Start your day with intelligence. Get The OODA Daily Pulse.
Johnson Holy Rock speaks with the composure of a history teacher as he points to a map and describes the events leading to the massacre of American Indians 112 years ago at Wounded Knee. But there is no mistaking Holy Rock’s feelings when the subject shifts to a standoff between Indians and the government more than 80 years later. On Feb. 27, 1973, a group of armed American Indian Movement members occupied Wounded Knee — population 60 — to protest living conditions and the federal government’s violation of treaties. Dissidents also wanted to unseat then-tribal President Richard Wilson. The standoff ended 71 days later with the deaths of two Indians and the wounding of several federal agents. Holy Rock, an 84-year-old Oglala Sioux Tribal Council member, said the American Indian Movement should not have engaged in gunplay. “If they wanted to resist, they should have come to the right door without violence,” he said. Full Story