In response to the Thomas Bowden letter printed on July 2:
This past weekend we celebrated the birth of our country, and during this time I visited the Whitestone Battlefield Memorial near Kulm, N.D. What is most striking about this memorial is its 30-foot stone column, built in 1909. On its cap is a bugler commemorating the deaths of 20 cavalry men who died while fighting the Yanktonai and Hunkpapa American Indians.
During this fight, the cavalry decimated somewhere between 200-300 American Indians, many of these being women and children. Not only did they murder these people, but they burned all of their supplies for the winter, including 500,000 pounds of buffalo meat, pots, hunting weapons, etc. Only a small pile of stones, built in 1942, standing waist high with a hardly readable plaque commemorates this tragedy.
These were innocent American Indians slaughtered at the hands of a federal policy to move natives into reservations. Yet we do not memorialize them. The 20 Caucasian men are the ones to be memorialized in grand fashion for their heroics in defeating the supposed "savages." In reality, it was the natives who paid the price for other's ignorance. If it is this barbarism that Thomas Bowden believes to be great accomplishments in philosophy and government, than I want no part in his fantasy.
It is exactly these kinds of injustices to native peoples that the government should apologize for. Whitestone is far from the only time and place where native people felt the brunt of one group's prejudices and attacks. Part of western philosophy is to be held accountable for one's actions. It is vital that we take appropriate actions to rectify these injustices. An apology from the government wouldn't be a bad place to begin.
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Amy Nell
Moorhead
