PINE RIDGE Indian Reservation Cecelia Fire Thunder
Fire Thunder's Historic Inauguration Day
Steven Newcomb / Indigenous Law Institute
PINE RIDGE, S.D., 17DEC04 - In December 1994, my friend and colleague Birgil Kills Straight, along with Alex White Plume and Eugenio White Hawk, all Oglala Lakotas, dedicated the Big foot Memorial Ride, an arduous 300 mile horseback ride through freezing weather to several hundred Lakota ancestors who were massacred on Dec. 29, 1890 by the U.S. Army at Wounded Knee. The ride became an annual event that continues to this day, and the fifth day of every ride from 1986 onward has been dedicated to the Earth Mother and to the women as "life-givers."
In December 1994, the ninth year of the ride, the whole year was dedicated to women specifically. As "sacred life-givers," or "people makers," women play a central role in Lakota culture and society. This honoring of women is traced to the Lakota origin story, and is also based on the fact that the White Buffalo Calf Woman gave the Lakota people their Sacred Pipe, or Canupa.
On Dec. 11 - ten years after the memorial ride dedicated to women - Cecelia Apple Fire Thunder (Tawacin Wastewin, Good Thoughts Woman) was installed as the first woman president in the history of the Oglala Sioux Tribe (OST). It was OST's 37th Presidential Inauguration, since the first Oglala administration of Robert Bad Wound under the Indian Reorganization Act in 1934. Saturday's event was titled Wocekiye na Woapiye Un Oyate Ki Iglu Wosakapi Ktse, which translated means, "Through Prayer and Healing The People Will Be Strengthened."
Alex White Plume (Inyan Hoksi, Stone Child) was installed as OST vice president, and the tribal council members from the various districts of the reservation were sworn in as well.
Other dignitaries in attendance included Medicine Man Rick Two Dogs, former OST President John Yellow Bird Steele, former OST Vice President and Secretary Teresa Two Bulls, who was just elected to the Senate in the South Dakota Legislature, Larson Medicine Horse from Crow Agency, former OST President Paul Iron Cloud, Hereditary Chief and former OST Vice President Mel Lonehill, and the 19th generation Keeper of the Sacred Pipe Arvol Looking Horse. Tex Hall, president of the National Congress of American Indian attended as a keynote speaker. Dignitaries from other indigenous nations, the United States government, and congressional officers were also at the inauguration.
Wilma Mankiller, the first and only woman elected as principal chief of the Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma, was a keynote speaker. During her address, Mankiller said that her friend Cecelia "gets up every single day, says a prayer in her own language and goes out to fight for her people."
In her inaugural speech, Cecelia said that her administration will be dealing with many "challenges" rather than "problems." Her reason for expressing herself in this manner, she said, is that she refuses to view her own people, who are her relatives, as "problems." By working together as a nation, she said, the people of the Oglala Lakota nation can resolve the many challenges they face. She spoke of her desire to have an administration based on healing, and a love for her people and her Oyate (nation). Cecelia thanked the Creator for making her "a Lakota woman," and for making her "a Lakota woman on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation." She spoke of the suffering of so many women throughout the world, and said she was so happy to be born into the Oglala Lakota culture, a culture that accords women a degree of freedom that so many other woman throughout the world never experience.
As Birgil's guest, I had a bird's eye view of the inauguration at Little Wound School in the town of Kyle, on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation. Friday night, I attended an Inipi or Purification Lodge ceremony (incorrectly termed "sweat lodge") with members of Birgil's tiwahe and tiospaye (extended family). Early Saturday morning, I walked and looked out across the vast landscape. It was cold and breezy. As I looked out in the distance toward the pasture I saw a small herd of Birgil's horses running toward the corral. One of Birgil's grandsons was bringing them in to get them ready for the inauguration. It was a beautiful sight.
The horses were needed because the inaugural planning committee had decided that a procession of horseback riders would be an appropriate ceremonial opening for the inauguration. This was in large part to honor Alex White Plume as one of the original riders in the Big foot Memorial Ride, and also to honor President Fire Thunder.
I walked out to the corral to help Birgil and some of his family members get the horses ready for the procession. It felt especially good to see young Lakota people working with the horses; the Oglala Lakota Nation is, after all, a horse nation. When all the horses were prepared, Birgil asked me if I was going to ride, and I said that I would if there was a horse for me. I ended up riding a sorrel named "Little Joe," whose nickname is "Buckin Joe." At 10:30 a.m. those of us riding into Kyle saddled up and began the one-hour ride to town.
When we got to town we waited at the Kyle Rodeo Grounds. At the appointed time, those of us representing the North direction rode our horses from the rodeo grounds to the main road, where we joined the many riders coming in from the West, including OST Vice President Alex White Plume. Then we all rode East a short ways until we met the riders from the South and East directions. Standing along the road to greet the horseback riders were Pres. Fire Thunder, her family members and other people attending the inauguration.
Eventually, the 70 some horseback riders turned in to the parking lot in front of Little Wound School and formed a large circle. Medicine Man Rick Two Dogs gave an opening prayer, and during a brief opening statement Birgil Kills Straight mentioned a Lakota prophecy about the return of the horse nation. At the precise moment that he mentioned this prophecy, the horse I was riding and many other horses in the circle neighed loudly.
During the inauguration ceremony, Birgil presented Pres. Fire Thunder with a shield (wahacanka) and a knife (mila) that Vonnie Bush, the lead organizer of the inaugural committee, purchased for Fire Thunder. These items represent the protection she will be carrying for herself, her family and for her people.
Pres. Fire Thunder's election is a significant milestone in the history of the Oglala Lakota Nation. It is customary for women to be caretakers of the family circle. They are the matriarchs, but their role traditionally is primarily with the family, and for this reason they generally rarely served in politics directly. However, the prophecies said that in the future the Oglala Lakota people will experience different and uncommon events. Pres. Fire Thunder's election is certainly one such event.
She is also a significant role model for young girls and women, not just in her own nation, but also for indigenous women throughout Indian country.
Her powerful work over many years on issues such as domestic violence prevention have helped prepare Ms. Fire Thunder to fulfill her role as a leader and a caretaker of the family of the Oglala Lakota Nation as a whole. Given the incredible economic hardships present on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation, Pres. Fire Thunder, Vice President White Plume and the entire Oglala Sioux Tribal Council will face many difficult hardships during the next two years.
In 1990 the Big Foot riders suffered through 80 degrees below-zero weather, and every winter, through their sacrifice, the participants in the Big foot Memorial Ride, some as young as five years old, powerfully demonstrate that the Oglala Lakota people know how to persevere on the basis of their linguistic, cultural and spiritual traditions. The inauguration gave notice that this healing and prayerful energy will provide the foundation for the policies of the Fire Thunder administration.
Steven Newcomb, Shawnee/Lenape, is Indigenous Law Research Coordinator at Kumeyaay Community College on the Sycuan Indian Reservation, co-founder and co-director of the Indigenous Law Institute, and a columnist for Indian Country Today.
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