Descendants of Wounded Knee

In the summer of 1999, Wally Black Elk set off on the two-mile walk from the Pine Ridge Reservation to the tiny border town of Whiteclay, Nebraska. Three days later his horribly mutilated body was discovered next to that of his drinking companion, Ronnie Hard Heart. The murders of the two men are still unsolved and continue to cause brutal clashes between border town cops and the Oglala Lakota. Descendants of Wounded Knee uses the murders as a backdrop to the tribe's historical battle against colonization and a reservation system predicated on assimilation. Life on the Pine Ridge, one of the most violent places in America, is a daily struggle with poverty, disease, alcoholism, and too often brutality. Told with candor, Descendants of Wounded Knee is an unvarnished account of life on the Pine Ridge.

A former school superintendent, Alan Hafer has earned degrees from Chadron State College, Colorado State University, and the University of Colorado. He has taught at every level from junior high through graduate school; he has also worked as a ski patroller and ski instructor. He has three children and lives with his wife in Aurora, Colorado, or the Colorado Rockies whenever the mood strikes him.