Other tribes want say in Wounded Knee artifacts turned over to Oglala Sioux

Standing Rock, Cheyenne River leaders object to plans to burn items without more input

Indian tribes in South Dakota are at odds over what to do with artifacts recovered from the Wounded Knee massacre and recently returned to South Dakota from a New England museum.

Leaders of the Standing Rock Sioux and Cheyenne River Sioux tribes are calling on their counterparts with the Oglala Sioux Tribe on the Pine Ridge reservation to halt plans to burn dozens of items related to the 1890 incident in which the U.S. military slaughtered more than 300 American Indians at the southwest South Dakota site. The Oglala Sioux took possession of the items last year after previously being housed at the Woods Memorial Library in Barre, Massachusetts.

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Instead, Standing Rock Sioux Chairwoman Janet Alkire and Cheyenne River Sioux Chairman Ryman LeBeau want a meeting convened to consider their tribes’ potential connections to the artifacts, which include weaponry, toys, and other timepieces.

“Our Hunkpapa people went to their relatives of Spotted Elk’s band seeking protection. Spotted Elk’s band, along with his Hunkpapa relatives, then traveled south to seek advice and protection from Red Cloud and the Oglala on the Pine Ridge agency,” Alkire wrote in a statement provided to The Dakota Scout, contending that many of those killed at Wounded Knee were relatives of Chief Sitting Bull, who reigned over the Standing Rock territory before his death. “It was relatives from Sitting Bull’s and Spotted Elk’s bands who were massacred at Wounded Knee on December 29th, 1890.”

LeBeau, in a letter sent to Pine Ridge last week, shared similar concerns over the planned burning of the artifacts.

Attempts by The Dakota Scout to reach Oglala Sioux Tribe President Frank Star Comes Out on Tuesday were unsuccessful.

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