(Neb)-Senate Bill Would Rescind Wounded Knee Medals Of Honor

[frogmarch]

https://www.chadrad.com/newsstory.cfm?story=45930

Two Democratic U-S senators plan to introduce a companion bill to a House measure to revoke the Medals of Honor awarded to soldiers who participated in the 1890 Wounded Knee massacre on the Pine Ridge Reservation.

WASHINGTON, D.C. (AP) - Medals of Honor were given to 20 members of the 7th Cavalry for the massacre that killed an estimated 250 Native Americans, many of whom were women and children.

Senators Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts and Jeff Merkley of Oregon announced Wednesday they will sponsor the Remove the Stain Act, first introduced in the House by members of both parties - Democrats Denny Heck of Washington and Deb Haaland of New Mexico and Republican Paul Cook of California.

South Dakota Republican Senator and former governor Mike Rounds has said he does not support the effort because "we're now guessing" about the roles of individual soldiers.

for everyone named in the article but Rounds, that POS.

[democratisphere]

1. The whole GD country is falling apart and THIS is how Senators spend their time?

Do something of substance to improve the lives of Native Americans living NOW!

[Sneederbunk]

2. +100

[vapor2]

3. I agree and

Senators totally need to move on and address the shit that trump is destroying. We need to stop being prisoners of the past.

[Wednesdays]

10. I know, right?

It's like those senators think they could do two things at once, like walk and chew gum, ya know?

[efhmc]

20. You made my point with some humor.

[stopdiggin]

4. WOW. Well this thread went off in a different direction! (nt)

[frogmarch]

5. It sure did, as so many do.

Sickening.

[stopdiggin]

6. I was going to do a little "splaining"

then decided, "oh, hell .. let em' run with it"
Thanks for your OP. I got it.

[Evolve Dammit]

7. This would be an historic step in acknowledging our history books are largegly white propoganda

Howard Zinn should be the required reading.

[Judi Lynn]

11. He probably will be very widely read if the nation gets saner, more conscientious. n/t

[bitterross]

8. What a horrible, horrible idea.

Yes, it is a stain on our nation. No doubt about that. There are so many, many of those with regard to how we treated the Native American people we invaded. I fail to see how revoking medals from soldiers who performed acts of bravery does much to remove those stains. What I see is an act tailor-made for the Right to use against Democrats.

As I understand it, the Medal of Honor is generally given to people who risk their lives in order to protect their fellow soldiers. Not sure if that was the case back then or that evolved over time.

I cannot possibly know the thoughts and motives of the men who received these medals. Nor the acts for which they received them. Should the fact that our entire national policy was so wrong and, still is, with respect to Native Americans absolve them of doing "what they were ordered?" That will certainly be part of the debate.

I just don't see why on earth they are spending time on just a divisive issue at this time. Why are they handing the GOP a love-letter? There are so many ways in which they could, as the first poster suggested, introduce bills to help the existing Native Americans. Maybe that's just too difficult and some aide thought this would be a nice "bone" to throw. Which I find even more insulting.

I welcome differing opinions on this.

UPDATE: If you don't believe me about this being a gift to the GOP and NO favor to Native Americans, read the comments on the link.

[Judi Lynn]

12. Monsters, vicious people like typical GOP drek do NOT matter, should never be appeased. n/t

[dflprincess]

14. "Acts of bravery"?

Do you know anything about what happened at Wounded Knee?

[bitterross]

17. Yes, I know. We massacred women and children.

It's a horrible, horrible stain on our nation. As is pretty much EVERYTHING we did and continue to do to Native Americans.

What I DO NOT know is why these people were awarded medals.

I also DO NOT know that every, single solider was a racist pig who intended to kill women and children. There were surely some people in a bad place with no choices.

What I DO know, is that we should start re-writing the history books about Manifest Destiny and Columbus Day and Slavery and everything else we've done wrong and have WHITE-WASHED.

What I DO know, is we have an election year coming up and things like this will do ZERO to help anyone other than the GOP.

