Some of us got up early and ate a hearty breakfast at Geo's Steak Diner and Cafe. At this point, we had been existing on Luna Bars, so it felt good to sit down and have a meal. I half expected tumbleweeds to come rolling down the street in this dusty, mostly deserted downtown. The food was the best we had eaten so far. We walked back over to the motel and to get loaded up on the bus and found that the ignition key was missing. We are still pretty sure that little Gwe swiped it and then lost it somewhere. We couldn't get it out of him. After playing guessing games for a while and searching the parking lot, Matt and Rick decided to hot wire the bus.

We left 2 hours late, so we had to cancel two site visits. One was, the proposed Bear Butte Shooting Range in Sturgis, SD. This proposed project would be funded by H.U.D. (Housing and Urban Development) under the guise that it would provide jobs in the area. This is an obvious and ironic misuse of funds in an area that has a severe housing shortage, particularly the Pine Ridge Reservation. The gunfire noise, a sacred site issue, and the fact that it would be one more white recreational area in treaty lands are the other reasons to fight this project.

The other canceled site visit was to the Stronghold - an area where Indians have been camped out in resistance to protect sacred artifacts from digging and government tampering. The Stronghold is in the Badlands area and was a Ghost Dance Site as well as a bombing range for the U.S. Military.

We did have time to visit KILI Radio, Wounded Knee, and Alex White Plum's Ranch.

KILI Radio is a community radio station; it's the voice of the Lakota Nation. The station was built in 1983 as a way to pull the community together after an intense couple of decades of U.S. government corruption, cointelpro, poverty, and high-unsolved murder rates. Pine Ridge was basically a war zone and KILI Radio helped people to stand in solidarity against the divisiveness of outside forces. We had a great interview with Tom Casey. Community radio is so much more fun to interview with-smarter and more informed. We played three songs: Our Deliverance, Yield, and Let Me Go Easy.

After the KILI visit, we went to the Wounded Knee Memorial. It's always good to check in there. Nick Tilsen, one of our guides for the day, told the story of the Wounded Knee Massacre. There's a new significance with the war going on in Iraq. The 7th Calvary charging into Baghdad is reminiscent to the some of the Indians here of the Wounded Knee Massacre when the 7th Calvary charged down the slope at Pine Ridge and killed 200 women and children.

Nick Tilsen comes from a long line of activist. His dad is Mark Tilsen, Native Rights activist who among other things helped start KILI Radio and has worked with Honor ever since its inception. Nick's granddad, Kenneth Tilsen was one of the lawyers for the Wounded Knee Legal Defense. His great grandmother, Meridel Le Sueur was a peace activist and a blacklisted writer in the early 1900's. Nick is only 20 years old, but well on his way to being a leader in his community.

We went to an area of land owned by Alex White Plum and his Tiyospaye or family unit. Its owned by them but held in trust by the government. The relationship between the government and the tribe is a disturbing one. The U.S. Government put the initial system of ownership into place. Over the years, the land allotted to the individual members of the tribe could be passed down to relatives; split into parts with each passing until eventually through members losing track or selling it off, the land would be absorbed back into White society. There is a tribal council proposal that if the land is not used, its turned over to the council. Some families don't want this because if any members don't use their land, the family loses it off their main plot. Nick suggested that the land should not be split up among family members but passed down as a whole to one person.

Alex White Plum has managed to keep one large tract and add to it. Alex has a buffalo heard, horses, and most importantly has been trying to raise Hemp. The Hemp farm is raided every year by the Feds. Hemp is one of the only crops that will grow in this area and any tribe, as a sovereign nation, should be allowed to grow it. The White Plum ranch is an oasis in the midst of the poverty, lack of employment, and oppression on Pine Ridge. The community needs Alex to spread his business acumen and spiritual approach. He is very traditional and has great ideas about how to retain the Lakota ways. His Hemp farm could turn the community around. If it was allowed to flourish, it could become a huge main industry for Pine Ridge. We got to take a 2-hour horse ride through the countryside of the White Plum ranch. Best birthday present I could have ever gotten.

At the end of the day we ended up in Rapid City, where Lori Pourier organized a meal for us. Lori is an activist with the Indigenous Women's Network and Honor the Earth; she grew up in the Pine Ridge/Porcupine area. One of our dinner guests was Bruce Ellison, a lawyer from the original days of the American Indian Movement. It was an excellent opportunity to get all our legal questions answered.

The bus drove through the night to Idaho, while I slept at the Alex Johnson Hotel in Rapid.

Action Cards
Alternative Energy Action Card (Microsoft Word Format)
Bear Butte Action Card (Microsoft Word Format)
Grassland Action Card (Microsoft Word Format)

Amy Ray's Tour Diary Continues:
April 13th, University of Idaho, Moscow, Idaho