SD tribe faces ultimatum on sale of massacre site

[niyad]

SD tribe faces ultimatum on sale of massacre site



SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (AP) — A small patch of prairie sits largely unnoticed off a desolate road in southwestern South Dakota, tucked amid gently rolling hills and surrounded by dilapidated structures and hundreds of gravesites — many belonging to Native Americans massacred more than a century earlier.
The assessed value of the property: less than $14,000. The seller's asking price: $4.9 million. Tribal members say the man who owns a piece of the Wounded Knee National Historic Landmark on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation is trying to profit from their suffering. It was there, on Dec. 29, 1890, that 300 Native American men, women and children were killed by the 7th Cavalry in the final battle of the American Indian Wars.



James Czywczynski, whose family has owned the property since 1968, is trying to sell the 40-acre fraction of the historic landmark and another 40-acre parcel for $4.9 million. He has given the Oglala Sioux Tribe until Wednesday to agree to the price, after which he will open it up to outside investors.

Earlier this month Czywczynski said he had three offers from West Coast-based investment groups interested in buying the land for the original asking price. He didn't return calls this week to The Associated Press seeking information about the prospective buyers.

The ultimatum has caused anger among many tribal members and descendants of the massacre victims. "I know we are at the 11th hour, but selling this massacre site and using the victims as a selling pitch is, for lack of a better word, it's grotesque," said Nathan Blindman, 56, whose grandfather was 10 when he survived the massacre. "To use the murdered children, the murdered teenagers, the unborn, women screaming and running for their lives, using that as a selling pitch ... that has got to be the most barbaric thing ever to use as a selling pitch."

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http://www.mail.com/news/us/2055402-sd-tribe-faces-ultimatum-sale-massacre-site.html#.23140-stage-hero1-6

[SamKnause]

1. Native Americans

I wish I could buy this tract of land and give it Oglala Sioux Tribe as a gift, with NO STRINGS attached.

[progressoid]

2. The assessed value of the property: less than $14,000. The seller's asking price: $4.9 million.

Sickening.

[Half-Century Man]

3. Hanging our heads in shame.

300 men, women, and children torn apart with cannon fire from Hotchkis guns. 132 years later, their descendants strafed by greed. Hang your heads, whatever tiny bit of nobility we might have still had is diminished.
One other issue, wasn't the last battle of the American Indian War fought on Sugar Island Minnesota just after the Spanish American War?

[niyad]

7. welcome to DU-- indeed, should be hanging our heads in shame

[Nolimit]

4. Very sad

I think the best thing that could be done is the federal government pay Czywczynski the $14,000 and turn over the land. I can understand why people would be against the government buying it but this seems like the most painfree method.

By the way, how is the name Czywczynski even pronounceable? It's got only one vowel at the end of a string of constenents!

[WCGreen]

10. y's are sometime vowels.

[RebelOne]

5. This saddens me. We have taken so much from Native Americans.

And now this idiot is going to sell a Native American historic landmark for a mere $14,000 is just sickening.

[niyad]

6. no, he is ASKING 4.9 MILLION. the assessment is 14k

[MattBaggins]

8. Has the Government at least stepped in and declared the land a historical site

at least protect what can be done with the land.

[niyad]

9. apparently not. one wonders why.

[MattBaggins]

11. Well it really doesn't help that much

but at least if sold the new owners wouldn't be able to use any Federal assistance for projects on the land but the owner is lawfully able to do what he wants as long as he repatriates any remains he might dig up.

This guy is a real asshole.