Fort Report: Chief Standing Bear

Recently, I was pleased to help celebrate the story and legacy of one of America's earliest civil rights heroes, Chief Standing Bear. Each year, his remarkable life's journey is memorialized at the Annual Chief Standing Bear Breakfast, sponsored by the Nebraska Commission on Indian Affairs, the Ponca Tribe, and others. Below you can view a brief clip of my address to the gathering held earlier this month in La Vista.

Chief Standing Bear was a Ponca chief. In the 1800s, the Ponca tribe made its home in the Niobrara River valley in the area of northeast Nebraska. They were farmers, raising corn and fruit trees throughout the fertile river valley. In 1877, the U.S. Government pressured the Poncas from their homeland, compelling them to move to Indian Territory in Oklahoma. Not wanting to subject his people to a confrontation with the government, Standing Bear obliged and led them from their homes to the reservation in Oklahoma. The journey was harsh and the new land inhospitable. Nearly a third of the tribe died from starvation, malaria, and other illnesses, including Standing Bear's daughter Prairie Flower, and later, his son Bear Shield.

Standing Bear had promised his son he would be buried in his homeland in the Niobrara River Valley. Embarking on the trip north in the winter of 1878, Standing Bear led a group of about 65 Poncas. Upon reaching the Omaha Reservation, the U.S. Army stopped Standing Bear and arrested him for leaving the Oklahoma reservation without permission. He was taken to Fort Omaha and held there to stand trial. In the meantime, Standing Bear's plight attracted the attention of the Omaha Daily Herald, the predecessor of the Omaha World-Herald, and the story became well publicized. At the conclusion of the quick two-day trial, Standing Bear was allowed to speak for himself. He raised his hand and said:

"That hand is not the color of yours, but if I pierce it, I shall feel pain. If you pierce your hand, you will feel pain. The blood that will flow from mine will be the same color as yours. I am a man. God made us both."

On May 12, 1879, Judge Elmer S. Dundy ruled that "an Indian is a person" under the law. He ruled that the federal government had failed to show a basis under law for the Poncas' arrest and captivity.

With his profound words on that late spring day in 1879, Chief Standing Bear expressed the most American of sentiments: the belief in the inherent dignity and rights of all persons, no matter their color, no matter their ethnicity. It was a Native American who most poignantly reminded us of that essential principle.

As Nebraskans, we have a special responsibility to continue to tell the important story of Chief Standing Bear and his legacy. The Annual Chief Standing Bear Breakfast is at the forefront of these efforts, and the Nebraska Commission on Indian Affairs, the Ponca Tribe, and everyone involved in sponsoring the annual breakfast event are to be commended for their work in this regard.

In Congress, I have sought to elevate the Chief Standing Bear story in several ways. In 2008, the House of Representatives passed a resolution marking the 100th anniversary of his death. We've proposed putting Chief Standing Bear on the dollar coin. We've also discussed the idea of a trail retracing his journey and the journey of the Ponca people. We'll keep trying in these and other ways to recognize the extraordinary achievements of this great Native American hero.

The story of the Ponca chief is a story of strength, grace, and dignity in the protection of the most basic of human rights. It is a story that needs to be told and told again, understood, and cherished by all Americans of coming generations.