Rev Left Radio - The Life of Sitting Bull: An Oral History

Episode Date: January 7, 2020

Sungmanitou Tanka, co-host of Bands of Turtle Island, presents an oral history of the life of Sitting Bull (In Lakota: Tȟatȟáŋka Íyotake), who was a Hunkpapa Lakota leader and who led his people during years of resistance to the genocide being carried out by the United States government. Find Bands of Turtle Island on Twitter @BandsIsland And listen to their podcast here: https://anchor.fm/bands-of-turtle-island Learn more about and get involved in the anti-war movement here: https://www.answercoalition.org/national_action_us_troops_out_of_iraq Interlude music: 'Wind Spirit' by Bill Miller Outro music: 'Kill'n Your Mind' by Willy Mitchell Find more of this music here: https://lightintheattic.net/releases/1332-native-north-america-vol-1-aboriginal-folk-rock-and-country-1966-1985 ------- LEARN MORE ABOUT REV LEFT RADIO: www.revolutionaryleftradio.com SUPPORT REV LEFT RADIO: www.patreon.com/revleftradio Our logo was made by BARB, a communist graphic design collective: @Barbaradical Intro music by DJ Captain Planet. --------------- This podcast is affiliated with: The Nebraska Left Coalition, Omaha Tenants United, FORGE, Socialist Rifle Association (SRA), Feed The People - Omaha, and the Marxist Center.

Hello everybody and welcome back to Revolutionary Left Radio. I'm your host and Comrade Brett O'Shea, and today we have on Wolf from Bands of Turtle Island to basically give an oral history of Sitting Bull, the life and legacy of Chief Sitting Bull. Before we get into that oral history, we are going to have a sort of back and forth conversation about the construction of the oral history and as well as touching on the Iran situation, which just is happening in real time as we speak and the Bolivia situation, which is still ongoing. But before we get into all of that, Wolf, would you like to introduce yourself? Say a bit about your background. Hello, my name is Shamanitutankha. I'm Ochette Shekawin of the Gala Lakota.

I go by Shamanu Tanka, which means Wolf. It's an alias. Was that DAPL? Sort of how I got radicalized. I would say I'm a scientific socialist because I really don't like that. like the whole labeling process because then people assume a bunch of stuff about you. But if you want to get to brass tax, I would say Marxist-Leninist best describes my sort of philosophy and it's just sort of how I interpret Marxism-Leninism, which some people wanted to agree with me on some of my interpretations, I guess, but I don't know. I've read enough theory to have a good basis to decide that for myself, you know? For sure.

Born in Pine Ridge, that's where I grew up. a bit and then was disconnected from the culture and reconnecting trying to learn the language just because it's very difficult if people don't constantly talk around you in Lakota to keep up with that language. It's a very phonetic language. Like Moors, I'm always very impressed like reading their tweets and like when they come on the show, especially the most recent episode in November, the Echeteichequine, which I would recommend everybody go listen to before listening to this to have a better idea of the culture we're talking about. But it's just very awesome to see my culture represented in leftist spaces so prevalently.

I think we should try to uplift other people besides Lakotas now. At this point, two episodes with us. but the me uh like uh emmy is that heard yeah yeah love their episode on proles and on here very great person emmy's awesome yeah um but like just like try to get more indigenous voices into the circles is like basically my whole project and what i'm trying to do with bans of turtle island yeah yeah do you want to talk about bands of turtle island really quick is that is that basically um was it sort of a spinoff of proles of the round table or just sort of a project adjacent to it how do you describe that? Uh, so how it sort of happened was, uh, I started, well, I was like a chopo trap house type

dirt bag leftist at first, just sort of coming into it. And then I started listening and reading to like other podcasts, like you, um, little school red schoolhouse. That was a great project. And then like I started reading more and then like eventually Mark's Madness and Red Menace helped supplement a lot more knowledge for me. But I ended up joining Proz of Round Tables, Discord server, just sort of looking for people to talk to about communism, since I had so many things I had nobody to talk to about besides my friend who moved away, I moved away in high school, and so he and I just talk on Facebook every now and then.

And so that was the closest thing I had to another communist to compare theory to and, like, read with and so um going into the proles server uh i realized that they didn't like the only other person was moors who had been on there and i was like whoa another Lakota oh my goodness that's awesome and then i was like hey it could like i do like a history episode possibly if i did the notes and then as i was doing i was like you know i could just make my own podcast yeah i'm already doing the work it became so much more i wanted to do the history of aim and now that's turned into at least a five-part series i'd say i'm on part four right now so uh so that's just basically i wanted to do it and then uh i noticed well there was the

minion and the proles of the book club or whatever uh and uh this proletarian life and like a bunch of other stuff was like being talked about and about to come out i think only the minion and the book club were out at that time right and i was just like well hey what if we did like a little thing and then we jokingly started calling it the USSP and now that's the official name it's a little cringy because it's sort of larpy right but I just think it's really funny you know yeah that's great and that when we say like we have spin-off shows like people have messaged me like oh you have spin-off shows does this mean that you oversee other projects and that you that you take money from your spin-off shows hell no it happened exactly in the way

you describe which is we put out our show we have listeners come up sometimes they come on as guests and then they get the bug that they want to do their own project and then we just help shout them out and you know get them get the word out about their show etc so it looks like there's a very similar thing going on with with you and proles of the roundtable i think it's beautiful it really is just a blossoming of a bunch of different left-wing voices because after you know a long long time finally the the cost of doing this stuff comes down to regular working people's ability to record and put out podcast. And so you see this flourishing

of these different voices. And your voice, I think, is incredibly important along with Moors and other indigenous voices on the left. Exactly. It's like the exact definition of a grassroots adjut prop project rather than being state funded.

It's all coming from working class individuals with an extra bit of time. Maybe they have a good microphone. Like, I wanted to do YouTube when I was a kid and that's why I have this good microphone. Right. And like my friend was in a union and got a large settlement

and then just bought me a good computer. So I was like, got really lucky in life just having good friends. That's about it. It's beautiful. All right. Well, let's go ahead and get into some of this. And you mentioned this little earlier, which is we just did an episode on the history of the Lakota and Dakota people with Moors.

And, you know, this can be sort of seen as a part two to that part one. I do think, though, that you could listen to this episode on its own and still get so much out of it. But to get a really full, robust picture of. the entire history so you can sort of embed sitting bulls life in that context. You know, I would urge people to go back and listen to our episode we just did with Mores. But in either case, I think this episode is really important and can stand on its own, in its own way. I did want to mention quickly, though, because in the oral history, you mentioned the influence that aim,

the American Indian movement had on you. Do you want to talk about just a little quickly that influence in your childhood and sort of how you came into contact with that and how it shaped your worldview growing up? Well, so my mom was at Yellow Thunder Camp when she was six years old. My grandma was probably about 18, 19 at that time. I have a relationship with a familiar relationship with Russell Means and stuff like that. So just a lot of A members. Red Fawn is actually a really good family friend of ours.

So just like my entire life, I've been. surrounded by A members. That's pretty much how it happened. That's amazing. You put together an oral history, and obviously we're going to transition to that in a bit after we have this sort of prelude, this conversation. But we both sort of talked about doing this show, and we were going to do a traditional interview style, and then we sort of both were talking back and forth and said, it would be

kind of cool to do an oral history, you know, do that for like the first time on Rev. I've tried to really do an oral history of the life of Sitting Bull. and I just listened to it, and that's really, really good, and I'm excited for listeners to listen to it, but, you know, you put it together, and I just wanted to sort of ask you what you wanted to accomplish with the oral history, and also, like, what were some challenges of putting this presentation together in the form of an oral history as opposed to more traditional, maybe question and answer format. Well, my first challenge was I would have loved to have done it all in Lakota, how Morris tries to do, like, whenever they do stories. and I'm just not that good at speaking it yet. I'm learning still. So that was one of my big challenges. And so I had a really hard time pronouncing names.

So I really wanted to not use English too much for their names because I think it's important to normalize the traditional nameage and make white people say it. And so that's why, like in recent episodes, we've been trying to only refer to each other as our Lakota aliases. And so I try to use Tatankaiyotake, and then we usually have multiple names in our lives, like when you become an adult, maybe, or maybe you graduate and become a doctor or something like that. You get a new name for special occasions, and depending on, like, the ceremony and stuff. It's really, like, it's really up to, like, your parents and, like, the medicine man kind of. so like I wasn't when I was born I was named by my medicine man instead of my dad but my dad had the vision for my name if that makes sense and so having to use multiple names for one person is really you know just hard for your brain to wrap around and then having to keep that in certain time frames and know when to use what name to better convey what age this person is you know. out. And then the lack of chronology in the story, it jumps around a lot to sort of build a bigger picture. In fact, I do a quote in the audio that's about the play that basically just says

the idea is instead of making a tapestry, like a normal history, what a very detailed, specific story that displays something very obvious. It's more like a quilt that has its own sort of impressionistic beauty. And then, like, just not thinking it was good enough was another problem, just the confidence to, you know, represent your culture on a prominent platform is very stress-inducing. So just wanting to make sure, like, I had my grandma listen to it and just make sure that, you know, an elder signed off on that was a big. issue on mine too because I had to get her to listen to it.

