The Tribal Historic Preservation Officer for the Standing Rock Sioux tribe described a powerful and unexpected event in the wake of the Army Corps of Engineers’ stoppage of the Dakota Access Pipeline’s advancement.
John Eagle Sr. described in a Facebook post the moment when veterans who had offered themselves as “human shields” in an effort to protect protesters from aggressive law enforcement, took a knee in front of tribal members to ask for forgiveness for past U.S. crimes against native people.
Eagle wrote that “assembled veterans took a knee and collectively asked for forgiveness for the genocide and war crimes committed by the United States Military against tribal nations in this country.”
“Leksi Leonard Crow Dog on behalf of the tribes in attendance accepted and asked for forgiveness for any hurt that might have been caused June 25, 1876 when the Great Sioux Nation defeated the 7th Cavalry,” Eagle wrote. “The last thing he said to the veterans was, ‘… and today we forgive and ask for world peace.’ All the veterans replied in a single unified voice, ‘WORLD PEACE!!!!'”
According to musician Tina Malia, who posted the below photo to Facebook, there “was not a dry eye in the room.”
Salon also posted video of the event:
Veterans join Native elders in #NoDAPL celebration ceremony and ask for forgiveness https://t.co/qTDPWYXp1z pic.twitter.com/VwspEE6Iki
— Salon (@Salon) December 5, 2016
Featured image via Facebook
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