The Wounded Knee Massacre

Wounded knee is located on the Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota. South Dakota is home to the Sioux tribe and many of its counterparts including the Oglala, Rosebud, and the Yankton Sioux tribes. Wounded Knee, named after a creek on the reservation, was remembered as a place of much resentment, betrayal, of “the white man’s lies and promises,” and of lost hope because of the massacre that took place there in 1890. Eighty-three years later this same site would host a more controversial event that would change the course of history. This event is known as the Siege, or Occupation, of Wounded Knee. In late February of 1973, leaders from the American Indian Movement and Oglala Sioux members, sieged control of this area and remained in control …show more content…
It was the murder of Raymond Yellow Thunder. Yellow Thunder was a respected elder in the Sioux Tribe. In February of 1972, Yellow Thunder was found dead in his truck. Yellow Thunder had been beat to death by white racists and died of his wounds later the night of the attack. After being denied the ability to see his body, Yellow Thunder’s family reached out to members of the American Indian Movement (AIM) and asked for help. AIM had foraged a reputation for rounding up as many people as they could and demanding a response. They had also received nationwide attention through their occupation of the Bureau of Indian Affairs office and countless strikes, protests, and demonstrations. Within a week, AIM was responsible for the amassing of more than one-thousand four hundred Native Americans in the small town of Gordon, where the murder took place. The visitors conducted demonstrations, staged protests, organized economic boycotts and even convinced some people to take their money out of the city’s banks. The five individuals who were the cause of Yellow Thunder’s death were only charged with manslaughter and false imprisonment and were released on bonds of $6,250 each. This outraged the Native Americans and they demanded a second autopsy be …show more content…
The murder of Wesley Bad Heart Bull was one of those that further complicated the situation. Unlike, Yellow Thunder, Bad Heart Bull was a trouble maker. With nineteen arrests and assault charges, Bad Heart Bull was a force to be reckoned with. Darld Schmitz was arrested for Bad Hear Bull’s murder but was “out on a $5,000 bail after spending a single night in jail.” Little did the city officials know that a very violent riot was about to ensue. The violence got to be so bad that the riot squad released tear gas; that night many people were arrested, including Bad Heart Bull’s mother. The importance of this event is to show how much the events had escalated in the time range of less than a year. Native Americans were sick of having