Wounded Knee Massacre Memorial and Sacred Site Act
Floor Speech
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Mr. WESTERMAN. Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill (H.R. 165) 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. 165
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. WESTERMAN. 165, the bill now under consideration.
H.R. 165, the Wounded Knee Massacre Memorial and Sacred Site Act, introduced by Congressman Johnson from South Dakota, would place approximately 40 acres of fee land within the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation into restricted fee status for the Oglala Sioux Tribe and Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe.
The land would be held as a memorial and as a sacred site in remembrance of the Indian people killed in the Wounded Knee Massacre in 1890.
During the mid and late 1800s, several armed conflicts occurred between Tribes, settlers, and U.S. military on the Great Plains 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 made camp near Wounded Knee Creek on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in South Dakota. The U.S. Army's 7th Cavalry were sent 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 the time, it was estimated that approximately 300 Indian people were killed.
In September 2022, the Oglala Sioux Tribe and 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 the gentleman from South Dakota (Mr. Johnson) for working collaboratively with both Tribes to develop H.R. 165, which would place the 40 acres into restricted fee status held jointly by both Tribes and memorialize their covenant.
Restricted fee land contains the same restrictions against alienation and taxation as land held in trust, but the Federal Government does not hold title. Instead, it will be held by the Oglala Sioux and 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.
I again thank the gentleman from South Dakota (Mr. Johnson) and the Oglala Sioux and Cheyenne River Sioux Tribes for their work on this important legislation.
Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to support the bill, and I reserve the balance of my time.
Mr. JOHNSON of South Dakota. Mr. Speaker, I thank the chair and the body for bringing up my bill, the Wounded Knee Massacre Memorial and Sacred Site Act, this afternoon.
This is the greatest country in the history of the world, and when you are a country that is that great, it is important that you acknowledge your failures and that you try to do better in the future.
As has been said, in December 1890, Chief Spotted Elk and his band of Lakota, which largely consisted of women and children, were headed from the Cheyenne River Indian Reservation to the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation. While they were en route, they were stopped by the Army's 7th Cavalry, and they were forced to make camp at Wounded Knee Creek.
It was the next morning, December 29, 1890, that the 7th Cavalry began to disarm the Lakota. There was a struggle, a shot rang out, and before people realized it, there were hundreds of Lakota being massacred, the overwhelming majority of which were noncombatants, women and children.
On the 100th anniversary of Wounded Knee, this body made a formal apology and expressed deep regret for what had happened that day.
Another important step forward was in October of 2022 when the Oglala Sioux Tribe and the Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe jointly purchased that 40 acres that is the site of the 1890 massacre.
This bill very simply places those 40 acres into restricted fee status, which is in essence putting it into trust.
My bill ensures that those two Tribes working together can protect this land as sacred without any commercial development, and they can retain their sovereignty to manage that land appropriately.
It was last Congress that I told you all about my trip to the massacre site in June of 2023. It was there I spoke at length to an older gentleman whose grandmother had survived the massacre that day. He, with his own ears, had heard the oral history of the terrible tragedy that occurred that day.
I then went and visited St. John's Church where the Lakota had taken their wounded to treat their injuries. Their blood, the blood of the survivors, stained the floorboards in the church that day. The wounds of that dark day remain present to this day, and this land is sacred. I do think this action, this cooperation between the two Tribes and our Federal Government, will make sure that we do right as much as we can in the wake of that tragedy.
Mr. Speaker, I thank the Wounded Knee descendants. I thank Oglala Sioux Tribal Chairman Frank Star Comes Out and Cheyenne River Sioux Tribal Chairman Ryman LeBeau for their teamwork in advancing this legislation.
Last Congress, this bill passed unanimously out of this body, and I would just ask my colleagues to again vote for H.R. 165, the Wounded Knee Massacre Memorial and Sacred Site Act, so that we can provide the Oglala and the Cheyenne River Tribes the authority they need to protect this land.
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Mr. WESTERMAN. Mr. Speaker, I have no further requests for time. I am prepared to close, and I continue to reserve the balance of my time.
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Mr. WESTERMAN. 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 the title of the land to both the Oglala Sioux Tribe and Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe, while ensuring that the land has the protections provided by restrictions against alienation and taxation.
I again commend my friend from South Dakota for bringing us this bill.
Mr. Speaker, I urge its adoption, and I yield back the balance of my time.
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Mr. WESTERMAN. Mr. Speaker, on that I demand the yeas and nays.
The yeas and nays were ordered.
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