On Being’s Krista Tippett explores the essence of Sitting Bull's spiritual legacy as a vital source of identity and healing for the living. During program, Tippett interviews Ernie Lapointe and Cedric Good House.
Every December, the Lakota remember the life and death of Sitting Bull. History has cast him primarily as a warrior, but Tippett discovers in Sitting Bull's living legacy, a very different character from history's celebrity warrior chief who vanquished Custer. This memory has grown in importance as tribal healing of old wounds continues to happen on many levels and often by way of ceremonies that were long suppressed in American law.
Ernie Lapointe is Sitting Bull's great-grandson and author of “Sitting Bull: His Life and Legacy.”
Cedric Good House is an addictions counselor who lives in Fort Yates, North Dakota on the Standing Rock Reservation.