Chasing Crazy Horse: A Wasichu Interpretation of the Lakota Tragedy

Contents

I. INTRODUCTION

II. CRAZY HORSE

III. LAKOTA HISTORY

IV. END OF THE LINE

V. DEATH OF CRAZY HORSE

VI. DEATH OF SITTING BULL

VII. WOUNDED KNEE

VIII. THE LEGACY OF CHIEF JOSEPH

Part II

IX. LAKOTA TODAY

X. LAKOTA REVITALIZING

XI. RESTORATION — CONSERVATION

XII. CHRISTIANITY AND TRIBAL RELIGIONS

CHAPTER XIII: THINK BIG

XIV. FINAL WORD OF GRATITUDE AND ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

CHASING CRAZY HORSE

A Wasichu Interpretation

of the Lakota Tragedy

By John O. Hunter

Copyright by John O. Hunter, 2012

Note on subtitle: I am aware that wasichu is not a flattering term. It is usually used in a context of Indian exploitation, which by no means defines my interest in the Lakota. I also am aware, however, that simply being a white man may inhibit my understanding and that there is a difference between my experience as an observer/writer and authentic Lakota experience. In this sense wasichu is a convenient word for respecting the difference. JOH

Dedicated to Lakota & Cheyenne Young People The Hope and Glory of a New Frontier

If we are surrounded often by evidence of degeneration, of egotism, of shallowness, of rudeness and ill manners, of all that can make life torment, so it is all the more important that we should seek out examples of depth of character, of kindness, of devotion to duty, of sacrifice in honorable action.—Theodore Dalrymple

Hoka Hey! Come on, my friends, it’s a good time to die!—Crazy Horse

CHASING CRAZY HORSE

A Wasichu Interpretation

of the Lakota Tragedy

I. INTRODUCTION

WE all know Christopher Columbus: He discovered America. Relatively few Americans know Bartolome de las Casas, and that’s a shame. It is another piece of the ignorance that afflicts our understanding of the real American story.

Las Casas and Columbus are two pillars of the dialectical struggle for the soul of our country at its very beginning. They are representatives of the light and the dark in the discovery of America. Columbus represents the onset of exploitation of the continent for material wealth which became a brutal, lawless and depraved championship of greed justified by the assumption of unquestioned superiority and entitlement by rightful cause.

Las Casas was a young Dominican priest enlisted for the new world conquest. He witnessed first-hand atrocities and abuses that were so shocking to him as to cause his conversion to a path of advocacy for the Indians. He saw clearly the mortal sins being committed against them and courageously stood up in the face of angry authority to proclaim their innocence and the violation of the justice God intended for all of His children.

One day he saw 3000 natives beheaded, raped and dismembered, depravity which he could not have imagined. Such inhumanities and barbarisms were committed in my sight, he said, as no age can parallel… The soldiers cut off the legs of children who ran from them. They poured people full of boiling soap. They made bets as to who, with one sweep of his sword could cut a person in half. They loosed dogs that devoured an Indian like a hog in less than a moment. They used nursing infants for dog food… a continuous recreational slaughter. (Barry Lopez)

There are plenty of such horrific descriptions throughout the history of the settlement of the new continent, and if it were a question of pinning blame on the perpetrators, there would be as many candidates among the Indians as among the Euro Americans. But it is only fair to say that the standards of genocide were established by the latter. This has become almost a cliche; nonetheless it is the truth. From the Puritans on through to western settlement, genocidal acts against Indians in the way were a common part of the new world experience. When they responded in kind they were condemned as less than human.

In the westward expansion, there were some homesteaders following the Protestant Ethic who wanted only the opportunity to settle and raise their families, and it may be so that they became the backbone of the country. But there was already a strong ethical backbone in the country that had to be rooted out in order to make way for the new people, and that was done mercilessly and without regard to the holiness and naturalbeauty of the land claimed.

We may credibly claim that the USA is a gloriously prosperous nation that has developed an exemplary form of government reflecting immutable principles of liberty and justice, but there is also a dark stain on the historical record of constant betrayal stretching from the Columbian period and lasting even to the present day. What is most remarkable about this national experience is that those people who were most betrayed, the American Indians, have forgiven so much and have contributed so much to this nation.

The lifelong pursuit by Las Casas for just treatment of the Indians is part of the long, difficult but upward trend for human rights in general. It began in the 1500s with debate on the question of whether Indians were really human. The argument against Indians as human was connected to a doctrine of vacuum domcillium which means empty land—simply enough, if there were no humans on the land it was up for grabs.

Ultimately, in his time, Las Casas was successful in his lobbying efforts to convince the King and Church that the Indians were truly human and capable of receiving the faith and that they were not to be deprived of their liberty or property. New Laws were adopted that abolished Indian slavery. Yet these victories were partial at best and did not weaken the hatred and persecution that persisted despite the institutional gains of liberty and justice.

