Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee

Study of native cultures world over and the way many of them lost out to a dominant culture has one thing in common. Barbarism and deceit of the overbearing religions, namely Islam and Christianity. Until the advent of these two religions, there are very few examples of civilizations being wiped off by force. Yes, civilization do adapt, evolve and even transform over centuries. But Islam and Christianity turned natural evolution into forced acceptance, obviously with the use of force, deception and subversion. The focus of this post is the native American nations and their tragic story of their civilizational obscurity forced by the Christian Europe.

One of the outcomes of my reading Michael Punke's 'Revenant' and the corresponding brilliant movie starring De Caprio, was a renewed interest in the history of native inhabitants across the world. While Punke's work is known for its gripping story and narration, I was looking out for a more focussed work that recounted the disappearance of the native people from the American mainstream. A discussion on the plight of native americans in a online forum led me to works of John Myers, Britt Albert, HB Carrington, Henry Fritz etc.,'Bury My Heart at the Wounded Knee' by Dee Brown appealed most as it was the most comprehensive account of the period during which the natives lost not just their territory, but their entire civilization. My initial apprehension about it being an academic tome was confuted by the time I was through the first 2 chapters. I rate it as the best work on historiography of a peroid and of specific people I have read.

Atrocities of the early evangelists, Knights templars, maurauding early Islamic hoardes comitted upon the native people they converted wherever they set foot on, are brushed aside by contemporary historians and media by bracketing them as uncivilized age-old barbarism. However, it only continued in newer forms where gun replaced the sword, cartridge replaced the arrow and methodical infantry/army replaced unorganized 'barbaric' hordes. While we read about economic and industrial boom in Europe and America, rise of the Japan under Meiji, Germany under Bismarck, American civil war as part of world history in our schools, our syllabi nonchalantly missed an important chapter in history viz., the genocide of native americans whose timeline spread across several decades. What started as a systematic campaign in the 1820's to gain more territory for rail roads and settlements, by the time it ended during the 1890's, more than a million natives had lost their lives and those alive were confined to one small territory. People of the First nations to whom once the entire continent belonged to, were reduced to a mere 0.9% of the American population. The 3 decade period between 1860 and 1890 saw brutalities and massacres committed upon the native Americans by the 'civilized' Europeans never witnessed in their history and to the effect that they were left crippled as a civilization for ever.

In Dee Brown's own words the 30 year span between 1860 and 1890 'was an incredible era of violence, greed, audacity, sentimentality and undirected exuberance....'. This 'undirected exuberance' of the American establishment saw the annihilation of the Sioux, Dakotas, Tomahawks, the Navahos, Cheyennes, Apaches, Shawnees, Arapahos, Lakotas, Tetons, Kiowas, Comanches, and many other first nations. As a cruel reminder of their heinous act and as an act of mercy, the establishment named their military toys after these very nations whose people were ruthlessly slaughtered by the same military decades ago.

Dee Browns work initially seemed to be a chronicle of events with academic references but as I read through, it was impossible to put it down. The reason being, Brown's work is also a biography of many First nations, lifestory of their leaders, contemporary history of America and a saga of treachery, cruelty and violence perpetrated by the establishment itself. Several facts that have missed the mainstream education & media has been laid bare by Brown's work.

Follow the images which lays bare the machinations of the American administration, brutality of their infantry, nexus between the oil exploration firms, rail road corporations and the government in hoodwinking the gullible natives to cede their land in agreements that were never adhered to. The battle at the Wounded Knee resulted in the massacre of men, women and children at the hands of the American soldiers. Today America preaches 'human rights' to the world. Uness we 'reverse the gaze' we will contiunue to play second fiddle to them.

A Shawnee leader of his nation cries for his people. Note his comment on 'avarice and the oppression of the White Man'

This was how the White Man saw the native. Their only wish was that Indians offer no resistance, give up their lands. The other option was death!

While every native nation tried its best to go by what was agreed in various treaties, none of the treaties were adhered to by the American government itself. What followed was more bloodshed and loss of territory for the natives.

Whites did what they were best at. Kill! 'You cant agree with me, I kill you'. 'You wont obey me, I kill you; 'I cant stand you, I kill you' - The evolved white man!

Massacre of the native Americans by the American government troops with the sanction of the elected government. Democracy?

Fathom this: Apostle of human rights Abraham Lincoln ordered the execution of thirty-eight Dakota Indians for rebellion but never ordered the execution of Confederate officials or generals who were responsible for the massacre of the hundreds of Dakota men, women and even children. The American-Indian relationship was also a issue that even Abraham Lincoln neglected and many native american historians accuse him of being complicit in the ruthless expansion drive. In another instance, the Homestead Act and the Pacific Railway Act of 1862 signed into law by Lincoln, helped precipitate the construction of the transcontinental railroad, which led to the enormous loss of land, natural resources, as well as the loss of lifestyle and culture, for many native Americans. Human Rights under Lincoln anyone?

We who take pride in our ancient past have a lot to learn from the way the native American nations lost out to the dominant forces. The civilizational war is still on at various levels. We are fighting battles everyday. One hopes that we learn from the mistakes other native people committed and try not to repeat them.