South Dakota Rep. Dusty Johnson Introduces Bill To Preserve Wounded Knee Massacre Site

(Pierre, SD) — Republican Representative Dusty Johnson is introducing federal legislation Tuesday to preserve an area of land where hundreds of Lakota men, women and children were massacred by the U.S. Army at Wounded Knee in 1890. The 40 acres of land, where an old trading post was located, was purchased by the Oglala Sioux Tribe and the Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe in September. A covenant was signed by the tribes in October that stated the property would be maintained as a memorial and sacred site without development. Johnson explained Tuesday the bill added an additional degree of certainty for tribes to “know that they will have the long term ability to govern that land and manage that property.” In the bill, the land cannot be sold without the consent of Congress and the tribes, and the land is not subject to taxation by local and state governments.