There is an Indian proverb...
"It is easy to be brave...
from a distance.
Easy, and often quite safe. "
Once there was no honor in killing...
only necessity.
Honor came with true courage.
But that day...
is long gone.
Ohiyesa, go with the others!
I said, go! Go!
The man was a fucking idiot.
Splits his forces, daylight raid, high noon.
An idiot, perhaps,
but he had his orders, Mr. President.
"Drive the Sioux out of the Black Hills,
onto the ration rolls... "
so that we could get to that damn gold.
The Sioux resisted.
Resisted? Bullshit.
They resisted, General Sherman.
Blocking a roundhouse to the chin is resistance, Henry.
Massacring five companies of cavalry-
I am not defending their brutality, Mr. President.
The Sioux resisted because by the '68 treaty
this land is theirs,
and we had no legal-
That treaty was also
only supposed to feed them for four years,
and yet here we are eight years later,
and you senators are passing a million-a-year appropriation
to keep filling their bellies. Why?
To keep them from starving, General.
And that's all it's done-
made them beggars. Hasn't advanced them one bit.
- And those smart enough not to sign- - Do this.
They were attacked by us first.
And what would you have us do, Dawes? Cut and run?
Mr. President, this is a senseless argument.
A senseless argument?
You know what they did to those men on that hill?
They did things even I've never seen before.
Henry?
The survival of the Indian is your deepest concern, isn't that so?
You know it is.
I thought it was yours.
And it still is.
I appointed an Indian to the head of Indian Affairs,
I'll remind you.
Another decision that your colleagues were so fond of.
And another damn knot in the noose of this administration.
Along with a three-year depression and a bankrupt treasury.
This isn't about money, gentlemen, this is about human beings.
And when you make an agreement, you have a solemn obligation
- to fulfill- - In spite of this atrocity...
I still believe that setting the Indians on the course to civilization
best ensures their survival. Now, do you or do you not agree?
Yes, sir. I do.
Then you can't deny that there's no saving the Sioux
unless we compel them to give up their way of life
and settle on the reservation.
I'll say it till my tongue bleeds-
If we're ever going to claim what we bought from the French
and whooped the Mexicans for,
it's going to mean killing Indians.
Whoa.
Your father.
Did you win this feather?
Yes.
In the fight at the Little Bighorn.
300 of us were to be hanged.
I killed two whites, but the Great Father Lincoln saved me.
He sent me to prison where my heart was made free.
- Free? - Yes.
Because I have learned there is another road
that runs beside the warpath.
A secret road...
only known to the Christ worshippers.
And you came back, to make us Christ worshippers?
No. I have come for my son.
O Lord, grant us the wisdom and strength
to come to a peaceful accord
with our red brothers here with us today-
Great Chief of the Oglala Sioux, Red Cloud,
his head men-
Young Man Afraid of His Horses,
American Horse, and others.
We beseech you, O Lord,
in the name of Your son and our savior Jesus Christ.
- Amen. - Amen.
I want to know to which god the White Robe is praying.
The same god whom you deceived when you made treaty with us
and broke it?
We come to you once again
to negotiate for your rights to the Black Hills and your old hunting ground.
I am speaking, or has my medicine made us invisible to you?
If so, you will not notice when I lead my people out of here,
back to our lands.
I would like to know how many of Red Cloud's young bucks
were at the Little Bighorn with Sitting Bull and Crazy Horse.
Those men were hunting, as the agent permitted.
Indeed they were hunting.
They were hunting for white scalps.
I am a friend of the Great Father, President Grant.
And I want to tell you, he did not wish
for there to be war between us again.
The Great Father is the chief of all your people,
chosen by them.
Did he not order those soldiers to attack?
Yes, it was the Great Father's order.
But it did not come from his heart.
Then I don't understand how you whites do things.
And now you will place a paper before us that says,
"Give the Black Hills and your old hunting lands to us
or we will no longer feed you,
and we will kill Sitting Bull and all those who continue to fight. "
- Is that not so? - All right.
Red Cloud has had his say.
This new agreement...
will ensure your continued support
and a new home at an agency
to be known... as Pine Ridge.
We no longer wish your support.
We wish to hunt on the lands
which the treaty said we may keep.
Only as long as the game abounds. The game is scarce now.
Because of your hunting for amusement.
The paper you signed allows for us to lay rail.
You agreed to this when you touched the pen.
I touched the pen because I wanted peace.
For the past eight snows,
my people have been living like the poorest of whites.
Where are the fine things you promised?
The kind you lavish on us when you want our mark on your paper?
Chief Red Cloud, did you or did you not
sign the paper and advise your people
to do the same?
