Thursday, October 2, 2025

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The president of the Oglala Sioux Tribe has denounced Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s decision not to revoke medals awarded for one of history’s most infamous massacres.

Brian Bull of Buffalo’s Fire reports.

In late December 1890, members of the 7th Cavalry attempted to disarm a large group of Chief Spotted Elk’s followers they had encircled at Wounded Knee Creek, S.D.

A shot went off and the soldiers mowed down the group of largely Native women, children, and elders with rifles and powerful Hotchkiss guns.

Twenty-five soldiers were killed by friendly fire as well.

Later investigations showed fleeing survivors were chased down and killed where they stood.

The following year, 20 U.S. soldiers received the Medal of Honor for gallantry at Wounded Knee, but top brass, including Major General Nelson A. Miles, condemned the incident as “the most abominable military blunder and a horrible massacre of women and children.”

Efforts to revoke the medals gained momentum starting in 1990, the centennial of the incident, but in a video posted to his X account last week, Secretary Hegseth said the 20 soldiers who fired upon the Lakota Natives will not have their medals revoked.

“We’re making it clear that they deserve those medals decision is now final and they’re placed in our nation’s history is no longer up for debate.”

Oglala Sioux Tribal president Frank Star Comes Out is a descendant of Spotted Elk – and a Marine veteran of the Gulf War and Mogadishu.

“We’ll continue to fight to get these medals rescinded.”

He says he’s not surprised by Hegseth’s decision, but it still speaks to the indifference of those who don’t know their history.

“It’s despicable, untruthful, and insulting to our people.”

In a press release, the Oglala Sioux Tribe says descendants of those scarred by Wounded Knee have served honorably in every U.S. conflict from World War I to Afghanistan.

And every year, an annual memorial ride is held to honor those killed at Wounded Knee.

“This is history, this is something our people are traumatized with, and we have to live with that. And I keep saying this every time I go to Washington to advocate not only for the Oglala Sioux Tribe and tribes nationwide: ‘Y’know, we were never dealt a fair hand.’”

Meanwhile, the National Congress of American Indians has also denounced Hegseth’s decision, and are calling on the U.S. Congress to pass what’s called the “Remove the Stain Act” so that “the nation’s highest honor fulfills its namesake by reflecting courage, not cowardice and cruelty.”

The Belfast City Council in Ireland approved a historic policy for the island’s Indigenous language.

Seo McPolin has more from Eire.

Belfast city councillors approved the new Irish language policy this week.

It comes after years of advocacy and consultations with the Indigenous language community.

The city plans to redesign its logo to now include the original Irish spelling of Béal Feirste, which means “mouth of the sand-bank ford”.

The policy also pledges to ensure all city signs contain both languages.

Far-right councillors tried to block the new policy, but were unsuccessful.

The council previously earmarked the equivalent of $2.5 million to fund the changes as well as new initiatives that remove barriers for the use of Irish in public life.

The Irish language has been experiencing a renaissance of late, particularly among young speakers, in part thanks to the worldwide success of the Belfast band Kneecap.

The Cherokee Nation partnered with DreamWorks Animation and NBCUniversal to dub the animated film “How to Train Your Dragon” into the Cherokee language.

The Oklahoma tribe held a private screening of the film this week, which is streaming on Peacock.

It’s part of the tribe’s Cherokee language preservation efforts.

 

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