That's awesome. That's really cool. Well, yeah, I mean, for whatever self-doubt or nervousness you may have had just genuinely from my perspective, after just having listened to it, it's really, really good. And I really appreciate, you know, you putting in the work to educate me and my listeners on this beautiful life and all the history that this life is embedded within, which is really important. And you draw out these, you know, these points and sort of make these applications to contemporary situations throughout the oral history of Sitting Bull's life. And I think that back and forth between the history and then connecting it up with like real issues today is wonderful.

And you did a beautiful, beautiful job. So I'm really grateful for all your work there. I do want to ask, though, just sort of the question I ask whenever we cover any figure through history, trying to figure out how they can, you know, sort of be relevant today. So what do you think personally that Sitting Bull can teach us? as revolutionaries in the 21st century. Well, so when you look at his life and you see his deeds and how he went about them, he immediately shows you things like tactical retreats.

That's a great one because not real politic-minded people will see what Sitting Bull does as possibly selling out when he goes with the Wild Bill show. But when you actually learn what he does with the money, his autographs, his image, essentially, he uses his fame to give money to the orphans in each town he goes to. He feeds people. He's constantly giving away his possessions because in Lakota society, a good leader is somebody with very few things because they're constantly giving them away. Being part of like warrior societies, they have certain values that are very prominent. And in the Midnight Heart Society, which was a secret society within a society, like a select individuals that were bound to protect Sitting Bowl, and we talk about them at the end. They basically believe that you should give away all your stuff constantly because then when you're in need, you'll be given back to, which is exactly what happened.

Like Sitting Bowl moves into a house, but it's not one he bought. It's not one he built. It's one his brother gave him because his brother had given up the Lakota ways. And so, like throughout his entire life, he continues to try to push almost return to tradition. Well, that sounds a little odd. In a way that's traditional values. Traditional values that. A good kind.

Yeah. A way that is opposing to imperialism. It's that sort of, you know, you've got to kind of wrestle with the national question a bit. And so you can look quite a few different sources, Stalin, Mao, Lenin, or even, like, looking on authority is a good way to sort of start your questioning of whether there should be a state or not, you know. but there's quite a few different sources to get your idea of what a state is and he was trying to push for a Lakota sovereignty he was trying to push for Lakota liberation and make sure that we could keep Makoshay-washe for you know Lakotas and to make sure that we don't get obliterated but like you know because at that time you have constant the 7th Calvary would come in

whenever men would go off to hunt and they would just rape, murder, and literally use babies as skeets. Yeah. So to not sort of sympathize with, you know, not wanting that to happen, you know, because it sort of sounds close to white nationalism or whatever, like that's the whole indigenous people want an ethno state argument. Yeah, yeah. It's like, no, we want genocide to stop. Right. And the, you know, like, Jewish people aren't wrong when they say they want a Jewish state. They're wrong when they say they want Israel and they want a one state solution where Palestinians have no rights.

Right. You know, it's that sort of conundrum there that you've got to have to like have some nuance, of course, and go, oh, well, what's actually happening here? You know, who's the bad guy, so to say, who should left us be supporting here. It's all about material conditions in that specific place in the era we're talking about. Sure. Yeah, absolutely. That's fascinating. And I really, that really came through as, so Sitting Bulls is character of humility, self-sacrifice, generosity, the fact that he was so collectively minded.

But I also love how in this oral history, you don't fall into the trap of the great man of theory or a sort of quote unquote noble savage, you know, error where you over romanticize them. you talk about the sort of, you know, just that they were humans. They're like petty jealousy in their relationships. You know, Sitting Bull himself, I think you mentioned, had possibly gotten in fistfights. The two wives. Yeah, the two wives thing. You know, it's just like this very human. So you don't have to over-romanticize them in some Rousseauian error to respect them.

And, you know, errors on both sides will play into this. Either making too much of Sitting Bull as an individual, which is the great man of theory, or trying to over-romanticize indigenous people in the Rousseauian tradition of the noble savage. They're both errors that you point out and avoid really well. So I thought that was great. I'm glad you think so because it's definitely something that I was having an issue with trying to make sure that

because obviously some of the sources don't like to mention anything. Like Ernie LaPoint is not going to tell you. Like the one part about you'll hear it later. but the woman who they were going to kill because his father was murdered. Like that's obviously a little if he clearly happened before. Like they did kill people out of revenge that happened. Not to mention like if you can get into a village sneakily at night, you know, you've heard maybe, I don't know, this is a common story around here. But that natives would come and cut the hair off of people.

People, well, sometimes they just slice their throats, you know. But, like, you can do just the hair to prove that I could have killed you. Right. You know, but it, you know, it wasn't exactly a romantic society. It was very, uh, there was a lot of rivalries. There was a lot of conflict. The Crow in Lakota especially have a very long lasting conflict. Uh, you, it's supported in history a little bit, but why.

But, you know, I try to not let history ever reflect how I act. view a crow person today. It's more like, hey, remember that time when you help the U.S. scout us out? Yikes. And then like the Blackfoot did the same in Canada. There's a lot of examples, the Urquois and Anishinaabe. There's many examples of just white people pinning native groups against one another, capitalizing on already existing feuds. That's arguably how Cortez collapsed the Aztec Empire. It was really just

using internal contradictions to their maximum. Yeah, sort of divide and conquer strategy. Exactly. Colonialism 101. Exactly. Exactly.

Yeah, and like you said, like, you know, there were just like in any situation, you can think of like Jewish folks against Nazis. You can think of Western imperialism in global South countries in any sort of attacked

or oppressed society. You know, there will be some people who, just for various reasons, personal, familial, whatever, will collaborate with the people that are doing the oppressing or the invading that will fight back and resist by any means necessary, that will try to find middle ground, we're human beings. And so, you know, trying to make an entire ethnic group into one homogenous whole

with one homogenous intentional and motivational force is always going to be hyper simplistic and a childish understanding of real history. So just bringing out the humanity and the messiness of being a human being, You know, we've always been sort of messy as a species. And that doesn't change no matter what epoch we're looking at. Yeah, I think even though we're messy, we can have, like, you know, a better community. It's just a matter of, like, where priorities lie in the society, right? And so, like, if you, for example, like being able to relate this standing situation when we're looking at, like, Bolivia, which recently there was the coup, of course, that's unfolding more and more.

you have this almost, I don't want to say Balkanization because it's not that prominent, but basically it's the urban centers that are controlled by the reactionary coup. And then the rural areas have sort of amassed on the side of Evo. And even you'll see the liberal media. The liberal media. The mainstream media. The mainstream media, I just sort of combine all of them into liberal at this point. But you'll see the mainstream media, and it'll depict it as, oh, there's a bunch of union workers on side of the reactionary.

When in reality, like, so first off, the leader of the miners union, we just actually were releasing an episode in the middle of January for this Bolivia coup. But there's audio of him talking about how miners are marching to support Evo, marching against. the reactionary forces and trying to bring in real democracy and not this coup. And so, you know, and that's the number one group that, like, CNN will say is against Evo, when in reality they had a minor disagreement earlier on in a term, and it's sort of played out now because Evo has given into the minor's demands, you know? Well, and not necessarily Evo, of course, they have a larger democracy, and it's not like super authoritarian with a centralized government.

But now you also have, I think it's, I don't want to say Chiapas, but that's the Mexican region. But Bolivia has its own area like that, which starts with a C, well, CH, sound at least. And they are, they said, they kicked out all the police, all the military, and said, you have to come back and beg on your knees if you want to be here again. So, I mean, like, that's pretty cool that they have that much power in their area, their province or whatever. So, yeah, so you have this country that's extremely divided and even has autonomous regions, as well as you have surrounding, like, Argentina is housing Evo right now. Cuba housed Evo, Mexico housed Evo, Honduras, Nicaragua, Venezuela. I'm sure Colombian guerrillas would be on Evo side.