Am I invisible now? I am speaking to you.
Colonel Miles, enough.
I will speak straight to you because these are the words
of the Great Father and his people.
You must touch pen to this paper,
or you and your people will perish.
Soldiers!
Bear Coat.
They say he was fearless
in the whites' big war against themselves.
Bear Coat was a friend of Longhair Custer.
He comes for revenge.
Sitting Bull requested this council.
We await his words.
Take your soldiers out of here-
- they scare the game away. - Very well, sir.
Tell me then, how far away should I take my men?
You must take them out of our lands.
What precisely are your lands?
These are the lands
where my people lived before you whites first came.
I don't understand. We whites were not your first enemies.
Why don't you demand back the land in Minnesota
where the Chippewa and others forced you from years before?
The Black Hills are a sacred land
given to my people by Wakan Tanka.
How very convenient
to cloak your claims in spiritualism.
And what would you say to the Mormons and others
who believe that their god has given to them Indian lands in the West?
I would say they should listen to Wakan Tanka.
No matter what your legends say,
you didn't sprout from the plains like the spring grasses.
And you didn't coalesce out of the ether.
You came out of the Minnesota woodlands armed to the teeth
and set upon your fellow man.
You massacred the Kiowa, the Omaha,
the Ponca, the Oto and the Pawnee without mercy.
And yet you claim the Black Hills as a private preserve
bequeathed to you by the Great Spirit.
And who gave us the guns and powder to kill our enemies?
And who traded weapons to the Chippewa and others who drove us from our home?
Chief Sitting Bull, the proposition that you were a peaceable people
before the appearance of the white man
is the most fanciful legend of all.
You were killing each other for hundreds of moons
before the first white stepped foot on this continent.
You conquered those tribes, lusting for their game and their lands,
just as we have now conquered you for no less noble a cause.
This is your story of my people!
This is the truth, not legend.
Crazy Horse has surrendered...
with his entire band.
And by his surrender, he says to you and your people
that you are defeated.
And by ceding the Black Hills to us,
so say Red Cloud and the other chiefs,
who demand that you end this war
and take your place on the reservation.
Red Cloud is no longer a chief.
He is a woman you have mounted and had your way with.
Do not speak to me of Red Cloud!
I suppose you are the only chief then?
Sitting Bull is king of all the Indians.
Ah, humility.
It's one of the four virtues of a Sioux chief.
Sitting Bull shows his true nature now.
I have had my say with you.
And I have had my say with you.
Then we will have a fight.
So be it.
Artillery, prepare to fire a volley.
Company, shoulder arms!
Fire at will.
Artillery, reload.
Infantry, prepare to fire.
And fire!
Front line, reload!
Fire.
Fire. Fire.
Front line, reload!
Close ranks!
Platoon...
forward!
Fires are cold, sir. They left hours ago.
- Burn it all. - Yes, sir.
Burn it all down- everything!
Get a torch over here. I don't want to see one tepee standing.
Canada.
Who can give me the names
of the last four presidents?
I would call on you, Ohiyesa,
but it must be by a white name.
Have you chosen one from your book?
No, missus.
Shall I choose one for you?
No, missus.
Raise your hand only if you can name all four.
If just one student can name all four,
I will dismiss you early.
Morning, sir.
Major Walsh, Northwest Mounted Police.
People of Canada have heard of your victory
over the soldiers in Montana.
Queen Victoria believes the American government
is to blame for this trouble.
So you and your people...
you're welcome here.
I know the Grandmother's heart for the red man.
Now they will learn on the reservation that we are safe.
And Crazy Horse will come.
- And many more. - Crazy Horse?
He was the war chief with you at the Little Bighorn Valley?
He was made to surrender, but that life is not worth living.
No, apparently not, sir.
Crazy Horse is dead.
He resisted while they were locking him up for some trouble.
If others join you, they're welcome here.
But you cannot use our land as a base from which to attack the United States.
Nor can you make raids on other tribes here or interfere with their hunting.
If you do, I'll have to bring our own soldiers,
and force you all to leave.
Now, we've brought you some food and supplies.
You'll find buffalo in the valleys to the north and to the east.
I suggest you do your hunting now and take as much meat and skins as you can.
It's not like the Dakota here.
Our winters can be harsh.
Tomorrow, we will review fractions and verbs.
Don't forget your homework.
You have been chosen from all the children on the settlement.
This woman has come to take you to a new school in Illinois.
Illinois?
If you study as hard there as you did here, child,
you will go on to college and study even further.
And learn the trade of the white man.
I don't want to go.
Excuse me.
The earth belongs to the white man.
There is no future outside his world.
