Wounded Knee Massacre Memorial and Sacred Site Act
Floor Speech
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Mr. COLLINS. Madam Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill (H.R. 3371) to direct the Secretary of the Interior to complete all actions necessary for certain land to be held in restricted fee status by the Oglala Sioux Tribe and Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe, and for other purposes.
The Clerk read the title of the bill.
The text of the bill is as follows: H.R. 3371
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the ``Wounded Knee Massacre Memorial and Sacred Site Act''. SEC. 2. DEFINITIONS.
In this Act:
(1) Restricted fee status.--The term ``restricted fee status'' means a status in which the Tribal land--
(A) shall continue to be owned by the Tribes;
(B) shall be part of the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation and expressly made subject to the civil and criminal jurisdiction of the Oglala Sioux Tribe;
(C) shall not be transferred without the consent of Congress and the Tribes;
(D) shall not be subject to taxation by a State or local government; and
(E) shall not be subject to any provision of law providing for the review or approval by the Secretary of the Interior before the Tribes may use the land for any purpose as allowed by the document titled ``Covenant Between the Oglala Sioux Tribe and the Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe'' and dated October 21, 2022, directly, or through agreement with another party.
(2) Secretary.--The term ``Secretary'' means the Secretary of the Interior.
(3) Tribal land.--The term ``Tribal land'' means the approximately 40 acres (including the surface and subsurface estate, and mineral estate, and any and all improvements, structures, and personal property on those acres) on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in Oglala Lakota County, at Rural County Road 4, Wounded Knee, South Dakota, and generally depicted as ``Area of Interest'' on the map entitled ``Wounded Knee Sacred Site and Memorial Land'' and dated October 26, 2022, which is a segment of the December 29, 1890, Wounded Knee Massacre site.
(4) Tribes.--The term ``Tribes'' means the Oglala Sioux Tribe and Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe of the Cheyenne River Reservation, both tribes being among the constituent tribes of the Great Sioux Nation and signatories to the Fort Laramie Treaty of 1868 between the United States of America and the Great Sioux Nation, 15 Stat. 635. SEC. 3. LAND HELD IN RESTRICTED FEE STATUS BY THE TRIBES.
(a) Action by Secretary.--Not later than 365 days after enactment of this Act, the Secretary shall--
(1) complete all actions, including documentation and minor corrections to the survey and legal description of Tribal land, necessary for the Tribal land to be held by the Tribes in restricted fee status; and
(2) appropriately assign each applicable private and municipal utility and service right or agreement with regard to the Tribal land.
(b) Conditions.--
(1) Federal laws relating to indian land.--Except as otherwise provided in this Act, the Tribal land shall be subject to Federal laws relating to Indian country, as defined by section 1151 of title 18, United States Code and protected by the restriction against alienation in section 177 of title 25, United States Code.
(2) Use of land.--The Tribal land shall be used for the purposes allowed by the document titled ``Covenant Between the Oglala Sioux Tribe and the Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe'' and dated October 21, 2022.
(3) Encumbrances and agreements.--The Tribal land shall remain subject to any private or municipal encumbrance, right-of-way, restriction, easement of record, or utility service agreement in effect on the date of the enactment of this Act.
(4) Gaming.--Pursuant to the document titled ``Covenant Between the Oglala Sioux Tribe and the Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe'' and dated October 21, 2022, the Tribal land shall not be used for gaming activity under the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act (25 U.S.C. 2701 et seq.).
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Mr. COLLINS. 3371, the bill now under consideration.
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Mr. COLLINS. Madam Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
Madam Speaker, H.R. 3371, the Wounded Knee Memorial and Sacred Site Act, introduced by Congressman Johnson from South Dakota, would place approximately 40 acres of fee land within the Pine Ridge Reservation into restricted fee status for the Oglala Sioux Tribe and the Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe.
The land would be held as a memorial and a sacred site in remembrance of the Indian people killed in the Wounded Knee Massacre in 1890. In the mid- and late-1800s, there were many armed conflicts between Tribes, settlers, and U.S. military on the Great Plains and in the Western United States.
This contributed to distrust, fear, and misconceptions between groups, and the Wounded Knee Massacre was a result of that atmosphere.
On December 29, 1890, a group of Lakota Indians, led by Chief Spotted Elk, had made camp near Wounded Knee Creek on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in South Dakota. U.S. Army 7th Cavalry troops were sent there to disarm the Lakota.
