The South Dakota State Senate unanimously passed a resolution to?open an?official?inquiry on the soldiers who?were?awarded the Medal of Honor for their participation in the genocide of?around 300 Native Americans.?
The Wounded Knee Massacre occurred in?1890?after a group of mostly Lakota elders, women?and?children – led by Chief Big Foot - were seeking refuge on the Pine Ridge Reservation when?they were deterred by the U.S.?Army’s?7th?Calvary?near Wounded Knee Creek. They were stripped of their weapons and?after a shot rang out, they were?eventually gunned down by the unit. Around 300 Naïve Americans were either injured or killed.?
20?U.S. Army Soldiers were awarded the Medal of Honor. Native Americans have opposed this recognition including?Remi Bald Eagle,?a 22-year?U.S. Army Combat Veteran who served in the Middle East.?
“For me personally, as a soldier, as a combat veteran, it's to, one, it gives a little bit more legitimacy to my service,” said Bald Eagle. “It is difficult for any Native American to love this country because of what we've been through, but we love this land, so we stand up for it, and we go to war for it.”?
Bald Eagle is the spokesperson and enrolled member of the Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe.?He says?this resolution is the first of many steps to honor those Native Americans who were massacred that fateful day?and to restore the?honor?of?the?Nation’s Highest?Honor of Valor.?
“I think the United States, like I said earlier, [the] United States prides itself on freedom, and being united, and liberty, and honesty, and integrity,” said Bald Eagle. “Awarding Medals of Honor for the massacre of women and children and babies is none of that. I think it's a statement to, not just the people of the United States, but the rest of the world, that we can step back and say, ‘We have wrongs, and we're going to make steps to right that wrong, because we have integrity.’"?
This resolution, according to Bald Eagle, may take decades of persistence for it to ultimately happen, but it’s a good first step in creating?a path to healing and understanding each other’s differences.?