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Wounded KneeBy VVAWThe Six Nations Iroquois Confederacy, stands in support of our brothers at Wounded Knee. We find it deplorable that the Native Americans have to risk their very lifes to focus attention on the terrible conditions of our people in this country. We cite the poor health conditions, education, welfare, illegal drafting of our people, and the utter disregard for the treaties that we have paid for with our lives as examples of these conditions. The issues are national and international, the honor and credibility of the United States is at stake. You should be concerned, all of the peole of the United States should be concerned, the President of the United States should be concerned. And further, he should make a statement to that effect. Native Americans should be the top priority of this nation. We number less than one percent of this country's population: now why is it so hard to take care of the obligations to our people that have been promised and promised and promised. The people at Wounded Knee are making a statement. The question is not what damage or destruction of property has occurred, but why it becomes necessary for our people to have to resort to such extremes to gain some recognition of our desperate situation. We are a free people. The very dust of our ancestors is steep in our tradition. This is the greatest gift we gave you, the concept of freedom. You did not have this.. now that you have taken it and built a constitution and country around it, you deny freedom to us. There must be some one among you who is concerned for us and if not for us, at least for the honor of your country. In 1976, you are going to have a birthday party proclaiming 200 years of democracy, a hypocritical action. The people of the world would find this laughable. The solution is simple: be honest, be fair, honor the commitments made by the founding fathers of your country. We are an honorable people... can you say the same? You are concerned for the destruction of property at the BIA building and at Wounded Knee. Where is your concern for the destruction of our people, for human lives? Thousands of Pequots, Narragansetts, Mohicans, thousands of Cherokees of the Trail of Tears, Black Hawk's people, Chief Joseph's people, Captain Jack's people, the Navajos, the Apaches, Sand Creek massacre, huddled under an American flag seeking the protection of a promise, Big Foot's people at Wounded Knee. When will you cease your violence against our people. Where is your concern for us? What about the destruction of our properties? The thousands of square acres of land, inundated by dams built upon our properties, the raping of the Hopi and Navajo territories by the Peabody strip mining operations, timber cutting, power companies, water pollution and so on. Where is your concern for these properties? The balance of the ledger is up to you. Compare the property damage of the BIA and Wounded Knee against the terrible record and tell us we are wrong for wanting redress. We ask for justice, and not from the muzzle of an M-16 rifle. Now what is to occur? Put your energies and money now being used for the suppression of Indian people at Wounded Knee into a real effort to understand why they are there. And begin here in the Capitol through an investigation of the BIA, and of government's policies dealing with our most urgent needs. Reaffirm and respect the treaties entered into between our two peoples. Put your house in order with respect to our people, so that we may continue to coexist in peace and friendship as our grandfathers and their grandfathers before them tried so hard to do. Show us you are sincere and remember the Creator loves all his people and favors none above the other. We have not asked you to give up your religions and beliefs for ours. We have not asked you to give up your language for ours. We have not asked you to give up your ways of life for ours. We have not asked you to give up your government for ours. We have not asked you to give up your territories to us. Why can you not afford us the same respect? For your children learn from watching their elders, and if you want your children to do what is right, then it is up to you to set up the example. This is all we have to say at this moment. Oneh, Whether or not an agreement has been or will be reached at Wounded Knee, the American people again may find themselves with a battle resolved but a war not over. VVAW thinks it is important for all of America to see the reasons behind Wounded Knee, as America must seek out the reasons behind the Vietnam War. VAVW takes special interest because we can see the roots of the Vietnam war in the way the United States has treated the oldest civilized people in this country - the American Indian. The same acts of terror and murder we committed against he Indochinese people were first carried out against the Indian people over one hundred years ago. How do we see it? For over three hundred years, the 'white man' has been engaged in separating the American Indians from their land and their freedom. There have been a few dissenting voices calling on the larger public to stop this genocide, but the forces of institutionalized racism and economic exploitation have nearly won out. The Indian's plight is the result of official government policy documented in papers taken from the Bureau of Indian Affairs by militant Indians last November. However, these papers had about as much policy changing impact as the Pentagon Papers. The Indians didn't always resist the white man's encroachment and when they did it was too late. They fought bravely and died honorably but they were always forced into submission. And finally , after three hundred years of broken treaties, and false promises, and three hundred years of trying to break the Indian's spirit, dismantle their culture, steal their land and integrate them into 'our' society; the country has come to Wounded Knee. The residents of Wounded Knee were forced to make a decision. That is, to continue to live in increasing poverty, while watching more and more of their land lost to the rich white ranchers; more and more of their children leave the reservation for the army or the cities, looking for dignity and means of support; more and more of their heritage disappears with the death of each elder; more and more of their men imprisoned by the whites or by alcohol; ro else they could make a stand. The choice was clearly simple - fight for their human rights, their dignity, their freedom, and not to be overlooked, their legal rights, and quite possibly die fighting, or lay back and let the destruction of their cultures and their people be completed. Thus the decision by the local Oglala Souix to invite AIM to their reservation and have a showdown. The Indians don't want words; they've had plenty of those. They want what the treaties say is theirs: control over their own lives, their own culture, their own land, and their own future. The government on the other hand, wants control. Control over people, and profits at home and abroad. When power and profit are a system's values and motivating forces, there can be no room for conflicting, sentimental, spiritual, or other human values. To increase the GNP, industry needs resources, and they will go to any lengths to obtain them, be it stealing from the Indians or murdering the Vietnamese. Now, American may want to quietly forget the month-long siege at Wounded Knee, but Indians everywhere have clearly given notice to the United States; they will no longer wait for benevolent words form the 'Great White Father'. They will act again and again until they obtain true self-determination and freedom; or they will die. VVAW stands ready to support them where every they struggle, for that is what they have asked; no paternalism, no words, but support. The people at Wounded Knee are sending us a message. They are telling us that there comes a time when people - men and women - must stand and fight to create the kind of life that is worth living as human beings. There are certain basic human rights which when denied cannot be negotiated but must be taken. They need our help. There is still a long legal battle ahead. By sending food and money, by educating others about Wounded Knee, and by thinking about what was done as it relates to our own lives, that is how we can support the American Indian. We must, like them, develop the strength to respect our lives and what is necessary to resist becoming slaves of the state or of industry; to resist the rape of our land; and to think seriously about what are the qualities of human life and social community that are important, and fight to create a situation where they can be achieved. Any money or supplies should go to: WOUNDED KNEE
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