Political Quotes

“Mr. Speaker, I thank the chair and the body for bringing up my bill, the Wounded Knee Massacre Memorial and Sacred Site Act, this afternoon. This is the greatest country in the history of the world, and when you are a country that is that great, it is important that you acknowledge your failures and that you try to do better in the future. As has been said, in December 1890, Chief Spotted Elk and his band of Lakota, which largely consisted of women and children, were headed from the Cheyenne River Indian Reservation to the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation. While they were en route, they were stopped by the Army's 7th Cavalry, and they were forced to make camp at Wounded Knee Creek. It was the next morning, December 29, 1890, that the 7th Cavalry began to disarm the Lakota. There was a struggle, a shot rang out, and before people realized it, there were hundreds of Lakota being massacred, the overwhelming majority of which were noncombatants, women and children. On the 100th anniversary of Wounded Knee, this body made a formal apology and expressed deep regret for what had happened that day. Another important step forward was in October of 2022 when the Oglala Sioux Tribe and the Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe jointly purchased that 40 acres that is the site of the 1890 massacre. This bill very simply places those 40 acres into restricted fee status, which is in essence putting it into trust.…”