The Two Tragedies of Wounded Knee: The Historic Plight of Native Americans
Wednesdays, January 14 and 21 | 9:30 a.m. – 12 noon
Bethany Congregational Church 556 N. Hope Avenue, Santa Barbara
VISTAS member price: $30; non-member price: $45
Presented by Tom Parker
In the mid-19th century, legions of white settlers pushed westward, invading far-reaching lands upon which Native Americans had peacefully lived for centuries. Part 1 of Tom’s presentation will expose a history of conflicts, broken promises, and disillusionments, including tragic stories of Native Americans losing their land, lives, and liberty to the invaders of their homelands. Tom’s discussion will include the unprovoked attack in January 1891, when countless leaders and members of the Oglala Lakota Sioux Nation were massacred in the village of Wounded Knee on the Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota
In part 2, Tom will move eighty-two years later to February 1973, when members of the newly formed American Indian Movement (AIM) forcibly re-occupied the village of Wounded Knee and violence again erupted at Pine Ridge. Tom was sent to Wounded Knee along with other FBI agents to help to resolve this incident, and he will tell of his own experiences there.