[Congressional Record Volume 171, Number 12 (Tuesday, January 21, 2025)]
[House]
[Pages H246-H248]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
WOUNDED KNEE MASSACRE MEMORIAL AND SACRED SITE ACT
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,
[[Page H247]]
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
Arkansas (Mr. Westerman) and the gentleman from California (Mr.
Huffman) each will control 20 minutes.
The Chair recognizes the gentleman from Arkansas.
General Leave
Mr. WESTERMAN. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members
are given 5 legislative days to revise and extend their remarks and to
include extraneous material on H.R. 165, the bill now under
consideration.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the
gentleman from Arkansas?
There was no objection.
Mr. WESTERMAN. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may
consume.
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. HUFFMAN. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
I rise in support of H.R. 165, the Wounded Knee Massacre Memorial and
Sacred Site Act.
This is an important step to honor the Lakota lives lost at Wounded
Knee and the Lakota people for generations to come.
The 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 Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe. This is land
believed to be the site of the 1890 Wounded Knee Massacre.
In the late 1800s, Tribes began holding Ghost Dances for the renewal
of stolen land and in protest of the U.S. Government, which had
prohibited American Indians from practicing their religious freedom.
In December of 1890, the government, our government, sent the Army's
7th Cavalry to disarm the Lakota near Wounded Knee Creek, and what
resulted was a brutal massacre. Troops murdered over 350 American
Indian women, men, and children. Mr. Speaker, 25 U.S. soldiers were
lost in that massacre, as well.
The Wounded Knee Massacre was one of the most atrocious moments in
our Nation's history, the dark side of that manifest destiny that was
romanticized in the President's speech yesterday.
In 2022, the Oglala Sioux Tribe and the Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe
purchased this land and signed a covenant to hold and maintain the land
as a memorial and sacred site.
This bill would reaffirm that covenant and would allow the Tribes to
hold, maintain, and protect the land from any development.
Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to support this legislation, and I
reserve the balance of my time.
Mr. WESTERMAN. Mr. Speaker, I yield 5 minutes to the gentleman from
South Dakota (Mr. Johnson), the lead sponsor of the bill.
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.
[[Page H248]]
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.
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.
Mr. HUFFMAN. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman from South Dakota for
this bill. I urge my colleagues to support it, and I yield back the
balance of my time.
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.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. The question is on the motion offered by the
gentleman from Arkansas (Mr. Westerman) that the House suspend the
rules and pass the bill, H.R. 165.
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. WESTERMAN. Mr. Speaker, on that I demand the yeas and nays.
The yeas and nays were ordered.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to clause 8 of rule XX, further
proceedings on this motion will be postponed.
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