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Known as the home of
sunshine and coyotes, this 40th state (and its sister to
the north) gets its name from a Sioux word meaning
"alliance of friends." The "real," official badlands are
here, too -- that is, the Badlands National Park; not to
mention the infamous Black Hills and the effigies carved
at Mt. Rushmore; and the Rosebud Indian Reservation,
site of the still controversial skirmish involving the
FBI, the Bureau of Indian Affairs, and an American
Indian Movement leader named Leonard Peltier. All this
just a few miles from Wounded Knee, site of another
tragedy in America's often unfortunate settlement
history.
But South Dakota's history is not all tragic -- this
is the home of the great Oglala Sioux, Crow, and Lakota
tribes; of legendary leaders Crazy Horse, Sitting Bull,
and Red Cloud. Their legacies have begun to strike a
tentative balance with the growth of urban areas like
Rapid City and Sioux Falls, just one part of the
"alliance of friends" that has characterized the healing
and renewal of this rugged state.
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