Bury my heart at Wounded Knee

[Mind_your_head]

[stuball111]

1. Great Story... very sad

I read it...made me sick...and angry

[EFerrari]

2. That was the book I took with me when my husband and I took our two

sons, 6&8, camping for a month. I will always associate those stories with the light from the Coleman lamp, the hard ground and the sound of the Big Outside. Such hard stories but still one of my favorite books. Dee Brown.

[MissHoneychurch]

3. One of the saddest books I've ever read

it made me very angry at the white race. How they thought (and partly still think) they are better than everybody else. I just can't understand it. Neither their behavior back then nor their behavior nowadays. It makes me sick.

[Mind_your_head]

4. True@one of the saddest books ever read.

Please don't let this disway you from reading this AWFULLY BEAUTIFUL book.

Touch your humanity, if you dare. READ this.

[EFerrari]

5. Good morning, MissHoneyChurch.

I remember feeling anger and sadness but mostly, feeling grateful someone wrote it down.

[cali]

9. I think it's sad that that's what you took away from it.

anger at a race. It makes me sick that anyone here thinks in such broad brush terms.

[MissHoneychurch]

12. I am white myself

and the arrogance by the white race just makes me sick. And yes, I stand to it. Of course not all white people but over the centuries this race stands out to behave superior towards other races. Just look how they behaved in both Americas, in Africa, in Australia .... don't tell me I am not allowed to be very upset over this history.

[cali]

17. so what if you're white. what makes me sick is bigoted crap

and broad brush smears. Oh, and I didn't tell you to not be upset.

[spiritsong13]

6. It is definitely an awesome book.

It tells the story from the perspective of the Native Americans. It is sad to see how much the white men, some whom we consider to be great leaders, literally tried to eliminate the Native Americans from the face of the earth. Not many people know about how our government forced them to send their children, (more like took their children from them), to boarding schools where they were not allowed to use their native languages, changed their names to try to eliminate their connections with their past as well as forcing them to become Christians.

THE SADDEST PART OF IT ALL IS THAT IT CONTINUED UNTIL THE 1960's!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

For some beautiful reading try the book by BEAR HEART called "The Wind Is My Mother". It's a great book that teaches us a little bit about living within the Circle Of Life and how to live in harmony with the world around you.

[dipsydoodle]

7. I was a mixture of 1st and 2nd options

but knew the subject to which it would relate. I'd say in general that outside of the USA our initial knowledge of such matters was kick started by Soldier Blue back in the 70's. Since then documentaries such as Ken Burn's The West have spread the word.

I know there's a film with the same title but that apparently only covers the last two chapters of the book. There's also a 4 hour DVD set : The Great Indian Wars 1540-1890 which I'm guessing may be more comprehensive than Burn's saga. I'm more into documentaries anyway and ordered The Great Indian Wars 1540-1890 and The West from Amazon UK while writing this. The way I look at it is the more I can learn the easier it becomes to discuss the subject with others.

Thanks for posting. :thumbsup:

[cali]

8. Do you know where the phrase comes from?

Most people here, I imagine, are aware of what happened. I wonder how many people know where the phrase "Bury my heart at Wounded knee" originated?

[DemocratSinceBirth]

11. I'll Give It A Shot Af 5:31 A,M.

It was the Native Americans' last stand after they were truly broken and living on a reservation (Wounded Knee) . The U S Army had killed Sitting Bull who was in captivity*. This sparked a protest among the Native Americans at the reservation. They went into their ritualistic "Ghost Dance" where they started ululating in the hope they would resurrect their ancestors to free them. This alarmed the Army members and they started shooting at them... It's just so sad...



*The odd thing was that Sitting Bull had already began working with the U S government and had accepted his fate and was trying to cut the best deal possible for his people...



on edit- I mixed upSitting Bull with Geronimo.

[cherokeeprogressive]

13. Just words from another white man who wasn't brave enough to speak the truth about what

was happening to Indians in the context of treaties made with the people of the First Nations and the propensity of white men to lie to get what they wanted.

"I shall not be here/I shall rise and pass/Bury my heart at Wounded Knee,"

Your point?