I don't think they've released an official statement because they're a little busy themselves. But really in Latin America, you only have like Brazil and Chile's official government, which is, again, busy right now. A lot of turmoil in Latin America right now as well. And we'll get into Iran in a second. But there's a lot of just political quagmires for lack of an easier way to say it. Yeah, for sure, for sure. But there's just a lot going on there that you could easily have an overwhelmed, all the reactionary forces in Latin America could probably be overwhelmed with a leftist solidarity thing going on where just a coalition comes together and is like, fuck.

this let's revolt everywhere i don't am i allowed to swear i know of course my god okay um but like uh then you have something like you're seeing something similar across the entire world even in bolivia you didn't have the military joining until almost a month after protest began and they joined after the leader of the military mysteriously got a couple million dollars and then after the coup was done within three days he moved to America. So it's a little obvious when corruption happened and when they were bought off. They're not good at hiding their tracks usually. That's why we had the Iran-Contra scandal way back in the Reagan era because they're just

idiots. It's a little surprising how stupid the ruling classes. Trump's their leader in America, so yeah, they can't be that right. Yeah, I just honestly cannot believe this story when I talk about it because like the Hill, we cover a Hill article that is just absolutely profoundly ridiculous when I say it out loud because they basically presented as Janine and as declared a president, but because all the people were arrested, all the people ahead of her were arrested or fled the country, well, she had to declare. or self-president and it's just you could just justify it that easily like oh because the military coup happened of course they also said though the military did suggest evo stepped down evo didn't do it because the military suggested it it's a little I feel like they're they think I'm stupid yeah they do in that I mean we're talking about

Iran like just I mean we were talking about this before we started recording CNBC or whatever just you know they released that article right after the attack on the Iranian general in Iraq saying the US just took out one of the world what do they say the world's number one bad guy the world's number one bad guy and then Ben Shapiro saying a similar take but uh you know a little more racist always uh and so like uh it's just it's a bad situation uh it's pretty much everywhere And especially with Iran, you're looking at whatever reason he was in Iraq, which considering the recent civil unrest due to the air strike, previous air strikes that didn't kill this general. That's why the embassy was attacked or whatever. And so, you know, who cares if civilians are rioting against the United States?

the United States have no reason to go and airstrike Iraq, again, forever that. That's their fault for being in that country occupying it since when did Iraq's war start? 2003, I think. The proper surge or, yeah. Okay, yeah. So, you know, I never thought I'd see a third Iraq war before I saw World War, you know, which I think this will probably stay pretty contained. I don't think we'll see the China, Russia, Iran, coal.

just yet but I think it's coming close to that you know they're going on stage together they're trying to do as many drills together they were just doing drills in the Persian golf as well as straight-up a moose so they're you know trying to show force that they're not afraid of the US you had them backing in Venezuela Iran sailed its battleships all the way over to Venezuela like and then you had Russian bombs And Xi coming to Venezuela, like, there was a bunch of different stuff going on where you could see this huge solidarity going on that, no, the people are getting sick of the U.S. is imperialism. It's getting sick of U.S. interventionism. So to say that the civilians are being paid by Iran and Iran's just using it as a proxy war is a little, you know, dishonest because everywhere is reacting to U.S.

presence this way besides the U.K. who wants to sell off its health care to us. You know, that's the only place that says, hey, oh, and I guess Hong Kong wants the U.S. to come liberate it. So those are the only two places I can think of right now that are explicitly saying the U.S. will save us. Otherwise, other places aren't doing that. Yeah, no, I totally agree with that analysis. I think it will be, unless something else crazy happens, I think it'll mainly be contained

in the Middle East, aka West Asia. perhaps there'll be some sort of proxy conflict between Israel and Iran. I don't think, as you said, it'll blow up at this point into anything like a world war. But we're certainly have been put on that path. And, you know, once you knock down the first domino, it's hard to exactly say how the rest will fall. And there's certain ways that those dominoes could fall that could lead to a world war. But I did see a tweet that said, and it was kind of an interesting reframing of the concept of world war, because they sort of located the whole idea of a world war.

in like, you know, European imperialist warfare, and they said if you really think about just the words in itself, World War, and this sort of alludes to what you were saying, Wolf, is that the world war is already happening, right? The fronts of the fight against imperialism and capitalist exploitation and, you know, the ecocide of the planet are already happening. The front lines are often in indigenous communities from the U.S. to the Philippines and beyond. And so there really is already a world war occurring. And it's called imperialism and it's called capitalism and it's exploding all around us constantly. And the last thing I'll say before I toss it back over to you,

and I think this is really important to remember, the attack on the Iranian general by Trump, the primary justification for this attack is that this Iranian general was a part of the counter force in the original Iraq war and as a general was responsible for killing American troops. And it's because of that, primarily other reasons are given, but this is a big focus on the right and on Trump's defense. vendors. That's why they took out this general. So what they're really saying is America lied and

deceived its way into an illegal war in Iraq. And then there was resistance to that invasion and occupation in which some American soldiers in an illegal war were killed by an imposing force. And years later, that now is the primary justification for taking out this person and possibly leading, well, definitely leading to conflict, regional conflict at the very least, at the very at least lots of people are going to die in that region and possibly even escalating to more global conflict we don't know yet um so that that that entire apparatus of justification is built on a sort of american innocence in iraq in the first place as if that wasn't an illegal war that wasn't an illegal occupation and invasion in the first place and they're you know they're

handing out justice years later i mean it's just disgusting exactly it's it's a blatantly a lie and it's like the new york times was like the first person to break the story again and it's like it's seems i wasn't uh quite old enough to be involved politically when this all start happening you know pretty young uh at least compared to like most people who i've been talking to do podcasts they all seem to be like 30 35 i'm 22 uh so i you know i was more young at this age and i just now looking back at what was said and like how everything unfolded because hindsight's 20-20. Ha-ha, the year. I get it.

Okay. We get a little stupid joke in there. You might last so you don't cry. Hindsight, though, you see that, you know, Dick Cheney fed articles to the New York Times who then releases it and helps lead us into war. And every time things get disproved, nobody listens. It doesn't matter how many times you go on. Twitter. It doesn't matter how many times you're on Facebook telling your mom, dad, and

uncle, you know, that these things are happening. It's this way they're happening. They don't care. They don't want to hear you. They don't believe you. They're just not going to listen. It's really about winning over other leftists and living, left-leaning people. And, you know, reactionaries are pretty hard to win over when it comes to war. It's not a very easy topic to beat them on. Especially in online debates, my God. Oh, my, they're just going to be like, So what? Conquest. You know, that's their big argument is conquest means we can do whatever we want.

The bloody children of empire. This is conquest. You know, it's blatantly conquest. We can all recognize that. But it doesn't necessarily matter to them. And so I don't really know how you reach your uncles and dads and whatever. But as far as your friends go, this is going to. raise our oil prices right away. So it's going to directly affect the working class immediately.

And they know it is. It's going to help drive oil profits up higher, even though we're producing more oil now here domestically. So oil should be getting cheaper, but we're just pretending it's only rising. So it's that false, what's the term that Marx uses in capital, the artificial demand? I don't know. We'll go with that. Yeah. But so artificial lack of supplies or whatever is how they're selling us, our oil at rising prices again. And now that there's war in the Middle East, everybody associates that with rising oil prices because we've been doing this for the last, I don't know, what, three decades? Is that about right? When did a desert storm happen? Yeah, 80s, 90s, yeah. Something like that. But, you know, it's just obvious.

I think he's also doing it for a grab for votes because usually if there's a war, presidents get reelected. It's just the history of the United States. Huge distraction from impeachment, yeah. Yeah, exactly. And it's like Nancy Pelosi openly admit they're not setting the articles of impeachment until there is a Senate that is good enough for them, which there might very well never be

because we're not electing leftists into the goddamn Senate. Okay. We're electing neol liberals posing as Democrats or blatantly being Republicans. You know, it's, what's the

stupid South Park reference, the shit sandwich and whatever? I don't know. Whatever that. It's basically that. It's one thing they got right is that, no matter who, if it's a Democrat or Republican, they probably suck. It's the most easiest analysis you can give, you know, but that's what's going to happen. And so Donald Trump's

going to have a good old Clinton or Nixon treatment, and it's just not even going to matter. Yeah. It just won't matter. We still talk about Clinton very well in, like, the mainstream talks. We almost voted in Hillary Clinton. What else? What else terrible things do? everybody likes Bush now. It's a little, everybody just forgot everything. And so to think that that's not going to happen, especially what just happened, everybody forgot impeachment. I guarantee you nobody's going to talk about impeachment,

like the first week at least of January. You know, because World War III is the new topic. And that's funny because, you know, Trump even sort of tells on himself, because obviously people are bringing up all his old tweets about Barack Obama and you know Trump has a bunch of tweets saying you know Obama with these

bad approval ratings is going to go for a war in Iran to distract people from you know his terrible policies or whatever and then here we see Trump doing the exact same thing so you can tell that this strategy has been in Trump's mind for a long time even in the Obama era obviously he completely did a 180 on it when it's his own

ass in the in the chair instead of Obama's but yeah it's very transparent and nobody gives a fuck and I do wanted to say this because people were tweeting about this, and it's important to get out there. A lot of Americans are tweeting about, you know, oh shit, World War III is happening. The draft is coming. You know, people making memes about being drafted into World War III.

And I get it. I get the impulse. It's what the Internet and the hive mind does in any big political event. But it is worth stating that once again, Americans will be, by and large, protected from any consequences of their government's reckless behavior abroad. Most of the suffering will happen in West Asia. It's on the other side of the world. It's ridiculous.

