What happened after Wounded Knee?
We decided to challenge the international community and the United Nations specifically on issues that affect indigenous peoples. In June of 1974, 4,000 Indian delegates from throughout the hemisphere gathered to form the International Indian Treaty Council. It was one of the largest Indian gatherings in recent memory. We set up two mandates: establish an office in New York City so we could work with the United Nations on a daily basis, and use our treaties, in particular the 1868 Fort Laramie Treaty, as a basis for our legal standing. So what started as a small band of Indians defending their land in 1973 at Wounded Knee developed into a worldwide movement of 400 million indigenous peoples, culminating on September 13, 2007, when the United Nations General Assembly passed the Declaration of Rights of Indigenous People. What is the most important issue facing American Indians today? Treaty rights. Article 6 of the U.S. Constitution states that treaty law shall be supreme. Treaties are
