Sunday August 19, 2012, 5:15 am
Custer is nervous. With good reason: She's standing in the middle of what's left of Indian Country, and her great-great-great-great-uncle, George Armstrong Custer, is perhaps the most notorious of the officers who led the U.S. war against Indians in the 19th century.

Alisha had come to Lame Deer for a meeting of the International Council of Thirteen Indigenous Grandmothers, a group composed of spiritual healers, shamans and naturopathic doctors from South America and Nepal, among other places, as well as from North America's Indian reservations. The grandmothers believe that people must return to indigenous, natural ways if they are to reverse the lingering effects of colonialism, not just in Indian Country but across the globe.

It's quiet inside the powwow circle, except for the sound of Custer's wavering voice as she tells the crowd that a friend invited her to this remote reservation, about 55 miles from where her ancestor was killed in 1876 near the Little Bighorn River while fighting the Cheyenne, Arapaho and Lakota. It wasn't until after arriving at the four-day event that she felt compelled to extend an olive branch.

"I'm here to apologize formally to the Northern Cheyenne," she says.

***************************************************

The crowd gasps. Drumbeats and cheers erupt. Women weep.

For North America's indigenous people, such moments have been a long time coming. While this country's early inhabitants once revered the frontiersmen and cavalry troops who cleared the way for white homesteaders, hindsight offers a more nuanced view of the tactics the U.S. employed while laying its foundations.

It was only in 2009 that Congress finally and formally apologized to Native people, in a 246-word statement tucked into the 2010 defense authorization bill. The apology recognized "years of official depredations, ill-conceived policies and the breaking of covenants by the federal government" and noted the government's regret for the "many instances of violence, maltreatment and neglect inflicted on Native peoples by citizens of the United States."

That resolution was historic—or it would have been, if anyone had known about it. President Obama signed the legislation with little fanfare in 2009. A White House press release about the bill said nothing about the apology. The only public ceremony came in May 2010, when the bill's sponsor, Kansas Republican Sen. Sam Brownback (now Kansas's governor), read the resolution at a small ceremony at the Congressional Cemetery in Washington, D.C.

The quiet mea culpa drew criticism from those who wondered if an apology no one hears constitutes an apology at all. Lise Balk King, former executive editor of The Native Voice newspaper, wrote in December 2011, "Obama's apology to Native Americans is important, and could provide a much-needed shift in public attitudes toward tribes in the country, as well as attitudes of Native people toward the federal government. But only if he goes to the next logical and morally correct step, and makes the Native American Apology Resolution part of the national discourse. Otherwise, a big and historic tree fell in the forest and truly didn't make a sound."

Bozeman clinical psychologist Eduardo Duran is an Apache, Tewa and Lakota from New Mexico who's been adopted by the Cheyenne. He's written several books on postcolonial psychology and spoke at the grandmothers gathering. He introduced Custer to the crowd. The psychological value of saying "I'm sorry" resonates across cultures, Duran says. "In any human interaction, if there's been a violation, in order to heal the complete system, the perpetrator and the victim, ideally there should be an apology."

Sunday August 19, 2012, 5:57 am
Thanks, my friend, for the post. I hope all the old wounds can be healed somehow. This is a great step.

Sunday August 19, 2012, 6:04 am

Well, that was a pleasant way to start my day . . . THANKS, Pamylle!

Sunday August 19, 2012, 7:20 am
Better late than never...

Sunday August 19, 2012, 8:05 am
ya it's great, but it doesn't change the loss and the past.Maybe it helps the future, but that is just a wish.
Kudos to her it sure has been a while in coming.

Sunday August 19, 2012, 9:13 am
No, dear Tasunka, it does not change the past, and much injustice continues - and whatever someone like me can do about it, I will.

Sunday August 19, 2012, 10:14 am
Thank you Pamelle. I am honored to receive this bitter*sweet information from you. As promised to do whatever 'I' can do~ today Tim and I are posting information all around town, praying people will feel the urgency and feel a bit more generous than usual. Sending Blessings and Gratitude for this news.

Sunday August 19, 2012, 10:57 am
Thank you for posting this inspirational step in our collective evolution. I hope that its message spreads and touches many.

Sunday August 19, 2012, 12:07 pm
Thanks, Pamelle. At least someone felt compelled to right a long-standing wrong. I am glad she stood up and offered her apology for her ancestors. Mabe it will start the healing process for The People. The future is what is important now. Maybe it will be a better future.

Sunday August 19, 2012, 12:17 pm
Great article and long awaited emotion from an individual family! I'm still reading and absorbing all I can. I don't know from whence my American Indian background sprung. So sadly, I live for all of the news and facts around the nation that I can find. Thank you Pamylle.

Sunday August 19, 2012, 2:24 pm
My .u-na-li-i Tasunka I agree with you .. This changes nothing, and sadly the lies that were told by Custer and his camp are still occuring. just with different tribes , different year. I do however appreciate this woman and her apology.

Sunday August 19, 2012, 4:58 pm
"The practice of peace and reconciliation is one of the most vital and artistic of human actions." –Thich Nhat Hanh

There is a universal movement for Reconciliation, for Truth and Reconciliation. It involves first telling the Truth, the Whole Truth, however unpleasant -- for without that, true Reconciliation would not be possible, would be nothing but an empty show. Such Truth and Reconciliation was and is being practiced in South Africa, dealing with victims and perpetrators of Apartheid both telling their stories; and in Rwanda, by surviving Hutus and Tsutsis.
Such movements for Truth and Reconciliation will bring Peace much closer than self-serving "agreements" only waiting to be broken.
I see this very beautiful, amazing and loving gesture on Custer's part, as a portion of this universal movement.

