Wounded Knee

U.S. Rep. Dusty Johnson speaks on the House floor in September 2023 about his bill to protect land at the Wounded Knee Massacre site. (Courtesy of Rep. Johnson's office)

U.S. House passes Johnson’s bill to protect Wounded Knee land

BY: - September 20, 2023

The U.S. House approved by voice vote Wednesday a bill that would help protect land at the site of the 1890 Wounded Knee Massacre in South Dakota, where an estimated 350 Lakota were killed by U.S. soldiers. The site is within the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation. The Oglala Sioux Tribe and the Cheyenne River Sioux […]

Sen. Mike Rounds, R-South Dakota, speaks during a Senate Armed Services Committee hearing on Capitol Hill on Sept. 28, 2021, in Washington, D.C. (Patrick Semansky-Pool/Getty Images)

Congressional Roundup: Rounds seeks solutions for classified document mess

BY: - May 21, 2023

Sen. Mike Rounds, R-South Dakota, is a cosponsor of a new bill proposing solutions to high-profile problems with the handling of classified information. The sponsor of the bill is Sen. Mark Warner, D-Virginia. Four Democrats, three Republicans, including Rounds, and an independent are cosponsors. Rounds said in a news release the bill would “increase accountability […]

A sunrise silhouette of the entrance to the Wounded Knee Massacre memorial in South Dakota. (Getty Images)

Burn, bury or display: Tribal nations discuss how to treat stolen items from Wounded Knee victims

BY: - March 24, 2023

Cedric Broken Nose stopped his van every hundred or so miles in a cross country trek from Massachusetts to South Dakota last November. He’d get out and circle the vehicle in an empty parking lot, smudging sacred herbs and praying as curious bystanders looked on. The stops added hours to his two-and-a-half day journey, but […]

Daughter-mother duo Marcella Gilbert and Madonna Thunder Hawk (left to right) pose for a photo for the "Warrior Women" documentary film. (Courtesy of Castle King LLC)

Mission of Wounded Knee activists continues 50 years later with children, grandchildren

BY: - February 27, 2023

The world had largely forgotten about Native American people by the early 1970s, said Marcella Gilbert. Native populations had been decimated by disease and colonization; their sprawling homeland where ancestors had roamed was splintered into reservations. The Lakota language was nearly extinct and practicing the Lakota religion was illegal. “People across the world didn’t even […]

COMMENTARY
A sunrise silhouette of the entrance to the Wounded Knee Massacre memorial in South Dakota. (Getty Images)

Success brings Rounds an opportunity on Wounded Knee medals

BY: - January 13, 2023

Senator Mike Rounds deserves praise for his recent repeal of laws that discriminated against Native Americans. There’s a related issue he should consider next: the medals awarded for the Wounded Knee Massacre. Rounds, a Republican from South Dakota, has momentum on Native American legislation from the passage of his bill that wiped away 11 egregious […]