My heart is heavy, but my spirit is strong

By Yo’Nas Da Lonewolf
BRIDGING THE FAMILES | Last updated: Jun 21, 2007 - 3:16:00 PM

Greetings Relatives,

YoNasDa LoneWolf

Do you remember when television networks aired Roots for the first time? Do you remember how angry it made you feel? But also, wasn’t there a certain pride, even though they depicted our people as slaves? When we watched it, we developed a mindset of “Never again!!”

Well, today, I feel that same way again after watching Bury My Heart At Wounded Knee, which has been showing on the HBO cable network.

This movie hit home for me, because it is home. I am a proud Oglala Lakota woman, a descendent of Crazy Horse, and half of my family is in Pine Ridge, South Dakota. I was raised to know that my tribe, the Lakota (formerly known as the Sioux) were the warriors of all the tribes. I was told that it was my tribe that the White Buffalo Calf Maiden came to and presented us the sacred ceremonies and prophecies.

I was told that great medicine men came from my tribe—Sitting Bull, Red Cloud, Crazy Horse, American Horse and many more. That they fought hard to make sure that the White man didn’t take their land. I was told that our survival was the buffalo, and we gave thanks to Wakan Tonka (The Great Spirit or Creator), and that we are not the owners of this land, but the caretakers of it.

Portrait shows the chief of the Sioux tribe Sitting Bull (1831-1890), known as Tatanka Iyotake to his people, as he sits in Bismarck, North Dakota, 1881. Sitting Bull became head of the Strong Heart warrior society in 1856 and chief of the entire Sioux nation in 1867. Photo: O.S. Goff/Hulton Archive/Getty Images

My heart is heavy, but my spirit is strong, because it is an ongoing battle. I know there is a Forgiving, Compassionate and Merciful God Who will not continue letting those that think they are a god to continue killing the Spirit of the Children of God.

I was told that in Pine Ridge, South Dakota is where the American Indian Movement began in the 1960s. Even after they forced us onto a small area of land 2 million acres in size, called Pine Ridge Reservation; after having killed thousands of men, women and children to get to the Black Hills (which they still didn’t succeed in doing); and after the Wounded Knee Massacre, we stood strong, and our warrior spirit is embedded in our genes.

However, when I would go to South Dakota to visit my family, I would become sad, because the White man really has put a toll on my people. In Pine Ridge, the unemployment rate is 90 percent. Drugs, alcoholism and gangs are rising at an alarming rate. Because fresh fruits and vegetables are sparse, Type 2 Diabetes is starting to appear in Native American children as young as age 3. Some of the youth are imitating the negative parts of Black culture seen in music videos and movies. There is no funding for community youth programs that can stay longer than a year, so this forces Native American youth to not be involved when another program starts up, because they are tired of disloyal and uncommitted adults.

The only hope is that certain elders are still practicing the traditional ways, as well as Oglala Lakota College and some elementary schools.

Ninety percent of the land that is used for farming is leased out to White owners that do not put it back into the tribe, and when the U.S Government was trying to force the Chiefs to sign over these lands, they didn’t want to; the tribes didn’t want to farm, because it was their tradition freely go throughout the land to gather and hunt for their own food.

The Chiefs knew that the land the U.S. government was sectioning off had no value—it was grazing land. The Chiefs said the Black Hills were sacred. The Chiefs knew that if they took the 160-acre per person land, it will not benefit generations to come, but only one generation. And after that, they will not be able to live off that land.

In Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee, our ancestors fought hard through the U.S. Government’s “mind manipulation” and rifles, but they began to be out-numbered and had to sign that treaty.

My spirit is strong, because with the Teachings of Truth, I can see the serpent a mile away. But my heart is heavy because I know I have to teach my family in South Dakota and my worldwide Original family the truth, so they can see the serpent a mile away as well—so we will never, ever touch a false treaty pen again.

Mitake Oyasin

All My Relations

Wacipi Ola Win (Star Song Woman)—My Lakota Traditional Name

(Yo’Nas Da LoneWolf McCall-Muhammad is the National Director for the Indigenous Nations Alliance-Millions More Movement and is now working to develop chapters throughout the country. If you would like to assist in this Movement, please email [email protected] or visit www.myspace.com/indigenousnationsalliancemmm.)

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