Indian Country

The title Indian Country is a legal term that refers to any area of land held in trust by the US government for the Native Americans of the United States. However, the term, more loosely refers to the areas where Natives live and the communities that surround them. This term is widely used in legal documents and in the colloquial terminology of the native people with whom I am familiar. I suspect that many readers are at least vaguely familiar with some of the tensions that have surrounded Indian Country for decades.

The past few weeks have been a period of reflection on Indian Country for me. I come from its heart, living within in a diocese with four reservations, the Black Hills, Bear Butte, and the Crazy Horse Memorial. Thus, the issues that arise concerning the Lakota important me. Most recently, a leader on the Pine Ridge Reservation declared portions of several western states to be a sovereign nation altogether independent of the USA. The events leading up to this declaration have ancient roots beginning in the Indian Wars following the Civil War, continuing through the 2oth century with the American Indian Movement's (AIM) occupation of the town of Wounded Knee and the murder of two FBI agents, as well as the conviction of Arlo Looking Cloud for the murder of AIM activist Anna Mae Aquash, and the recent extradition of John Graham from Canada to South Dakota to face charges for the same murder.

While conspiracy theories abound, it is sufficient to say that atrocities have been committed by all sides in most of these matters. The unfortunate fact is that what is often lost in these reflections on Lakota history are the real people whose lives have been affected by the various permutations of the relationship between the Lakota and the federal government. They have names, families, and histories. Last week, when I went to help at the one of the local shelters, I happened to meet one such person.

He told me that his mother was from the Cheyenne River Reservation, just a short distance to the east of my family home, and that his father still lives in Rapid City, South Dakota. This man came to St. Paul eleven years ago. He stopped on his way to New York and decided to stay. He is currently between jobs, and during this rough patch, has returned to the shelter where he stayed when he first came to the city. While there eleven years ago, he left his mark. Two beautiful murals depicting his South Dakota homeland before it was settled by the homesteaders. I offer a photograph of one of those pieces for your consideration.