The Sioux View: Museum’s remit must be to tell the story of a slaughter

A painting of the 1890 massacre at Wounded Knee (Corbis)

A lot of people think what happened at Wounded Knee in 1890 was a battle. It wasn’t a battle; it was a slaughter.

On Monday night we held a meeting of Wounded Knee descendants, and I heard the shocking story of a small boy, maybe seven years old, who survived by crawling into a slit in one of the ravines. He stayed long enough to hear the bodies being buried. He heard soldiers throwing infants, still alive, into graves. We all agree there should be a museum, so people can learn what really happened. And if it turns a profit, the money should go back into beautifying the site. But the Lakota must be involved.

The sale has brought interest, and I’m appreciative to Mr Czywczynski for that, but if he wants to sell the land, he should do so based on what it is worth. The reason he asked for $3.9m is because of the land’s historical significance, based on the deaths of hundreds of our relatives. If someone turns a buck on our ancestors’ misery, then shame on them.