Buffy Sainte Marie Lyrics
Indian Historical References in Bury My Heart At Wounded Knee
I first heard this song performed by the Indigo Girls, and I have loved it ever since. At first I didn't understand all of it, and was shocked when I looked up all the references I didn't know about.
Song Lyrics by Buffy Sainte Marie:
"Indian legislation on the desk of a do-right Congressman. Now, he don't know much about the issue so he picks up the phone, and he asks advice from the Senator out in Indian country, a darling of the energy companies, who are ripping off what's left of the reservations. Huh. I learned a safety rule,I don't know who to thank. Don't stand between the reservation and the corporate bank. They send in federal tanks - it isn't nice but it's reality;
"(chorus:) Bury my heart at Wounded Knee, Deep in the Earth. Cover me with pretty lies. Bury my heart at Wounded Knee. Huh. (end chorus)
"They got these energy companies that want the land and they've got churches by the dozen who want to guide our hands, and sign Mother Earth over to pollution, war and greed. Get rich... get rich quick. We got the federal marshals, we got the covert spies, we got the liars by the fire, we got the FBIs. They lie in court and get nailed
and still Peltier goes off to jail. My girlfriend Annie Mae talked about uranium, her head was filled with bullets and her body dumped. The FBI cut off her hands and told us she'd died of exposure. Loo loo loo loo loo... We had the Goldrush Wars, Aw, didn't we learn to crawl, and still our history gets written in a liar's scrawl.
They tell 'ya "Honey, you can still be an Indian d-d-down at the 'Y' on Saturday nights".
References
"Darling of the engergy companies" refers to government support of the corporate annexing of reservations that has been perpetrated by energy companies since the 70s.
"Send in federal tanks" is a reference to the American government's military action against the American Indian Movement at the historical site of Wounded Knee in the seventies.
Historically this was the site of the final military engagement between the US colonists and the traditional owners. But between 1973 and 1976 there was a seige involving the FBI, SWAT and the AIM (American Indian Movement).
After this, the Pine Ridge Reservation was used by the FBI for realistic training in operations directed against the AIM. Vigilantes were also allowed to ravage the reservation with impunity.
"My girlfriend Anna Mae" refers to Anna Mae Pictou, an Indian activist at the time who was raped and murdered at the height of the conflict. The FBI "supervised" the autopsy, ordering her hands to be cut off for fingerprinting - an unprecedented act. It was ruled she had died of exposure, despite the bullet hole in her head.
"Leonard Peltier goes off to jail" refers to an Indian scapegoat who was jailed for reprisals on the attacking FBI. Government witnesses against him were found in court to be lying, and there were dozens of holes in the case, as well as insufficient evidence to convict him.
Despite millions of signatures and letters, resolutions from human rights organizations, concerned world citizens, foreign governments, and religious organizations, Peltier is still in prison today.
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