"The grandmothers believe that people must return to indigenous, natural ways if they are to reverse the lingering effects of colonialism, not just in Indian Country but across the globe."
This is ALSO a part of the Same Thing!

"...inspirational step in our collective evolution. I hope that its message spreads"
YES! Runatik WTF, YES! YES!

Sunday August 19, 2012, 5:22 pm
Hey, you never can tell what will come from an apology but I believe it's a step in the right direction! I'm thinking POSITIVE! Thank you Pamylle!

Sunday August 19, 2012, 5:34 pm
I think this is a good start

Sunday August 19, 2012, 5:46 pm

Yes, every conciliatory gesture can be the beginning of a wave of remedy.

I welcome each humane, positive sign of healing.

Sunday August 19, 2012, 8:20 pm
If you can believe and commit to something as it is manifesting, it's much more likely to. Any anger, hurt, and unwillingness to forgive and move forward that you hold within yourself, you have then consented to compromise the "Truth and Reconciliation that will bring the Peace" that we have agreed to Be.

A great contemporary philosopher said, "All we need is Love." So simple, so profound.

Tuesday August 21, 2012, 5:59 am
I think that this woman's apology is important for her and for the people who were present & heard it, First Nations people who need recognition of the wrongs done to them, to their ancestors, the genocide committed against them. It is part of a healing process, as the psychologist quoted says, that involves "the whole system, the perpetrator and the victim."

However worthy, courageous & moving Custer's descendant's apology was, it remains an individual action, which unfortunately has little resonance on the national level.

Truth & Reconciliation - YES! Absolutely. - But it has to take place on a national level.

There was more to be hoped for from Obama's Native American Apology Resolution, but, as I've learned from this post, it was more or less swept under the rug, rather than being given the publicity, the national platform it rightly deserved. No matter how eloquent the words, how can attitudes be influenced & changed when so few hear them? Heartbreaking!

Obama's failure to make the Native American Apology Resolution "part of the national discourse," as the former 'The Native Voice' editor points out, ultimately amounts to nothing but a lost opportunity, & I wonder what thinking, what compromises, what 'logic,' went into this 'halfway' way of making what should have been a momentous, landmark apology.

Thank you, Pamylle, for getting these facts out & getting more ears to hear the important tree falling.

Tuesday August 21, 2012, 8:27 am
A huge step in the right direction for one to speak the words that have been hidden in a document for far too long. Inspiring story. Thanks.

Thursday August 23, 2012, 5:05 am
You cannot currently send a star to Pamylle because you have done so within the last week. No one can't unring the bell, but we can take steps towards healing. There is never going to be as it was, we can only all try to resolve many of the issues surrounding the wrongs.

As each person begins to understand what truly took place and how it still impacts a people to this day, and how this sore inflicts still more pain within these Nations at all levels, then only then will we be able to start the healings among all. This may be a small step in some eyes, but none the less a step.

Those who live within the borders of the USA, no matter what their Nation or heritage, need to understand the past so we understand the present. They need to see that all that was done to the Indian people to Corporate the West is now being done to them, and that if this continues on it will be a destruction to our planet. So we must accept an apology no matter where it comes from, so long as it is sincere. It's a healing for some more of our brothers and sisters, an understanding was reached by the one who gave the apology.

She is one more upon this planet, Turtle Island, that is understanding that when we inflict pain and suffering upon another we do so also to ourselves. That the legacy of our ancestors deeds carries over to the children, as her relative Gen. Custer deeds carried over to her....and the people that he did wrong to.

Pilamaye, Thank you, Pamylle for placing this on the news, so sorry I am so late getting to it, have been busy trying to raise funds for Pe Sla as well as helping my daughter move.

Thursday August 23, 2012, 2:45 pm
Thanks Pamylle for posting and Dandelion for the forward. An apology, especially if it comes from an individual's heart (rather a group of politicians) is a positive, healing step.

Thursday August 23, 2012, 6:00 pm
Well said Brian.

Thursday August 23, 2012, 7:09 pm
Never hurts to say you're sorry. Always thinking positively!!! Thanks Dandelion!~

Friday August 24, 2012, 8:35 am
It is Time for the American people to do what is Right and to Right the Wrongs of Our Past! This Land is not Our Land, but the Land, of the Native Americans, which was carved up by Spain, France and British Empire. First we destroyed its People, and now we are destroying the Land, both rising from a Seed called Greed! The worst being, is that our aggression still continues and hold nothing Sacred, when Greed is our Need!

Saturday August 25, 2012, 6:07 am
Update on Pe Sla Sacred Black Hills....

Thank you all so much! Pilamaye for all your hope, your prayers, your contributions, and your "shares! Today the story of Pe’ Sla was in the Croatian news! We received hope and well wishes on a banner from children in France in the Lakota language! This has been a rollercoaster ride, and we are riding with our hands up and our hearts open! We keep working and praying for the best outcome, the opportunity to save Pe’ Sla from development and the freedom to pray in the place the Oceti Sakowin and many tribal Nations have considered sacred. We thank you for all your help and continued efforts especially in this time when we are uncertain of what will happen next. It is exciting and at the same time nerve wracking! Our team and the Oceti Sakowin continue to collaborate! Keep it going, keep it in the news, and keep sharing! We are working for our wakanyeja, our children, as they are the future! Pilamaye, Sara Jumping Eagle
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