The Cost of Gambling and Alcohol with Duane Hollow Horn Bear – Storytelling

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Interview transcript

Let's talk about our history, something in our history that we all need to know. Sometimes we are afraid of our history. We don't want to know it. I've come across this time and time again with young people who are afraid of history. Maybe the truth, from our perspective, these stories tell us something about what life has done to us and how we react to it, as all people do with any situation. The process of making decisions, emotions, we all have emotions that we all have to deal with every day. From the moment you wake up feeling sad, lonely, maybe angry, puzzled, or maybe happy, joyful. Throughout our day, these emotions, we deal with them all day long and into our dreams. Life is emotions we have to cope with, coping with life. We need stories such as these to learn from, to guide us. So I'd like to share a couple of stories with you today. Now you be the listener, you be the listener and ask yourself, what does this mean to me? How do I, how do I learn from this? What does it tell me? Each of us may have similar or different reasons for what this story could tell us. I want to talk about a time period in our homeland here, long, long time ago, maybe not so distant, but 1900s to the 1800s. In 1889, when this homeland of ours was still a big part where our people could still travel to go here and there, yes, yes, Western civilization was here and they brought their ways to us. We found ourselves lacking the buffalo, but with what Western civilization offered, we had to go to receive that. And so their government told us, over here on Mni Shosha, the Missouri River, Mni Shosha was a place designated for our people to go to gather those rations, those commodities, as well as their monetary compensation from the treaty. Well, the government told the people, you may come there. We will bring them out to you, but you may come to gather rations. But if you should decide to, don't everyone come at once. We will have plenty, but if you all come at once, we may not have enough all at one time. So, come in groups, once every month or so, a few weeks apart. Well, one group, it was their turn to go. They arrived, they set up camp, they attended to them, put their lodges up, their horses, and got to camp. The men were eager to get down to the river, because they knew that they could trade, as well as receiving their commodities, their monetary compensation, they could trade for weapons, ammunition. And their women, the grandmothers, the mothers, they wanted that bright-colored cloth, so they could make bright-colored clothing. They wanted the metal pots and pans, so they were eager. They set up camp, and the menfolk went down there, gathered their rations, going along, making their trade. And they come to these little places that were set up along the river, where these non-Indians were gambling. We have a word we saw, we call, t'xinsu. Now today it means playing cards. Well, they were playing cards. So the Lakota men watched. They watched and were interested. Then finally they were invited to join. So they sat down with their money, and they began to gamble. They won some, and then they began to lose, winning, losing. And then that rotgut whiskey was put in front of them. So they drank, they gambled. Pretty soon they began to lose, because they were getting inebriated. They began to lose, they lost all their money. They gambled away their horses, their saddles, parts of their regalia, their weapons, but they had to have more. And so, as time went on, they began to gamble away more and more. They gambled away the commodities they came after, their horses, their wagons, their tipis. One day the chief returns back from a little trip up north, and he sees the camp almost empty, just a few horses, a couple of tipis. Where are the men? The women say, they're down to the river, they're drinking and they're gambling. The chief goes down there, he tells the men, get back to camp. When they get back to camp, he goes along and he asks the traders, we are hurting. We have women, children, elderly that need food. If you can help us with the food we lost, I will make sure that the next time we come that you will be paid in full in return. But they said, no, you lost everything, fair and square, you can just leave. So he went back to his people and said, they won't help. They won't help us, but if we could leave now and make our journey back to the southern Black Hills. Where we are going to winter camp, we know our people will help us and we will make it. But we have to get going now. And so, here's this band of Lakota, many, many of them walking across the prairie from Anishosha to Missouri, back to the Black Hills. Today, that is quite a long walk. Well, what is now the half of the state of South Dakota? It was our reservation, the Great Sioux Reservation. Settlers, traders were here and there dotting the prairies, and so the Calvary were out here protecting. This captain and his company of soldiers come upon this band of Lakota. Talking to the chief, he says, Chief, you look like you're in sad shape here. And the chief says, Yeah. But we'll be okay once we make it to the hills. And the captain, he says, Well, you know, Chief, I've got extra horses, wagons, and mules, and some army tents, and rations. And the chief says, I have nothing to trade. And the captain looks at him and says, Don't be too hasty, Chief. You know, I have been out here three years, and some of the men in my company just as long, if not longer. And if there's one thing that we don't have, you sure have plenty of. The chief says, What do you mean? Look at all the young women in your band. You let me and my men come amongst you and have any woman we want. We'll give you anything you need. And the chief says, That's the most disgraceful thing you can ask. And he goes back to his people. And he tells the people. And the people are angry, they're hurt, they're hungry. And an elderly woman speaks, and she says, We have elderly that are getting sick. The children are hungry. We as Lakota people, when we do something, we do it for the people. This is what the girls must think about. Well, the next day a camp was set up. So the army came and went, came and went, having their day, their way with the women. And after a month, they quit coming. Because by then, every single girl was pregnant. And the chief says, Well, we have enough now. Horses, wagons, food, we'll make it. We must get to our winter camp. We'll be leaving. But I am not taking these girls with me that are going to have half-breed babies. They stay. Anybody who wants to stay with them, that's fine. The rest of us, we must go. And they leave. They make it to the southern hills and word gets out. Leaders are coming in. They are angry. They're calling the council. Get some horses and wagons out there. Bring those girls in. Get them in here. When all is said and done, that council is gathered. Leaders are angry. They want something to say to this leader for this most disgraceful thing that he did to his people. But the elder woman spoke first, and she said, The only ones of you that have anything to say are those of you who have not touched the white man's alcohol or gambled the white man's way. By then, we were all affected. And we look at ourselves today. And we ask ourselves, what happened to us? What happened?