I get it. The reservation is pretty bad, but you're not being bombed anymore. And, you know, we were never really bombed. We were just murdered with muskets and stuff. But think about it as what happened in history happening over there now and, you know, try to do what you can while also help in your communities here. You know, it's not an oppression Olympics. They're clearly the ones you need the most help right now when they're the

the ones being most actively aggressed against by the United States. It's pretty simple where to focus your attention. Exactly. It shouldn't be a big debate, ever. And that's the huge thing. And maybe we can sort of wrap it up with this, which is just, you know, the importance of international solidarity you said earlier, the sort of strategic vision of all these disparate left-wing movements in Latin America coming together to form some sort of popular

front against the reactionary elements on the entire continent. But as Americans, instead of, you know, tweeting about being drafted and, you know, sort of playing into this distracting spectacle, we really should as principled leftists at least go out of our way to do whatever we can to show solidarity with, you know, Iran as a country, not because we agree with every one of their policies or their leaders' ideology, but because we are Americans and they are being victimized by American imperialism. And our job as leftist and internationalist in the belly of the beast is to do whatever we can to fight against anti-imperialism and to agitate against it to march against it. And there are a bunch of marches being put together for this week. And depending on how things go, it could continue to be a situation where more marches and protests are increasingly necessary in the Venezuela context. Months ago, I think it was this summer you had the Venezuelan embassy being taken over by embassy protectors, not allowing reactionaries to take over the Venezuelan embassy here in the U.S., and that is one concrete act of international solidarity that Americans displayed towards their Venezuelan comrades, and something like that, it might not

be in the form of embassy takeovers, but we have to be on the march, and we have to be very vociferous in our communities, organize, connect up, network with other communities, and if this does lead to a war, even if it's not a world war, if it's just another sort of Iraq War 3.0, as you said, The anti-war movement needs to be more militant than ever. We really need to bring back the anti-war left as not only a popular front against American militarism and imperialism, but also as a nexus by which we can continue to organize outside of just the anti-war movement and sort of marshal our forces on a bunch of different fronts. And so I know that what were some of the organization?

I know PSL is doing marches. Our little local community here in Omaha is? answer is the one I know but I was actually just going to say something people could also be doing is looking at the mistakes made in the anti-war movement for the previous Iraq war and learning from that

okay don't do the same stuff that was done then you need to do something different this time and something better like it has to be derived from those historical mistakes absolutely like maybe we might see another Occupy that does something you know

Who knows? But, yeah, no, I don't know any other organizations off the top of my head right now. I know the big one is answer that's being posted around. And then you told me PSL. But if you don't have something in your area, try to get something going. I remember as like I think I was either a late teenager, early 20-something during the Iraq War. And I was not connected in any organization or networked at all. but I went out there in the middle of like one of the busiest intersections in Omaha as like an 18 or 19 year old with an anti-war I think it was like some hip-hop lyrics from an anti-Araq war song and I would just like hold it up in the rain by myself for like hours and like old white guys would come by and flip me off but like other people that were more sympathetic would stop and get me like hot coffee and you know hot cocoa and stuff to keep me warm while I was out there oh that's awesome yeah it's just a little thing in my past that I can go back and sort of be like oh that was pretty cool.

know one person standing out there for a few hours, you know, thousands of people drive by. People remember that. They do. They remember the guy holding the sign and they try to read the sign every time. Exactly. I've never been in a car where somebody didn't turn and go, oh, at least like if they're being an asshole about it, they were like, oh, what's this homeless guy's sign say? I'm going to laugh at it.

Something like that. They always read the signs. Exactly. Right. Exactly. So whatever you can do, do it. And even if you're really isolated, you're in a super rural area. and you know it's you're online pushing back and trying to educate other people on what's actually happening

pushing back on you know false bullshit that the corporate media wants to pump out and you know ramp us up to war anything is better than nothing do what you can where you are that's sort of the the overall push I want to I want to let people know but definitely agree with you wolf that we need a more militant anti-war movement and a very vociferous one if this shit develops anything beyond what it already is and again we're speaking about 12 to 15 hours out from the assassination of the Iranian general. So things are very new. Who knows when people will actually listen to this? Our information is still coming in. So we can't really sit here and opine endlessly in all the facts

because things are really sort of hectic at this moment. So all we're saying is keep learning, keep like paying attention to what's happening. And insofar as you can show that international solidarity. Be anti-imperialist, not just anti-war, which I think is important, and try to organize if at all possible. Because this shit has to be a sort of, jumping off point for all the other fights

that were engaged in. I'd have nothing else to say that was really well said. All right, well, before we go into this oral history, would you like to say any last words and or give any plugs for your two projects, I think? Yeah, so, I don't know, later this year, we're going to be doing

something for fun with just the pros of the round table, Discord server. It's a movie review thing called Prolke. And then I have Bands of Turtle Island, which is my main podcast with my co-host, Hunz, who just joined us, you'll meet them in a few days when the episode actually comes out.

Well, I guess maybe it's already out by the time you're listening to this. And then with my other co-host, P.A. Gigi, we've been doing, I don't know, we're on our 10th episode, maybe, 9th, 8th episode. I think it's 8th. so it's pretty new but we try to do a very well research well I do all the research they come on and we talk about it and we talk about things going on just in the world and stuff but we I do the research and I try to do it as you know accurately as possible you know I get all the sources in the show notes I try to articulate things in a synopsized format

We read a lot of treaties because legalism is a huge part of the genocide of indigenous people and just sort of tracking back when things started and trying to figure out, you know, when's a good time to start an oral history that spans multiple episodes is different, especially when people don't realize it's a greater oral history at first. So this episode is a miniaturized version of what I'm trying to accomplish over there. so check it out the USSP it's our little socialist podcast union type thing a lot of cool shows coming out of there

a new one called Edwincia Mundi which is like a history like a Mediterranean area like trying to reclaim it from white supremacists and you know

Distinguished Rome is not a white empire but it was a multicultural empire that white supremacists are trying to co-opt you know try to fight that narrative it's an interesting project um so and you know uh just uh answer check that out uh another good

organization i don't know if they're doing anything but it's just a good organization to check out and i try to plug them wherever i can is crow uh check out crow louder dot org i hope jose is listening to this shadow he's my friend uh good comrade at mine hell yeah Thank you for having me on and being real easy to talk to. This was really nerve-wracking at first, and now I'm really comfortable. For sure. No, yeah, thank you so much for doing this, for coming on, having this pre-talk, and doing the entire oral history. I really appreciate it.

It's awesome to work with you. I hope we can do it again, and I'll definitely link to your project, Bands of Turtle Island, in the show notes, as well as your Twitter account for people to engage with you. If they listen to this, have any questions, want to follow up about. anything I'll make sure that people can can reach out to you and do that so thank you so much for coming on and enjoy this oral history made by shamanitut tonka awesome good enough all right I try I try that was good that was really good thanks man I appreciate that I wanted to sort of refer to Morse Lakota and their episode on the Ochete de Chakowin.

Definitely listen to that before you listen to this oral history as it sets up a material condition and helps cement this story in a real place. We'll start with a quote from one of the main sources for this oral history, which is Ernie LaPointe, the great grandson of Tatankai Yotake. sitting bowl for those of you who know the colloquial name and i kind of want to establish in this episode the difference between the idea of sitting bowl and who to tanku yotake was as our leader is an important historical figure to us in our aim series we talk about spiritual succession of movements uh and sort of like the spirit they capture and i think things like aim the American Indian movement, definitely capture the same kind of spirit of resistance that guerrilla fighters did back against the 7th Calvary, you know, it's pretty easy to draw

those parallels. And so I'm hoping we can take lessons about leadership from the Tanka Yotake's life and just a good way to be as a person as well, sort of encapsulating Che Guevara's The New Great Man or Nietzsche's ubermensch, but more realistic. So, well, and I want to say I say Shays is a more realistic version of Nishais, Ubermensch. And so I would just say this is an application of that concept of just try to be the best kind of person. So I think it is time that we natives tell our own stories. Our culture and our history have to be told by us.

we lived it and we continue to live it and I think the anthropologists and why the authors have run blindly through our ancestors legacy and our culture for too long Ernie LaPointe it's pretty easy to agree with that I'd hope so in order to set this up we're going to kind of explain the framing like compare it to like something happening in Europe so Tutankyu Itake was Hunkpapa Lakota born approximately 1831, most likely 1831. You know, he didn't have a birth certificate or anything.

But at this same time, Karl Marx was only 13 years old, and the trails of tears had just started. So this is practically, the land has not been really touched by white men as much. The area which he was born would be known as Makocewa Shte, which sort of, goes from the little big horn mountains to the Great Lakes down to, like, Kentucky up to southern Canada, well, into Southern Canada. Basically, it's the Great Plains area. As Moors explains, there's seven signal fires of the Ocete Shekawain that encompass the Great Plains, essentially. And each of them are separated into their own bands that live nomadically or possibly have an agriculture sedimentary life, or oath you know it's a very dependent each group is very unique in its own ways and a lot of times

even has its own dialect and accent so when tatanka yuatake was born he was named ihoka wachipi which means jumping badger as long as my lakota's correct i might have that flipped around but he was also given the name hokenshi which means slow or weak and this was given to him because he always was very careful and analytic about how he played played war games or how he hunted and just about every other part of his life. I think it's important to kind of showcase that, that he's different than normal, quote unquote, like socially normal boys who are more rambunctious, hedge-strong, and overall stupid. I know as a little boy, I was stupid climbing trees and falling down them and not breaking my back,

surprisingly, you know. I don't think I quite encapsulate a sinning bowl mindset. The Echete Shackawine had recently signed their first treaty with the U.S. government five years prior to Tantko Yotake. This was under the Treaty of the Prairie de Chiant of 1825 and the preceding Treaty of Fort Fondulac of 1826. And normally we break down these treaties very in depth, but I kind of want to compress this. we can get through very interesting quagmire that occurred after the war of 1812, but we don't have the time to go into the full ramifications of that war. But essentially, the U.S. and Britain got tribes to fight against one another,

not that they were united, but rather than uniting against white people, they took their own interests into account for what's happening. They took old feuds, insert old enemies. from mythology here or just longstanding enemies like the crow with the Lakota, you know, it's there's a long millenniums of freaking history that white people came in on and exasperated. And of course I'm being generalizing with white people, but the settlers would settle governments at least would do this. And this is just with war. We're going to go further into settler ingenuity of settler colonization and how settler colonialism, as explained by Moors,

in previous episodes, is sort of the working definition I'm going with right now. But ultimately, these treaties set up the first ever borders of the Achete Shackawin and assume that all Ocetei Shackawin will follow the treaty even though it was one tribe, like one signal fire. of the Ocete. So it's definitely very racist in its inception, and it would further set up precedence for how this situation is going to go. And so while they're moving west, they're pushing the Anishinaabe out of like the Michigan area, and so they're moving into the Minnesota area, which is the primary catalyst for these treaties.

