Today was a rest day – a day taken to relax a bit, do some laundry and otherwise prepare to resume the journey the next day. The day started with our trip to the North Dakota State Capitol building and finished with a good meal at a local steak and sea food restaurant. However, in behind we took a quick trip south to Fort Yates along a route that paralleled the Missouri River.
Starting south from Mandan along Hwy 1806 and quickly came upon the North Dakota Veterans cemetery. Set upon a hill facing southeast, the cemetery was comprised of all white crosses arranged in the beautiful lines reminiscent of Arlington national cemetery. Among the crosses were scattered a number of floral bouquets placed in honor of the fallen who payed the ultimate sacrifice.
Further south, just as we arrived at Fort Yates, we came upon the Sitting Bull Burial Site and Memorial. This was the location where the great Lakota warrior and chief was buried after he was killed. In Canada there has been a great focus in recent years upon our own history with First Nations – a movement known as “Truth and Reconciliation”. There has been an attempt at an honest acknowledgement of the terrible events that comprise our history. Which made the words from Sitting Bull – repeated below – all the more poignant for it brings the issue home in a new and unexpected way.
” What treaty have the Lakota made with the white man that we have broken? Not one.
What treaty have the white man ever made with us that they ever kept? Not one.
When I was a boy the Lakota owned the world; the sun rose and set on their land;
they sent ten thousand men to battle. Where are the warriors today?
Who slew them? Where are our lands? Who owns them? What law have I broken?
Is it wrong for me to love my own? Is it wicked for me because my skin is red?
Because I am a Lakota; because I was born where my father lived;
because I would die for my people and my country? “