You must go.
Everything will be fine.
The Indian today is civilized
only in the most elemental sense.
His race wears civilized clothes,
live in wood houses.
They send their children to schools.
We have reached the point where the Indian problem
should be no different than the Irish problem
or the German problem.
Like them, the Indian has been absorbed.
But, unlike them,
he has not yet been assimilated.
This can only come
when he is educated to so high a plane
of thought and aspiration
as to render his former savage way of life
intolerable to him.
Ladies and gentlemen,
on a late June day in 1876,
the young man I'm about to present to you
was nearly killed by Arikara scouts
attached to the Seventh Cavalry
of General George Armstrong Custer.
Yes, I am referring to the Battle of Little Bighorn.
Once destined for death
at the hands of enemy tribes or U.S. soldiers,
he has flourished
as a recipient of The Friends of the Indian scholarship.
From Dartmouth College,
where he is soon to graduate,
he will, with your continued support,
matriculate at Boston University Medical School.
Ladies and gentlemen, I present to you,
Ohiyesa of the Sioux,
and Mr. Charles Eastman of the United States of America.
A Lakota proverb. It means...
"Tell me,
and I will listen.
Show me,
and I will understand.
Take me in,
and I will learn. "
Elaine. Mrs. Goodale, and her daughter Elaine,
neighbors of mine from Massachusetts.
- Senator Dawes. - Lovely to see you.
- Pleased to meet you. - Hello.
Delighted to meet you.
Indeed.
Besides being a student of Lakota,
Elaine is also a published poetess, Charles.
- Ohiyesa? - It means "Winner. "
I won the name in the pony races.
And, where did "Charles" come from?
Well...
Eastman is my mother's name.
Her father was a white-
don't tell The Friends of the Indian.
And "Charles"?
I was in school one day
and the teacher was mistaken about something-
The name of the chief of my Sioux tribe.
- She called him "Spotted Bear. " - Chief Spotted Bear...
So, I raised my hand because...
I felt it was a dishonor to the chief
to misspeak his name.
But she wouldn't call on me,
because I hadn't taken a white name.
I just couldn't do it.
And I remember her words as if it were moments ago...
Chief Spotted Bear could have saved his people.
But he chose war instead.
"Missus," I cried...
I believe you are mistaken.
And she turned to me...
How shall I address you?
Quickly, the children are waiting.
"Charles," I replied.
Charles.
Yes, Charles,
what is it you would like to say?
"Excuse me, missus, I am certain... "
I am certain the name of this chief was Little Crow.
"Little Crow. "
I believe you are right, Charles.
His name was Little Crow. Thank you...
"Thank you...
Charles. "
And he did not want war.
"He did not...
want war. "
And this is how
I came to be called...
Charles.
Elaine?
I'm sorry.
Did I upset you?
No.
I'm all right.
It's all right.
She's not getting any better.
You must talk to him.
- Our daughter's getting worse. - Bring her to me.
The cures have not worked. We need to go back home.
You cannot leave.
If you leave, others will follow.
If you tell the people they must stay, they will stay.
That's what I'm telling you. You must stay.
Morning, sir.
These Crow are from the camp on the Poplar River.
They say they've seen your men on their hunting ground.
Crow are liars and they hate us.
They've always hated the Sioux.
They are liars!
There's another problem. They're missing horses.
And they say it's your men who raided their camp two nights ago.
I must ask that you allow them to look in your corral.
Sir, I must report this.
And when I return next, it may be with men to take you back across the border.
Who stole these ponies?
Who would see us die like slaves on the reservation?
Who?
Who?!
You will see how I deal with this thing.
- Please, don't do this. - You must know that I did not know.
We cannot be sent back.
Enough!
Brother...
these men will fight if they are stopped.
I can't let that happen.
Then leave... brother.
I won't stop you.
Elaine Goodale was up the other day
to meet the Commissioner of Indian Affairs.
She made quite an impression, as you'd expect.
But I'm afraid you're gonna have to outdo even her.
That would be impossible.
Remarkable young woman.
And quite an ally in our cause.
She completes her teacher's training
and she'll be on the Sioux reservation within months.
I know, sir, we've been corresponding for some time.
Have you? Have you indeed?
All right, let us begin.
Northern boundary of the new Pine Ridge Reservation,
south fork of the Cheyenne River...
downstream to the mouth of Battle Creek.
The Indian must have full citizenship
and a deed in his hands like any white man.
Assimilation, Charles, or extinction.
Gentlemen, the plan we put before you for the Sioux
will be a model for Indians from the Pequot in Connecticut
to the Pomo in California.
