PETITION FOR CUSTER/LITTLE BIG HORN BATTLEFIELD ADVOCATE

[Robert A. Wright]

Hello:

Now that I have everyone's attention, I would like to inform all of you
of a petition that I think everyone should consider signing onto. It
has to do with the recent goings on at the Little Big Horn Battlefield
National Monument...such as desecration of the mass grave in a Park
Service sanctioned Indian "ceremony", in which the Indians were allowed
to DANCE!! on the mass grave, hit the markers with sticks, and etc.

If you, too, find these actions insulting and disrespectful, and wish to
see the attatched petition, and sign it; click on the attatchment.
Print it out, and then sign it. All original copies of signatures must
be sent to:

Custer/Little Bighorn Battlefield Advocate
P.O. Box 792
Malibu, CA 90265-0792

The Advocate intends to present these to the President of the United
States, and also compile a list of signatories; this list will accompany
copies of the petition sent to other public officals.

Why not send a blank copy to your Senators and Congressman and ask them
to sign it--or take action on it? If they don't, demand to know why!

Remember: the administration of the Battlefield can be reformed ONLY if
individuals in positions of power can be persuaded that our cause is
just, and that we have measure of popular support. It is up to US to
persuade them--because if we don't do it, nobody else will.

THE ADVOCATE has no relationship whatsoever with the
Custer Battlefield Historical and Musuem Association.

OVER THEIR DEAD BODIES?

"Asked whether, under his leadership, it might seem that
Indians are
gloating over their victory, he [Supt. Baker] said, 'That's right.
It's about time.'"

-New York Times, June 23, 1996

PETITION

To the Honorable William Jefferson Clinton, President of the
United States of America and Commander-in-Chief of the Armed
Forces:

We, the following signatories---including U.S. veterans,
historians, and blood relatives of men who fought, suffered wounds,
or died while in United States service during the Battle of the
Little Bighorn River, June 25, 1876, do submit the following:

WHEREAS on June 25, 1996, the mass grave of
approximately 200 United States soldiers at the Little
Bighorn (formerly Custer) Battlefield National
Monument
was desecrated in a premeditated, organized, and
dastardly
fashion, with the collusion of United
States government
officials belonging to the National Park Service; and Whereas
such
desecration has occurred in previous years with no interference
from Park Service officials;

and Whereas this situation reflects the deterioration in
the administration of the Little Bighorn (formerly
Custer) Battlefield National Monument, due to the cowardice
and ineptitude of Park Service officials who have
shown
themselves incompetent to protect or administer this
national
treasure, we hereby petition for the following measures:

1. We demand that Mr. Gerard Baker, presently
Superintendent, Little Bighorn Battlefield National
Monument, be
removed from office immediately, for the following reasons:

He has in previous years permotted the mass grave of
said U.S.
soldiers to be danced upon, hit with sticks, and altogether
desecrated by participants in a so-called “victory” dance,
to the disgrace of the United States government; and in
the year
1996 actively organized and orchestrated such desecration, while
attempting to cast discredit on private citzens conducting a
memorial service for the slain U.S. soldiers.

He has openly proclaimed that it is “time” for
American
Indians to “gloat” over the annililation of soldiers of the U.S.
Army at the battle, many of said soldiers’ mutilated
remains being
buried in the mass grave---an abhorrent and disgusting sentiment
wholly inappropriate to the alleged guardian of a National
Cemetery.

He has presided over a three-day, so-called
“commemoration” of
the Battle in which the United States government gave no
recognition to its own soldiers.

He has contrived to exclude blacks, whites, and
all
non-Indians from conducting bus tours in this National Park, thus
illegally discriminating against them on the basis of
race, while
tolerating incompetent bus tour guides who meet his racial
qualifications.

He has “reconstructed” historic rifle pits in such a
manner as
to destroy their historical value and appearance, and

He has worsened race relationships, and heightened
racial
tensions at the Battlefield, while exhibiting an obsession with
race and an attitude toward history more closely
resembling that
of a Fascist or other totalitarian than an employee of a
liberal,
democratic society, and totally disqualifying him from the
occupation of such a
sensitive post.

2. We further demand that a bipartisan government panel
be
appointed to investigate Park Service administration of the
Battlefield from the years 1987 to 1996 inclusive, including its
systematic misrepresentations to Congress, its tolerance of
vandalism, its history of racial discrimination, its poor
management, and its obsession with imposing political ideology on
the Battlefield, to the detriment of scholarship and the best
interest of the American public.

3. Lastly, we urge you, in your capacity as
Commander-in-Chief,
to place an executive moratorium on any new construction on the
elevation known as Custer or Last Stand Hill, until such time
as
Congress may place permanent limitations on monument
construction,
so that the mass grave and its immediate environment may be
protected; to declare a protection zone of approximately 300
yards,
radiating outward from the center of the current grave marker;
and
to declare that final authorization to place a proposed
Indian
monument should be made only after consultation with
concerned
citizen’s groups, including the Custer Battlefield Preservation
Committee and the Custer Battlefield Historical and Museum
Association.

We hold that such measures are necessary in order to save the
Battlefield from its ostensible protectors, and to act in
accordance
with our fundamental premise---that there is no right to desecrate the
grave of an American soldier, by anyone, at any time.

SIGNATORIES:

cc: Bruce Babbitt General H. Norman Schwartzkopf, USA (Ret.)
Roger Kenndy, NPS General Colin Powell, USA (Ret.)
John Cook, NPS Various Legislators, Journalists, etc.