Niagara Falls City Councilman Calls for Removal of Wounded Knee Medal of Honor Recipient from Monument

On this, the 130th anniversary of the Wounded Knee Massacre, I wish to first express my deepest sympathy for the Lakota people who are still healing from this tragedy. On December 29th, 1890, an estimated 250 - 300 Lakota were brutally slaughtered by the 7th cavalry; half of those killed were women and children. Their only “crime” was being Indigenous. This occurred during a time in history when Indigenous people were colored over as savages who deserved to be exterminated. What happened at Wounded Knee was an act of genocide, there is no doubt about that. 

For Wounded Knee, 20 soldiers were awarded the Medal of Honor, our Nation’s highest and most esteemed award. One of these recipients was Sgt. Frederick Ernest Toy, a resident of Niagara Falls. I am not at liberty to speak of Sgt. Toy’s character as I clearly did not know the man. Sgt. Toy received his Medal of Honor for “bravery,” and there is nothing brave about genocide. According to his superior, Captain Edgerly, who recommended Toy for the award; “I saw the sergeant deliberately aim at and hit two Indians who had run into the ravine; his coolness and bravery exciting my admiration at the time.” 

For context, this band of Lakota under Chief Spotted Elk were targeted for practicing a spiritual ceremony known as the “Ghost Dance,” which frightened the settlers at the time and was deemed a threat. Historically, the United States government has had a bloody past with those who were here first. For example, President Andrew Jackson’s Indian Removal Act of 1830 resulted in the infamous Trail of Tears, which resulted in the deaths of thousands of Indigenous people. For some, 1830 and 1890 seem like ancient history. This is not the case for our Indigenous families who still suffer from this generational trauma, living on reservations without clean water and fighting for their rights. In fact, it wasn’t until 1978 with the passing of the American Indian Religious Freedom Act that practices such as the Ghost Dance became legal. Still today there are elders who were abused in American and Canadian reformation and boarding schools, something our governments would rather we don’t talk about. If these atrocities occurred in Nazi Germany, we wouldn’t even have to debate whether or not Sgt. Toy’s name should be removed from the statue. For comparison: 20 million Native Americans died due to the European invasion, and an estimated 6 million Jews died during the Holocaust. Today, we would deem these actions as an act of terrorism. This is not a political issue, but a test for all humanity.

For these reasons, I am in full support of the removal of Sgt. Frederick Toy’s name from the Medal of Honor Veteran’s Monument at Hyde Park. While the Veteran’s Monuments are something we should be proud of, the acts of Sgt. Toy on Dec. 29th, 1890 are not. There is no honor in genocide. I support the rescinding of all 20 medals by the “Remove the Stain Act,” introduced to Congress in 2019 by Senator Elizabeth Warren. These great statues, one of which bears the name of my grandfather Delbert Kennedy, should be valued and protected in our community. Yet the Medal of Honor statue is disfigured - by including Sgt. Toy’s name next to 6 American heroes who earned their medals, the legacies of these 6 will forever live in the shadow of Wounded Knee unless we make this right and remove Sgt. Toy’s name.

Respectfully submitted,

William Kennedy II

NIAGARA FALLS CITY COUNCILMAN

(Cover Photo: Niagara Falls City Councilman Bill Kennedy [far left] stands with Onöndawá'ga warriors in an ongoing land claim effort)