The peace didn't last because, as I said, the Eochete don't all follow the same leaders and we're not all follow the same treaty signed by one leader. And often, what I call the Caucasian question, would split tribes. Moors goes over this briefly, but, well, actually more in depth than I'm going to. Basically, it would be, should we pretend to be white, like in the case of the civilized tribes, or you could even go into the Lakota tribes. Minnesota. I'm blanking on the book I read, but I read it back in high school, and it was just a book they had on the shelf, which was accounts of Lakotas in Minnesota as this conflict was going on. And essentially, one band would split into two bands, not even tries. We're talking one band would have this conflict split them, where they would go and join a bigger band that was signing with the white people and going to go settle and start farming, whatever they wanted, you know, just obey the white people so we don't get killed. It's survival, you know, whereas other people said, we're going to fight for our survival. So I want to point out how some of these bands split, but others stuck together more, or split long ago, even.

So with the Hongpapa, Lakota historian named Makushila states that what happened was the Hongpopee, well, they were form. known as the Honk Poppeje, but they were once a part of the Oglala. And upon traveling north for, you know, whatever reason, different leadership wants or what have you, the Hongpa became known as the Hongpapa over time. And that's sort of where the split came. But at one point, they were one. And that's why you see similarities between the two. But this is sort of where you find to Tanca Yotake, just coming up in a really turbulent time.

And like I said, at this time, he's known as Ihoka Wachipi, which again means jumping badger. And I'm going to use Ihoku Wachipi and Tatanki Yotakeh, pretty interchangeably. So I'm really sorry. But essentially, we take on new names based on life events that dictate we need a new name by whoever standard. Maybe it's your parents, the medicine man. I was personally named by the medicine man. And it's just, it really depends. As you could tell, this is already kind of jumping around a lot.

And so I think a good place to insert this quote by Dr. Lanny Ivaneck, which was in the first part of the forward in the legacy of Sitting Bowl, recommended by Moore's Lakota, for part of the research of this episode. That'll be more in the bibliography. I'll provide Brett. But I think this quote just really helps explain what's going to happen here. In oral history, the intent is subtly different. Chronology is not as important at consideration, and little attention is given to detailing every moment. Instead, the narrative is episodic in its focus, and each episode has a point. There are morals to these stories.

They are intensely evaluated. Ultimately, a standard biography may convey, like in a standard white biologist, may convey a carefully woven tapestry, where each thread is tightly and precisely placed to ensure an accuracy and interpretation of the factual picture. However, in an oral history, it is more analogous to a well-constructed quilt, each patch of its own vibrant color that work together to create a warm impressionistic pattern. Dr. Eckwood continued to explain how this oral history comes from a fundamentally different worldview of Lakota people, from the United States settler culture. And in my opinion, I think a lot of other people, if you support white culture over, say, an Irish or Italian culture, it's in service to settler colonialism.

That's why I specify white people, not Irish people or Italians. And it just sort of keeps white supremacy as the social norm and forces a homogenization of all races to try to combat white supremacy narrative. So then you get terms like Indian having to be embraced, like NDN, Indian, being embraced by all indigenous folk in order to try to erase the term Indian to describe us because we're not from India. It's a pretty easy concept, but for some reason it still goes in today. I even say Indian quite often referring to myself and family and relatives just because that's how I grew up. I grew up with American Indian movement members teaching me what I know about all of this. So, of course, I say Indian because American Indian was sort of the descriptor I used growing up

until Native American was more mainstreamed. And then even now, nobody calls people Native American because they think it's too much of a mouthful. Or indigenous because they don't know how to spell it. Yehoka Wachipi was born to the Itajipi, Shichah, Tioshpaye, which would be the Badbo Band, Bad Bo tribe. This was Hukpah. And the time they made camp by Wachpe, Hehachah, the Elk River, which is now known as the Yellowstone River in Montana. But he was born to Tachewa, Wachah, Tiosepe, So what I said was he was born to Holy Door Woman and his father returns again.

Receiving the childhood name of his father, who would have named him. So either he named him just directly or the medicine man in him did a ceremony to have a vision for the name. Like that's what my dad did to name me. So it's like the father's naming it, but not. I don't know how you want to, you know, apply the transit of property here, but, you know, whatever. In the Lakota culture, like I said, we receive new names, and that's how later he switches from Ihoka-Wa-Chipi and becomes to Tanca-Yotakei, but we'll get into that later on in the episode. I mentioned earlier about the nickname Hinkenshi and how Ihoka-Wa-Chipe would take his time and act only after analyzing the situation. And this behavior made his father aware that he wasn't like most other boys.

And so as is traditional, his father approached his brother and the Tanka Yiotake's uncle, Topahey, four horns, who was the Itancho of the Tadjibisi, Sijiao, Tio Shbayay, Nawa, Nawa, Wichase, Wankan. What I said was he was the chief of the Bad Bo band and also a medicine man. and he offered to teach Ihoka Wachipi how to be a Lakota man and noticing the analytical vigor in yearning to learn he was more than happy to teach him because he was ultimately ready to listen and after speaking with his spiritual advisor determined that Ihoka Wachipi was unique and special

which would mean that he would have a different role within the tribe in how he was taught rather than learning how to just be a warrior he would learn to be a leader but I wanted to take the time in two again acknowledge the sort of great man narrative that can easily be crafted from what's being said and how somebody who sort of idealizes like a noble savage narrative often interprets this as he's done no wrong or he's absolutely perfect. I'm just highlighting his good and we're going

to talk about some things where you can have controversy, but ultimately it's out of pragmatism that he makes those decisions, and it's just, you know, the right decision for the right time. I don't think he needs to be lied for like George Washington or any other president of the so-called United States. And this uniqueness is an integral part of being Lakota. It determines where you're placed in the tribe. And that's not to like sort of make it seem like a caste system, but more of a system focused on self-actualization of what's better. for the individual to create a better collective. And I think that's what we should aim for with community organizing is uplifting individuals

to better the community. To me, it sounds like proto-communist organization. And I don't call it that because it's definitely its own thing. And I think communism really only pertains to Western ideologues, I guess. Because it's a misquote of the original release of the manifesto that a lot of people base, like, theory on well it's a condensed version of Marxist theory and so the line hitherto all written history is the history of class struggle angles edited to specify that acknowledging that a lot of North American cultures had a severe lack of class

struggle and were primarily orally based cultures like the Ocete Chakuin we did have a class structure but it wasn't you didn't see people people starting rebellions, but I still wouldn't say that that was anarchy or communism because it's a completely different form of production. I wouldn't say the goals are completely different. It's that the goals do not need to be reached the same way. But it also never goes through some feudal period or colonial or capital period. It doesn't have that. Those modes of productions never saw that. They were taken over and replaced with a different mode of production before you could ever see history unfold that way.

The closest thing you get is to the Aztecs, and even then, that's a fundamentally, completely different relationship from European feudalism. All you can say is that it's expansionist, and from there, shut up about it. Quit trying to co-opt other cultures into your ideology, because then you're just as bad as the fucking capitalists. People who excuse slavery that it existed across civilizations,

people who sit there and go, oh no uh these people did it therefore it's okay to force everybody to be veganism vegans okay those that's not okay quit co-opting cultures to boost your political ideology it's one thing to let your culture inform your political ideology but it should never you should never say oh uh communism works because the lakota used to be communist before the white people came. No, we were Lakota. Because he acknowledged uniqueness, Topahey would take Yehaka Wachipi into his household and would

follow Topa, and he would follow Topahey and learn all the meant to be Lakota. When he hookahua Chipi was seven, he had already made a bow and had perfectly balanced an arrow through his patience and sort of OCD tendencies if I'm going to armchair him, armchair diagnose him.

