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Transcript: Healing Totem is Blessed at Wounded Knee


Jewell James
Well, we’re at the Wounded Knee. A lot of people don’t know that the United States had turned the reservations over to the churches, and one of the things that the churches wanted to do is to wipe out the traditional knowledge tied to spiritual practices. The people were out here in the middle of winter in the freezing cold, sacrificing and praying, and they got killed for it, and so for the Sioux nation there will always be a tear in their heart and in their memory. We're here to pay honor to the nation and to remember their grief, because we all want to heal.
Cedric Young Bear
Well, I welcome you here to Pine Ridge, what the white man calls the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation. This totem, things like this that travel through so many nations and bring healing and bring a sense of well being – Every nation has different ways of doing things. His nation’s way and my nation’s way might not be similar to what your nation does, but this concept transcends everybody’s. It’s prayer. Every society prays.

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Discover the interconnected relationships between health, illness, and cultural life in Native communities.