Was Indian Resistance Justified?
The natives lay on the cold, damp earth, taking in their final breaths, before their hearts ceased beating, and came their demise. The Wounded Knee Massacre was one of the biggest and most violent confrontations between the Native Americans and the American people and government. It claimed as many as 300 or more of the 350 Indian lives in Wounded Knee Creek, South Dakota, and half of those killed were women and children. It was the final major clash between the Native Americans and the U.S. military, and it finally proved that white men are the “true savages” of humankind. Yes, the Native Americans’ resistance was justified. White Americans brought many atrocities upon the Native American people. The white men gave them unfulfilled promises, purloined their lands and decimated their people. Prior to the Wounded Knee Massacre, the United States government gave the Native Americans many unfulfilled promises. They seized the lands they previously promised to allow the Native Americans to keep. They promised that they would be respected and indiscriminate in American society and safeguard the peace. They also were guaranteed that their culture and sense of pride would not be lost. None of these promises were kept. Over time, the government took their land and massacred their people. One example would be the Wounded Knee Massacre where many Indians were killed in an event characterized by genocide. It never got better for the Native Americans, and even to this day their sufferings continue.
In the years before the Wounded Knee Massacre the United States government continued to annex (or seize) the Indian's lands. This incited and spread the support of the Ghost Dance Spiritual Movement. According to the Ghost Dance’s teachings, Jesus Christ had returned to earth in the form of a Native American. He would “eradicate the disease” - in this case the white people, animals lead to extinction by the whites would return and the spirits of the