Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee Page #5

And the buffalo...

will be renewed.

And you shall all live...

forever.

Forever...

in the freedom...

that we as Indian people

once knew.

Lone Wolf!

I called to the trader,

"Give me a red shirt to wear

so the soldiers

will know me. "

Though there were

hundreds of soldiers,

not one bullet touched me

because of my strong medicine.

And not one bullet

found you on the Little Bighorn.

Yes, this is so.

But I wore no red shirt that day.

There was no time

to dress.

I mean... it is said that you were

hiding under your blanket

the entire fight.

That's not true.

Who says this?

We all heard it.

Everyone knows it.

- Sitting Bull!

- Don't believe this.

My father

saved many lives.

He is a great leader.

- Oh.

- Great leader, hiding in his tepee.

- Sitting Bull.

- Go on...

"Greatest Living Indian. "

Get your meat.

- Hey, little brother.

- Hey.

- Where is the old man?

- He's inside.

Hello, Father.

Men from Washington are coming

for a big council soon.

Will you go?

No one has ears

for my words,

and I have no ears

for theirs.

If you go, you can have your say

like any other man.

Then let any other man

take my place,

since one man is

as important as another here.

Father...

I know who started speaking

the lies against you.

The last time

I came before you,

it was with an offer of 50 cents an acre

for your excess lands.

It has been very difficult

to renegotiate in Washington

on your behalf

with men who believe that

to have been a very generous offer.

But I have done so

in your interest.

And I return to you...

today,

with what

I must tell you

is a final offer.

If refused, the government

may take these lands

for whatever

they wish to pay,

which may be less

than what you were first offered.

In fact,

it may be nothing.

I return, however,

with authorization

to offer you

$1.25 an acre.

If these lands are sold

by this agreement,

my friends,

this would put more

than $12 million

in your pockets.

$12 million.

And remember,

each head of the household

will still receive

the 160-acre parcel

to do with what he wishes.

We give you this,

and we take

nothing more away.

You will continue to receive

the same rations and annuities

that you do at present

until you have achieved

full self-sufficiency.

Now...

as we discuss this

over the next couple of days,

let us not retread

old trails.

The mistakes

of the past

are in the past...

on both sides.

We have a chance now

to correct them.

For we believe

in your very wise saying...

"We will be known forever

by the tracks

we leave behind. "

Senator...

are you threatening to take their land

if they don't sign?

That is no threat, Charles.

That is the reality.

Would you permit this land

to be stolen from them,

to see your plan succeed?

My plan?

You mean "our plan. "

You played

no small hand.

One I've come

to question.

Don't worry, Charles.

They will vote for it.

There were

no early crops.

Now there will be

no late crops.

Does it seem to you

that our coffee rations are smaller?

Why do you tell lies

about my part

in the fight

at the Little Bighorn?

It was Agent McLaughlin.

You angered him.

He made me say

these things against you.

How can this be?

All our lives,

we were like brothers,

sharing meat

when we had it.

When we had no meat,

and when food was but

a day's ride to an agency,

we could not be made

to take from the whites!

I will go

and speak straight...

and set things right.

These words

cannot be put back.

- I have said all I have to say.

- My brother,

listen to me.

Many would have taken

from the whites for all those years,

but they did not

because you did not.

I did not

because you did not.

Before you came,

I was Big Man here.

But now you've come

and you do nothing.

You sit and tell stories

while I work my fields.

You go with Cody, you write

your name on a piece of paper

and you take money-

money that I must sweat for.

I do not understand why you feel

so honored by these things.

I do not understand

why you've come,

because to me

you are Sitting Bull,

our leader

who would never surrender.

That is all

I have to say.

Hush...

Because of confusion

in the past,

you will put your marks

on one of the two papers here.

You will sign the red paper

if you agree-

which we hope

that you do-

and the black

if you don't.

So they will know

who is a friend and who is not.

So they will know

who to take rations from.

What is this?

Sir, this is not your agency.

The council at Standing Rock

is next week.

You have no place here.

Do you not recognize

who this man is?

I know-

he is Sitting Bull.

But I do not recognize him

as having any more a voice

than any other Indian here.

Hear me, then...

for one last time.

They mean to take

our land away from us.

You may say,

"They wish to give us land.

This patch to you,

this patch to you. "

But here is the truth-

each patch is for a man

and all generations

that follow him.

And they know that this land

cannot feed but one generation,

not even so much as that.

All right,

you've had your say.

Do not interrupt.

You teach our children

the words of your God,

"Be fruitful and multiply. "

But it seems these words

are not meant for the Indian.

For what kind of man

would take a wife

and have children

he cannot feed?

No Indian man.

Not a Lakota,

not an Arikara,

not a Crow.

You would have us

cut off our balls

and end our race

right here

on a patch of land

on which nothing can live,

and that will not happen!

I have spoken.

We did not put you

on this land.

Red Cloud surrendered-

he made peace

with the government.

Have you forgotten the bloodshed

that came before?

Sitting Bull

is a great leader.

I believe this,

no matter that the whites

see us men

all as the same.

But he did not sit

with us in the council

those many snows ago

when our reservation was made.

He did not sit with us

in the next council

when these borders

that we were told

were like marks in stone

were moved.

And the Black Hills

and our hunting lands

were taken from us.

Sitting Bull

might have had his say,

but such was his suspicion

of the whites,

such was his pride.

I say today...

for all ears

within hearing...

that if Sitting Bull

had spoken

the way he speaks today,

I would not

have touched that pen.

I will not touch your pen

to your paper.

I will not touch it

to your red paper,

I will not touch it

to your black paper.

The white man...

will not see my mark again

on his paper

for the rest of my days

on this earth.

We cannot allow

a return to incivility.

Incivility?

And what has civility

earned them, might I ask?

Trained nurses?

Even one hospital?

All things the Sioux will provide

for themselves, Charles,

once this plan has passed.

As you yourself agreed-

they must adapt.

Must they adapt, sir, to the point

of their own extermination?

Extermination?

I suppose you say we've exterminated

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