Representatives from Washington, New Mexico, and California announced yesterday that they will introduce legislation to rescind the Medals of Honor awarded to members of the 7th U.S. Cavalry for their massacre of hundreds of women and children at Wounded Knee:
[Rep. Denny] Heck [D-WA] said the co-sponsors would begin promoting the bill after it is introduced. One potential avenue is to include it in the annual National Defense Authorization Act. The bipartisan bill does not yet have a Senate sponsor.
“The Medal of Honor is our highest and most prestigious military decoration, reserved for service members who perform acts of tremendous valor. By allowing twenty individuals to retain Medals of Honor for the massacre at Wounded Knee, we dishonor every deserving Medal of Honor recipient,” [Rep. Paul] Cook [R-CA] said in an emailed statement [Reid Wilson, “Native American Groups Press Congress to Rescind Wounded Knee Medals,” The Hill, 2019.06.25].
Co-sponsor Rep. Deb Haaland (D-NM) says rescinding the Wounded Knee Massacre medals acknowledges the ills we invaders have done to the natives of this continent:
I believe the introduction of this bill today shows the continued work and strength of the Native American people who have fought for over a century for the United States to acknowledge the genocide of our people that has taken place on this soil. It has been a privilege and an honor to help serve to raise the visibility of Native American communities, our culture, and our heritage because we remain strong through massacres like this one that we are addressing today. I am proud of the strength and resilience that each of you represent here today and hope that we continue to pass these stories to the younger generations who will carry this strength forward [Rep. Deb Haaland, in Nick Martin, “Deb Haaland Wants Justice for the Wounded Knee Massacre,” Splinter, 2019.06.25].
South Dakota’s lone Congressman, Dusty Johnson, said in February we ought to have a conversation about rectifying the “grave mistake” of awarding medals to massacre-ers (massacreants? massacrists?). He wasn’t at yesterday’s press conference on the Wounded Knee medals bill; nor were our Senators, although Thune’s and Rounds’s people say they’ll review the bill when it is posted.
the congressional delegation of sd will not venture any leadership on any issue until they’ve been told to do so by the republican insiders, it’s because they can’t talk good sense to any issue. we could save our people a lot of cash if we would join north dakota or wyoming & send our crew home .
I vote in favor of rescinding all them medals and setting the historical records straight about this atrocity.
sd. congressional crowd should be leaders of this bill! i remember a while back before the rapid city election that someone wanted to have a museum exhibit of medal of honor people of the 7th calvary in rapid city. i thought it strange that the mayor of the city said nothing of this serious matter . it’s time to grow up & face the music!
It is disappointing that South Dakota’s delegation would not lead on an issue that affects our own people, based on an event that happened in our state and has a direct impact on our culture and politics to this day.
What else can be expected of a base that chooses people like Trump and Noem to be their leaders?
Maybe some type of medal or award or citation for the families that would be losing something they honored but probably didn’t or didn’t want to know the cultural significance of. Stripping a family of an heirloom that they had nothing to do with seems cold hearted. Or maybe SD lawmakers want to be cold hearted. It’s not like it would be a rarity. Maybe a thank you citation from the tribe?
We can soon expect to be hearing that the Indians lost so too bad! from some Nazi racists. The thing is US military personnel are supposed to act with honor and dignity, regardless of circumstances. They did neither at Wounded Knee and certainly do not deserve to be treated as if they did.
Seems like an easy bill to support. Hopefully it passes with bipartisan support. If this bill does not pass, then what does that say about the USA?
Definitely, take the Wounded Knee medals away. What those soldiers did at Wounded Knee was not brave or heroic. It was criminal.
But I’d like to see a discussion about stripping all the medals presented to those who participated in any wars/battles against tribes. There are 426 of those medals, slightly less than the number presented to WWII heros. I think medals given out during the “Indian wars” are akin to honoring Nazi armed forces, who rounded up Jews and put them in concentration camps. Brave acts in battle must be tempered by an understanding that the cause they fought for was evil. We have to consider any brave acts against the backdrop of attempted genocide.
IWhy don’t we celebrate Custer’s demise at Little Bighorn in 1876. LBH, it seems to me,is the culmination of illegal activities fostered by Custer in South Dakota a scant few years before he met humiliating defeat at the hands of hostiles he despised.
Medals should have been awarded to Chief Crazy Horse and Sitting bull and numerous others.
The bills is posted: H.R. 3467 Cosponsors joining Heck, Cook, and Haaland so far are Davids from Kansas, Kildee from Mississippi, and Lujan from New Mexico.
Yes yes yes.
Btw here’s how SD operates fiscally and our Republican trio of at least two dufusses play along.
Get in there Dusty!
Skyller whatev, you too!
Dufess no. 2 did admonish trumps’ idiocy “Bighorn” racism. Fwiw
Dufess no. 2 did admonish trumps’ idiocy “Bighorn” racism. Fwiw
NY, NJ, CT, MA massively subsidize Trump states, basically because those states receive the full benefits of Medicare, Social Security, etc. while paying relatively little in federal taxes. Which is OK, because we’re all Americans – or at least that’s how libs see it 2/Krugmantweet
RC is also honoring Gen Crooks Rosebud surgeon as “bbf of Crazy Horse” (according to WILD IDEA dan obrien.