“I will fight no more forever:” Chief Joseph

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In this 250th year of the United States, I have begun a series called “The Cause.” “The Cause” was the initial name of the war for the independence of the United States.

Here are the first, second, third, fourth and fifth installments.

Below is the sixth one.

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Chief Joseph, circa 1903

One of the most extraordinary military campaigns in American history came to its end in the shadow of the Bear Paw Mountain that witnessed the saddest speech in American history by an extraordinary leader and philosopher, Chief Joseph.

What a tragedy it is that more Americans know more about the sexual fetishes of Kristi Noem, Corey Lewandowski and Bryon Noem than this great man. Here is Chief Joseph’s surrender speech:

I am tired of fighting. Our chiefs are killed. Looking Glass is dead. Too-hul-hul-sote is dead. The old men are all dead. It is the young men who say yes or no. He who led on the young men is dead. It is cold and we have no blankets. The little children are freezing to death. My people, some of them, have run away to the hills, and have no blankets, no food; no one knows where they are—perhaps freezing to death. I want to have time to look for my children and see how many of them I can find. Maybe I shall find them among the dead. Hear me, my chiefs. I am tired; my heart is sick and sad. From where the sun now stands I will fight no more forever.

Chief Joseph did not stop fighting for his people. He had become deeply admired and respected across the country for his defiance, ferocity, courage, honesty, integrity and commitment. He came to Washington, DC, in 1879, and spoke there. His speech is remarkable to read. This is what he said:

I am glad I came [to Washington D.C.]. I have shaken hands with a good many friends, but there are some things I want to know which no one seems able to explain. I cannot understand how the Government sends a man out to fight us, as it did General Miles, and then breaks his word. Such a government has something wrong about it. I cannot understand why so many chiefs are allowed to talk so many different ways, and promise so many different things. I have seen the Great Father Chief [President Hayes]; the Next Great Chief [Secretary of the Interior]; the Commissioner Chief [Commissioner of Indian Affairs]; the Law Chief [General Butler]; and many other law chiefs [Congressmen] and they all say they are my friends, and that I shall have justice, but while all their mouths talk right I do not understand why nothing is done for my people. I have heard talk and talk but nothing is done. Good words do not last long unless they amount to something. Words do not pay for my dead people. They do not pay for my country now overrun by white men. They do not protect my father’s grave. They do not pay for my horses and cattle. Good words do not give me back my children. Good words will not make good the promise of your war chief, General Miles. Good words will not give my people a home where they can live in peace and take care of themselves. I am tired of talk that comes to nothing. It makes my heart sick when I remember all the good words and all the broken promises. There has been too much talking by men who had no right to talk. Too many misinterpretations have been made; too many misunderstandings have come up between the white men and the Indians. If the white man wants to live in peace with the Indian he can live in peace. There need be no trouble. Treat all men alike. Give them the same laws. Give them all an even chance to live and grow. All men were made by the same Great Spirit Chief.

They are all brothers. The earth is the mother of all people, and all people should have equal rights upon it. You might as well expect all rivers to run backward as that any man who was born a free man should be contented penned up and denied liberty to go where he pleases. If you tie a horse to a stake, do you expect he will grow fat? If you pen an Indian up on a small spot of earth and compel him to stay there, he will not be contented nor will he grow and prosper. I have asked some of the Great White Chiefs where they get their authority to say to the Indian that he shall stay in one place, while he sees white men going where they please. They cannot tell me.

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When I think of our condition, my heart is heavy. I see men of my own race treated as outlaws and driven from country to country, or shot down like animals.

I know that my race must change. We cannot hold our own with the white men as we are. We only ask an even chance to live as other men live. We ask to be recognized as men. We ask that the same law shall work alike on all men. If an Indian breaks the law, punish him by the law. If a white man breaks the law, punish him also.

Let me be a free man, free to travel, free to stop, free to work, free to trade where I choose, free to choose my own teachers, free to follow the religion of my fathers, free to talk, think and act for myself — and I will obey every law or submit to the penalty.

