Bill -
Lest my jaws start aflappin' agin' far beyond their capacity to understand themselves, a small personal anecdote:
In 1995 I was honored by Pretty Elk, a Crow, who with his wife and children still lived then on their rez plot about 100 yards from the banks of the Little Big Horn, at Crow Agency. His wife, here nameless, was then a curator at the Custer Battlefield monument. Pretty Elk is a great-grandson of Yellow Tail, a scout for the 7th Cav. She lives there now.
Her (matri-lineal) rez plot is just a few miles north of the battlefield. Pretty Elk inivited me to have a sweat with him 20 feet from those banks. In that sweat I began to learn the meaning of a few things which are unforgettable. They broke bread with me, and gave me a place to rest my head while on the road.
One can never, ever, denegrate the 7th Cavalry for their honorable sacrifice of lives. I hold Custer and the United States government totally responsible for what happened that day, but most of all Custer himself.
When Veterans Day includes BOTH of our national flags and ALL veterans of the Indian Wars, then there will be a final healing.
"All graves should be respected, no matter who they are."
Thank you for this post...
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