Indianz.Com > News > Tim Giago: The aftermath of the occupation at Wounded Knee

The aftermath of Wounded Knee
Wednesday, January 12, 2022
The television cameras were all packed away and stuffed into the trunks of the rental cars. Notebooks were crammed into briefcases and alongside of the cameras, packed in rental cars headed for Rapid City. The violent takeover of Wounded Knee began on February 27, 1973.
New York Times journalist Bill Kovach, covering the Wounded Knee takeover, made the in-house news of the Times when his Hertz Rental car, parked at Wounded Knee, was stripped of everything strippable and left on blocks on the outskirts of the village. The Times in- house story about the perils of Kovach was titled, “Bury My Hertz at Wounded Knee.”
All of the journalists from places far away from Wounded Knee wrongfully assumed that since the occupiers decided to abandon Wounded Knee the story was ended. They weren’t there to watch the occupiers file out of Wounded Knee in a line of cars only to be stopped and searched by the U.S. Marshals. The Marshals confiscated all of the loot and stolen works of art that the occupiers had squirreled away in their cars hoping to make a quick profit on them.
They recovered priceless works of art by such great Lakota artists as Andrew Standing Soldier, Felix Walks Under the Ground, Richard Red Owl and Hobart Keith. All in all they confiscated 42 works of art from the occupiers.



Tim Giago is the Publisher of Native Sun News Today. He was a Nieman Fellow at Harvard with the Class of 1991 and the recipient of many journalism awards including the H. L. Mencken Award. He can be reached at najournalist1@gmail.com
Note: Content © Tim Giago
Search
Filed Under
Tags
More Headlines
Secretary Haaland opens third annual White House Tribal Nations Summit
‘Keep your promise’: Coquille Tribe still waiting on restoration of homelands
Department of Agriculture announces inaugural Tribal Advisory Committee
Native America Calling: New comedians on the block
Native America Calling: Making holiday food gatherings safe
White House Tribal Nations Summit kicks off without Secretary Haaland
Seneca Nation signs extension of Class III gaming compact with New York
NAFOA: 5 Things You Need to Know this Week
Chuck Hoskin: Cherokee Nation holds U.S. accountable for its trust obligations
Native America Calling: The Native role in America’s War of Independence
Native America Calling: A Native food memoir and tribal buffalo management
Indian Child Welfare Act grants awarded for off-reservation programs
Native Art Market returns to National Museum of the American Indian
Native America Calling: Tribal museums make a difference
The Conversation: Thanksgiving stories ignore history of colonization on Native lands
More Headlines
‘Keep your promise’: Coquille Tribe still waiting on restoration of homelands
Department of Agriculture announces inaugural Tribal Advisory Committee
Native America Calling: New comedians on the block
Native America Calling: Making holiday food gatherings safe
White House Tribal Nations Summit kicks off without Secretary Haaland
Seneca Nation signs extension of Class III gaming compact with New York
NAFOA: 5 Things You Need to Know this Week
Chuck Hoskin: Cherokee Nation holds U.S. accountable for its trust obligations
Native America Calling: The Native role in America’s War of Independence
Native America Calling: A Native food memoir and tribal buffalo management
Indian Child Welfare Act grants awarded for off-reservation programs
Native Art Market returns to National Museum of the American Indian
Native America Calling: Tribal museums make a difference
The Conversation: Thanksgiving stories ignore history of colonization on Native lands
More Headlines