{"id":47388,"date":"2024-11-18T00:02:27","date_gmt":"2024-11-18T05:02:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/indianz.com\/News\/?p=47388"},"modified":"2024-11-18T10:27:09","modified_gmt":"2024-11-18T15:27:09","slug":"ryman-lebeau-rescind-the-wounded-knee-massacre-medals","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/indianz.com\/News\/2024\/11\/18\/ryman-lebeau-rescind-the-wounded-knee-massacre-medals\/","title":{"rendered":"Ryman LeBeau: Rescind the Wounded Knee Massacre medals"},"content":{"rendered":" \"Wounded<\/a>
The Wounded Knee cemetery on the Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota. Photo: Jeremiah Murphy<\/a><\/figcaption>\r\n
There is No Honor in Mass Murder<\/div>\r\n
Rescind the Wounded Knee Medals<\/div>\r\n
Monday, November 18, 2024<\/div>\r\n
By Ryman LeBeau<\/div>\r\n
Chairman, Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe<\/div>\r\n
cheyenneriversioux.com<\/a><\/div>\r\n

<\/P> On behalf of the Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe and Seven Council Fires of the Great Sioux Nation, we have called upon President Joe Biden to rescind the Presidential Medals of Honor issued to 7th Cavalry soldiers for the Wounded Knee Massacre.

<\/P>\r\nOn July 25, 2024, Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin ordered a Pentagon board to review Medal of Honor awards for 7th Cavalry troops who participated in the 1890 Wounded Knee massacre, where Native American women and children were killed by U.S. soldiers in the deadliest mass shooting in the nation\u2019s history. \r\n

<\/P>\r\n On October 15, the Review Board — composed of 3 Military Officers from the Department of Defense and 2 Department of the Interior Officials — reported back to Secretary Austin. Our People have no confidence in such a Pentagon board, and we expect by a vote of 3 (DOD) to 2 (DOI), as the Pentagon board has recommended that America keep the Medals of Honor for the Wounded Knee Massacre. \r\n

<\/P>\r\nUntil the Wounded Knee Massacre Medals of Honor are rescinded, America\u2019s Medals of Honor will always bear the stain of Mass Murder.

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\u201cI have never heard of a more brutal, cold-blooded massacre than at Wounded Knee,\u201d an Army general wrote of the killings of more than 400 Lakota people on December 29, 1890.<\/p>\n\t\t<\/a>\n\t<\/div>\n\t

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<\/P>\r\nToday, our Lakota still suffer the legacy of American genocide. In 1650, there were 150,000 Lakota, according to Jesuit accounts. By 1900, only 25,000 of us survived. Before America came to our land, our Lakota were healthy, free people. \r\n

<\/P>\r\n Now, a Lakota man\u2019s life expectancy is only 47 years. Native women die of pregnancy complications at rates 2 to 4 times higher than White women. Native infants die at rates 2 to 3 times higher.

<\/P>\r\nIn our 1868 Treaty, the Great Sioux Nation reserved our homeland to freely live in our traditional way. America pledged its honor: \u201cwar shall forever cease.\u201d In 1873, President Ulysses S. Grant said, there must be \u201cCivilization\u201d or a \u201cWar of Extermination.\u201d \r\n

<\/P>\r\nGrant seized Lakota children and sent them to forced labor boarding schools, taking them from our families, culture and language. \u201cKill the Indian, Save the Man,\u201d the Army said. Many of our Lakota children died far from home. (Secretary of the Interior Deb Haaland has only now made the Army return our children to us. On October 25, 2024, President Biden apologized for the Boarding Schools.)\r\n

<\/P>\r\nIn June 1876, President Grant sent General Custer to attack us. Custer sent soldiers east against our village at Little Big Horn, killing women and children. With his personal command, Custer came and attacked from the south. Lakota and Cheyenne warriors defending our village, stayed between us and the 7th Cavalry. Chief White Bull shot Custer before he crossed the river. After the battle, Grant sent 5 more Armies, forcing Sitting Bull and many of our Lakota into Canada. (Many of our Lakota remain in Canada at the Wood Mountain Lakota First Nation in Saskatchewan.)\r\n

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The Murder of Crazy Horse<\/div>\r\nIn 1877, America stole our Black Hills and made us prisoners of war, taking our freedom and way of life. Weeks after Crazy Horse peacefully surrendered, the Army asked him to scout against the Nez Perce. He said, \u201cNo.\u201d \r\n

<\/P>\r\nWhile \u201carresting\u201d him, the Army stabbed him in the back. As he lay dying, Crazy Horse said: \u201cAll we wanted was peace and to be left alone. Soldiers were sent out in the winter, who destroyed our villages.\u201d\r\n

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The Assassination of Sitting Bull<\/div>\r\nIn 1889, America took 11 million more acres. Sitting Bull said, \u201cNo.\u201d On December 16, 1890, at dawn, the Bureau of Indian Affairs sent 42 Police and 115 Cavalry to \u201carrest\u201d Sitting Bull. \r\n

<\/P>\r\n The BIA Agent wrote: \u201cUnder no circumstances let Sitting Bull escape.\u201d Police shot him in the back. \r\n

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The Wounded Knee Massacre burial ground on the Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota. Photo: Jeremiah M. Murphy<\/a>\r\n<\/figcaption>\r\n

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Wounded Knee Massacre — Mass Murder of 350 Lakota<\/div>\r\nSitting Bull\u2019s Hunkpapa Lakota camp fled, joining Chief Big Foot and our Mnicoujou at Cheyenne River. He was on the way to see Red Cloud at Pine Ridge. \r\n

<\/P>\r\nThe 7th Cavalry stopped us at Wounded Knee. On December 29, 1890, the Army lined up men and large boys in front of the cannons. Soldiers seized Black Coyote, the last man disarmed, and his gun went off in the air. \r\n

<\/P>\r\nWith a sound like canvas tearing<\/a>, the 7th Cavalry commenced firing, killing our people for hours. The soldiers told little boys hidden in a ravine: \u201cCome out you are safe now. It\u2019s over.\u201d When they came out, soldiers shot them. \r\n

<\/P>\r\nIron Hail said: \u201cThey murdered us.\u201d Shot three times himself, soldiers killed his parents, wife and babies. \r\n

<\/P>\r\nAmerican Horse said: \u201cThe women, as they were fleeing with their babes on their backs, were killed. Shot right through. The women who were heavy with child were also killed.\u201d\r\n

<\/P>\r\nGeneral Nelson A. Miles said that the Wounded Knee Massacre was \u201cthe most abominable criminal military blunder and a horrible massacre of women and children. … The official reports make the number killed 90 warriors and 200 women and children.\u201d Over 350 Lakota were killed, many of our wounded died at the nearby church after the Massacre. \r\n

<\/P>\r\nAmong our People, we know that the 7th Cavalry was pursuing revenge on our innocent Lakota for Custer\u2019s 1876 defeat at the Little Big Horn. Major Samuel Whitside\u2019s son acknowledged this truth, and those at the site of Wounded Knee Massacre said that the murders of innocent women and children, shot in the back between three and five miles away and children shot while they covered their heads with blankets showed the 7th Cavalry\u2019s murderous campaign for revenge.\r\n

<\/P>\r\nAmerica awarded 20 Medals of Honor for Wounded Knee Massacre. America awarded only 16 Medals of Honor for the World War II Normandy Campaign — including D-Day.\r\n

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