Whenever the white man treats the Indian as they treat each other then we shall have no more wars. We shall be all alike — brothers of one father and mother, with one sky above us and one country around us and one government for all. Then the Great Spirit Chief who rules above will smile upon this land and send rain to wash out the bloody spots made by brothers’ hands upon the face of the earth. For this time the Indian race is waiting and praying. I hope no more groans of wounded men and women will ever go to the ear of the Great Spirit Chief above, and that all people may be one people.

In-mut-too-yah-lat-lat has spoken for his people.

This is our American history. It should be known because we aren’t trying enough to face it and learn from it. Also, the story between the US government and the Indigenous nations is not complete. Far from it. What has been done cannot be undone, but what can be made better should be. It is well past time to remember what we have forgotten. There is much to learn from men like Chief Joseph.

Renewal is a cleansing. When it is possible to seek redress for a grave injustice, a great nation should seek it. There are symbolic and material amends that can be made. The 250th anniversary of the birth of the United States should be an occasion for reconciliation with the grave and great injustices done to America’s Indigenous people. instead it will be a season of depravity; bread and circuses with fascist breadcrumbs spread about.

When this awful era ends there are symbolic acts that could have great meaning, but there are two specific actions that would offer a new type of beginning.

Symbolism remains important, but it has limitations. Symbols have no meaning to the party that has received nothing but broken promises from the people who offer them. This is where action is required. Beyond symbolism and words, it remains possible, rarely, to set the past right, to correct great breaches of promises and law, restore justice and dignity, as well as hold accountable individuals who must be held to account.

The Wounded Knee Massacre, in which hundreds of Lakota women, children and men were murdered by the United States Army, must be addressed. It must be addressed because 20 Medals of Honor were awarded to the murderers. There is a long history in the United States for retroactively stripping the medal during the period where it was errantly and loosely awarded. The Medal of Honor is the highest valor award the United States can bestow on an American. Every hour of every day that it remains in place for the Wounded Knee murderers is a desecration and a self-inflicted wound on the integrity, honor and righteousness of the Armed Forces of the United States.

Simply, it is a disgrace.

Compounding the disgrace is that Pete Hegseth, the untreated psychiatric patient who runs the Defense Department, has affirmed the medal for the murderers, and shut down a review of the travesty of their awards.

The massacre, though, is only part of the story. It is much deeper. The next part is what can be redressed.

The United States of America signed the Treaty of Fort Laramie in 1868 with the Oglala, Miniconjou, and Brulé bands of Lakota people, Yanktonai Dakota and Arapaho Nation. It established the Great Sioux Reservation, including ownership of the Black Hills, and set aside additional lands as “unceded Indian territory” in the South Dakota, Wyoming, Nebraska, and possibly Montana.

This land was what the Sioux called Paha Sapa, meaning “Black Hills.” The Lakota Sioux consider them to be the center of their universe and where their culture began.

The treaty was one of more than 500 that was broken by the federal government.

The center of their universe was among the most beautiful places on the North American continent. They were the home of the seven Lakota Sioux tribes by treaty agreement that was smashed to pieces when gold was discovered in the Black Hills.

What resulted was Custer’s defeat, the revenge and massacre by the US Army and subjugation of the Lakota nations to reservation land outside the boundaries of land considered sacred by the tribes.

The US Supreme Court awarded compensation to the Lakota nation in 1980 with the United States v. Sioux Nation of Indians decision. It awarded the Sioux more than $100 million for the land.

The Lakota have refused to touch the money that has sat in an interest-bearing account and has risen to a value of over one billion dollars. The Lakota don’t want the money. They want the land. They want what is theirs, and they should have it.

The federal government of the United States should enter into a last treaty negotiation with the Sioux Nation. This treaty should hold. It should return the sacred lands of the Lakota by giving the tribes full control of federally controlled national forest land. The open access of these public lands should be preserved for all time, but they should be controlled by the Sioux Nation.

It seems an appropriate way to remember Kristi Noem, and deliver a message to those who seek to pull us into the abyss.

The right will prevail in America.

The Medals of Honor awarded for the massacre of men, women and children should be revoked.

It doesn’t fix everything, but it is more than words. It will make the Union more perfect. That is worth celebrating.

It is a cause worth fighting for.

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