A Photographer Remembers Wounded Knee,
40 Years Later
February 27,
2013
Correction March 7, 2013
A previous version of this article stated
that an FBI agent died before the standoff ended.
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Owen Luck
Forty years ago, a caravan of more than 50 cars full of demonstrators
pulled into Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota. That day marked the
beginning of a 71-day occupation led by members of the Oglala Lakota tribe and
followers of the American Indian Movement, attempting to address long-standing
grievances — not only with the U.S. government but also with tribal
leaders.
Over those 71 days, Pine Ridge was effectively barricaded from the outside
world. Electricity was turned off even though it was winter, and food and
medical supplies were halted. Two Native Americans died before the standoff
ended.
A young Owen Luck got there on the fourth day. He had been a medic in the
Vietnam War and was a fledgling photojournalist. "I had very little experience,
and this would be considered my first shoot," he says.
Forty years later, we chatted on the phone about the photos he took at Pine
Ridge while serving as a medic and what he sees in them today.
"I see all the mistakes I made as a photographer," he says with a laugh.
Then he continues:
Luck with his camera at the jail in Rapid City, S.D.
Courtesy of
Owen Luck
"I see people who have passed away. ...
We were all so young. There's a photograph of me — and I was this skinny young
guy. I'm hardly that person anymore. I see the volunteers that showed up. ... I
remember being hungry and being cold. I remember being shot at. The camaraderie.
I guess when I look, I feel very honored that I was allowed to
participate."
That's the thing with Luck: He doesn't consider himself an objective
observer.
"I realize as I look back that I only
photograph things that I want to participate in," he says. "I wanted to learn
through a lens that the communities would hold up for me to observe."
Although he was one of countless photographers documenting the siege, his
account is personal and intimate. Over the years, Luck has continued to focus on
Native American issues, and has spent the past decade with tribes in the Pacific
Northwest.
As for the 1973 Wounded Knee protests, he
says he hasn't discussed it with outsiders in years.
"I stopped talking about this with
nonnatives the same way I stopped talking about Vietnam with nonveterans. Trying
to explain being there, to me, is like a woman trying to explain labor to a
man," he says.
It may be impossible to understand the
nuances unless you were there. But Luck's photos take us one step closer.
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