The Pentagon’s decision to uphold medals for the 1890 Wounded Knee massacre represents a profound failure of historical reckoning.

By dismissing the event as a legitimate battle, the defense department ignores overwhelming historical consensus that it was a brutal slaughter of hundreds of Lakota men, women, and children.

The NCAI rightly condemns this as celebrating war crimes, which actively undermines reconciliation. Secretary Hegseth’s framing of the issue as a choice between political and historical correctness is a dangerous distortion.

True historical accuracy demands acknowledging this atrocity. This decision perpetuates a painful legacy, signaling to Native communities that their trauma and the truth of their history remain secondary to a sanitized national narrative.