by Jamison Maeda
In the winter of 1890, near the end of the North American Indian Wars, members of a band of Minneconjou and Hunkpapa Lakota were attacked and killed by the US Army in what is known as the Wounded Knee Massacre. Unarmed and in the process of surrendering, the Lakota people were
slaughtered by the United States Army’s 7th Cavalry. As many as 300 Native American men, women, and children lost their lives. The dead were thrown into a mass grave.
Following the massacre, 18 of the United States soldiers involved were awarded the Medal of Honor, the highest honor for members of the American military. But many do not consider the events at Wounded Knee heroic in the least. At the time, the Lakota were in the processes of surrendering and the weapons of many of those killed had been taken from them beforehand. Also, many of the women and children killed were fleeing to hide in a nearby ravine. Yet the reasons listed for awarding these Medals of Honor were “bravery” and “gallantry.” And it is on this point that Calvin Spotted Elk disagrees.
Today Calvin Spotted Elk is campaigning for those Medals of Honor awarded to the perpetrators of the Wounded Knee Massacre to be rescinded. He and other Lakota people, some of them descendants of those killed at Wounded Knee, believe that the metals awarded for the massacre are an insult to the Lakota people and a devaluation of worthy recipients.
Historically, numerous Medals of Honor have been rescinded in circumstances where the US Congress determined that it was given to someone who did not earn it. Calvin Spotted Elk and the supporters of his campaign believe those who received the medal for the Wounded Knee Massacre fit this description. Spotted Elk says “The award itself needs to represent true American values. Medals honoring an American massacre of Native people over a hundred years ago are a stain on that honor.”
Perpetuating a genocidal massacre as a “battle,” and teaching a version of history where the killers of unarmed women and children are heroes is absolutely wrong. Without an accurate understanding of the American Indian wars, and particularly their effect on modern day
Native Americans, how can we have any kind of accurate world view?
Please take a look at the petition to rescind the Medals of Honor for the perpetrators of the massacre at Wounded Knee. We have an opportunity today to say that we do not condone this historical massacre, and we will not accept the slaughter of innocent men, women, or children in the future.