<b>Sent:</b> Thursday, December 27, 2001 2:06 PM<br>
<b>Subject:</b> Wounded Knee</blockquote><br>
<blockquote type=cite class=cite cite> <font face="Arial, Helvetica">To All My Friends & Relatives:</font> <br>
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<font face="Arial, Helvetica">Saturday will be the 111<sup>th</sup> anniversary of the Wounded Knee Massacre. One hundred and eleven years sometimes seems like a very long time but when this event is seen from the experience of the Lakota it is but a heart beat from this generation.</font> <br>
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<font face="Arial, Helvetica">They say the generation of adults, who lost their lives on the wind swept frozen ground by Wounded Knee Creek, knew more people who were dead then who were alive. What a statement - can you imagine if this was your reality. Of all the people you know today more of them dead then alive.</font> <br>
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<font face="Arial, Helvetica">The Miniconju men, women, and children who were rubbed out were my great grandfather, Matthew Poor Buffalo's relatives. I cannot fathom the depth of despair that the survivors must have experienced. Or the complete disbelief of the relatives, who stayed behind, must have felt when told of the slaughter that day.</font> <br>
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<font face="Arial, Helvetica">I can only equate it to the shock that I personally felt when I received the news that my favorite nephew killed himself, or when I received two calls six months apart that my two beautiful, young, vibrant little brothers were dead because of stupid accidents. I can still feel the pain in my spirit. It never goes away, the years may dim it but the anger, the loneliness, the sense of loss that still persists after all these years.</font> <br>
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<font face="Arial, Helvetica">But to hear that over two hundred of your closest relatives, your best friends, your brothers in arms, your lovers, your grandmothers, your sisters, your nieces, your nephews, your grandchildren are all gone in a tangled mass of blood, guts, and frozen bits of flesh. To learn that they were thrown into a pit by contract labor, with no honor song sung for the brave deeds of the warriors who willingly gave their lives to try and protect their women and children - there was no sage, or tobacco offered - there was no tear spared. I'm sure there was much laughter and cussing as those men took small babies and threw them into the pit to be lodged away from the arms of their mothers.</font> <br>
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<font face="Arial, Helvetica">When I hear the term "Ground Zero" or "This is sacred ground" - I think of our "Ground Zero" of our "Sacred Ground." The sacred ground at Wounded Knee. In this sad time of reflection, when many of us pray for those who are the survivors of 9/11 - please, also take the time on Saturday to think about my relatives who were slaughtered at Wounded Knee 111 years ago. Twenty-three Congressional Medals of Honor were awarded to soldiers of the 7<sup>th</sup> Cavalry for action against unarmed men, women, and children of Spotted Eagle's (Big Foot) Tiospaye.</font> <br>
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<font face="Arial, Helvetica">The only reason the Miniconju were at Wounded Knee was because of fear. Fear of the United States and its power and might and its willingness to send a fully armed army with its most advanced weapons against poor starving families who were in their own land, practicing the right of every citizen of the United States -- the freedom of religion. Spotted Eagle and his people are all martyrs to be honored. I honor them and will place a small amount of spirit food and tobacco outdoors with a prayer.</font> <br>
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<font face="Arial, Helvetica">Mary Lee Johns</font> <br>
Includes an article on threats to the Snake River Plain aquifer from migrating nuclear waste, an interview with a former Idaho trout farmer, and more.<br>
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<i>Setting Cleanup Standards to Protect Future Generations: The Scientific Basis of Subsistence Farmer Scenario and Its Application to the Estimation of Radionuclide Soil Action Levels (RSALs) for Rocky Flats</i> (December 2001)<br>
IEER report, also press release and statements<br>
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<i>Securing the Energy Future of the United States: Oil, Nuclear, and Electricity Vulnerabilities and a post-September 11, 2001 Roadmap for Action </i>(November 2001)<br>