Now, step one is the division of Sioux land
into six distinct reservations...
Pine Ridge, Rosebud,
Cheyenne River,
Standing Rock, Crow Creek...
And then, due west to the 102nd meridian.
Step two is the division
of each new reservation
into individual tracts.
160 acres to each man-
to farm, to feed his family,
to market his crops,
to earn a living.
Step three- thus apportioned,
excess lands will be sold
to white settlers.
The Sioux and the white man-
neighbors, partners in business,
friends.
And with white settlement of central Dakota, what follows?
The railroads, gentlemen.
Straight through from Pierre to Rapid City,
rail service to the Black Hills mines.
And...
at long last,
the Northern Pacific will see completion.
The Sioux will travel, be exposed to white society,
and be influenced by it as I was.
And finally, statehood for the Dakotas,
representation, governance, business.
With your vote on this bill, gentlemen,
America will be built.
- Mr. Naylor of West Virginia. - Nay.
- Mr. Allison of West Virginia. - Aye.
All gentlemen accounted for.
The bill has passed.
Charles- Charles...
- Congratulations, sir. - We did it. We did it.
This could never have happened without your help.
Thank you. Thank you, my boy.
These are the borders of your reservation,
as set out in the Black Hills Agreement of 1876.
Now once each parcel is assigned,
you will have a great deal of unused land.
When this land was first set aside,
you could not have sold that for 10 cents an acre.
However...
the Great Council in Washington has authorized me
to offer you 50 cents an acre.
Those excess lands will yield you
$5 and a half million.
$5 and a half million that will go right into your pocket
as these lands are sold to whites.
Your map does not show the land we would be giving back to you.
Oh.
This area in red.
Now this offer is only possible
because the Dakota Southern would be able to lay rail
south of the Cheyenne River into the Black Hills mines.
So you admit this land has no value except to lay iron through?
No, I do not admit that.
These are not my words.
Chief Red Cloud?
I would like to know what Chief Red Cloud has to say.
Do you believe this proposal is in the best interest-
Every man is a chief here. You wanted it so.
We do not need to hear his words.
How will this money be paid?
For every acre of land the government sells,
- the money is yours. - The money is not ours, then,
until you sell the land you have taken that is ours.
This land is not to farm.
This land is to graze,
and we do not eat grass.
If we are to take this chance that the whites may be foolish enough
to make their home here,
then you must get us more of this money that we may never see.
Come back when you have done this.
Have you any notion
the efforts I have expended on your behalf?
Do you have any idea?
I can't simply come back!
There'll be a new Congress.
A new Congress may not authorize any offer at all.
Tunkashila,
hear my voice today.
Sitting Bull is a great leader of the Lakota.
There is no greater.
Thank you for letting us go, Father.
Keep me in your prayers.
Finally.
It arrived.
What is this?
Father, I'm a policeman.
Where's the person in charge? I'll see him now.
I'll take you to him.
He's here, sir.
Yes, I know.
Good day, sir.
I'm James McLaughlin, agent here at Standing Rock.
Let it be known that I,
Tatanka lyotaka, Sitting Bull,
was the last chief to give up his rifle.
Now...
the Great Father has sent me a letter
saying that if I came in,
I would be Big Chief of this agency,
that you would build me a fine house on a stream.
Do not give me ration tickets- I will not touch them.
I will take all supplies for all my people
and hand them out myself.
I will not put in crops.
Those things that grow in the ground
my people and I will gather wild,
as we always have.
Is this all you wish to say, sir?
I have said all the words I wish to say... for now.
I see.
First of all, the Great Father sent no such letter to you.
You will not be a Big Chief,
a Medium-Sized Chief, nor any sort of chief.
Here, you will be the same as any other man.
That is to say, you will be given materials and loaned men
to build a cabin.
You will have a horse and wagon.
If you do not put in crops, you will live on your bimonthly rations,
and if you do not accept ration tickets,
you and your family will either be beggars
or you will starve.
My clerk will add you to the rolls.
And those are all the words I wish to say.
Good day, sir.
Beans, one blanket.
Flour, one shawl, seeds.
"Pawnee Killer. "
"Crow Killer. "
One blanket, a suit of clothes,
medium-large.
Use your flour ration, Chief.
You'll fill it out soon enough.
Coffee, two blankets, matches.
"Little Feather. " One coat-
Sitting Bull.
Tatanka lyotaka,
they're calling your name.
Sitting Bull.
Never mind, moving on.
I'll accept his issue.
You can't do that, Miss Goodale.
I was told by the commissioner himself
that I may assist these people in any way I see fit.
One blanket.
Without holes.
Thank you.
Father.
