"They made us many promises, more than I can
remember, but they never kept but one: they promised to take our land
and they took it. It was not hard to see that the white people coveted
every inch of land on which we lived. Greed. Humans wanted the last bit
of ground which supported Indian feet. It was land - it has ever been
land - for which the White man oppresses the Indian and to gain
possession of which he commits any crime. Treaties that have been made
are vain attempts to save a little of the fatherland, treaties holy to
us by the smoke of the pipe - but nothing is holy to the white man.
Little by little, with greed and cruelty unsurpassed by the animal, he
has taken all. The loaf is gone and now the white man wants the
crumbs."... Luther Standing Bear-Sioux
My heart breaks for the children of these plains, forgotten, pressed, and souls shattered to the unjust legal system set in place for them. I can't understand how a people so beautiful are held to standards of filth and trash, because of what my ancestors did. Bittersweet to be back in beautiful South Dakota, as I'm excited to visit the mass terrain again, but also saddened to see the continued decay of society. Seeds of hope are still being planted, but are finding it difficult to grow...
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