A struggle occurred between the U.S. Army and some of Chief Spotted Elk's band, a majority of which consisted of women and children. A shot rang out, and the U.S. Army opened fire on the largely unarmed group. At that time, it was estimated that approximately 300 Indian people were killed.
In September 2022, the Oglala Sioux Tribe and the Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe jointly purchased 40 acres of land where an old trading post was located. The piece of land also contains a portion of the area where the Wounded Knee Massacre took place.
On October 21, 2022, both Tribes signed a covenant stating that this property shall be held and maintained as a memorial and sacred site without any economic development and prohibited any gaming on the land.
I applaud Mr. Johnson for working collaboratively with both Tribes to develop H.R. 3371, which would place the 40 acres into restricted fee status held jointly by both Tribes and memorializes the covenant between them.
Restricted fee land contains the same restrictions against alienation and taxation as land held in trust, but title is not held by the Federal Government. It is held by the Oglala Sioux and the Cheyenne River Sioux Tribes.
This legislation and the land it sets aside will memorialize and honor the Indian men, women, and children who were killed in 1890.
Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman from South Dakota (Mr. Johnson) and the Oglala Sioux and Cheyenne River Sioux Tribes for their work on this important legislation. I urge my colleagues to support this bill.
Mr. JOHNSON of South Dakota. Mr. Speaker, in December 1890, Chief Spotted Elk and his band of Lakota, including many women and children, were moving from the Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe, the reservation, to the Pine Ridge Reservation. As was mentioned, they were stopped by the Army's 7th Cavalry, and they were forced to make camp at Wounded Knee Creek in South Dakota.
The next morning, on December 29, the 7th Cavalry attempted to disarm the Lakota. A struggle ensued, a shot rang out, and before long, the 7th Cavalry was opening fire on the Lakota. Almost all of them were unarmed. As was mentioned earlier, most were women and children. More than 300 noncombatants were killed.
Mr. Speaker, this was a massacre. Too many think of Wounded Knee as something that happened in the long ago past and in a faraway place. The inaccuracy of that view was driven home to me in June when I went to the site, and I spoke to the descendants of Wounded Knee.
There, I sat at length with an elder whose grandmother survived that day. He grew up hearing from her own voice of the fear, the violence, and the tragedy of that day. Mr. Speaker, this was not a history book. This was his grandmother.
Close by, at St. John's Church, I looked at the site where the wounded and the dying were taken. The floorboards of that church are still stained with their blood. These are real people. These are real places. These are not ancient tales of a distant land.
Our Nation has struggled with how best to remember, to mourn that terrible day.
On the 100th anniversary of Wounded Knee, this body issued a formal apology and expressed deep regret for the actions of that day. That is, obviously, altogether appropriate, although on its own it is woefully insufficient.
Last year, the Oglala Sioux Tribe and the Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe exercised tremendous leadership by coming together to purchase the 40 acres surrounding this site, an area that was mentioned was site to just an old trading post. The management of that site was not an appropriate memory of those who had died that day.
This bill, the Wounded Knee Massacre Memorial and Sacred Site Act, would place those 40 acres into restricted fee status; in essence, placing them into trust for the Tribes. That would provide the Tribes additional tools that they could use to better protect this sacred land.
Mr. Speaker, I recognize the leadership of the Tribal leaders involved: firstly, President Frank Star Comes Out, who graces our body with his presence in this Chamber today, but also Chairman Ryman LeBeau, former President Kevin Killer, and former Chairman Harold Frazier. We have spent months working together along with committee staff and the Department of the Interior to craft this important legislation.
My colleagues, I ask for a ``yes'' vote on this bill.
Wounded Knee is sacred ground. It has been hallowed by the blood of innocent women and children. It deserves protection. This act can give the Tribes, the descendants of those who died, the tools they need to do just that.
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Mr. COLLINS. Mr. Speaker, I have no further requests for time.
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Mr. COLLINS. Mr. Speaker, this legislation will further allow the Lakota people to memorialize and honor their relatives and ancestors killed in the Wounded Knee Massacre. It gives title of the land to both the Oglala Sioux Tribe and the Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe while ensuring that the land has the protections that restrictions against alienation and taxation provide.
Mr. Speaker, I urge the adoption of this bill and yield back the balance of my time.
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