We are lucky. Here the agent lets us hunt for our meat.
Watch.
One bull.
Whoo! Whoo!
"My dear Charles...
the great Sioux reservation is no longer great in size alone.
It is now home to a great celebrity.
Sitting Bull has arrived.
But the sorrow in his eyes-
it is the image of all I have seen,
and not only at Standing Rock,
but at all the agencies.
At Pine Ridge,
a drought destroyed the late summer crops
and made for underweight cattle.
And then there are the epidemics-
measles, influenza,
whooping cough.
Have you seen a dying child with whooping cough?
There is little that can be done
except to prepare the families for the inevitable.
This has become my avocation.
Sincerely, Elaine. "
There's a fine line between incentive and coercion.
And if we have to cross that line
in pursuit of the Indians' betterment,
- then so be it. - Hear, hear.
Charles?
May I speak with you a moment, sir?
Yes- I want to introduce you to a few new people.
- Come on. - Yes, wait.
I received this letter from Miss Goodale.
Yes, that can wait. Charles, with this resolution,
the Senate will authorize a new offering for the Sioux. One-
Do you know about this measles epidemic?
And whooping cough and influenza?
The agent's official reports are... somewhat different.
I haven't known Elaine to exaggerate.
She's an inspector of schools, Charles. She's not a physician.
She's an advocate for their cause, as you are.
And now you speak of coercion. I don't understand.
If we don't put that land into the hands of individual Indians
in five years- less-
homesteaders and ranchers will demand it all...
for nothing.
The Indian must own his own piece of earth, Charles.
Did you know that there is no word
in the Sioux language for that, sir?
- For what? - To "own the earth. "
Not in any native language.
Well, then perhaps you should invent one.
Come on.
I am sorry. The road is not good for wheels.
It's all right. I'll get some help.
Oh, I'm your assistant, Doctor.
- I'll take your things. - No no, please.
Take care of your son. And watch over our things.
Little Hawk, keep an eye on your father.
There.
Good morning.
He wants to mend the wagon.
You must be Dr. Eastman.
I'm Agent Royer.
- Welcome to Pine Ridge. - A pleasure.
- Right this way. - All right.
Here it is.
Where's the examination table?
Last fellow managed with a chair.
What is that, Mr. Royer?
That's how you dispense your medicines, of course.
Without examination?
- Well, I- - I'm sick.
I need a brown bottle. A brown bottle, please.
Me too, a brown bottle.
Cod liver oil. Shipment's late.
When you're ready, I'll show you around.
I'm sorry, but there's none left.
If you men are sick, please, come in.
Elaine.
You wrote you'd be inspecting the schools at Rosebud.
I doubt I'll be missed.
Not by the teachers, in any event.
- I'm so happy you're here. - Me too.
What do you think? Needs a lot of work.
It's going to be great.
All right, sir, we're just going to shift the shoulders just a little bit.
And chin up, please. Okay.
Wonderful, Chief Sitting Bull.
Very still now, please.
Very still.
Thank you. $2.50.
It would also be an honor for me to have your autograph.
Turn around.
It would be an honor for me to take more of your money.
Thank you.
Morning.
Nice hat.
- Wild West Show? - Mm.
And the horse...
you must be looking forward to joining Bill Cody again.
What is that you're making?
When I am finished, I will know.
If we get enough rain, you could still raise corn.
Grasshoppers eat corn.
Let them plant it.
I will live as I please.
No, you will not.
Do you understand?
I'm told you squandered Cody's pay on friends and fancy dinners.
And you come back with tall tales.
You did not meet President Cleveland, yet you go around boasting
that he called you "the greatest living Indian. "
These things do not advance your people's cause.
Nor does posing for portraits,
autographs for money.
Now I have had very good compliance here at Standing Rock...
the best of all the agencies-
farming, school enrollment, church.
And I will not see that jeopardized
by the poor example of a respected man like yourself.
You will farm,
and you will enroll your son here in school
and see that he attends church.
Now I am finished.
- And what is that? - To my ears,
your words seem to come out of your rear end.
This is to silence you.
This is what is left of the great tree that was my people.
Take it and you would have it all.
I'm allowing 12 Standing Rock Sioux to go with Cody again this fall.
You will not be among them.
"My dear Senator Dawes,
as I believed you sincere
in asking me to keep you informed,
I write you again in an appeal for your assistance.
With no medical equipment here worthy of the name
and understocked in medicines,
there has been little reason
for the sick to risk the journey to the agency for treatment.
I bought a horse and a wagon with my own salary
and have just now returned from the several weeks in the villages. "
Take a seat.
"It is a mistake to trust the official reports.
