"This is an exciting time in telecommunications. Things are changing and no one really knows where they're going to go. At our most optimistic moments we see almost unlimited possibilities for connecting and communicating. But then we're brought up short when we remember the realities of the digital divide.
NAPT is struggling with this very discrepancy. Potential funders and all the agencies we answer to urge us to think outside the box--we're limited only by the boundaries of our imagination. And if we're to remain a viable component of the public television and radio scene, we have to embrace this potential for growth and change.
But we also know the reality of telecommunications in Indian Country, where basic services like phone connections are among the worst in the country. When you add the urban Native population to reservations communities, we're trying to reach a very scattered, disparate group of people with clumsy tools like printed newsletters and websites, media that never get in front of all the readers we'd like."

---

Native American Radio On The Internet

With the introduction of Streaming Audio came a revolution in the way that radio can be broadcast and many broadcasting company's are taking advantage of the new technology. In an effort to provide our website visitors with the most current Native American issues, Buffalo Trails has been making some of these Native American Radio stations available to people from countries around the world since 1998.

Listen to "Great Native American Programming" while you surf the Internet.
][ AIROS ][ Mohawk ][ Inuit ][ Canada ][ North Shore ][ Hawaiian ][
][ Maui ][ ABC Indigenous ][ Iqaluit ][ Yellowknife ][ Whitehorse ][
If you have problems connecting to any of these radio stations it is usually
due to "net congestion" so just try another station or try at another time.
If you do not have RealAudio... Download a free version by clicking here.

When you look back at the entire history of the war between the U.S.and Native America, there are certain images that stand out. One of those images is a photograph of Chief Bigfoot lying in the snow after the massacre at Wounded Knee. Did Wounded Knee break the spirit of Native people? Or has it strengthened us?

By the year 1890, American Indians living on the great plains no longer retained their dominance over the land. Their traditional self-reliance shifted to increasing dependence on the U.S. government. White settlement of the west forced the Sioux nations to relinquish more and more of their land. Policies designed to "civilize" instead threatened the tribe's cultural heritage and traditional ways. The majority of the tribes lived on reservations without weapons and buffalo herds that had previously been vitally important to their existence. The tragedy at Wounded Knee marked the end of the Great Sioux Wars as
well as the end of the traditional lifestyle of the Lakota and Sioux tribes.

Report of the Commissioner of Indian Affairs - 1891 American Horse - The men were separated, as has already been said, from the women, and they were surrounded by the soldiers. Then came next the village of the Indians and that was entirely surrounded by the soldiers also. When the firing began, of course the people who were standing immediately around the young man who fired the first shot were killed right together, and then they turned their guns, Hotchkill guns, etc., upon the women who were in the lodges standing there under a flag of truce, and of course as soon as they were fired upon they fled, the men fleeing in one direction and the women running in two different directions. So that there were three general directions in which they took flight.

There was a woman with an infant in her arms who was killed as she almost touched the flag of truce, and the women and children of course were strewn all along the circular village until they were dispatched. Right near the flag of truce a mother was shot down with her infant; the child not knowing that its mother was dead was still nursing, and that especially was a very sad sight. The women as they were fleeing with their babes were killed together, shot right through, and the women who were very heavy with child were also killed. All the Indians fled in these three directions, and after most all of them had been killed a cry was made that all those who were not killed wounded should come forth and they would be safe. Little boys who were not wounded came out of their places of refuge, and as soon as they came in sight a number of soldiers surrounded them and butchered them there.

Of course we all feel very sad about this affair. I stood very loyal to the government all through those troublesome days, and believing so much in the government and being so loyal to it, my disappointment was very strong, and I have come to Washington with a very great blame on my heart. Of course it would have been all right if only the men were killed; we would feel almost grateful for it. But the fact of the killing of the women, and more especially the killing of the young boys and girls who are to go to make up the future strength of the Indian people, is the saddest part of the whole affair and we feel it very sorely. I was not there at the time before the burial of the bodies, but I did go there with some of the police and the Indian doctor and a great many of the people, men from the agency, and we went through the battlefield and saw where the bodies were from the track of the blood. Read the rest of this Commissioner of Indian Affairs account of the massacre and the chronological list of events leading up to the 1890 Wounded Knee Massacre.

