The statue of Chief Standing Bear stands proud as the lights of the Conoco-Phillips refinery glow in the dusk light less than 1000 yards away.
PONCA CITY, Okla. – In this town northeast of Oklahoma City, there is a statue of Standing Bear, who was chief of the Ponca tribe. Go there at night, and you can see symbols of seven tribes, a natural gas flame at the center of a faux campfire, and in the background the lights of an oil refinery.
In Lincoln, Nebraska, I had a drink with journalist Joe Starita, who wrote “I am a Man; Chief Stand Bear’s Journey for Justice,” which I later read. The book is a well-told, moving tale of how the Ponca tribe was forced by U.S. troops and an Interior Department agent in 1877 to abandon their traditional lands in northern Nebraska and march south to Oklahoma, which was then known as Indian Territory. This was done despite the fact that the Ponca tribe was a role model of what the United States government was trying to achieve with Native Americans. The tribe had signed four treaties with the United States government, given up much of its territory, settled into farming life, and built churches. During the forced march south, a third of the tribe died of disease and exhaustion. Read More