Update: What I DO know is we are fighting the EXACT SAME SORT OF PEOPLE who ordered the massacre RIGHT NOW, for the future of this nation. Do you want to keep losing?

THAT is what I know.

[samir.g]

9. Good! Then rescind any from other unjust slaughters

Like our wars of aggression in Latinx America and Asia.

It was all bullshit propaganda the entIre time.

[WhiskeyGrinder]

13. Works for me.

[Judi Lynn]

15. Their consciences should have kept them from taking part in that butchery.

There is NO EXCUSE for what happened.

From the Guardian, Mon 18 Feb 2013 10.30 EST
First published on Mon 18 Feb 2013 10.30 EST


Congress has apologised for the 1890 massacre of Lakota Sioux, so why do 20 of the nation's highest awards still stand?



One hundred and twenty-two years ago, the Pine Ridge Reservation witnessed the end of an epoch: the end of a people fighting for their way of life. Many see it, in Wikipedia's words, as "the last battle of the American Indian wars".

Except it wasn't a battle; it was a massacre. And it was the end of life as Indians knew it. No more were the days of riding and hunting freely. Treaties had been broken, time and again, by the United States government; millions of buffalo had been killed for their hides and for sport; land was being taken left and right.

. . .

Under the command of Colonel James Forsythe, the troops began entering the Lakotas' tipis the next morning, 29 December, and disarming the Indians: confiscating the men's guns and even the knives that the women used to cook. As cavalrymen tried to take a rifle from a deaf man who was trying to exclaim he paid a lot for it, the rifle discharged accidentally. At that, the men of the 7th cavalry started shooting indiscriminately on the encampment.

With fire from the four Hotchkiss guns and with over 500 soldiers encircling the tipis on all four sides, several of the soldiers of the 7th cavalry fell to friendly fire. The men from Chief Spotted Elk's tribe fought back, the ones that were further out on the ridge ran forward to help, but were soon outnumbered. The women and children, who were standing to the side of the camp, began to run for the ravines. Some were later found up to two miles away from the camp after soldiers had hunted them down and killed them. Four babies were found alive beneath their mother's bodies.

By the time the incident was over, the US army estimated that about 150 men, women, and children had died that day, including Chief Spotted Elk, gunned down in the snow. The army counted another 50 Indians injured. Some 25 troopers were killed and 39 injured, the majority as a result of friendly fire. Alternative estimates count the massacre far higher, at between 300 and 400 killed.

General Nelson Miles, who had overall command of this final act in the Indian wars, joined his troop a day later. He was deeply dismayed at the atrocity and, suspecting that Colonel Forsyth had deliberately engineered the massacre, relieved him of his command. The Lakota dead were thrown into a mass grave and buried.

More:
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2013/feb/18/massacre-wounded-knee-medals-honor-rescinded

Google images, scenes from the hell unleashed on these human beings as they slept:

https://tinyurl.com/srkwdka

DU'ers who have sat in thought, and read about this unpardonable massacre will undoubtedly have seen some of these photographs numerous times. It's time for the others to start learning something about the history of this culture.

What kind of man would accept a medal for participating in a massacre?

[TheFourthMind]

18. Another great post Judi Lynn. Thought you (and others here) might be interested in this read..

..about another massacre of Native Americans by US soldiers. I know many of us are familiar with the Sand Creek Massacre, however, there are a couple things in the article that I was not aware of, so thought I'd share.

https://theconversation.com/remembering-the-us-soldiers-who-refused-orders-to-murder-native-americans-at-sand-creek-68211

[keithbvadu2]

19. What kind of man would accept...

Trump actually received a Purple Heart

https://www.google.com/search?q=trump+got+a+purple+heart&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&client=firefox-b-1

Today, a Donald Trump supporter handed him a Purple Heart. Trump’s flippant and repugnant reply: “I always wanted to get the Purple Heart. This was much easier.”

[Judi Lynn]

16. Thank you, frogmarch. It was a surprise to see the thread head directly into the dumper!

It always takes longer for the people of conscience to arrive, just as it always takes longer to get to the truth.

Thanks.