We, the undersigned, strongly oppose plans to sell and further desecrate this sacred ground at Pine Ridge next to Wounded Knee.
Writing for the Guardian, Dana Lone Hill points out that the price the white landowner is calling for is outrageous and is exploiting the historic significance as well as the horrific slaughter that occurred at Wounded Knee. Hill points out that if a tribe member were to sell that same amount of land back to the tribe it would be worth only $7,000, and others have estimated a value no higher than 12,000, as the land is not arable.
The entire site, instead, should be a monument to what many see as the holocaust that occurred there.
Though tribe members are split on how the land should be used, they all protest the ultimatum given them by the seller. And while some would allow the use of land by a business as repulsive as a horse slaughterhouse, they are mainly motivated by the need to help alleviate the shameful and severe poverty that the tribes have dealt with for decades.
Our Native Americans should not have to face this kind of predicament. Instead the federal and state governments should step in and create a national monument for Wounded Knee or a Holocaust Museum, as others have suggested - and/or allow the option of purchase under eminent domain.
Hill says that whatever happens, Wounded Knee should be honored in a way that befits the tragedy that occurred there. “We must not forget,” she says, “that women and children were chased down and shot to death in the snow on this land.”
We request that the Federal Government intervene and properly honor those who died at these sites and their historical significance - most certainly ban the building of a horse slaughterhouse at Pine Ridge.
Thanks for your time.
By signing, you accept Care2's Terms of Service.
You can unsub at any time here.
Having problems signing this? Let us know.