© Andy Cross, The Denver PostSand Creek Massacre descendant Robert Simpson, a Methodist pastor, stands in his church in Anadarko, Okla.
Anadarko, Oklahoma - They dance for the dead.
The foreman, the minister and the princess in the buckskin dress stomp and twirl and sing on a gymnasium floor protected by a tarp.
About 100 people watch from chairs arranged around a drum circle. All of them are family, in a way, bound to a terrible event 148 years ago on the banks of an ice-encrusted creek in Colorado.
The old lawyer is here, too, the former Oklahoma attorney general who smoked the truth pipe in a tepee as the Cheyenne arrow keeper looked on.
They gather every year - descendants of the Sand Creek Massacre and their unlikely allies - in a long search for justice that started with optimism, languished and now has a breath of new life.
At dawn on Nov. 29, 1864, Colorado soldiers attacked peaceful Indians camped on the banks of Sand Creek in what is now southeastern Colorado, slaughtering an estimated 163 - mainly women, children and the elderly - and desecrating their bodies.
The backlash was so severe, the U.S. government not only acknowledged wrongdoing but promised reparations of land and cash to survivors and relatives of victims.
That promise - spelled out in an 1865 treaty - remains unfulfilled, according to descendants and their attorneys.
Champions of the cause have died or moved on. And descendants who once stood as allies now view one another with scorn.
© The Denver Post / Andy CrossA painting depicting the 1864 Sand Creek massacre on a buffalo skin hangs on a wall of Sand Creek Massacre Descendants Trust attorney Larry Derryberry in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma November 30th, 2012.
But on this early December day, in a town that calls itself the "Indian Capital of the Nation," descendants receive a rare progress report.
The newly expanded legal team for the Sand Creek Massacre Descendants Trust has opened a dialogue with Department of Interior officials about the claim. At the least, the discussions could lay the groundwork for a federal lawsuit, the lawyers say.
And after decades of research and recruitment, about 15,000 descendants have been identified - a step that trust leaders believe is necessary.
Homer Flute, a former auto-parts- factory foreman who has headed the trust since 1990, sits on the gym's wooden bleachers and considers the unlikely group of people in his company.
"Sand Creek is like a cobweb," Flute says. "It links in all different directions, and you don't know where it's going. You find people you didn't know existed, and they are kin to you somehow. The idea is you belong to these people and they belong to you."
"Sand Creek Massacre: Robert Simpson, mchungaji wa Methodist, anasimama katika kanisa lake huko Anadarko, Oklahoma, ""Wanacheza kwa ajili ya wafu.""" Msimamizi wa kazi, waziri na malkia aliyevalia mavazi ya ngozi ya mbuzi wanapiga na kuzunguka na kuimba kwenye sakafu ya ukumbi wa mazoezi iliyohifadhiwa na kitambaa. Watu 100 hivi wanatazama kutoka kwenye viti vilivyowekwa kuzunguka mzunguko wa ngoma. "Wote ni familia, kwa njia fulani, iliyounganishwa na tukio baya lililotokea miaka 148 iliyopita kwenye kingo za kijito kilichofunikwa na barafu huko Colorado.""" "Mwanasheria huyo wa zamani, mwanasheria mkuu wa zamani wa Oklahoma, ambaye alivuta pipa la ukweli katika tepee wakati mlinzi wa mshale wa Cheyenne alipotazama.""" Kila mwaka, wazao wa Sand Creek Massacre na washirika wao wasio wa kawaida hukusanyika katika utafutaji mrefu wa haki ambao ulianza na matumaini, ulipungua na sasa una pumzi ya maisha mapya. Mnamo Novemba 29, 1864, askari wa Colorado waliwashambulia Wahindi waliokuwa wamepiga kambi kwenye ukingo wa Sand Creek, eneo ambalo sasa ni kusini-mashariki mwa Colorado, na kuua takriban watu 163 - hasa wanawake, watoto na wazee - na kuharibu miili yao. Mshtuko huo ulikuwa mkali sana hivi kwamba serikali ya Marekani haikukubali tu kosa hilo bali pia iliahidi kulipia majeruhi na jamaa zao kwa ardhi na pesa. Ahadi hiyo - iliyoandikwa katika mkataba wa mwaka wa 1865 - bado haijatimizwa, kulingana na wazao na mawakili wao. Mabingwa wa jambo hilo wamekufa au wameendelea na maisha yao. Na wazao ambao wakati mmoja walikuwa washirika sasa huona kila mmoja kwa dharau. Mchoro wa Sand Creek Massacre uliochorwa na mchoraji wa filamu ya The Denver Post, Andy Cross, unaonyesha mauaji ya watu wa Sand Creek mwaka 1864 katika eneo la Sand Creek, Oklahoma, Marekani. "Hata hivyo, katika siku hii ya mapema Desemba, katika mji unaojitaja kuwa ""Mji Mkuu wa Taifa la Wahindi,"" wazao wanapata ripoti ya hali ya chini sana." Timu ya sheria ya Sand Creek Massacre Descendants Trust imefungua mazungumzo na maafisa wa Idara ya Mambo ya Ndani kuhusu madai hayo. Kwa kiwango kidogo, majadiliano hayo yanaweza kuweka msingi wa kesi ya shirikisho, wanasheria wanasema. Baada ya miaka mingi ya utafiti na kuajiri, karibu wazao 15,000 wametambuliwa - hatua ambayo viongozi wa uaminifu wanaamini ni muhimu. Homer Flutes, aliyekuwa mkurugenzi wa kiwanda cha kutengeneza sehemu za magari na ambaye amekuwa akiongoza shirika hilo tangu mwaka 1990, anakaa kwenye viti vya mbao vya ukumbi wa michezo na kutafakari kuhusu kikundi cha watu wasio wa kawaida katika kampuni yake. "Sand Creek ni kama mtandao wa buibui", Flute anasema. "Inashirikiana katika pande zote tofauti, na hujui inakwenda wapi. Unapata watu ambao haukujua wapo, na kwa njia fulani wao ni jamaa zako. Wazo ni kwamba wewe ni mali ya watu hawa na wao ni mali yako".