Measles, influenza and whooping cough
have ascended from hell all at once.
My own assistant's child has been taken. "
"The agent here, Royer, has no experience
and even less inclination to help these people.
Of equal concern is the epidemic of hopelessness
that has overtaken the reservation... "
I'm sick, Doctor. Brown bottle, please.
"That the Sioux would bear the wretched taste of cod-liver oil
for the ounce of spirits contained in the bottle
is, to me, the whole of their experience in a nutshell. "
Thank you, Doctor.
"I no longer deny them.
Many here fear a return to the old ways.
The prophesy of a Paiute shaman called Wovoka
has spread from tribe to tribe
faster than a telegraph signal.
Rekindling old superstitions among the Sioux
and old apprehensions among the whites
who are sure to mistake desperation for hostility.
As conditions worsen,
the church can provide little solace beyond a Christian burial.
Sincerely yours,
Charles Eastman. "
A vision came to me
when the sun... went into shadow,
and I lay dying.
And in my death,
I saw the Heavens
of the white robes.
And yes,
it is as they describe it.
But also there, my children,
all the Indians that ever roamed
this earth...
all your beloved ancestors, and mine...
and those young ones
who were taken by the white man's diseases.
Do not grieve for them.
They want you to know
that they are happy.
Yes.
And you should not grieve for yourselves,
because here is what the white robes
did not tell you-
the white man,
my children,
will soon... be no more.
Now you must not hate the white man.
This will only delay his end.
But if you will do the dance
that I will teach you...
all the ancestors will return.
And the buffalo...
will be renewed.
And you shall all live...
forever.
Forever...
in the freedom...
that we as Indian people once knew.
Lone Wolf!
I called to the trader, "Give me a red shirt to wear
so the soldiers will know me. "
Though there were hundreds of soldiers,
not one bullet touched me because of my strong medicine.
And not one bullet found you on the Little Bighorn.
Yes, this is so. But I wore no red shirt that day.
There was no time to dress.
I mean... it is said that you were hiding under your blanket
the entire fight.
That's not true. Who says this?
We all heard it. Everyone knows it.
- Sitting Bull! - Don't believe this.
My father saved many lives.
He is a great leader.
- Oh. - Great leader, hiding in his tepee.
- Sitting Bull. - Go on...
"Greatest Living Indian. "
Get your meat.
- Hey, little brother. - Hey.
- Where is the old man? - He's inside.
Hello, Father.
Men from Washington are coming for a big council soon.
Will you go?
No one has ears for my words,
and I have no ears for theirs.
If you go, you can have your say like any other man.
Then let any other man take my place,
since one man is as important as another here.
Father...
I know who started speaking the lies against you.
The last time I came before you,
it was with an offer of 50 cents an acre for your excess lands.
It has been very difficult
to renegotiate in Washington on your behalf
with men who believe that to have been a very generous offer.
But I have done so
in your interest.
And I return to you...
today,
with what I must tell you
is a final offer.
If refused, the government may take these lands
for whatever they wish to pay,
which may be less than what you were first offered.
In fact, it may be nothing.
I return, however,
with authorization to offer you
$1.25 an acre.
If these lands are sold
by this agreement, my friends,
this would put more than $12 million
in your pockets.
$12 million.
And remember,
each head of the household will still receive
the 160-acre parcel to do with what he wishes.
We give you this,
and we take nothing more away.
You will continue to receive the same rations and annuities
that you do at present
until you have achieved full self-sufficiency.
Now...
as we discuss this over the next couple of days,
let us not retread old trails.
The mistakes of the past
are in the past...
on both sides.
We have a chance now to correct them.
For we believe in your very wise saying...
"We will be known forever
by the tracks we leave behind. "
Senator...
are you threatening to take their land if they don't sign?
That is no threat, Charles. That is the reality.
Would you permit this land to be stolen from them,
to see your plan succeed?
My plan? You mean "our plan. "
You played no small hand.
One I've come to question.
Don't worry, Charles.
They will vote for it.
There were no early crops.
Now there will be no late crops.
Does it seem to you that our coffee rations are smaller?
Why do you tell lies about my part
in the fight at the Little Bighorn?
It was Agent McLaughlin.
You angered him.
He made me say these things against you.
How can this be?
All our lives, we were like brothers,
sharing meat when we had it.
When we had no meat,
and when food was but a day's ride to an agency,
we could not be made to take from the whites!
I will go and speak straight...
and set things right.
These words cannot be put back.
- I have said all I have to say. - My brother,
listen to me.
Many would have taken from the whites for all those years,
but they did not because you did not.
I did not because you did not.
Before you came,
I was Big Man here.
