Rep. Dusty Johnson speaks on Wounded Knee Massacre bill

RAPID CITY, S.D. (KOTA) - Last month Representative Dusty Johnson introduced a bill to Congress that would preserve the site of the Wounded Knee Massacre as a sacred site. On Wednesday, he took to the Native Resources Indian and Insular Affairs Subcommittee to speak on the importance of such a bill.

The bill would ensure the property can not be sold without approval from Congress, the Oglala Sioux Tribe, and the Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe. Additionally, it offers the site tax-exempt status from state and local governments. Rep. Johnson says this bill is important to acknowledge all of our country’s history.

”It is of course important to celebrate the great days and great places as a part of that journey but I think it is in many ways more important to acknowledge the dark days and the dark places. December 29, 1890, was most assuredly one of those dark days,” said Rep. Johnson.

While the site was sold to both tribes in September of last year, this bill would ensure the land stays in Tribal hands. The bill still has to pass in both chambers of Congress before any changes proposed can go into effect.

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