honorable mention
Mark Vitaris
title
Welcome to Wounded Knee
To get to the massacre sight at Wounded Knee, South Dakota you have to want to go there. Far from any Interstate exit ramp or fast food outlet, it's where a blemish on the face of a nation's history should be - hidden from sight. When you arrive, don't expect to find an air conditioned Visitor's Center with Wifi, flush toilets or interpretive walking trails. You won't be greeted by a smiling docent either. Most likely, you'll be approached by a native child schooled in telling hardship stories and selling family-made handcrafts. There is plenty of pain and sorrow surrounding what happened here on the bitterly cold morning, December 29th, 1890. Numerous events led up to that day, tensions were high over the outlawed Ghost Dance craze, Sitting Bull had been murdered two weeks before, but one of the most important factors was the number of soldiers in the area: one quarter of the fighting strength of the U.S. Army had been sent there.
I have come to this soberly somber place to walk the land, study the face of time, and to pay respect to the innocent who were killed here. Photographs hanging inside the “drum”, are visual reminders of the carnage and how events played out. Statements painted above them are a reminder of the underlying resentment still held by some.
Wounded Knee was once called Land of Rising Smoke. When the wind blew, dust would swirl and rise high into the sky from the top of a hill, known now as Cemetery Hill. The ‘smoke’ could be seen for miles. Standing before the six foot tall obelisk memorial dedicated to the “…many innocent woman and children who knew no wrong…” who died there, I felt the wind begin to rise.
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entry description
Welcome to Wounded Knee.To get to the massacre sight at Wounded Knee, South Dakota you have to want to go there. Far from any Interstate exit ramp or fast food outlet, it's where a blemish on the face of a nation's history should be - hidden from sight. When you arrive, don't expect to find an air conditioned Visitor's Center with Wifi, flush toilets or interpretive walking trails. You won't be greeted by a smiling docent either. Most likely, you'll be approached by a native child schooled in telling hardship stories and selling family-made handcrafts. There is plenty of pain and sorrow surrounding what happened here on the bitterly cold morning, December 29th, 1890. Numerous events led up to that day, tensions were high over the outlawed Ghost Dance craze, Sitting Bull had been murdered two weeks before, but one of the most important factors was the number of soldiers in the area: one quarter of the fighting strength of the U.S. Army had been sent there.
I have come to this soberly somber place to walk the land, study the face of time, and to pay respect to the innocent who were killed here. Photographs hanging inside the “drum”, are visual reminders of the carnage and how events played out. Statements painted above them are a reminder of the underlying resentment still held by some.
Wounded Knee was once called Land of Rising Smoke. When the wind blew, dust would swirl and rise high into the sky from the top of a hill, known now as Cemetery Hill. The ‘smoke’ could be seen for miles. Standing before the six foot tall obelisk memorial dedicated to the “…many innocent woman and children who knew no wrong…” who died there, I felt the wind begin to rise.
back to gallery
