Last night I had the opportunity to attend a lecture by author Peter Cozzens. Cozzens stopped by the Center of the West to promote his new book The Earth is Weeping: The Epic Story of the Indian Wars for the American West.
This book discusses events historians define as the American Indian Wars. Cozzens examines Western romantics such as Crazy Horse, Sitting Bull, George A. Custer, Geronimo, and many more colorful figures of the west.
Following Cozzens lecture, I found myself wondering how history will write about the new Indian Wars. By Indian wars, I am thinking of the battles many Native Americans are fighting against land degradation and their fight to exert sovereignty over their treaty lands. Today’s Indians, most notably Standing Rock Chairman Dave Archambault and many other tribes are continuing what history will write as the 21st Century Indian War.
However, this time around, the Dakota Access Pipeline plays the U.S. Calvary and the Indians, well the Indians are defending their same sacred lands. The exciting turn of events in North Dakota marks an age of peaceful resistance, and historians such as myself will write exciting tales about Black Snake (Dakota Access Pipeline) and “The People,” a phrase many tribal names translate to.
