakota has a long way to go yet to really improve race relations, but the fact that Gov. Mickelson had the foresight and the courage to bring us to this point in our history is reason enough for celebration.”

This year marks the 26th anniversary of the Year of Reconciliation and of Native American Day and South Dakota still remains the only state in the Union to celebrate a state-sanctioned holiday to honor Native Americans.

This year also marks the 126th anniversary of the Massacre at Wounded Knee, the sad event that was the catalyst for Giago and Mickelson to move South Dakota forward.