- Details
- By O.J. Semans, Sr.
Guest Opinion. Of all the massacres, domestic and foreign, carried out by the U.S. Military, the Medal of Honor was never awarded, with one exception: the Wounded Knee Massacre on December 29, 1890.
Presidents have used executive orders numerous times regarding military matters. On March 16, 1968, U.S. soldiers massacred Vietnamese men, women and children in the village of My Lai. The soldiers who participated in the massacre were led by Lt. William Calley. He was convicted on March 29, 1971, of the premeditated murder of 22 Vietnamese civilians and sentenced to life imprisonment. President Richard Nixon later changed the sentence from prison to house arrest. In 1974, the Secretary of the Army pardoned Calley after he had served three-and-a-half years.
During President-elect Donald Trump’s first administration, his controversial executive orders granted clemency to 1st Lt. Clint Lorance after he was charged and convicted by a military court of killing two Afghan civilians. Trump also granted clemency to Maj. Mathew Golsteyn — who was charged with murdering an Afghan civilian detainee — before he even went to trial, circumventing the judicial system. Chief Petty Officer Edward Gallagher also benefited from a Trump executive order after he was convicted of fatally stabbing a prisoner in his custody and demoted. He was later restored to his rank and pay grade.
Given these precedents, President Joe Biden has the authority to revoke the Medals of Honor awarded to the soldiers who committed the Wounded Knee Massacre. President Biden has, in writing, supported the removal of the medals during his campaign in 2020. Support for removing the medals has also been publicly voiced by Vice President Kamala Harris, Interior Secretary Deb Haaland (Laguna Pueblo) and Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg. During the Tribal Nations Summit, Biden personally told Rosebud Sioux Tribal President Kathleen Wooden Knife he supported removing the medals.
President Biden, consider the history of U.S. presidents using executive orders in military actions. In the above noted cases, leniency was granted to individuals accused of murder and atrocities in foreign countries. We ask you to use your executive powers to right an egregious wrong: the massacre of Lakota men, women and children that was committed by U.S. military forces on U.S. soil.
President Biden, please keep your word. Remove the stain by removing the Medals of Honor awarded for the Massacre at Wounded Knee. Help the Lakota people heal. Help the United States regain its honor by acknowledging and denouncing this atrocity.
O.J. Semans, Sr. is co-founder and co-executive director of Four Directions, Inc., a Native American voting rights organization based on the Rosebud Sioux Reservation in South Dakota. A member of the Rosebud Sioux Tribe, Semans has testified before the National Commission on the Voting Rights Act and is a leading advocate for Native voting rights and social justice issues.
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