PrimeWire

I was speaking specifically about student protests that had resulted in the murder of students. The long history of injustices and atrocities against native American Indians is another topic that deserves its own conversation.

Actually, there were 2 deaths during that incident. It should be noted that there was a great deal of public support for the Wounded Knee occupiers. The late 60’s and early 70’s were a time of increasing American Native activism and saw a more sympathetic public view towards the plight of Native Americans. Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee had been published in 1970. It was received with most favorable reviews and stayed on the national bestsellers list for a year. The Black Congressional Caucus supported their cause as did several famous actors and public figures. It was during the occupation that Marlon Brandon had asked Sacheen Littlefeather to speak on his behalf at the Acedemy Awards and cited his objections to what was happening at Wounded Knee as one of the reasons he was declining the award.

I suspect that an exchange of comments we had on another show might have been misconstrued as me being misinformed and unsympathetic to the history of humiliations and atrocities suffered by Native Americans at the hands of settlers and the Federal government and I want to assure you that this isn’t the case. My mom was a hippie and was very interested in Native American history and spirituality. She had a voracious appetite for the written word, as do I, and we had many volumes on our bookshelves pertaining to these subjects. I read many of them and absorbed even more knowledge listening to her and her friends talking about them. If I am mistaken about there being some misunderstanding between us just ignore all of that and write it off as me being overly sensitive. :)