---

American Indian Movement Occupation of Wounded Knee 1973
The University of South Dakota
Wounded Knee Takeover
AIM leaders and about 200 supporters enroute to Porcupine, South Dakota, stopped at the village of Wounded Knee and took over the trading post, museum, gas station and several churches. The involved in the takeover considered Wounded Knee historically significance and deemed the village an appropriate location from which to voice the concerns of AIM and the Oglala of the Pine Ridge Reservation. The takeover, on 27 February 1973, marked the beginning of a conflict between AIM and the U.S. Government that lasted until 8 May 1973.
The goals outlined by AIM leaders included support for the reformation of tribal government as well as bringing attention to Native American grievances. Means, as an AIM spokesperson, requested congressional investigations into conditions on all reservations and the corruption of the BIA. Means specifically wanted a hearing to take place concerning treaties and treaty rights, along with an investigation of the BIA and the Department of the Interior at all agency and reservation levels.

U.S. Government Reaction
News of the takeover reached U.S. Marshals at Pine Ridge and prompted immediate action. Government security forces placed roadblocks at all entrances to Wounded Knee to prevent access to the area. U.S. Marshals and FBI agents maintained a total of six roadblocks, along with five observation points, throughout the occupation to keep people from entering or leaving Wounded Knee. AIM members and supporters entered the area by overland routes, bringing in food and supplies by backpack. Federal forces did not allow Wounded Knee property owners or residents to return to the village once they had left. Several individuals and families, displaced by this policy, found lodging in homes and churches on the Pine Ridge reservation.
The White House, the Department of Defense (DOD) and the Department of Justice (DOJ) coordinated efforts throughout the Wounded Knee occupation. The military organized weapons, personnel, and equipment supplied by the DOD. Law enforcement groups consisted of the U.S. Marshals Service (USMS), the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), and the BIA. The federal government held jurisdiction over the reservation and therefore state and local forces did not assist in law enforcement but provided support by prohibiting unauthorized people from traveling onto the Pine Ridge Reservation, especially those suspected of carrying food and ammunition.

Events at Wounded Knee
Ralph Erickson, Special Assistant to the Attorney General and the ranking DOJ official at the time, first evaluated the takeover at Wounded Knee. Wayne Colburn, Director of the United States Marshal Service, and Joseph Trimbach, an FBI agent, also provided assistance. William Clayton, the U.S. Attorney General of South Dakota, learned of the takeover while at Pine Ridge. These men determined that the primary objective included preventing injuries or deaths while arresting people violating the law and releasing any potential hostages.
Sporadic gunfire between U.S. forces and AIM security marked the first days of the occupation. AIM forces fortified the area by building trenches, setting up road blocks, and establishing foot patrols. AIM security forces developed and maintained a defensive perimeter around Wounded Knee that included a total of nine bunkers. AIM relied on the experience of several Vietnam veterans to establish security. Read all of this Wounded Knee, 1973 Series account about the Wounded Knee Takeover.

---

Occupation of Wounded Knee Anniversary - 1998
Twenty-five years ago, the siege at Wounded Knee, South Dakota began on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation. Members of the American Indian Movement took over the village, demanding sovereignty for the Sioux Nation. Listen in RealAudio to the tape from the confrontation between AIM members and Federal marshals. Listen to Dennis Banks, Clyde Bellcourt and other members of the Oglala Lakota Nation remember why it happened and what impact the Occupation of Wounded Knee in 1973 has had on the Indian people.

Native languages prior to the arrival of Columbus
Language scholars believe that prior to the arrival of Columbus, approximately 300 languages were spoken in North America; since then, the number of indigenous languages has dropped considerably.
The National Clearinghouse for Bilingual Education list 154 indigenous American languages which are still spoken in the United States, the number of speakers, and where the speakers are located. Table 1 arranges the languages alphabetically, while Table 2 arranges them according to number of speakers.

Excerpts from the 1887 Report of the Commissioner of Indian Affairs
"Indians of different tribes associate with each other on terms of equality; they have not the Bible, but their religion, which we call superstition, teaches them that the Great Spirit made us all. In the difference of language to-day lies two-thirds of our trouble. ... Schools should be established, which children should be required to attend; their barbarous dialects should be blotted out and the English language substituted. ... The object of greatest solicitude should be to break down the prejudices of tribe among the Indians; to blot out the boundary lines which divide them into distinct nations, and fuse them into one homogeneous mass."

---

Native American Language Programs All of our Native American language programs have been developed in conjunction with tribal language retention committees and/or have the endorsement and approval of that nation. All of the native speakers spoke their language first - English being their second language. We offer these Native American language programs to all people who were denied their language and for anyone else who want to learn a Native American language.