Because America constitutionally protects its citizens with inalienable rights, in a land that secures freedom of religion which includes atheism, the peoples most left out under such protections have been and are the Native Americans. America does not understand still the meaning spirituality has for its First Peoples and the sacredness of the land to them, their lands taken away again and again. President Joe Biden can strip now the twenty Medals of Honor that continue to dishonor the Sioux Nation's Lakota People. And no monies will ever buy men and women's dignity. Thank you, Steve, for your words that must turn into action by returning sacred land to a Nation that is US.
Steve you are a gift to us all. The atrocities that took place at Wounded Knee are rarely, if ever, discussed. Most people don’t know what happened there. I never learned it in school and it wasn’t until I was an adult, curious enough to read on my own that I learned what happened there. I’ll say it again Steve, you need to teach history. So many would benefit from your knowledge and your voice. Once again, you are a gift to us all.
I agree, Steve is a gift to us all, and his powerful post today about 'Making things right' for the Native Americans has given me renewed hope and resolve to do my part. I do, though, feel that Steve is already masterfully 'teaching history' through The Warning forum, every day; we just need to share these posts with others: friends, neighbors, teachers, students, politicians, etc. Steve's post for today could be read aloud at a book club, a dinner gathering, at a library, in the evening to our children....whatever it takes to start this conversation and keep it going. I feel this is up to us. Thanks.
Many years ago I picked up Bury My Heart At Wounded Knee and put it down after a couple of chapters…it was so overwhelmingly sad… my brain fried from the gestalt about competing imperatives and hopelessness of the situation it brought us to. If what Steve is proposing becomes a ‘thing’ I may try it again to be better informed about what occurred in order to support concrete solutions like this one.
Addressing the very valid claims of dispossession by indigenous peoples is a problem around the world. New Zealand is slowly being dragged to the table, and Australia (in my view the most racist country in the first world) are playing lip service to their issues. There needs to be meaningful measures undertaken, and I agree that your recommendation to return the Black Hills territory to the Lakota nation is a good start.
Steve, I continue to be amazed by your passion and honesty on so many areas impacting our country. I appreciate your ability to bring back into focus so many areas of history we were taught or read about, that over time has been forgotten. Thank you!
Best part of my reading your commentaries is your ability to make your readers think
May I recommend “the killers of the orange moon” it is disturbing and yet cathartic to understand the greed, racism and travesty precipitated by a US congress less than 100 years ago on native Americans.
This is the history the right wing doesn’t believe our youth are mature or intellectually sound enough to understand. People claim the coastal elites look down on fly over red America, in fact it is their own Leaders who do all they can to keep them ignorant, angry and poor.
Steve, you explain with such clarity a path to reconciliation of our past sins as a nation. I am grateful I can hear and understand your words today. We do need to clear the wreckage of our mutual past, in order to build a better future for our great country moving forward.
It is difficult when our history books were written, not by honest voices but by one sided voices, that disembodied the voice of our Indian brothers and sisters. Thank you for giving them a voice now at this table.
You are wise beyond years and I am thankful for your teaching of our mutual past.
“First published in 1970, Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee is Dee Brown's eloquent, meticulously documented account of the systematic destruction of American Indians during the second half of the nineteenth century. A national bestseller in hardcover for more than a year after its initial publication, it has sold almost four million copies and has been translated into seventeen languages.“
As someone that has served in combat in the US Army, my reverence for those who have earned the Medal of Honor knows no bounds. I have known about what happened at Wounded Knee for over 50 years, and I am horrified and disgusted that our nation's highest honor was awarded to men who murdered those people on that cold winter day. It was revenge for Custer plain and simple, and has no place among the deeds that have earned our admiration. The awards should be rescinded, they were never honestly earned in the first place, slaughtering defenseless people brings no honor to the killers, only revulsion.
As to honoring our treaty commitments, there is no question about the proper course of action, we need to do it. Giving the tribes control over federal lands that are within the boundaries that they were guaranteed by treaty, is the right and honorable thing to do, and while it won’t fix past injustices, it will be a step in the right direction. There are seemingly endless corrections needed, to restore balance to our world, and our place in it, but that is no reason not to begin implementing them. After 250 years the need to realize the promises our founders envisioned is slowly becoming more evident, their enactment will be our gift to our grandchildren and theirs.
