Commentary: U.S. must return land seized in 1877 to Lakota

TODAY IS A sad day in American-Indian -- and American -- history.

On that day 130 years ago, the federal government broke its own laws and eventually used military force to seize illegally the once vast reservation homelands of Lakota communities known as the Black Hills.

This seizure in 1877 violated the Fort Laramie Treaty of 1868, and deepened one of the most enduring tragedies in American-Indian history. In a single generation, the largest and most powerful American Indian confederacy on the continent confronted deadly attacks on its territory and populace.

The assault at the Black Hills culminated in the infamous December 1890 massacre at Wounded Knee, where the U.S. military unleashed overwhelming firepower against a band of Lakota along the banks of a creek known as Wounded Knee.

Even the staunchest defenders of U.S. military actions recognize the tragic nature of this conflict. And these events remain seared into Lakota history.

The 1868 Fort Laramie Treaty was a historic achievement for Lakota leaders who, despite a generation of white expansion, negotiated a favorable recognition of Lakota sovereignty over what is now western South Dakota, including the sacred Black Hills.

Lakota bands displayed remarkable political and military resolve during the 1860s, particularly through their concentrated attacks along the Bozeman Trail.....


http://www.contracostatimes.com/mld/cctimes/news/opinion/16801033.htm