I left Nebraska and headed to the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation to check out Wounded Knee, SD. As soon as I got onto the reservation it was like entering a third world country, not even exaggerating. I drove the fifteen miles to Wounded Knee and checked out the visitor’s center. The visitor’s center is a 30-foot circular building created by a guy on the reservation who wanted the truth told, basically there are a few people who live on the reservation who hang out there and tell stories about the culture. Inside is a collection of artifacts and photos from the massacre in 1890 and occupation in 1973. Little back-story for my interest… I took a Native American spirituality class at PLU and we studied the Lakota nation. The class read an autobiography by Mary Crowdog called Lakota Woman, she was a player in the Wounded Knee occupation in 1973. She gave birth to her son during the 71-day skirmish- a very good read.
Anyway, at the visitor center I met Olaha, a mother of three at 27 and finishing up a BA in Lakota Studies at Oglala Lakota College. Olaha’s parents were involved in the occupation at Wounded Knee in ‘73 and she was born just seven months after. We talked for about an hour about the occupation and life on the reservation. She described the reservation as lawless, full of drunks, high theft and arson, unsolved murders, and gang and family violence… but that was five years ago. Today Pine Ridge is cleaning up its act from the inside, and a lot of credit can go to Olaha’s family. They have worked to create safe havens for the children and bringing back the Lakota tradition that alcohol, drugs, tourism, greed, and lack of family values has distorted. Olaha practices many of the Lakota ceremonies I learned about in my class, her daughter recently received her Lakota name in one of the ceremonies. Her family also organizes traditional rides on holy trails that last up to five days with 200+ riders. She was extremely proud of her heritage, as she should be, and is very optimistic that the future Lakota generations will carry the tradition. Olaha believes the Lakota will become a strong united nation again now that the government is less oppressive to their way of life and the youth understand again what it means to be native. A great conversation.
I also drove through Badlands National Park and went to Mt. Rushmore today.
3 comments:
Hey Kel, so good to see you gazing at the big four.........Those were mighty men! If you just had a starbucks in your hand, this could all work out for you......in a very big way. Thanks for the phone call, blogs are great, but they can't beat your voice. HUGS.....MOM
Love reading of your travels Kelly...keep it up! Grammy, Jack and I, along with 5 other family members took the trip you've taken so far 4 years ago. We called it our trip to the "Holy Land" because Grammy calls North Dakota that. Your pictures bring back tons of memories, but we didn't have anything as fascinating as a cross country political activist! Way interesting. Jan
WOW! And here I thought the faces on Mt. Rushmore were Kelly Totten, Andrew Eisentrout, Robert Thomsen and Andy Holden! Thanks for clearing that up for me. Miss you like crazy and LOVE reading your blog! Thanks for ALL the amazing postcards--We're going to plot your travels on a map using your postcards--so keep it up--we love it!
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