Thank you for this. As a nation, we are so bad at admitting wrong. While slavery, rises to the most notable., we often overlook the horrendous treatment of Native Americans. This must change. And yes, they deserve to have their stolen lands back.
Ah, Steven Schmidt. I miss seeing and hearing you on MSNBC, but now I know what you've been up to. The Great Holocaust did not occur in Germany. It occured here. In the land of the braves. I have had the distinct honor and privilege to work with Dr. Katherine Siva Saubel and the Cahuilla Indians of Southern California. Reading Native American history will break any sentient being's heart. Unfortunately, we have entered the era of the dumb, deaf, and blind, where one entire party has succumbed to me, mine, and greed. Hate and scorn for anyone not white, male, and their narrow version of Christian. I wish with all my heart your vision could become reality. All that has been built in my beloved nation has been built on sand. Stolen land. Thank you for your wisdom. Perhaps one day we will right our wrongs. I doubt I will live to see it. Especially as we continue to slide toward authoritarianism, Christian nationalism, greed, and ever more widening hate of the other.
I am very happy I subscribed to The Warning. Through Mr Schmidt’s writing and sharing of history I have found hope that we can be a better country,one not afraid to admit our failures and willing to do better at righting wrongs. I am also happy to have become part of a group of caring, concerned citizens spread across this land.
Beautiful and profoundly true. The suggested actions are entirely warranted. How do we make them happen? Thank you for this deeply important essay. We will never reach true greatness as a society without reconciling and remediating wrongs that can be righted in the ways you suggest.
Because America constitutionally protects its citizens with inalienable rights, in a land that secures freedom of religion which includes atheism, the peoples most left out under such protections have been and are the Native Americans. America does not understand still the meaning spirituality has for its First Peoples and the sacredness of the land to them, their lands taken away again and again. President Joe Biden can strip now the twenty Medals of Honor that continue to dishonor the Sioux Nation's Lakota People. And no monies will ever buy men and women's dignity. Thank you, Steve, for your words that must turn into action by returning sacred land to a Nation that is US.
Well, THAT was certainly worth the price of subscribing! Brilliant piece overall, but especially brilliant lead-in to the main story.
Steve you are a gift to us all. The atrocities that took place at Wounded Knee are rarely, if ever, discussed. Most people don’t know what happened there. I never learned it in school and it wasn’t until I was an adult, curious enough to read on my own that I learned what happened there. I’ll say it again Steve, you need to teach history. So many would benefit from your knowledge and your voice. Once again, you are a gift to us all.
I agree, Steve is a gift to us all, and his powerful post today about 'Making things right' for the Native Americans has given me renewed hope and resolve to do my part. I do, though, feel that Steve is already masterfully 'teaching history' through The Warning forum, every day; we just need to share these posts with others: friends, neighbors, teachers, students, politicians, etc. Steve's post for today could be read aloud at a book club, a dinner gathering, at a library, in the evening to our children....whatever it takes to start this conversation and keep it going. I feel this is up to us. Thanks.
You are right Lisa - it is an educational experience to read these articles. It also makes me interested in learning more.
Many years ago I picked up Bury My Heart At Wounded Knee and put it down after a couple of chapters…it was so overwhelmingly sad… my brain fried from the gestalt about competing imperatives and hopelessness of the situation it brought us to. If what Steve is proposing becomes a ‘thing’ I may try it again to be better informed about what occurred in order to support concrete solutions like this one.
You should definitely read the book, and tailor your actions afterwards to what your reaction is at the end. It works.
Thank you. And yes- These are challenging, traumatic stories to read, no doubt.
I’d like to see him run for President of The United States of America!
I did not learn about this in school either. I wonder if Steve can recommend some books on the subject?
Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee was my first eye opening
Same. I still have a copy of it. It’s time for a reread...
A painful read beyond description but necessary.
OK - thank you for the warning.
Thank you.
Addressing the very valid claims of dispossession by indigenous peoples is a problem around the world. New Zealand is slowly being dragged to the table, and Australia (in my view the most racist country in the first world) are playing lip service to their issues. There needs to be meaningful measures undertaken, and I agree that your recommendation to return the Black Hills territory to the Lakota nation is a good start.
