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| Day two of the Oomaka Tokatakiya, Future Generations Ride, Timber Lake to Opps’ Ranch Today, Dec. 17, 2023, Opps Ranch to Green Grass, South Dakota |
Oomaka Tokatakiya, The Ride to Wounded Knee
Photos by Ken Marchionno and the Future Generations Teen Photojournalism Project
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| From Day 1 of the Oomaka Tokatakiya Sitting Bull Camp to Timber Lake |
One-hundred and thirty-one years ago on this day, more than 300 Lakota men, women, and children were disarmed and murdered by the 7th Calvary of the United States near Wounded Knee Creek.
Since 2004 I have joined Lakota riders to the site of the mass grave and remember those lives. We have traveled 300 miles to this site, starting where Sitting Bull was killed for the government’s fear of his strength. Riding through the South Dakota winter—blizzards and -50° wind chills—in an expression of resilience that is unmatched in my experience, children as young as 6 travel the entire distance on horseback.
But the ride doesn’t end at Wounded Knee. Those who were wounded were left as a blizzard came in, and two days later, troops returned and any who were still alive were taken to Pine Ridge where some survived, but many died. So we ride on to Pine Ridge so that they are not forgotten.