But now you've come and you do nothing.
You sit and tell stories while I work my fields.
You go with Cody, you write your name on a piece of paper
and you take money- money that I must sweat for.
I do not understand why you feel so honored by these things.
I do not understand why you've come,
because to me you are Sitting Bull,
our leader who would never surrender.
That is all I have to say.
Hush...
Because of confusion in the past,
you will put your marks on one of the two papers here.
You will sign the red paper if you agree-
which we hope that you do-
and the black if you don't.
So they will know who is a friend and who is not.
So they will know who to take rations from.
What is this?
Sir, this is not your agency.
The council at Standing Rock is next week.
You have no place here.
Do you not recognize who this man is?
I know- he is Sitting Bull.
But I do not recognize him as having any more a voice
than any other Indian here.
Hear me, then...
for one last time.
They mean to take our land away from us.
You may say, "They wish to give us land.
This patch to you, this patch to you. "
But here is the truth-
each patch is for a man
and all generations that follow him.
And they know that this land cannot feed but one generation,
not even so much as that.
All right, you've had your say.
Do not interrupt.
You teach our children the words of your God,
"Be fruitful and multiply. "
But it seems these words are not meant for the Indian.
For what kind of man would take a wife
and have children he cannot feed?
No Indian man.
Not a Lakota, not an Arikara,
not a Crow.
You would have us cut off our balls
and end our race right here
on a patch of land on which nothing can live,
and that will not happen!
I have spoken.
We did not put you on this land.
Red Cloud surrendered-
he made peace with the government.
Have you forgotten the bloodshed that came before?
Sitting Bull is a great leader.
I believe this, no matter that the whites
see us men all as the same.
But he did not sit with us in the council
those many snows ago when our reservation was made.
He did not sit with us in the next council
when these borders that we were told
were like marks in stone were moved.
And the Black Hills
and our hunting lands were taken from us.
Sitting Bull might have had his say,
but such was his suspicion of the whites,
such was his pride.
I say today...
for all ears within hearing...
that if Sitting Bull had spoken
the way he speaks today,
I would not have touched that pen.
I will not touch your pen
to your paper.
I will not touch it to your red paper,
I will not touch it to your black paper.
The white man...
will not see my mark again on his paper
for the rest of my days on this earth.
We cannot allow a return to incivility.
Incivility?
And what has civility earned them, might I ask?
Trained nurses? Even one hospital?
All things the Sioux will provide for themselves, Charles,
once this plan has passed.
As you yourself agreed-
they must adapt.
Must they adapt, sir, to the point of their own extermination?
Extermination?
I suppose you say we've exterminated your Indian heritage
rather than provided to you the benefits
of an entire civilization?
Senator, please sit.
Sir, if every individual were taken personally under your care,
as was my good fortune,
I admit, the outcome might be what you seek.
But I am not the example you held up to The Friends of the Indian.
I am the example...
of nothing.
I simply do not see how placing each Indian man
on a desolate, 160-acre parcel of land
is going to lead his children to medical school.
It will, in time.
But first, this must pass.
Or I guarantee you,
destitution is all the Sioux will ever know.
I have many opponents, Charles-
in the press, in Congress-
You have an opponent before you, sir.
Yes.
I see that clearly now.
This explains the tone of your letters.
"Drought, disease, hunger-
year in and year out. "
You think you are the first one to decry these things?
This looks all very grim to you, of course,
having been spared all this yourself.
Children have died in my arms.
I have not been spared!
I devoted the larger part of my career
to the betterment of your race,
with you as the principal beneficiary.
Is this your gratitude?
I am acting in the interest of my people,
following the example you set for me.
Do you really think you know better than I
what is in the interest of these people?
Yes.
I am one of them, Senator.
You're no more a Sioux Indian
than I am.
Charles...?
Did you know there was a moment
on the train to Illinois where I was sent away to school...
when I might have returned home to my old land?
I nearly jumped.
Jumped? What do you mean?
From that train.
I nearly did, Elaine.
I very nearly jumped.
Charles! Charles, you have to wake up.
Ah- what?
It's Royer. He's ordered all the Sioux to the agency.
- He wants them all here. - Why?
There's been trouble. They heard about the ration cuts.
He says they have guns at the dance camp. He's wired for troops.
Just read it for yourself.
"Uprising of the whole Indian race is imminent. "
"Imminent. " I've got people to protect.
You're damn right I'm getting troops here.
It's a stupid prophecy. It'll pass if you let it.
I've been to these camps. It's harmless dancing.
Harmless? Preaching death to all whites is harmless?
If soldiers come to this reservation,
you'll have more dead Indians than any disease has ever taken.