Steve, I continue to be amazed by your passion and honesty on so many areas impacting our country. I appreciate your ability to bring back into focus so many areas of history we were taught or read about, that over time has been forgotten. Thank you!
I love this essay. Thank you.
Best part of my reading your commentaries is your ability to make your readers think
May I recommend “the killers of the orange moon” it is disturbing and yet cathartic to understand the greed, racism and travesty precipitated by a US congress less than 100 years ago on native Americans.
This is the history the right wing doesn’t believe our youth are mature or intellectually sound enough to understand. People claim the coastal elites look down on fly over red America, in fact it is their own Leaders who do all they can to keep them ignorant, angry and poor.
Sad that whores are running the GOP
Thanks for the book recommendation...
Already in production to be a major motion picture. Best way to reach millions.
. . . that would be Killers of the Flower Moon.
Steve, you explain with such clarity a path to reconciliation of our past sins as a nation. I am grateful I can hear and understand your words today. We do need to clear the wreckage of our mutual past, in order to build a better future for our great country moving forward.
It is difficult when our history books were written, not by honest voices but by one sided voices, that disembodied the voice of our Indian brothers and sisters. Thank you for giving them a voice now at this table.
You are wise beyond years and I am thankful for your teaching of our mutual past.
We read, we learn, we can then act. Thank you, as always, daily.
Amen. Recommended book-Amazon review:
“First published in 1970, Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee is Dee Brown's eloquent, meticulously documented account of the systematic destruction of American Indians during the second half of the nineteenth century. A national bestseller in hardcover for more than a year after its initial publication, it has sold almost four million copies and has been translated into seventeen languages.“
Thank you.
As someone that has served in combat in the US Army, my reverence for those who have earned the Medal of Honor knows no bounds. I have known about what happened at Wounded Knee for over 50 years, and I am horrified and disgusted that our nation's highest honor was awarded to men who murdered those people on that cold winter day. It was revenge for Custer plain and simple, and has no place among the deeds that have earned our admiration. The awards should be rescinded, they were never honestly earned in the first place, slaughtering defenseless people brings no honor to the killers, only revulsion.
As to honoring our treaty commitments, there is no question about the proper course of action, we need to do it. Giving the tribes control over federal lands that are within the boundaries that they were guaranteed by treaty, is the right and honorable thing to do, and while it won’t fix past injustices, it will be a step in the right direction. There are seemingly endless corrections needed, to restore balance to our world, and our place in it, but that is no reason not to begin implementing them. After 250 years the need to realize the promises our founders envisioned is slowly becoming more evident, their enactment will be our gift to our grandchildren and theirs.
RIGHT ON! WELL SAID! Thanks!
Thank you for this. As a nation, we are so bad at admitting wrong. While slavery, rises to the most notable., we often overlook the horrendous treatment of Native Americans. This must change. And yes, they deserve to have their stolen lands back.
Thank you Steve.
Thank you for making us look inside ourselves and accept the fact that while America is great, it's - we're - not perfect.
Ah, Steven Schmidt. I miss seeing and hearing you on MSNBC, but now I know what you've been up to. The Great Holocaust did not occur in Germany. It occured here. In the land of the braves. I have had the distinct honor and privilege to work with Dr. Katherine Siva Saubel and the Cahuilla Indians of Southern California. Reading Native American history will break any sentient being's heart. Unfortunately, we have entered the era of the dumb, deaf, and blind, where one entire party has succumbed to me, mine, and greed. Hate and scorn for anyone not white, male, and their narrow version of Christian. I wish with all my heart your vision could become reality. All that has been built in my beloved nation has been built on sand. Stolen land. Thank you for your wisdom. Perhaps one day we will right our wrongs. I doubt I will live to see it. Especially as we continue to slide toward authoritarianism, Christian nationalism, greed, and ever more widening hate of the other.
I am very happy I subscribed to The Warning. Through Mr Schmidt’s writing and sharing of history I have found hope that we can be a better country,one not afraid to admit our failures and willing to do better at righting wrongs. I am also happy to have become part of a group of caring, concerned citizens spread across this land.
Beautiful and profoundly true. The suggested actions are entirely warranted. How do we make them happen? Thank you for this deeply important essay. We will never reach true greatness as a society without reconciling and remediating wrongs that can be righted in the ways you suggest.
Talk to the Lakota first and ask what it means to be a good ally for them and their interest in this matter.