"We are outraged by the remarks of National Republican Committee member Pat Rodgers to Governor Susanna Martinez’s staff that the Governor disrespected George Armstrong Custer by meeting with the Pueblo Indian tribal leaders.

First, General Custer was on a genocidal mission to rob our Lakota people of our treaty-protected lands when our Chiefs and warriors killed him and his command in self-defense. Prior to their demise, Custer and his men had just attacked our peaceful Lakota and Cheyenne village within our 1868 Treaty lands, killing mostly women and children.

Under International Law, we—the Lakota people—were acting within our rights to defend our women and children. Any expression of lament over Custer’s demise at this late date by political leaders is a racist statement made in disregard of our human rights. The statement also disregard’s the historical fact of Custer’s genocidal mission. To raise his demise today as a reason not to respect Indian tribes is truly misguided, astonishingly ignorant and contrary to our human rights."

Get the Story:
John Yellowbird Steele: President of Oglala Sioux Responds to Pat Rodgers’s Custer Remark (Indian Country Today 8/31)