Wounded Knee: Drama, rumors and a deadly sin

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Ah, South Dakota. What an astonishingly beautiful yet dramatic place.



Everything here is a little over the top. The sunsets ...


... the land before time ...


... and the history unfolding here. Most dramatic of all, though, is the greed displayed by one man.

Image: Native Sun News

I want to introduce you to the 2013 American Douchebag of the Year, James Czywczynski. But first, let's back up a little bit for context. Image: Archives.gov

December 29, 1890, marks the date of Wounded Knee Massacre, when U.S. soldiers descended upon a Lakota camp of nearly 300 people in the middle of the night, opened fire on men, women and children, and killed them all. Today, the site of the mass grave has huge historical and cultural significance, to say the least.



In 1973, the American Indian Movement incident at Wounded Knee occurred and the trading post that existed on the site and wašíču (or White man in the Lakota language) Czywczynski's family home were unfortunately burned down in protest over conditions on the Indian reservation Pine Ridge.

Long story short, the aforementioned award winning d-bag Czywczynski is asking for $4.9 million dollars for the land he'd like to "dispose of" with the estimated tax assessment falling at around $7,000. The land originally went up for sale May 1 and was subsequently extended by Czywczynski for "up to a month." That brings us up to current. The deadline for the Olgala Sioux tribe to get their monumentally historic and culturally significant land back is tomorrow, June 1, 2013.

To add to the drama there are confirmed mystery bidders and rumors about allegedly building a horse slaughterhouse on the land. This is like having a slaughterhouse at the U.S. National Cemetery. It's greedy on Czywczynski's part to be asking $4.9 million for the land and wildly unnecessary, even if the slaughterhouse never winds up being erected anywhere near the site.

Yesterday, reports stated that the tribe filed for eminent domain to seize the land for public use, but the outcome of that course of action is unlikely, according to Native Sun News.

For updates on this travesty, follow along at www.nativenewsnetwork.com

Have something to say or an opinion? I'd love to hear it in the comments!

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