Annie Comes Home: Hegseth thinks this massacre is an act of valor

Monday, November 24, 2025

Hegseth thinks this massacre is an act of valor

Help pass the Remove the Stain Act.

Pamela, Indigenous communities and allies have long maintained that at Wounded Knee in 1890, U.S. soldiers didn't fight a battle — they carried out a massacre.

One hundred years later, Congress apologized to the descendants of the hundreds killed at Wounded Knee, but even today, 19 soldiers who participated in the atrocity are commended with the highest U.S. military award: the Medal of Honor.

For a moment, it seemed a sliver of justice might finally be within reach and the medals would be revoked. In 2022, after decades of fervent organizing and advocacy, Congress and then-Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin began reviewing whether the medals should be rescinded.

Earlier this year, Trump's War Secretary, Pete Hegseth, slammed that door shut: "We're making it clear [the soldiers] deserve those medals. This decision is now final."[1]

But Hegseth's wrong — he doesn't have the final say. Congress can rescind the medals by passing Senator Elizabeth Warren and Representative Jill Tokuda's Remove the Stain Act (S.1915, H.R.3609). Public pressure is a surefire way that we'll force lawmakers to act against a misguided Defense Secretary like Pete Hegseth. Please speak out now.

Let's reject the notion that mass murder can be honored as valor. Join us by telling Congress to rescind the Wounded Knee Medals of Honor.

ACT NOW

Continuing to honor those who carried out the Wounded Knee massacre is not just a historical injustice — it's a living one. On December 29, 1890, U.S. soldiers surrounded members of the Lakota Sioux tribe on the Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota, opened fire, and killed an estimated 250 people, most of them women and children. Some were shot as they ran for their lives. Others were gunned down after officers had already ordered the shooting to stop.

The brutality was clear to those involved, including one soldier who "expected a court-martial" for his participation.[2]

Indigenous leaders have been working for decades to get recognition and justice for the atrocity at Wounded Knee — including efforts to preserve the site of the massacre and to revoke the medals. "This is one of America's darkest days and the medals must be revoked," Cheyenne River Sioux Tribal Chairman Ryman LeBeau said. "There is no honor in murder."[3]

If we stay silent, we risk normalizing a dangerous message — that massacres, mass-killings, and other horrific acts of violence are acceptable — or worse, acts of valor.

That's why today we're refusing to accept a decision that insists that soldiers who committed mass murder "deserve" our highest military honor. It's up to us to keep up the pressure. That's how change happens: when people everywhere stand together and say "not in our name."

Click here to tell Congress: Rescind the Wounded Knee Medals of Honor by passing the Remove the Stain Act.

The struggle for justice for those killed at Wounded Knee and their descendants is about more than history — it's also about the future. It's about whether we allow our government to perpetuate lies that justify violence against Indigenous people and other marginalized communities. It's about whether we'll let future generations of Native Americans be told the erasure of their ancestors — their lives, their culture, their dignity — is something to be celebrated. Pamela, we can decide what happens next, not Pete Hegseth.

Thank you for working for peace,
The Win Without War team