Wounded Knee and the Cinema Arts Center

I was fortunate enough to have attended the launch of the Lakota Foundation On the morning of Sunday, Oct 4th 2009, The Lakota foundation is group that advocates for Native American efforts, such as distributing resources to impoverished Native Americans On reservations throughout the Country. On the morning of Sunday Oct 4th, about 100 people mostly adults, the elderly and myself witnessed a Native American Ensemble complete with 2 acoustic guitartist, a Cello, 2 drummers, and World renown Tiokasin Ghost Horse on flutes and various instruments. Tiokasin was present at Wounded Knee in 70's and had been involved in Lakota efforts for independence in the early 70's as well. After the show, rather, I would say it was a ritual not a show. after the ritual, we were ushered into the nearby Theater where we watched the film ''Wounded Knee'', after the screening there was Q&A, Lance White Magpie who had participated in the Ritual also as a Shamanic Dancer and healer also founder of The Lakota Foundation Spoke about his initiatives. I him and the other panelists how we would go about curtailing the suicides on the reservations, Tiokasin Answered, and I paraphrase ''help us get our land back''. I was so deeply moved by the experience. I drove about an hour out to Huntington long Island to show my support. I had been up the night before working a Remix for hours and on into the morning, I didn't get any sleep. I was up till about 6am, figured If I had to be there by 9:30am, might as well not sleep, so I didn't. At about a quarter to 7am I decided to shower and be on my way. It was quite a scenic drive, I went through the thickest of Fog and the curviest and densest of forest roads, saw many an ostentatious house while driving through Woodbury. The Sun eventually peeked up over the horizon at about half passed 8, it's golden rays pierced the tops of the trees and shimmered off of my car windows. It turned out to be a wonderful day. I'll add more details about the experience soon.

A little bit about the history of ''Wounded Knee''.
On the night of February 27, 1973, fifty-four cars rolled, horns blaring, into a small hamlet on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation. Within hours, some 200 Oglala Lakota and American Indian Movement (AIM) activists had seized the few major buildings in town and police had cordoned off the area. The occupation of Wounded Knee had begun. Demanding redress for grievances—some going back more than 100 years—the protesters captured the world's attention for 71 gripping days.

With heavily armed federal troops tightening a cordon around meagerly supplied, cold, hungry Indians, the event invited media comparisons with the massacre of Indian men, women, and children at Wounded Knee almost a century earlier. In telling the story of this iconic moment, the final episode of We Shall Remain will examine the broad political and economic forces that led to the emergence of AIM in the late 1960s as well as the immediate events—a murder and an apparent miscarriage of justice—that triggered the takeover. Though the federal government failed to make good on many of the promises that ended the siege, the event succeeded in bringing the desperate conditions of Indian reservation life to the nation's attention. Perhaps even more important, it proved that despite centuries of encroachment, warfare, and neglect, Indians remained a vital force in the life of America.