Actions of the Lakota People at Wounded Knee

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The Lakota people of the Sioux Indians have a colorful and violent history. Around 1890, there was a massacre near Wounded Knee Creek, South Dakota in Lakota territory, which was perpetrated onto the Lakota by members of the US Calvary. Almost one hundred years later, in 1973, the American Indian Movement took over the same town of Wounded Knee for 71 days, until the US Marshal Service succeeded in wresting control of the town back into the hands of the United States. To understand how this conflict arose, and why the Lakota acted this way, it must first be explained how and why the Lakota were so inclined to take over the area. The Lakota, like many Indian tribes in modern day America, were effectively contained within their own ‘nations’, which the US restored their original sovereignty over, albeit in a much reduced state of sovereignty, as they are still beholden to the United States in many ways, and are considered “domestic dependent nations”, rather than being nations completely foreign to the US. Within these nations, there are many issues, such as alcoholism and very low employment rates, as well as an extreme degree of poverty. Alcoholism is especially rampant in many Indian territories, with the rate of alcoholism related death being over four times as high as the national average. (Fraiser, Pg 73) The high rate of alcoholism is incident with the poverty and low employment rates. In addition to high alcoholism, the nation exhibit suicide rates higher than the national average as well. Both the poverty and low employment rates are due to a few factors, many of which were perpetuated by the United States Government. The main historic cause of this destitution is the land upon which the Indians were given the reserv... ... middle of paper ... ...y of Ocosingo. Aggression ended ten days later, when a ceasefire was negotiated. Much of their land was retained in Zapatista control for a year, before a surprise breach of ceasefire was conducted by the Mexican military a year later. Eventually, in 2001, a new party won the presidential election, and meetings with Zapatistas were conducted, with the Zapatistas rejecting the government’s ideas for peace, and retreating back to their own territory, where they continue to operate autonomously. Parallels can be drawn between the actions of AIM and the Zapatistas, in as much as that both the Zapatistas and AIM sought to end their troubles with the government through occupation of government controlled territory. The key difference between the two movements is that the Zapatistas didn’t fail, and have lasted almost twenty years with control of their own territory.

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