Without a thorough and objective study of the past, we cannot create a better future. When the ship of state is off course and heading toward an iceberg, we must make the corrections necessary to right it. Admitting past and current mistakes is the only way to correct them.
All Americans should be aware of the injustices this nation has committed against indigenous peoples and other minorities. They should understand that justice and freedom for all, within the limits of all reasonable laws, are the essential goals of a democracy.
Thank you for that response. Your response is why I believe a well-educated populace is essential to real democracy. That is why Trump and evangelical leaders like uneducated people and even more, the brainwashed. An educated populace would know who represented their interests and vote for them.
Essential to our founders' concept. High hope that the electorate would be informed and thoughtful, and that electees would be the same, as well as honorable.
Actually, not working out at all - witness just the past week. I feel that nothing will "right" our ship of state as long as racism and greed walk free.
When I have stood at the foot of the mass grave at Wounded Knee, as I have many times, I understand fully what you have said Anthony. Those words are self-evident in that moment. And humbling.
Wounded Knee lies 250 miles due west of my home. That's local out here in flyover country. A mass grave of Americans here in America.
I am going to reread this piece several times. Maybe frame it. This morning I was feeling sick that so many of our country's people and leadership have been rotting from the inside out. These words suggest a path to restore some of the moral integrity we used to strive for (though failed miserably in many instances.)
Thank you for sharing this story of a great, wise leader, the many broken promises, dishonesty, injustices, and murders of peoples who fought for what the foundation of these United States was built upon namely that all men are created equal…and are endowed with unalienable rights. Sadly, we have now gotten even farther away from those inspiring principles. It will take serious introspection and reckoning with what this country stands for now to save it from destroying itself.
As a combat veteran the Medal of Honor means a lot to me, anyone who has served in combat knows what it means. The fact that 20 of them were awarded for the massacre at Wounded Knee is a travesty and debases every MOH awarded ever since, they should be rescinded. Giving National Forest lands to the tribes is a no-brainer and should be on the agenda as soon as we get our government back into sane hands. Honoring our treaties needs to be a focus for a new government of sanity, and should be high on the list of need-to-do’s. Some of them are broken beyond repair, but an effort needs to be made to set them right in spite of that. I’ll be 80 soon and we have so much to do to set things right, that I know I have no hope of seeing it all bear fruit, but that only means that we will have to work that much harder for my generation to see it realized. We owe it to our children, and their children’s children, to spare no effort to fulfill the promise of our nation’s founding. We can see what broke way too easily, and where the repairs need to start, the nation seems to be waking up to that fact, after seeing how destructive the repugnantkin ideology has been, not just here but worldwide, the impetus to fix it will have a lot of support. We have become a lesson for the whole world, a corrective action on our part will work wonders, we can still be a leader among nations, it’s in our bones, but we will have to act on it.
Steve, I have followed your commentaries for years. You are a singular voice crying out in the wilderness of our limping, damaged country and political systems. I thank you. Your restoration of the Lakota is a piece of writing that should be heard across the nation and placed among Founders documents—those forgotten papyrus scrolls of mad idealism and canny pragmatism. They knew. It has come down to Franklin’s remark—“a republic, if we can keep it.”
Thank you. God does bless you and this crying country. Only time, it seems, in the great space-time continuum, will get us right again—because men like you do not quit on us—will never give up. Laurence Luckinbill. Actor/Writer, subscriber.
Canada's record of treatment of its native tribes is little better than the US's. But it has taken steps to reconcile with the people it calls First Nations, the designation taken from the Proclamation of King George III, which still informs the debate over native rights.
Louis Riel, of mixed-race Chipewyan and French, founded the province of Manitoba through insurrection. Wab Kinew, of Ojibway heritage, is the first First Nations Premier of a province in Canada. Manitobans elected him in 2023.
Everything Trump touches dies. I hope we can celebrate our 250th in an honorable way not with wrestling matches on the white house lawn or carnivals. We are watching the fall of the American Empire right before our eyes which will be felt sadly while we are supposed to be celebrating. We must do better. Fight for the honor and respect for America by doing what is right. Thank you for remembering the American Indians.
I love the historical information you include in your writing. This wa a particularly passionate and significant article, showing how the rot of America is so very deep and horrific and how our inner historical core as a people and a nation is always sitting there, waiting to rear it's ugly head. We need such an overhaul of how we run this country is run and our voting system and how we elect judges for life., etc. etc..Can we actually clean up this American nightmare ?
Without a thorough and objective study of the past, we cannot create a better future. When the ship of state is off course and heading toward an iceberg, we must make the corrections necessary to right it. Admitting past and current mistakes is the only way to correct them.
All Americans should be aware of the injustices this nation has committed against indigenous peoples and other minorities. They should understand that justice and freedom for all, within the limits of all reasonable laws, are the essential goals of a democracy.
'... within the limits of all reasonable laws...' lies the rub. 'Reasonable laws' have been used to subjugate and oppress since they originated.
