Wounded Knee, Visitor: Garry Rowland
It’s no secret in my Grove that the core of my spiritual beliefs center around Native American traditions. I grew up with Native values, I have Native blood in my veins, I’ve been teaching myself Cherokee for the last year or so, and eventually will teach myself Lakota-Sioux.
Last year, our founder, Will Pierson, and his wife Caryn (our chief liturgist), took a trip out west to see their newly born grandson. On the way, they stopped by the Pine Ridge Reservation, which houses Wounded Knee. I’ve been following the goings on at Pine Ridge Reservation for many years now, after hearing about the state of the reservation (average income is $3,000/year).
They kept contact with the people of the people of Pine Ridge, and a few months ago the people were preparing for a big celebration, and it just so happens that their electricity was turned off because they could not pay their bill. They sent an email to Will and Caryn about it, and Caryn donated money to help get their electricity turned back on. (This may have been during their American Indian Movement celebration in February, I’m not sure of the timeframe).
Garry Rowland, a gentleman from Pine Ridge Reservation, is coming to visit the Grove this weekend. He’ll be staying with Will and Caryn, and speaking at the Grove sometime this weekend. Will and Caryn have kept me personally up-to-date in these email correspondences, because they know my love for the people, and for Pine Ridge. So I am doubly excited to meet Mr. Rowland, who himself is a veteran of the Wounded Knee takeover in 1973 (which I posted about before).
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One Response to “Wounded Knee, Visitor: Garry Rowland”
April 11th, 2007 at 7:57 pm
Wow, some reservations must do better than others. Some are just wealthy! Some of the kids get a huge amount of money when they turn 18 and the blow it- in just a few months. That was in north dakota.
that is terrible that they are doing so poorly.