In its umpteenth outburst of outrageous hypocrisy, the Legislature let die this week a resolution calling for the federal government to rescind the Medals of Honor awarded to the butchers of Wounded Knee. Senate Resolution 701, sponsored by Senator Troy Heinert (D-26/Mission), laid out the historical facts of the Seventh Cavalry’s massacre of women and children at Wounded Knee on December 29, 1890, and asked our Congressional delegation and the President to rescind those twenty medals. Taking their cue Monday from the bloody-handed equivocations of U.S. Senator Mike Rounds and U.S. Representative Dusty Johnson, three Republican Senators ignored the unopposed testimony of numerous Lakota citizens and made excuses for keeping South Dakota silent on the mis-medaling of massacrists:
[Senator Maggie Sutton]: “…I would like to see this taken to a national level, because the way I see this, it wasn’t South Dakota who participated as a state. It was at a national level, the president and congress can do something. If there’s a possibility of a review of this, that would be my recommendation.”
Senator [Jim] Bolin added, “I believe that this is a matter that should be left at the federal level. None of these people involved in the horrific, horrible, despicable, terrible acts were residents of South Dakota. And none of the orders that were given at any time, to the best of my knowledge, came from an official of the South Dakota government. I believe this is a federal issue. It is with some reluctance would urge to resist the motion that’s on the floor.”
Presiding chair, Senator [Jim] Saltzer, then stated, “What happened at Wounded Knee was terrible and if this resolution asked for a review of those 20 people, rather than asking all 20 be rescinded, I would have a lot easier time voting for it. But as a call just to rescind all 20 of them, I just can’t get there” [Alaina Beautiful Bald Eagle, “Senate Committee Kills Resolution That Supports Rescinding Medals Awarded for the Wounded Knee Massacre,” West River Eagle, 2020.02.26].
Senator Stalzer’s dodge, an ahistorical positing that at least one of those white soldiers could have had medal-worthy reasons for shooting women and children in the back, is simply vile and irresponsible.
Senators Sutton and Bolin’s attempt to hide behind a jurisdictional argument is cowardly and hypocritical. Senators Sutton and Bolin both voted for SCR 601, which urges the President to negotiate international trade agreements that support country-of-original labeling, a matter that lies strictly within federal jurisdiction. They both voted for HCR 6009, which expresses support for a U.S.–Taiwan Bilateral Trade Agreement and Taiwanese participation in international organizations, a matter that similarly lies strictly within the purview of federal diplomats and negotiators. They have coming at them four other House Concurrent Resolutions (HCR 6005 on Israel, HCR 6011 on the federal Recovering America’s Wildlife Act, HCR 6012 on federal school prayer guidelines, and HCR 6016 on a state funeral for World War II veterans) that urge uniquely federal action of one sort or another in on which the House felt it entirely appropriate for the Legislature to weigh.
Sutton’s and Bolin’s rejection of SR 701 isn’t about any scrupulous application of federalism. It’s about the South Dakota Republican Party’s Janklovian refusal to say that shooting Indians is bad.
Not all South Dakota Republicans have their heads stuck in racist denial. Senator VJ Smith (R-7/Brookings) seconded Senator Red Dawn Foster’s (D-27/Pine Ridge) motion to approve SR 701:
Smith shared there have only been two times in his life that he has called the Congressional Office in Washington DC—once was to share his thoughts on the Affordable Care Act and the other was to express his opinion about the Remove the Stain Act.
“I’ve heard it before. People said, ‘We’re second guessing on this. That happened a long time ago and we really don’t know what happened.’ I submit, neither did the men sitting behind a mahogany desk, 1500 miles away. They weren’t there either. But they made a political decision and not a just decision, and that is why I am supporting this resolution,” said Smith, whose words resulted in loud applause [Beautiful Bald Eagle, 2020.02.26].
Senate Military and Veterans Affairs voted 3–2 to kill SR 701 and assent to the continued honor of white men who murdered Lakota women and children.
Does Stalzer want a review of the dead to see if they all were present when they died?
You can’t fix stoopid. What is there not to see about mostly unarmed, peaceful victims being murdered en masse?
I wouldn’t expect anything more from our nat’l reps. Dusty and Smiley weren’t there, didn’t see anything and they for sure as heck don’t want to hear any evidence. That’s just not their thing. Come on, SD, we can do better!
I don’t know if this will help or not, but there’s another ridiculously gerrymandered state with a GOP supermajority that does incredibly small, mean and petty things. Maybe it will make you generous hearted South Dakotans feel less alone in the battle to build a decent state.
It’s Indiana. is.gd/GUEHlK
Yeah, it’s really kind of a whitewash of history to say that no one in South Dakota had any responsibility for Wounded Knee. It didn’t just happen that those cold, starving people were rounded up. There was considerable clamoring from South Dakota to end the Ghost Dance, a religious movement that had an interesting mixture of various Indian tribes’ spiritual traditions with Christian traditions. These legislators are really, really ignorant of history, and almost as big a disgrace as the soldiers who open fire on the that December day so long ago.
i would hope people who vote to suppress this bill would make a vigil to the wounded knee graveyard & spend an hour of silence while slowly walking & pausing around this silent graveyard of massacred native people.these people were only seeking relief of their desperate condition. the 7th calvary should never been stationed there. come on people,!wake & stand up for the native community who have done more than their share of defending the United States of america in wars we have been involved in.Get the Damn Blinders Off!
This is a moral issue, not a political issue. This action and the pathetic rationalizations those politicians vocalized to justify their votes say more about the views of the non-native population of SD than any other action. If not then contact them and voice your opposition or better yet, also vote them out of office.