You'd better leave like the others.
With the threat of troops, maybe the holdouts in those camps
will be frightened enough to see reason.
Why should they see reason? The land deal was shoved down their throats,
and still they're punished with ration cuts.
A million pounds of beef, Elaine- a million.
It has to have been a mistake. They were promised by the commission.
You've been here longer than I.
You know these are never mistakes.
To provoke the Sioux further in this panic-
- does that make sense? - Yes. Knowing the whites.
I think you should go.
We're still needed here.
As what, witnesses?
It won't come to that.
What are you doing here? What do you want?
Why haven't you brought these people in?
For what? Another council?
More rotten meat?
This is nonsense.
You're a Christian.
You don't believe in this.
Then tell me what to believe.
Tell me what to believe in, white medicine man.
I ordered you to shut down these dance camps.
- I can't. - Why not?
Sitting Bull permits the dancing.
The people listen to him again.
- Bring him in. - What if there's trouble?
There is already trouble. Soldiers are riding for Pine Ridge
and I'll be damned if they'll ride in here.
The agent has sent for you. Dress.
I said, dress.
Your eyes are getting worse.
Quick, somebody get Dr. Eastman!
Hurry!
- Easy, easy. Careful. - This way.
- Where do you want her? - Right here!
Here.
Behind you.
Charles! Charles, hurry!
- What happened? - She's been shot.
Help! Somebody help!
Where are my children?
Help me!
What happened?
Where are my children...?
Tell me what happened.
They came for my father-in-law.
They came to arrest Sitting Bull.
They came to take him away.
What is going on?
We tried to stop them.
Where are you taking him?
Father, don't let them take you without a fight.
- Be quiet! - I won't go, I won't go!
Stay back! Stay back, or we will arrest you all.
Oh, I got it.
The horse...
The white horse...
it danced.
We all turned to look at it.
And he fired!
No.
They killed him!
They killed Sitting Bull!
No!
His boy's over here!
They shot Crow Foot!
He was just a boy.
They killed him too.
We ran away,
but the soldiers found us.
They took us to Wounded Knee Creek.
Oh no! No!
Where are my children?
Doctor! Doctor!
It was at Wounded Knee, near where we were dancing.
Elaine, bag!
They tried to take our weapons.
You had more than this.
You had Winchesters and Henrys.
I know you had Winchesters and Henrys.
- Where are your weapons? - "Where are your weapons?" he shouted.
Search the tepees.
Have heart, men.
The messiah's promise will come true.
The bullets will not harm you.
Their bullets...
will not harm you.
Search all of them!
He tried to take a gun from a deaf man!
- He could hear, they didn't care. - Give me that gun.
- Leave him alone! He can't hear you! - Let go of it.
Let go!
And then the cannons came.
Go after them!
Go! Fast!
I cannot mend the leg.
No.
You will not take it.
Please.
You have no choice.
There is a choice.
We didn't fire first.
I swear to Almighty God, we did not fire first.
Blue coat...
you whites use many weapons against us.
Do not have such a bad heart about it.
We have always feared your guns the least.
For two days, the snow prevented
a search for survivors...
and the burial of the dead.
From that day on,
nothing would be the same-
not for the Sioux as a people,
and not for Charles.
Tell me what you see.
I'm the one who told our people to stay.
Tell me straight. I have the ears for it.
Witnesses.
It's not what we set out to be.
But in the end, it's what we were.
Charles would practice medicine again only briefly.
A succession of positions always seemed to end
in voluntary resignation or dismissal
and eventually, financial hardship.
Charles?
Soon he had nowhere to turn.
Charles?
And we needed money.
Well, how are you?
I'm fine.
I'm sorry to hear about your resignation- and your wife's.
Great loss to the reservation.
You're awaiting the commissioner?
Yes.
Well, we would be very grateful to have your services again
for the renaming project.
- Renaming project? - Yes.
I only know there's a position available.
Yes, I put you up for it myself,
knowing your... circumstances.
It's the individual deeds to the land.
They've been impossible to assign
with each Indian going by so many tribal names,
so much confusion.
So what we need is a single name-
a Christian name- for each Sioux,
assigned by you, randomly or at your discretion,
working from the last census.
Doctor? Dr. Eastman?
We're ready for you now.
- Good luck. - Senator.
Charles...?
Give my best to your wife.
I won't do this!
Charles?
Should have jumped.
What?
Should have jumped from the train.
Might have got off...
Might have got off in Sioux City.
Yes, that's...
what I would have done.
I would have walked
till I reached the Red River...
which I would have followed to the North Woods.
That's how I will find my way home.