In the reading entitled Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee there is a basic explanation of the conflict that arose between Native Americans and the white people that sought to claim the Native Americans' land as their own. Some of the general events mentioned in this conflict involves the Native American tribes, who were supported by Sitting Bull, refusing to give in to certain demands and/or requests made upon them by the leading men of the white people. Before going on, it is important to mention that the Native Americans are more successful at certain times than others in this battle between these two races of people. The first event discussed involves a number of the Native American tribes coming together to attend a meeting to possibly sign a document that would grant the white people ownership of the land that the Native Americans resided on and the right to reform it however they wanted the land to be. A certain number of the Native Americans were upset about this and completely disregarded this proposal by the white people. However, the Native Americans ended up losing in this situation due to the fact a man named White Hair McLaughlin fibbed to another man named Crook when he told him that Sitting Bull and all possible Native Americans involved in this situation were aware of the current meeting being held to discuss the document (mentioned above). This caused all of the main Native American leaders to go ahead and sign the document which granted the white people access to and ownership of the land that previously belonged to the Native Americans, which Sitting Bull was furious over afterwards. This event addresses a specific aspect of the "insider" vs. "outsider" concept, being that certain non-Native Americans (mainly referring to whites) throughout history generally unable to see the error in their ways at certain times and not be concerned for the well-being and lives of other races of people, other than their own, and the Native Americans have shown that they are the complete opposite of these ways throughout history. This situation also goes to show readers the deceiving, influential, and tyrannical power that white people have been typically portrayed as having throughout history to affect other races of people (including their own) which allowed them to feel like a superior race above all other races of people in the world.
After this, (which takes place close to a full year after the event above) a Native American named Kicking Bear shares information with Sitting Bull about how him and his brother-in-law, whose name is Short Bull, had just got back from travelling across a certain set of mountains in to find out the whereabouts of the Messiah. He explains to Sitting Bull that this figure taught him, and the rest of the Native Americans who accompanied him on their journey, how to properly perform the Ghost Dance. During his story, Kicking Bear describes the Messiah as basically a Native American representation of Jesus Christ who have a certain number of markings on his body that might have come from being crucified. This statement reinforces the idea that during the times of interaction between the Native Americans and the white people that the Native Americans borrowed some cultural ideas from the white people while still putting some of their own original concepts into these ideas as well. Kicking Bear also says that the Messiah told all of them that in performing the Ghost Dance, the grass would be at a decent length in the following spring and that the new supply of soil would close of the white men from the rest of life and provide a varied abundance of living creatures and landmarks for the Native Americans to live around. It is also mentioned that the Messiah instructed the Native Americans to not be violent towards their enemies and only to move their bodies along to the song lyrics that they were performing at the same time. After the Native Americans had gone underway with this for a certain amount of time, the white people began to see this as a threat to their plans and decided to take action to stop it. In addition, the white people eventually came up with the idea that Sitting Bull was the ring leader behind the movement and the corruption in the Native American society, at this point, and they in turn made plans for his arrest. The whites tried to come up with a decent plan to get Sitting Bull, with using Buffalo Bill Cody to try and lead Sitting Bull into their trap, who in turn actually agreed to their horrible plans. This personally surprises me and at the same time doesn't surprise me, because Buffalo Bill Cody was a white man who could obviously relate in certain respects more to people of his own race, yet he still supported the positive portrayal and treatment of Native Americans during his life. However, this idea to use Cody was dismissed and officials eventually decided to surround Sitting Bull at his personal residence and take him with them. This ultimately led to a shoot-out between a Native American out to save Sitting Bull and a white official who had come to collect Sitting Bull, which led Sitting Bull to be accidentally killed by a bullet that struck him in his head. In conclusion, this event led to more fighting and rebelling between the Native Americans and the whites that lasted for a certain amount of time.
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