On the Longest Walk, Indigenous Peoples human rights forum

The International Indian Treaty Council and the Longest Walk focused on human rights as inherent rights of Indigenous Peoples, as the walkers arrived for prayers at Cahokia Mounds and the St. Louis Arch, the gateway to the west.

For the Longest Walkers on the northern route, it was the gateway to the east, marking the completion of three-fourths of their sacred walk for Mother Earth. Walkers left Alcatraz Island on Feb. 11 and will arrive in Washington D.C. on July 11. Of the 3,600-mile trek, only 860 miles remain.

Speaking during the human rights forum at Southern Illinois University on May 9, Andrea Carmen, executive director of the International Indian Treaty Council, described the evolution of this new era of Indigenous Peoples rights.

Carmen recalled the words of survivors of the Massacre of Wounded Knee, shared by one of the Lakota. The words of the survivor were: "The spirits were waiting for someone to stand up for them, someone to make it right."

Carmen said when the Means brothers, Bill, Ted and Russell Means, took a stand and the American Indian Movement emerged in South Dakota, they took a stand to make things right for those massacred at Wounded Knee.

Then, the International Indian Treaty Council was formed on Standing Rock in 1974 and later gained consultative status at the United Nations.

"It started with the spirits needing someone to stand up for them," Carmen told those gathered at the university Religious Center.

Carmen pointed out that there were four countries of colonizers who voted against the U.N. Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples: the United States, Canada, New Zealand and Australia. The first three of those countries have entered into treaties with Indigenous Peoples. However, Australia has already expressed regret for failing to support the Declaration, which was adopted by the U.N. General Assembly on Sept. 13, 2007.

Carmen pointed out that the Declaration recognizes the inherent rights of Indigenous Peoples, inherent rights that can not be given or taken away. Indigenous rights can be violated, she said, but they can not be taken away.

Carmen said the denial of rights causes conflict, but the recognition of rights does not. The passage of the Declaration of the Rights of Indigenous Peoples did not come without a struggle. There was a hunger strike and a walkout during negotiations before the ultimate passage in 2007.

Indigenous Peoples now have the right to free, prior and informed consent before their lands are contaminated, developed or destroyed.

"Why shouldn't we have a veto on something that will destroy us, kill us and destroy our rights," Carmen said. The Declaration also ensures that Indigenous children have the right to be educated in their own Native language and culture.

Recently, the U.N. Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination told the United States that even though the United States did not vote for passage of the Declaration, the US is bound to abide by the Declaration and use it as the standard to measure whether the U.S. is upholding the rights of Indigenous Peoples.

Referring to the Declaration, which ensures the right to self determination, Carmen said, "We have to use it. We have to apply it. This is not the ceiling, this is the floor. Now we have a floor to stand on."

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Rescind medals of honor for massacre

Recently, an attempt to assuage the Native Americans in South Dakota by declaring a public apology was suggested in South Dakota. Quite possibly it also is the time to give a little more of the story of one sordid event that took place and never has been fully told.

On the cold, crisp morning of Dec. 29, 1890, the Sioux Chief Big Foot and some 350 of his followers were camped on the banks of Wounded Knee Creek. Surrounding their camp was a force of U.S. troops charged with the responsibility of arresting Big Foot and disarming his warriors.

In fear of an Indian uprising, the order went out to arrest Chief Sitting Bull at the Standing Rock Reservation. Sitting Bull was killed in the attempt on Dec. 15. Chief Big Foot was next on the list.

When he heard of Sitting Bull's death, Big Foot led his people south to seek protection at the Pine Ridge Reservation. The army intercepted the band on Dec. 28 and brought them to the edge of Wounded Knee to camp. The next morning the chief, wracked with pneumonia and dying, sat among his warriors and powwowed with the army officers. Suddenly the sound of a shot pierced the early morning gloom. Within seconds, the charged atmosphere erupted as Indian scurried to retrieve their discarded rifles and troopers fired volley after volley into the Sioux camp.

The American public's reaction to the battle at the time generally was favorable. Twenty Medals of Honor were awarded for the action. A decade later, when these were reviewed, Gen. Nelson A. Miles called this a "massacre" and not a battle. Native Americans are calling these "medals of dis-Honor."

Historian Will G. Robinson has noted the discrepancy between these 20 medals handed out following the events at Wounded Knee and the fact that only three such Medals of Honor were awarded among the 64,000 South Dakotans who fought for four years of World War II.

By the time it was over, more than 300 men, women and children of the Lakota Sioux lay dead. Twenty-five troopers also died during the massacre, some believed to have been the victims of "friendly fire." Around 150 Lakota are believed to have fled, and an unknown number died of hypothermia.

Now contrast this with a more recent massacre during the Vietnam War. The My Lai Massacre on March 16, 1968, with 2nd Lt. William Calley in charge and the mass murder of 347-504 unarmed citizens of the Republic of Vietnam, mostly civilians and the majority of them women and children and conducted by our own U.S. Army.

Eventually, Calley was charged with several counts of premeditated murder in September 1969, and 25 other officers and enlisted men were later charged with related crimes. It was another two months before the American public learned about the massacre and trials. After a 10-month-long trial, in which he claimed that he was following orders from his commanding officer, Calley was convicted, on Sept. 10, 1971, of premeditated murder for ordering the shootings. The trial resulted in a conviction, and on March 31, 1971, he was sentenced to life imprisonment. However on April 1, only a day after Calley was sentenced, President Richard Nixon ordered him released from prison pending appeal. On Aug. 30, 1971, his sentence was reduced to 20 years.

The comparison between these "massacres" is very similar. Both were overwhelmingly strong forces against unarmed civilians. However, in an attempt to rectify the bad feelings about having given these 20 Medals of Honor to soldiers in the Wounded Knee Massacre vs. a conviction for Lt. Calley for basically the same thing, it would seem obvious to have these 20 medals rescinded.