Elijah Hadley and the Wounded Knee Massacre
Banned Histories of Race in America
A couple of weeks ago, a federal report found that from 1819 to 1969, there were “at least” 973 Indigenous American children who died in the brutal US border school system. “At least” is doing a lot of work there because Indigenous scholars say the number is closer to 40,000.
But, sure, “at least” 973.
We have a post-extinction narrative about Indigenous people in this country. We like to believe first, that they’re all dead and second, since they’re all dead, the only thing we can do about it is assuage our own guilt and responsibility. Any information that doesn’t fit within those parameters is to be ignored and disregarded.
For example, if you didn’t already know, you could probably accurately guess that Black Americans are twice as likely as white Americans to be killed by police. What you’re less likely to guess is that Indigenous Americans are more than five-times as likely as whites and almost three-times as likely as Black folks to be killed by police.
But when was the last time you saw a video of one of these Indigenous murders-by-cop? I’d be willing to bet you haven’t and that’s not because those videos don’t exist. They just don’t fit into that post-extinction narrative.
A few weeks back when I was writing about the First Mass Shooting in the US, I kept bumping into the irritating belief that the Wounded Knee Massacre was actually the US’ first mass shooting. It’s not at all true, but it’s the only thing we can call such a horror while maintaining that narrative.
If you’re unfamiliar, after centuries of torture and executions and displacement, after the biological warfare and forced starvation and deliberate eradication of Indigenous languages and culture and general ways of life, and just two weeks after the assassination of their leader Sitting Bull, on December 29, 1890 hundreds of Lakota Sioux were executed by US soldiers.
As is the pattern, the number varies depending on who you ask, but Indigenous scholars estimate the number of dead to be around 300. Two-thirds of the victims were women and children, many of whom were hunted down as they escaped the initial onslaught. Twenty-five US soldiers were also killed, mostly by friendly fire, a result of their own stupidity and unrestrained bloodlust.
The infantry’s commanding officer initially tried to cover up the Massacre by calling it a “battle”, but an investigation revealed the truth and he was demoted. But, that post-extinction narrative didn’t come out of nowhere. Soon, that commanding officer was not only reinstated, but 19 Medals of Honor were given to soldiers under his command specifically for participating in the Wounded Knee Massacre.
But, sure, just a “mass shooting”.
Last month a video was released showing the killing of 17-year-old Mescalero Apache member Elijah Hadley by an Otero County, NM sheriff’s deputy. The deputy shot Elijah a total of nineteen times. I won’t go into detail here, but a local news report can be seen here and more information as well as a petition to remove the Otero County sheriff can be found here.
Thank you very much for this, Samuel. I think I mentioned last time that I am in a process of ancestral accountability for the role of the guns bearing my family name that were used that day.
I read in the book The Politics of Hallowed Ground, by Mario Gonzalez and Elizabeth Cook-Smith (highly recommended), that earlier in that December a lieutenant from a different Army unit led a rogue action, using one Hotchkiss Mountain Gun, to kill around 75 Lakota people in an area northwest of Pine Ridge. So yes, Wounded Knee was not the first. Not to mention Sand Creek, years before. And if you go further back to Maine, the 1755 Phips Proclamation for bounty hunting of Penobscot people, and the Norridgewock Massacre. So-called Pequot "Wars" in 1637. So many more.
And as you say, the descendants of the victims and survivors, of all of these massacres, are still here. Too few know that, but more are learning, thanks in part to your historical diligence.
What happened to Elijah Hadley makes me sick and teary eyed. They way they cover up what happened that day for so long and then keep the police officers name private but not keep Elijah's name private (who was a minor!) pisses me off to no end.
I hadn't known that statistic about likelihood of police killing Indigenous people. Thank you for another excellent article, Samuel.