But, which as far as I know is pretty impressive for that age, I'd, I've never made a bow, an arrow, and I don't know how hard it is to perfectly balance an arrow. But one day, a skilled arrow and bowmaker offered a new bow and quiver and arrows to the first child, age six to ten, who could get him a beautiful bird. They went in all directions, spying bird after bird, but Ihogawa Chipi did not see any of them that he thought was beautiful enough. after a long while he finally spotted a Bullock's

orio which you should definitely go look up it's a beautiful bird but so did another boy and as both took aim the Hiokawachiipi let the other boy shoot first but that boy's arrow got stuck in the tree and rather than hunting the bird Yohoka Wachipi let it fly away

and instead he offered to help the boy get his good arrow before he started to get sad and cried that it was stuck already right here I think it's a good place to talk about just how in our own actions when we're thinking about how we interact with other people in our lives. You know, it's good to not be opportunistic in your life. Don't use somebody's misery to pounce on an opportunity for yourself to better your own achievement. Instead, help out other people. So that way everybody can be at least not sad,

you know. I think being rich doesn't matter. when the rest of the world is in misery. You know, you're just sort of blinding yourself to the rest of the world's sadness. But after many attempts, they got the arrow out, but it fell and broke. The sadness turned to anger, and the boy accused Ihoka Wachipi of breaking it on purpose. The boy prepared to fight, but Ihoka instead offered the perfect arrow he had made. And because of that, there was no fight that day, nor did anyone bring back a beautiful bird. However, Yoko Wachipi's actions were talked about amongst all the young boys, and for his wisdom, and he was granted the new Bowen Quiver, and perfectly balanced arrows by a professional arrow maker.

And before you go, oh, this could just be an obviously outlander story, totally made up. I highly doubt it. I really do. I think this is like one of those stories people would remember quite a bit of how selfless somebody was. and from an oral society, oral-based society, they would share the story pretty accurately, like we always have. You know, it's more about how the story's told and who's interpreting it. That gets things fucked up. But I'm going to take the word of the great-grandson of Totanka Yotake, collaborated with provable facts over some white person telling me that all this is anecdotal evidence.

All right. Once he was 10 years old, Yohoka Wachipi had begun learning how to hunt from his uncle. While the band had moved closer to a large herd of Tatanka, Topahe told him to track a smaller herd of a hundred or so of... Tatanka means bison. So there was a smaller herd next to the large herd. Next to is very figurative.

But when Tatanka goes out to look at them, see what's going on, Topahe Hey warned him that because of the... This is his first hunt that it could turn him into dust if he gets caught in the middle of this herd, especially when they start stampeding. And so after the warning, Yoko Wachipi rides into the middle of the buffalo herd and kills the biggest bowl he could see. His arrow sticks into, well, his arrow strikes his target, kills it really quickly, surprisingly. and though his uncle was pissed he was very proud of the feet you know the buffalo was a very sacred animal and so when a boy kills his first buffalo it's a it represents shelter and sustenance in our life and so when a young man kills one he's supposed to eat the liver and thank the

spirit for the gift it's given you and this could go into to a whole discussion about ethical consumption of meat and whether or not indigenous people should have to stop eating meat or whatever, but let's not go there. It's a stupid, freaking conversation, but it's anti-Indigenous to suggest that we can't, you know, sustainably hunt, even though humans have hunted literally since we've ever existed. And it's sort of based in these ideas of longstanding treaties that have existed between speech. Since the dawn of time that we hold in time memorial and have always upheld our terms of those treaties as they have because it's an intrinsic relationship that's obvious to people, you know, but to acknowledge the fact that civilization has lived here for centuries, eating animals, and only now people rule the earth through colonization and imperialism do we see that a sacred hoop, sacred circle described by black elk. which is the eternal flow of life has been broken. There isn't no longer an eternal flow of life. Humans are trying their best to keep the world going

because we fucked it up so bad. But after he ate the liver, his uncle instructed him to get his mother, and when he did, she was getting her nice ready, and he told her to cut some choice mean off for a widow and her family who had nobody to provide for them. This is another thing that really

inspired a lot of pride in people just how kind-hearted this young kid was. We're skipping huge portions of the life and I'm sure like any other kid he fought people. I'm sure like any other kid, he stole something at one point. But

he learned from those lessons and tries to be a better person. Around the time Yoho Kowachip killed his first buffalo. His father, Glitiochay, was scouting for the buffalo, the big herd that leads to the previous story.

This is like a prequel. The other, there was a white buffalo that approached the edge of the fire. The other scouts fled and watched from a distance, but Glitio Ahay just stood there. He was claimed to have been a very spiritual

man who spoke with Wohutupae, which would be four-legged animals. The white buffalo raised his foos four times and stomped each time. Then he turned and fled. And once the buffalo was gone, the scouts approached Gli Chuhay, he told them that the buffalo came to bring him a gift, and this gift was four names. These names were Tatanka Wachipi, Jumping Ball, Titanka Wangji, one ball, Tatanka Najin Kichi, Ptewinyela, which is bull who stands with cow.

And then Tatanka Yotake, Bo who sits on Hindley. He then supposedly said And Beitou Kinle Teokkaite Mie Cheoje

and the tank you otake Today this day forward My name is Bull who sits on hind legs I know

That's probably really bad Lakota But I tried Okay The White Buffalo is a secret sign For the Lakota And we have

Legends Legends legends very loosely used there. We have oral histories for relics like the White Buffalo Pipe and songs regarding that. Tatankashke, if you're at like a powwow when you hear it, we're talking about the white buffalo

and the sacred gift it's given to us. The sacred gift is sort of the way of life we should live, which Black Elk calls the Red Road. A whole other episode. This is why Glitiochay took the first name given, but of course we do not call him to Tanca Yatake today. So I'll explain how Ihoka Wachipi earned his father's name. When he was 14 years old, he joined on a raiding party against the crow for horses. Before they did anything, Topahey gave him acoustic.

Acoustic is a non-lethal weapon used to show bravery in battle. This is done by sneaking up on an enemy and touching him with the stick without getting killed. this is called counting coup and counting coup without being injured is worthy of the highest praise and being able to count coup without getting killed is still praiseworthy as they came up on the crows before the battle was even over to tank a yatake well at this time uh jihoku wachi counted coup and was out and after out as quickly before anybody even and spotted him and after his father approached him he said today you have become a warrior and a man his father offered a feast and once everyone had had some fun he asked for quiet and according to ernie la point

said this is my son and on this day he is no longer naked for he is a warrior of the bad bow band of the hongpapa lokota nation from this day forward i shall be jumping bowl and his warrior name shall be to Tanca iotake i wasn't about to try to translate that into Lakota because i'm really not that good at it so far but i'm trying to use more Lakota in my episodes so he was then presented with an eagle feather placed in his hair for his bloodless coup and a shield of a hardened buffalo leather and a black thunderbird with a red and black semicircle painted underneath and then he was given a bay horse fit for a warrior his prowess in battle only shone brighter from there, and the name Titanka Yotake would literally become

legendary by the time he was murdered. When he was 15, they were ambushed by a band of flatheads, arrows, and bullets falling from the sky. So Tatanka Yotake volunteered to run the daring line, which meant to run between your comrades and the enemy to draw fire away. It wasn't until he was about to reach cover that he was hit in the foot with a musket ball. Though painful, he was given a red-painted eagle feather for sustaining a wound and continuing the battle to its end. Afterwards, a feast was held in his honor, and in the coming years he would sustain at least three wounds and count coup 69 times. For each act, he would be entitled to wear an eagle feather. However, Tatankiotake was a humble man and only wore two feathers ever, one for his first

coup count, and one painted red always, and always had it at an angle. for the wound he first got. This was the true character almost perfectly encapsulated by Titakio Taki and why he gained that name. As such a respective warrior, he was recognized by one of the warrior societies, which were a group of warriors dedicated to providing to those in need, protecting the village, giving their life for the tribe, essentially. in my opinion they were held to one of the highest standards and looked towards as examples of what a good person was it wasn't always about battle and counting coup which many people seemed to forget

it was about how they carried themselves you know as well as being skilled warriors usually you know and Tatakiyatake became one of the youngest leaders of what's called the strong heart society because of his position in battle he wore a sash a well-distinguished regal that would clearly identify him as a warrior to be trifled with one day while traveling north of the missouri river the locota came on initial boine family who they killed why that's a good question whatever there was current confluent at the time but you know what not going to go into that they killed everyone quickly and left only a young boy while Tatankaiyatake arrived and as he did, the boy used it as his last chance to plead with him and said, save me, big brother.

Tatankai Yotakei took him as his brother through Ahunkeyeppe ceremony, which is, if you've ever heard Russell Means say he adopted some of his kids through the Lakota way, that's what it means. It's like a traditional adoption to people who share no blood with you. you cannot adopt somebody who is your blood because they're already your family so there's no need to do a honka epi but like my dad was adopted into my grandmother's family

after the ceremony to tankiatae would call him by staysback but the rest of the tribe would call him Ashinabowin Chikala little Ashinaboin I don't know if I'm pronouncing that correctly I don't know one day while scouting for Buffalo Jumpy Bull stayed at camp with a toothache.

