Bill to preserve site of Wounded Knee massacre expected to pass U.S. House

Legislation would ensure that land remains in tribal ownership

A bill that would protect the site of the Wounded Knee massacre and perpetuate its tribal ownership is expected to pass out of the U.S. House of Representatives this week, Rep. Dusty Johnson said.

Johnson, the sponsor of the Wounded Knee Massacre Memorial and Sacred Site Act, said the bill is a solution to a problem that well-intentioned people have been trying to find for more than 130 years.

“We are closer now than ever before,” he told The Dakota Scout.

Last year, the field where about 300 Lakota Sioux Indians were killed in 1890 by U.S. Cavalry troops was purchased by the Oglala Sioux Tribe and the Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe. Many of the Indians killed in the confrontation were women and children.

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