[Congressional Record Volume 169, Number 150 (Monday, September 18, 2023)]
[House]
[Pages H4364-H4366]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
WOUNDED KNEE MASSACRE MEMORIAL AND SACRED SITE ACT
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.).
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to the rule, the gentleman from
Georgia (Mr. Collins) and the gentleman from Arizona (Mr. Gallego) each
will control 20 minutes.
The Chair recognizes the gentleman from Georgia.
General Leave
Mr. COLLINS. Madam Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members
may have 5 legislative days in which to revise and extend their remarks
and include extraneous material on H.R. 3371, the bill now under
consideration.
[[Page H4365]]
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the
gentleman from Georgia?
There was no objection.
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.
{time} 1700
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. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
Mr. GALLEGO. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
Mr. Speaker, I rise today in support of H.R. 3371, the Wounded Knee
Massacre Memorial and Sacred Site Act, introduced by my colleague from
South Dakota (Mr. Johnson).
This legislation is an important step to honor Lakota lives lost at
Wounded Knee and honor the Lakota for generations to come.
In particular, this bill would place approximately 40 acres of land
located within the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation into restricted fee
status for the Oglala Sioux Tribe and the Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe.
This is the land believed to be the site of the 1890 Wounded Knee
Massacre.
In the late 1880s, Tribes began holding ghost dances for the renewal
of stolen land and in protest of the U.S. Government, a government that
prohibited American Indians from practicing their religious freedom.
In December of 1890, the government sent U.S. Army 7th Cavalry troops
to disarm the Lakota near Wounded Knee Creek. A struggle occurred, and
the 7th Cavalry brutally massacred over 350 American Indian men, women,
and children near Wounded Knee Creek.
The Wounded Knee Massacre was one of the most atrocious acts in our
Nation's history. The healing is still continuing today.
In 2022, the Oglala Sioux Tribe and Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe
purchased this land and signed a covenant to hold and maintain the land
as a memorial and sacred site.
Representative Johnson's bill affirms that covenant and would allow
the Oglala Sioux Tribe and the Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe to hold,
maintain, and protect the land as a memorial and sacred site without
any development.
Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to support this legislation, and I
reserve the balance of my time.
Mr. COLLINS. Mr. Speaker, I yield 5 minutes to the gentleman from
South Dakota (Mr. Johnson), the lead sponsor of 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.
Mr. COLLINS. Mr. Speaker, I have no further requests for time. I am
prepared to close, and I reserve the balance of my time.
Mr. GALLEGO. Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to support this
legislation. I yield back the balance of my time.
Mr. COLLINS. Mr. Speaker, this legislation will further allow the
Lakota
[[Page H4366]]
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.
The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. Kustoff). The question is on the motion
offered by the gentleman from Georgia (Mr. Collins) that the House
suspend the rules and pass the bill, H.R. 3371.
The question was taken.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. In the opinion of the Chair, two-thirds
being in the affirmative, the ayes have it.
Mr. COLLINS. Mr. Speaker, I object to the vote on the ground that a
quorum is not present and make the point of order that a quorum is not
present.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to clause 8 of rule XX, further
proceedings on this question will be postponed.
The point of no quorum is considered withdrawn.
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