They would be ambushed by Crow and forgetting his age, Jumping Bull would try to kill a crow who lagged behind. However, the crow was quicker and killed him. With Tatankai Yotaki returned to the camp, he was told about the death. Morning the loss,

the Hungpapa would capture two women, the Hank Papa men, like just regular warriors, would capture two women eager to execute them for Tatanka Yatake for revenge. However, through his wisdom, he told them to spare the women. They were given gifts and treated well, and after a year of mourning, which is traditionally done, you take a year before the wake,

well, before like the final funeral. They were treated very well, and after that year, they were allowed to go free and were given horses and supplies in order to get home. to Taku Yatake then gave his father's name to stays back and from that day forward he carried the name with honor until his death in 1890 Ernie says in the chapter wives and children the Lakota know there are four things that are hard in life to lose your firstborn child to lose your wife to not have enough food for your family and to encounter a larger band of warriors The Tanka Yotake was not unfamiliar with the hardships of Lakota life, but he always had many joys like his family.

He married in his early 20s to help with the many great responsibilities of his position, and so he married a woman called Lighthair, and after their first son was born, she died, and then he married a new woman, Snow on her, who gave birth to two daughters. He then took on another wife, her sister, Red Woman, who, well, not her sister. So the Lakota will often, if you look in history, we would marry sisters a lot

because they usually got along really well. I don't know why we needed two wives, but we did it. And so, like, Tatakiotakeiata really preferred the red woman. She gave birth to another son for him. Or she gave birth to another son. of his and the polykill marriage wouldn't last very long because of the preference and this causing jealousy and snow on her. And so after a lot of arguments, they divorced.

And soon after Red Woman would die and all the kids would just be with Tatakia Takei, who had help from the women of his family. And as was tradition when the mother died, if he ever needed help, even the warrior. your societies would help, because in some cases, like orphans would often be taken care of by warrior society members, which I think is a great social praxis. I mentioned staying in contact with my, well, like, being a part of my culture and stuff. And part of that is what's called the Sundance Ceremony or, uh, we Wong-Wi-Chipi, which would mean gazing at the sun while you dance. But we short-handed to Sundance, because let's be honest, gazing at the sun while you dance is pretty hard. mouthful to say

which this is a very serious practice practice that begins with a sweat-od ceremony known as Humble Jiali crying for a vision then continues to the ceremony that my grandma calls

tree day where a Wichasha Wakan or Medicine Man chooses a cottonwood tree for the We Won Wichipipo, which is a big old pole that goes up in the middle of the dancers that people hang tobacco ties and put markings in and stuff like that. Symbolizing different things depends on what they got going on in their life.

And then the afternoon before the ceremony, the warriors go out to find and attack a tree, well, the tree, the cottonwood tree, are counting coup on it. Then a woman must make four cuts for each direction in the tree, and the great honor of cutting down the tree is given to pledges of the ceremony and the tree then must not

touch the ground as it is carried to the circle and raised after being marked with various symbology. On the way back, there's a lot of rattlesnakes and stuff and you have to have scouts go ahead of you, but nine out of ten times you almost get bitten by a rattlesnake, no joke. After the circle is prepared,

the dancers offer pair through eagle of bone whistles and while dancing, all while dancing and staring at the sun. When you perform the ceremony, you're supposed to sacrifice your blood and sweat for the people. And this is usually done by hooking bones through piercing into your skin. That's what the practice of piercing is. And they are attached with leather ropes to buffalo skulls. And you're supposed to drag them around in the circle while dancing until they tear through your skin. Tatanki Otake committed to be suspended for this ceremony, and as he hung, he had a vision of a woodpecker saving him from a bear by telling him to stay still.

Then a wolf who needed help that promised the nations will know his name if he did, and then finally he envisioned a medicine man who said, Your honor is great, but your responsibility is greater. This would be the spiritual confirmation to know that he was a real medicine man and sort of bolster his credentials that he was supposed to be a leader. The rumors of white people moving west were not at all lost on the humpap and they were well aware of it. And Tatakio Atake assumed that war would eventually come for their traditions as well since they heard from people they formerly traded with or still sort of do now that they're changing their. lifestyles to be more like the Wasichu. The U.S. considered itself at war with the Lakota at this point, and the Lakota having a decentralized system of cellular nations within a larger state.

They didn't care about the leadership they had. And so every Lakota was at war, you know, with the U.S. government at this point. So as the Calvary moved west, they asked for a meeting with the Hong-Papa, which, Tantanke Yotake refused, you know, and trying to avoid the situation as long as possible. He just kept running around the planes avoiding them. The summons, however, was for a peace treaty. And considering the recent Lakota rebelling in Minnesota that result in Abe Lincoln ordering the butchering of Lakota and the largest mass hanging in U.S. history, they were not about to let the hunk papa go without, because they're a threat. They don't want another rebellion on their hands.

And the punkpapa never knew it. So the bands came together after several tragedies and designated a great chief who would be able to call all Lakota to war. That chief was Tatankaiyotake, but the Oglala led by Red Cloud, and the Sichonglu led by Spotted Tail refused to recognize Tatankaiyatake and would only follow if their chosen chief did. He was given a headdress that reached the ground representing a coup for the warriors who contributed an eagle feather to its making.

It was a literal representation of the people's faith in him. And so they went about the camp in a parade like fashion, and Tatanka Yataka began singing a song, Oyaatekha, Kamamai Yotanpi, Kablihymiya lo, he. That tanka youotakee, he a pilo, hey. Which means I humble myself when my people speak my name, so said Bo who sits on legs, sits on hind legs.

However, this was only one of the many events that, you know, would encapsulate him as the leader of the Lakota. Later on in his life, after the death of his youngest uncle, looks for him in his tent. Tatankyotake had a vision of a battle. In this battle, many enemies and some Lakota died, but the battle would end as a fireball would fly at him and disappear before he was killed. Two days later, as predicted, they led a raid against the Camp of Flatheads. The Lakota would win with far fewer deaths, and the prophecy, quote-unquote, would be fulfilled when Titangio-Otaque took an arrow to the forearm resulting in his third known wound. You can say this is clairvoyance. I call it a prediction or a prophecy because self-fulfilling prophecy is still prophecy.

kind of you make it happen and it's up to interpretation, yada, yada. I'm not going to go into my spirituality, but I am more of a traditionalist, and I do believe in this stuff. So, well, after this battle, the construction of the Northern Pacific Railroad would begin, and the surveyors for this were escorted by 500 armed personnel who set up camp in the heart of Hungpapa land at Arrow Creek. They were completely unaware that the Lakota people were watching their every move. they must have felt very safe with the large security force

the Lakota were very greatly outnumbered while the Tanca Itake and his advisors spoke about the situation a scout ran inside the tepee he spoke of a warrior who claimed to have had a vision that if they wore blankets over themselves

and ran the dairy line they would not be killed however that was of course not true and men trying to prove their courage were believing him the Tonka rode to meet the band and stepping off his horse and limping up to them he told them to stop

running the line for they had already shown their courage but the warriors preferred actions over words they doubted the chief and so he took out his chinupe and took and chinupe is a smoking pipe and sat between the fighting forces he invited any of them who were brave enough to join in the smoking circle and two cheyenne would join and one lukota who was his uncle white buffalo seeing this insane act of courage as the Wasichio shot their weapons over and over sending smoke into the air Tatanka took long drags but the others were quick trying to make the smoke being circle as quick as possible just trying to get out but after this nobody doubted his courage and they agreed to stop running the line

the battle continued for another night but there was no clear victor however surveyors refused to go to that area again which I'll chalked that up to a win. The Battle of Yellowstone, which is what we call it, but it was recorded in history books as the Battle of Hansinger Bluff, that Custer would make his first influences on the Lakota. Only a colonel at this time, he went in with 1,200 men, two surveyors and minors. He went in to find gold, and found it he did. And now, it sparked some of the most horrific events in U.S. history, one of our greatest tragedies, Moondini, and ultimately led, it's one of the the historical pretexts to the no DAPL protests that radicalized me.

At first, the Army was there to prevent minor invaders who, like, Morris talks about this. The Army was sort of set up to protect the land because of the treaty, the Fort Laramie Treaty, saying that the Black Hills was others in perpetuity, that they were trying to keep them out and then instead just did a turnaround, one of the big ones being Custer. where they went in for gold. And even today, Black Hills gold is considered some of the most beautiful gold and is one of the most expensive types of gold you can buy. If you ever hear somebody bragging about it, steal it, and punch them in the throat for me.

Of course, that's satire. I do not condone unnecessary violence, but you understand my feelings about it. You know, General Cook would start an expedition to hunt down the hostile crazy horse hostile, but in reality Crazy Horse simply refused to meet with them and then while searching for his camp and Tatanki Otake, they would butcher a Cheyenne camp led by Chief Two Moons

which then would cause the Cheyenne to join with the Lakota and resisting the Walsichu which would also bring in the Arpaio and together ignoring the chiefs who said not to like Red Cloud more indigenous people would come from different bands of the Eteteuette Shekowin or surrounding people who just to fight against these monsters, you know, they began to prepare for war and considering the recent massacres over the previous years, well, they began to prepare for war because ammo and supplies were being withheld from the tribe and people were starving. So the white man could not be trusted, and we could see all this accumulating to the famous battle of Little Big Horn, or, as we call it, the battle of the greasy grass, which would become Custer's last stand.

