So I think it’s about time to give closure to my experience at Pine Ridge (from about six months ago) and post about it. It seems a world away now, like a vague dream, but one that profoundly affected my academics, the way I see America and my own sense of home and post-undergrad possibilities.
Arriving at Rapid City Airport in South Dakota, I was met with the state’s tourism and development advertisements. I was really curious to see how the state framed tourism and development in lieu of its obviously displaced Lakota demographic. I was pleased to see a large Indian statue at the entrance to the gift shop and an advertisement meant to lure white families to South Dakota as a “career opportunity” awaited them. I couldn’t help but think back to PBS’ The West series and how, well…nothing has changed. The same lure and the same ignorance.
This is not an easy conclusion to come to, mind you. I recognize South Dakota as a U.S. state, etc. It’s 2009, I know. But the irony is unmistakable and I’d be less jarred if I hadn’t been studying westward expansion for the past few months.
Moving on…
Tom McCann of Re-Member picked me up at the airport and we drove the hour and a half or so to Pine Ridge. The Badlands are incredible — seeing small oddly shaped mountains striated with the memories of a prehistoric inland ocean really changes your worldview (especially if you’re an East Coaster). They provided me with an in-between space/time in which to adjust — and not just to the time zone difference.
Pine Ridge Reservation, which is the size of Connecticut, is a separate entity from South Dakota with its own government. Since its inception, the Lakota oyate (nation) has been embroiled in reparations suits with the U.S. government over broken treaty agreements that made the Black HIlls and former reservation areas into domains for white settlers and miners. Not a single treaty made with the Lakota people has ever been kept.
Re-Member is a phenomenal outreach program on the Lakota reservation that distinguishes itself from others partly due to its strong non-proselytizing stance. Over one week periods, it engages its volunteers Lakota and Pine Ridge history, cultural programming, race/ethnicity/class deconstruction work, and housing projects.
Our first outing was to Wounded Knee, a gravesite where the casualties of the 1890 massacre were pretty much dumped into a big hole. It is still used as a cemetery today and our last day on the Reservation, a caravan of funeral cars was making its way up the hill. Nearly 300 Lakotas were murdered there and the event is, of course, something that will never be forgotten. But more than that, it is an indent in the lives of all Lakota people on the Reservation, if not a hole. The tangibility of communal trauma cannot be understated.
It’s important to note that the sign at Wounded Knee has the word “Massacre” bolted over the word “Battle”, as that is how the event is officially recognized in the United States (despite the fact that about 300 Lakota people were stripped of their weapons and brutally slaughtered en masse).
I took some images and footage of the Wounded Knee site and the Badlands in hopes that it might find a way into my Division 3 (more on that later).
My group’s housing project was focused on that of Robert Bear Killer, who lived about an hour away from Re-Member’s site. In about three days, we added paint, insulation, walls, electricity, and plumbing to a shell of a house that had been started about 6 years ago. Visible in the background was Robert’s deceased uncle’s burned down home from many years previous.
Every morning, our day started off with “Wisdom of the Elders,” a talk that blended Lakota history, world social ills, and wisdom from indigenous leaders the world over. It was an awesome bonding experience that got everyone on the same page as to our purpose each day. In the evenings, we were privileged with the presence of Lakota artists and speakers who’d share with us both their life stories and information about the work they do in their own communities on the Reservation. Most notable of these for me was Minerva Blacksmith, a medicine person who I spoke to after her talk about answering Spirit’s call. “You have to come to Spirit like I tell the children. You have to come to Spirit like an empty cup ready to be filled.” Another important speaker for me was Lawrence Swallow, a Lakota musician and medicine person who told us the Lakota creation story and of his efforts to engage youth in his community in traditional spiritual reclamation.
The week ended with a tour of Red Cloud Elementary School, Oglala Lakota College, and some areas of the Badlands. We dined at the house of a descendant of Black Elk’s at the very spot where John Neihardt transcribed Black Elk Speaks. Time moves differently on Pine Ridge and I find myself checking in every so often on Kili Radio, the “voice of the Lakota Nation.”
Being there, it’s incredibly evident as to why a people would not budge from the land despite numerous offers of monetary reparations by the U.S. government. It’s beautiful with a very unique character that is both foreign to an East Coaster like myself and immensely drawing. I will be back someday and am eternally grateful for the gift of that experience.
“Mitakuye Oyasin”
All My Relations