Who makes them? Who judges them reasonable? Who follows them? Who enforces them?
Thank you for that response. Your response is why I believe a well-educated populace is essential to real democracy. That is why Trump and evangelical leaders like uneducated people and even more, the brainwashed. An educated populace would know who represented their interests and vote for them.
Essential to our founders' concept. High hope that the electorate would be informed and thoughtful, and that electees would be the same, as well as honorable.
Not working out very well, currently.
Actually, not working out at all - witness just the past week. I feel that nothing will "right" our ship of state as long as racism and greed walk free.
Racism is born of ignorance and greed is an expression of ignorance: ignorance of what truly makes life beautiful and worth living.
When I have stood at the foot of the mass grave at Wounded Knee, as I have many times, I understand fully what you have said Anthony. Those words are self-evident in that moment. And humbling.
Wounded Knee lies 250 miles due west of my home. That's local out here in flyover country. A mass grave of Americans here in America.
Mitakuye Oyasin.
Righteous. Thank you. And they are still deporting our buffalo too. This week! https://kbhbradio.com/interior-dept-plans-to-remove-bsion-from-blm-grazing-permits/
This enrages me and many of us are so embarrassed and sorry.
They make destruction and corruption an art form.
That was beautiful, thanks Steve!
If only every American read this and wept. So much wisdom from the Great Ones of the past, but we refuse to listen.
I am going to reread this piece several times. Maybe frame it. This morning I was feeling sick that so many of our country's people and leadership have been rotting from the inside out. These words suggest a path to restore some of the moral integrity we used to strive for (though failed miserably in many instances.)
Thank you for sharing this story of a great, wise leader, the many broken promises, dishonesty, injustices, and murders of peoples who fought for what the foundation of these United States was built upon namely that all men are created equal…and are endowed with unalienable rights. Sadly, we have now gotten even farther away from those inspiring principles. It will take serious introspection and reckoning with what this country stands for now to save it from destroying itself.
Beautiful and meaningful, Steve! Thank you for sharing your wisdom!
As a combat veteran the Medal of Honor means a lot to me, anyone who has served in combat knows what it means. The fact that 20 of them were awarded for the massacre at Wounded Knee is a travesty and debases every MOH awarded ever since, they should be rescinded. Giving National Forest lands to the tribes is a no-brainer and should be on the agenda as soon as we get our government back into sane hands. Honoring our treaties needs to be a focus for a new government of sanity, and should be high on the list of need-to-do’s. Some of them are broken beyond repair, but an effort needs to be made to set them right in spite of that. I’ll be 80 soon and we have so much to do to set things right, that I know I have no hope of seeing it all bear fruit, but that only means that we will have to work that much harder for my generation to see it realized. We owe it to our children, and their children’s children, to spare no effort to fulfill the promise of our nation’s founding. We can see what broke way too easily, and where the repairs need to start, the nation seems to be waking up to that fact, after seeing how destructive the repugnantkin ideology has been, not just here but worldwide, the impetus to fix it will have a lot of support. We have become a lesson for the whole world, a corrective action on our part will work wonders, we can still be a leader among nations, it’s in our bones, but we will have to act on it.
Trump thinks water is blue.
Steve, I have followed your commentaries for years. You are a singular voice crying out in the wilderness of our limping, damaged country and political systems. I thank you. Your restoration of the Lakota is a piece of writing that should be heard across the nation and placed among Founders documents—those forgotten papyrus scrolls of mad idealism and canny pragmatism. They knew. It has come down to Franklin’s remark—“a republic, if we can keep it.”
Thank you. God does bless you and this crying country. Only time, it seems, in the great space-time continuum, will get us right again—because men like you do not quit on us—will never give up. Laurence Luckinbill. Actor/Writer, subscriber.
Canada's record of treatment of its native tribes is little better than the US's. But it has taken steps to reconcile with the people it calls First Nations, the designation taken from the Proclamation of King George III, which still informs the debate over native rights.
Louis Riel, of mixed-race Chipewyan and French, founded the province of Manitoba through insurrection. Wab Kinew, of Ojibway heritage, is the first First Nations Premier of a province in Canada. Manitobans elected him in 2023.
Everything Trump touches dies. I hope we can celebrate our 250th in an honorable way not with wrestling matches on the white house lawn or carnivals. We are watching the fall of the American Empire right before our eyes which will be felt sadly while we are supposed to be celebrating. We must do better. Fight for the honor and respect for America by doing what is right. Thank you for remembering the American Indians.
I love the historical information you include in your writing. This wa a particularly passionate and significant article, showing how the rot of America is so very deep and horrific and how our inner historical core as a people and a nation is always sitting there, waiting to rear it's ugly head. We need such an overhaul of how we run this country is run and our voting system and how we elect judges for life., etc. etc..Can we actually clean up this American nightmare ?
Are we capable of integrity?
Right on Steve, right on.
Thank you for this post. It's such an important remembrance.