While they prepared at the camp, Titanko Yotake went out to perform Humbleche Yali and find a place for a sacred we Wong-Wa-Chipi. his vision was two whirlwinds he witnessed combine into one and point to a rock with a streak that is shown it was hit by lightning after having his vision he then went to have a sweat with elders and advisors and there he spoke of his vision which was a great victory over the wasichu which recently crazy horse had killed 90 white men and only lost 20 Cheyenne Lakota this was not that victory in the visioning had. But Cheyenne spoke of this rock and said they saw it as a holy site they called Dear Medicine Rock. There they would hold the Wewon Wachipi. He would then ride out with white buffalo to kill three buffaloes. And when giving offering after finding a fat cow that he would offer an entirety to Wakantanka, which is our term for creator, he promised to give a red blanket as well. for those who don't understand red blanket or red cloth is a symbol of prayer and offering and so like when you do tobacco ties you're supposed to use a red cloth to tie your medicine in onto the one we won what cheapy uh so at this ceremony uh he was dressed in only sage inklets

and bracelets and a brief cloth uh this being one of the few times he was shirtless in front of a bunch of people and you would see many scars for many We won Wachipi, and Jumping Bull would come and peel 50 pieces of flesh from Sitting Bull's shoulders, which was the red blanket he promised. He danced as his blood coated the ground below him, and he sang out while whistling to the sun

through his eagle bone whistle. After his vision of the great battle, the camp had grown much larger, and grass was growing thinner. It was time to move on, and so that is when they move to the greasy grass, or the Little Bighorn River. The incident with Crazy Horse was reported to the superiors of General Crook, and they planned an attack for June 26, 1876.

This is only four years after the release of capital in Russia, which, as we know, would lead to the Russian Revolution, and only seven years before Karl Marx's death. However, Custer jumped big, and he knew the country would elect a hero so he set out to attack earlier than planned with only 750 men for reference

there was anywhere between 2,000 to 10,000 Lakota warriors depending on who what Lakota you ask it's definitely a story that changes but the most accurate estimate's probably about 7,500 that I took from Nathan Philibrooks

the last stand which pretty good non-orientalist perspective in his vision the Lakota did not take the belongings or mutilate the bodies of the fallen white men after they had won the night before the battle he had buried his tobacco on the ground and that is supposedly where the battle would have ended but Tatanka Yotake was not there for he was going to mount his horse when his mother stopped him and said instead lead women and children to safety because he's too old at this point you know uh tatanka yitake did just that uh and after they were all led to safety he tried to hop on his horse but it began to circle and run around because of the bullets and stuff flying around and by the time he did get on the horse the battle was already over a warrior is quoted as saying it lasts as long as it takes a starving man to eat a meal tatank yatake observed the aftermath and saw that nobody listened to his vision, and he believed that this would be the cause of the downfall of the Lakota,

which you could say was fulfilled through the repression of the ghost dance, repression of traditional practices, and for the repression of the people with withholding of food and such. So after the battle of the greasy grass, the rest of the 7th Calvary was still on its way with gatling guns. And so that would completely change the tide of the war. And now what would be reinforcements after such an hilarious defeat to the settlers. And I don't mean to make light of war, but let's be honest, Custer was a moron.

And after the brutality inflicted on us, it is reasonable, I'd think, at least to laugh at this as we do U.S. losses and the U.S. losing in Vietnam. You know, it's funny to laugh at the overall thing rather than laughing at specific soldiers, I guess, which even then, fuck the 7th Calvary. So the Hung Papa Lakota made plans to flee to Canada and meet with Crazy Horse. Crazy Horse's band who was going to run diversions and meet with them there. The two friends, however, would never meet again in this life. But with 135 lodges worth of people, they went to what we could. call the land of the grandmother at first he tried to form an alliance well the blackfoot chief crowfoot but his offer was denied and crowfoot uh would make the long knives or white people aware of

the locota being in canada even offering to scout them out for you know the canadians so after a few meetings. It was agreed between Titangayatake and Major James Walsh of a Canadian Mountie Colonel or whatever. I don't really care. He was a Mountie. Would allow him to stay and they would actually become friends. Walsh is the one who actually shortens all who sits on hind legs into the name Sitting Bowl, even teaching Tatanka Yatake how to write. But when the U.S. asked for Tatanka Iotake's arrest and return. And so Walsh refused the Canadian government insisted, refused to, but the Canadian government insisted on throwing out the Lakota.

And to this very day, the Canadian government never, doesn't acknowledge the Lakota people as actual refugees and even continues to try to get them to renounce any indigenous rights in Canada. So, pretty fucked up. It's a continuation of termination policies just in Canada because nobody remembers what they are in America. Tatanka Yatake would be taken under military custody, and as the U.S. was afraid of the figurehead status he held like other infamous indigenous people like Geronimo, that he would, they were afraid he would rally the Lakota again. And so a group of braveheart society men realized this and vowed to protect him to death as they were imprisoned together. Genius move there. In his time there, he would act nobly for the white men and actually become their friend and trying to secure a future for his people.

You know, I use the term friend lightly, but he wasn't going to continue a war. war that would just result in complete and total genocide. In 1883, the Hungpapo would be transferred to the Standing Rock Reservation, which many of us know today because of the no-DAPL protests. And once there, it was clear there was a growing division between the people of those who went to Christianity and adopted the West Sichu's ways, the Caucasian question, and those who remain staunch supporters of traditional Lakota beliefs and supporting to Tanka Yotake. The U.S. called him an obstructionist and blamed him for the poor retent.

to the new boarding schools, for he would not send his children to the white man's school, and so many people followed his lead. He continued to find the Wasicho in charge, and any time he didn't like the top of a conversation, he would simply stand up and leave along with the advisors. Because of his fame, Titankia Taki became known around the world for defying the United States and was invited to give the speech commemorating Bismarck as the capital of the Dakota Territory for whatever reason. he gave his speech in Lakota and called all the white people there disgraces for coveting the land we hold dear and the translator translated into a pre-written speech rather than what he said and so everyone gave him a standing ovation

and this was a sign of money-making opportunity to a showman in the crowd you know look at the spectacle I could capitalize on this showman was named Alvaren Allen, and he toured to Tantki Otake under the title, The Sitting Bowl Connection. And while in St. Paul, he would meet Annie Oakley and caught the William Cody and the Wild Bill show. There, Tatakia Taki, he performed and is accredited with creating the archetypal idea of date of American, simply by being himself.

So, you know, the headdress and the beaded breastplates, the leather, all of this is usually stuff that we wear and is often literally referencing sitting bowl that long ago. Today's historians make the claim that Tatanka Iotaki embraced the white life, but in reality he only lived in the cabin because his brother had given it to him after he had embraced the wasichu. All the money he made in his autographs in The Wild Bill Show, he was giving two hungry white children he had seen along the way. Tatanka Yotake continued the red road, even while being a tokenized native under the title Killer of Custer. He saw how the Hwasichu let their children starve, and he knew that if Lakota were embracing this, then he had a poor outlook for us. In the last of his days, Tatanka Yatake received a warning from the birds. the Lakota will kill you. And at around the same time, the Wasichu in charge of Standing Rock recruited informants

and was able to infiltrate the council meetings. This was his own nephew, One Bull. This portrayal of family and people has been known for many years, and is the cause of the murder of Tatankaiyatakei and his closest circles. It was when he was going to ride to Pine Ridge to speak with Red Cloud that One Bull ran his horse to death to get the Indian police. They came that same night to Tanke Iatakeyatake. was to leave, and now

the narrative of the murder is riddled with discrepancies as the story comes from one ball. On December 15th, 1890, de Tanky Iotake was asleep in his cabin when he heard the door knock. As he approached the door, his son grabbed a weapon saying he would stand by him.

Itaka Iotake sang a farewell song while he got dressed and walked outside. Gunfire erupted and there eight brave Lakota men died defending the great chief. And that was the end of Tataka's life in this world. I see the tree sitting around the fire. Burning grass, I'm chanting to himself.

The only sound you heard by someone talking. And the sound of the fire making love Leaving side of the soul, the spirit's listening Giving them in line with nature's own Up above the silver bow is gleaming Giving light to guide us through the night But now we have an ugly spirit and he walks around in a good disguise

and he comes in the color of our people you can always see it in your eyes killing the mind killing the kind I always wonder if they do mine killing the mind killing the kind I always wonder if they do mine When they're

Thank you I've seen the pain for the warriors For all the ones who have died for the cause I precious smoke is blown in four directions Red gold throws tobacco on a fire I had a vision that just don't have a meaning Maybe I'm just blinded by today I've seen some people laughing at the other

Just because they were living their native way that's why I say now we have an ugly spirit and he walks around in a good disguise he also comes in the color of our people oh yes he doesn't you can always see it in their eyes killing their mind killing their kind

I always wonder if they do mine killing their mind killing their kind I always wonder if they do mine Killing their mind Killing the kind I was wondering if they do mine Killing the mind killing the kind I always wonder if they do mine

Man left I'm here Thank you.