[cali]

16. just a little literary factoid

and I agree that he was clueless about the treatment of native americans, but I don't attribute that to his race. And I don't think his cluelessness had anything to do with lack of bravery. Oh, and sorry, I don't put native Americans as a group in some holy place because of what they suffered, anymore than I put Jews on some pedestal because of what they suffered, or women or any other group.

[eShirl]

10. Have not read it yet, but I've read "Black Elk Speaks" a few times

and I highly recommend it.

(I see there is a new, annotated edition out now: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/product-description/1438425406/ref=dp_proddesc_0?ie=UTF8&n=283155&s=books

From the Back Cover
"Black Elk Speaks is widely hailed as a religious classic, one of the best spiritual books of the modern era and the bestselling book of all time by an American Indian. This inspirational and unfailingly powerful story reveals the life and visions of the Lakota healer Nicholas Black Elk (1863-1950) and the tragic history of his Sioux people during the epic closing decades of the Old West. In 1930, the aging Black Elk met a kindred spirit, the famed poet, writer, and critic John G. Neihardt (1881-1973) on the Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota. The Lakota elder chose Neihardt to share his visions and life with the world. Neihardt understood and today Black Elk is known to all.

"Black Elk's remarkable great vision came to him during a time of decimation and loss, when outsiders were stealing the Lakotas' land, slaughtering buffalo, and threatening their age-old way of life. As Black Elk remembers all too well, the Lakotas, led by such legendary men as Crazy Horse and Sitting Bull, fought unceasingly for their freedom, winning a world-renowned victory at the Little Bighorn and suffering unspeakable losses at Wounded Knee.

"Black Elk Speaks however is more than the epic history of a valiant Native nation. It is beloved as a spiritual classic because of John Neihardt's sensitivity to Black Elk's resounding vision of the wholeness of earth, her creatures, and all of humanity. Black Elk Speaks is a once-in-a-lifetime read: the moving story of a young Lakota boy before the reservation years, the unforgettable history of an American Indian nation, and an enduring spiritual message for us all.

"The premier edition features the first-ever annotated edition of Black Elk's story, done by renowned Lakota scholar Raymond J. DeMallie, the original Standing Bear illustrations and new commentary on them, new maps of the world of Black Elk Speaks, and a revised index.")

[pecwae]

15. BES is a book I reread often.

It's one of those books one learns something new on each reread.

[laylah]

14. I read it while on

vacation up north with my parents in 1975. At one point, we were driving through the Fon du Lac Reservation and I saw numerous real estate signs for land sales. A WTF moment for me, for sure. The book still haunts me. What the white man has done, and still does to some extent, to the Native Americans, never ceases to make me angry and sad.

Just an FYI, ALL treaties made with the Native Americans have been broken in some fashion :mad: Those treaties numbered over 370! http://www.geocities.com/Athens/6979/treaties.html

[Liberal In Texas]

18. Buffy Sainte Marie - "Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eTmvrHoyMZ8

Indian legislation's on the desk of a do-right Congressman
Now, he don't know much about the issue
So he picks up the phone and he asks advice from the
Senator out in Indian country
A darling of the energy companies who are
Ripping off what's left of the reservations. HUH.

I learned a safety rule
I don't know who to thank
Don't stand between the reservation
And the corporate bank
They'll send in federal tanks
It isn't nice but it's reality

Bury my heart at Wounded Knee
Deep in the Earth
Cover me with pretty lies
Bury my heart at Wounded Knee. Huh.

They got these energy companies who want the land
And they've got churches by the dozens
Want to guide our hands
And sign Mother Earth over to pollution, war and greed
Get rich... get rich quick.

Bury my heart at Wounded Knee
Deep in the Earth
Cover me with pretty lies
Bury my heart at Wounded Knee. Huh.

We get the federal marshals
We get the covert spies
We get the liars by the fire
And we get the FBIs
They lie in court and get nailed
And still Peltier goes off to jail

more at link...

One of my all-time favorite songs.

[G_j]

21. mine too! nt

[malaise]

19. I wept like a child when I first read that

book.

[TorchTheWitch]

20. one of the best books I ever read

Cried through the whole thing.