If it is hard for us to believe the Las Casas description of evil, there is lots of evidence over the five centuries since that it continued as our manifest destiny unfolded. When Europeans first stepped on the North American continent, there were over 500 Indian tribes, some nomadic, some not, living there as they had for over 5000 years.

It is difficult to describe the concept of a tribe in precise terms, but generally speaking, they are distinctive cultures speaking a common language. A band is easier to understand; for example, Crazy Horse belonged to the Hunkpati-la band of Oglala tribe, one of the tribes—seven council fires—of the Lakota Oyate (people). No more could these various tribes and bands be homogenized than could the nation-states of Europe.

Yet in their Eurocentric view those intrepid explorers and conquerors could not see the Indians as a people with their own dignity and integrity and their own histories. Rather, they were merely obstacles to the march of civilization. Even George Washington, who was sympathetic to the plight of the Indians, wanted to put them on reservations so that they could be civilized.

That blindness to the other proved to be an affliction to both the Indians and the Euro Americans. The U. S. Government and the Army wanted to think of the Indians as one nation. They were always seeking to find a single representative for negotiations. This inexplicable behavior of regarding all Indians as somehow the same was a major impediment to any strategy of finding peace. For the Indians it propelled tragedyupon tragedy.

The term Indian, or American Indian, is common usage, but it is derided by academics who prefer the term, Native American, and so the latter is used in most academic texts. I give scholars their dues, but I prefer American Indian, which I notice is also the preference of Lakotas I know. It is also preferred by a brilliant young Indian writer, Sherman Alexie, who writes, Thesis: I have never met a Native American. Thesis repeated: I have met thousands of Indians. A similar view is taken even more sharply by Russell Means and other leaders of the AIM movement. Perhaps it doesn’t matter much, but I have decided to stick with them. I am not an authority.

There were over 900 treaties and agreements negotiated with the Indian tribes; only 377 were ratified and most of those were amended or broken. To make peace with the Indians, but mainly to obtain their lands, these treaties and agreements set up (or abolished) tribal forms of government, intertribal agreements, agreements with other countries, even with railroads and towns. The U.S. Government insisted on cooperation, but there was virtually no respect for Indian sovereignty in exchange. Treaties were not a grant of rights to Indians but a grant of rights from them. And seldom did they know the exact terms.

I will focus primarily on the tragedy of the La-kota (Sioux) Indians in the brief period of the 19th century when extermination—of the Buffalo, the jaguar, the carrier pigeon, other splendid species—ran amok along with a steady dispossession of the very people who could have shown the way to a balanced, more environmentally sound advancement.

It may be argued that the extinction of some species is a natural phenomenon, but this cannot be said about the wholesale slaughter of the buffalo, as one example of the mindless carnage that had such devastating impact on the society and culture of the Plains Indians.

At the beginning of the 19th century, herds of buffalo stretched across the plains as far as the eye could see. The numbers were truly countless, and the Indians thought that it would be impossible for the buffalo ever to disappear.

I visited the Wichita Mountains in Oklahoma where herds of buffalo have been reintroduced. Driving at night I pulled up alongside a big buffalo bull lying in a small ditch about ten feet below me. After much coaxing and yelling he finally stood up, and I was amazed at his bulk. It was a huge animal that must have weighed a ton. I did not wait for him to show any real interest in me because I knew he could have been up the hill in a flash; a bull buffalo can run as fast as a horse. When a herd stampeded the earth rumbled.

It is also difficult for a wasichu to describe, let alone fully appreciate, the reverence that the Indians had, and many still have, for the Buffalo, which had an essential role in the development of American Indian culture and economic relationships. "The history of the Buffalo nation and the Lakota nation is so intertwined as to be almost

c. Justin Kral/Shutterstock Image

indistinguishable.’’ (Karlene Hunter)

The Buffalo provided the Indians with everything they needed, including plenty of buffalo chips—sun-dried dung that burned slowly, produced a hot fire, and was ideal for cooking. Every part of the animal was used. It was a sacred animal that deserved the reverence of a buffalo dance before the hunt, and after a successful hunt there would be a great feast with honors given to the hunters and the buffalo. A medicine man gave thanks to the Buffalo for giving his meat to the people. Sometimes ceremonial dances would go on for days. A single fat buffalo gave enough meat to feed 100 people.

In the 1800s, the Indians used horses to hunt, but buffalo hunts on foot had been going on for thousands of years. The hunt was the central focus of tribal activity and much tradition had been built up around it. Young braves were trained to use their bows and to ride furiously for the honor of killing a buffalo. It was also very dangerous; many hunters were killed or maimed as their ponies pulled alongside the buffalo for a killing shot. Horse, man and buffalo became one. (David