Facebook Twitter Email
MONDAY, MARCH 17, 2003

The Sioux Falls Argus Leader ran a special Sunday section on the 1973 occupation of Wounded Knee on the Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota.

Siege was wake-up call
The occupation began on February 28, 1973, without much of a plan, participants recalled. Lakota elders chose Wounded Knee because it was the site of a 1890 massacre by the U.S. Army and pushed American Indian Movement (AIM) members, who had been called to the reservation to protest tribal and federal corruption, to act, the participants said.

"I am totally amazed at what we did without any plans, without any big strategy," Madonna Thunder Hawk told the paper, "and I think that is what indigenous struggles are around the world. When you are struggling for your land, it is automatic."

Get the Story:
Siege was wake-up call for a culture (The Sioux Falls Argus Leader 3/16)

One minute calm, the next chaos
Despite the lack of organization, lack of food, frequent gunfights and deaths, the 71-day occupation was not always somber. Fresh off the take-over of the old Bureau of Indian Affairs building in Washington, D.C., AIM members said there was a sense of camaraderie and spirit.

"To be truthful, it is the only time I knew what freedom was all about," Clyde Bellecourt said.

Federal officials recalled the tension between the two camps. But Stan Pottinger, a federal negotiator said, "there was a sense we were all in this country together."

One minute calm, the next chaos (The Sioux Falls Argus Leader 3/16)

Looking Back
What has changed? According to some, not much. Of the list of demands presented, almost none have been realized.

Others say yes. "It showed the world we weren't going to waltz into mainstream society and everything wasn't all right," said Wilmer Mesteth, a teacher on the reservation who is passing on the Lakota language to a new generation.

Get the Story:
Educator works to preserve Lakota language and, in essence, a culture (The Sioux Falls Argus Leader 3/16)
Change for the better is slow - but it is happening (The Sioux Falls Argus Leader 3/16)

Looking Forward
Today, there are still challenges facing tribal members. Young Lakota live in two worlds but many on the reservation consider education to be a key to ensuring future success.

"A lot of things have to change here," said a Paul Plume, 18. "We're still split. We're still in the big fight we were in 30 years ago. AIM is gone, and GOON is gone, but the families are still here. It's hard to forget and harder to forgive. Relationships have to mend here before we can start with everything else."

Get the Story:
Teen hopes to return to reservation with degree, answers to problems (The Sioux Falls Argus Leader 3/16)

More Stories:
Taking stock of a bittersweet legacy (The Sioux Falls Argus Leader 3/16)
Editorial: 30 years after Wounded Knee (The Sioux Falls Argus Leader 3/16)
Where are they now? (The Sioux Falls Argus Leader 3/16)

Relevant Links:
The Occupation of Wounded Knee - http://www.msnbc.com/Onair/msnbc/
TimeAndAgain/archive/wknee/1973.asp

Related Stories:
Wounded Knee occupation of '73 remembered (02/28)
Pine Ridge 'death list' still scrutinized (2/27)
Events mark 30th anniversary of Wounded Knee (2/26)
Pine Ridge remembers Wounded Knee 1973 (2/24)