Matt Hamill vs Vladimir Matyushenko

An update on the Matt Hamill's next UFC fight. Previously Matt Hamill was to fight Roger Hollet but Roger sustained some injuries and so a new fighter was needed to replace him.  The new fighter is now Vladimir "The Janitor" Matyushenko.  The UFC 152 fight will still happen on September 22, less than two weeks away.  Hamill and Matyushenko will be a part of the main card lineup. Incidentally so will Michael Bisping who won a very controversial fight against Matt Hamill when Bisping was in the 205lb category and decided later to compete in the 185lb weight category. Bisping is doing very well at that weight category.

AGBell members are now officially Deaf people

Recently Don Grushkin made an opinion regarding the use of the capitalized "d" for the word "deaf" to mean an all inclusive definition:

I choose to capitalize "Deaf" for all Deaf (and Hard of Hearing) people, not to signify any cultural affiliation, but to emphasize the common ethnicity of Deaf people. I believe that the d/D distinction is unnecessarily divisive, cumbersome, and ultimately more trouble than it is worth, although it did serve an important purpose in its time. But using Deaf for all does not signify cultural membership, just as not all Black people are necessarily part of Black culture or all Jews are practicing religious Jews. 

 Since I'm persona non grata over at Deaf Echo I will as usual make my responses here and write my opinions on what Don Grushkin said. I will disagree with his attempt to move the goal post on what "D"eaf is to mean nowadays.

Noticeably over the past few years a few notable people in the culturally deaf community have been attempting to change the meaning and definition of the word "Deaf" to include any and all deaf and hard of hearing people, including culturally deaf people. But the problem is that the term "Deaf" with the upper case "D" has always denoted to mean culturally deaf people and this was explained by Carol Padden and Tom Humphries, in Deaf in America: Voices from a Culture (1988) on the meaning and difference between "D"eaf and "d"eaf:

We use the lowercase deaf when referring to the audiological condition of not hearing, and the uppercase Deaf when referring to a particular group of deaf people who share a language – American Sign Language (ASL) – and a culture. The members of this group have inherited their sign language, use it as a primary means of communication among themselves, and hold a set of beliefs about themselves and their connection to the larger society.

Granted. The culturally deaf community was able to grant their own exclusive right to capitalize the letter 'd' in "deaf" to mean one thing and one thing only as exactly as what Carol Padden and Tom Humphries pointed out.  And become members of an exclusive heritage group or so they say. Otherwise by not accepting the very definition set forth almost 30 years ago by Padden and Humphries would mean it could no longer to specifically mean culturally deaf people. It would simply become a generic brand with no identification on culture and language (ASL) that ties itself to a specific heritage group. In fact, that very act would devalue the very word "Deaf" away from the culturally deaf community and disappears altogether with no identity at all. AGBell members who are deaf or hard of hearing who do not know a lick of sign language are now defacto Deaf people. No need to focus on ASL, deaf culture, culturally heritage and language. All that would be rather strange if not outright blasphemous to a lot of culturally deaf people and of all things coming from a guy who is helping run Deafhood Foundation.  Funny how one thinks that by saying deaf/Deaf is "divisive" yet there were ASL-only Deafhood workshops (here, too). So much for the concept of including everybody this "Deaf" idea of Don Grushkin's.

Another thing, there is no common ethnicity that ALL deaf and hard of hearing people share regarding their physical trait on hearing loss.  Ethnic means that a group of people either share a common and distinctive racial, national, religious, linguistic, or cultural heritage. Nothing about hearing loss which is a physical trait. The only commonality here we all share is hearing loss whether it is bilateral or unilateral. Whether born with it or acquired hearing loss later in life. And that communication access, as it varies from one person with a hearing loss to another, is the other commonality amongst them as well. Some struggle more than others. Some are fine with it. Some do not have the need to sign while others do require sign language to communicate.

What has been divisive is some of the nonsense deaf politics that have been going on for years rather than over two simple words, deaf and Deaf. There are two groups. The culturally deaf group and the not culturally deaf group. You have hard of hearing, deaf, and culturally deaf. And that's a fact of life.

Speed Limit

Which is faster in communicating? American Sign Language (ASL), Signing Exact English (S.E.E.) or Oral (i.e. speaking)?  Is speed really that important? Does speed indicate intelligence? Does speed indicate IQ capability? Why does it matter when it comes to the speed of communicating?  What's really important when it comes to communicating? Well, in my humble opinion it does not really matter when it comes to "communication speed. It doesn't matter which communication methods is used as long as whatever works and that the person is comfortable with it. Speed isn't a factor here but the ability to communicate effectively, comfortably and people are able to understand you. And that the communication is an intelligible one.  But I'm still quiet impressed if a person can speak at an ungodly speed breaking the world record as the fastest talker at 600+ words per minute. And I can only type 80 wpm! Holy schmoly!

Green Brownie Eaters

I've been to several online forums (both hearing and deaf/hh) going back to the 1990s and have participated in many debates, proffered my own opinions and facts on a variety of topics and issues. But over the years there were two online forums, which were incidentally deaf/hh forums, that stuck to my mind on the pervasiveness of such bullying type of attitudes that took place. Some form of bullying took place were quite direct and obvious while others tried to make it discreet but even their actions were obvious through the use of pervasive amount of emoticons, excessive use of memes, raucous put downs and insinuating remarks in the effort to bait people and just plain making fun of those who comment in online forums. Quackery ensues from supposed "experts" who are unprofessionally or emotionally too involved.  Sometimes moderators were of no real help with their heavy lead fingers on ban button by banning members 3/4 of the time they don't personally like because of ideological differences and whatnot just to protect their status quo and precious ideologies. Sometimes it's like that, other times not so.

The good, bad and ugly I suppose in the world of deaf/hh discussion forums.   

One deaf/hh forum was one of the earliest chat forums that was set up. It only took a few short years for members to realize the pervasiveness of such militant beliefs or attitudes in a variety of topics or issues but were exacerbated when owner(s) or monitor(s) who continually looked the other way when you have ongoing crude or bullying remarks time and time again against members whenever they simply disagreed.  In this forum former members discussed how bad one other forum was.

I haven't patronized DC or DN in months now, since I've learned of it's true colors. Now I'm finding more of a militant attitude among the Monitors (gasp!! Shades of Orwellian 1984!!) that seem to override any free expression under the guise of "maintaining the peace in here". Ahh, well... It was a good site while it lasted.

Indeed. That particular deaf forum lasted several years before it petered out into internet oblivion.  As you can see in the Wayback Machine based on the amount of online activity peaking out for many forums around in the mid-2000s years (see below for graphics). Favoritism reared its ugly head for far too many times and it became obvious to everyone except to the owners, monitors and few chummy friends of theirs who participated seemed to be immune from getting suspended or banned or hardly even a tongue lashing. Please, no French kissing jokes here. Instead of instituting their own rules strictly by the books, emotionally uninvolved, on handling members' posted comments it was often times found easier to look the other way and leave a bullying comment or heavy insinuations in place. Sometimes you get ethically-challenged people who have tried to post members' names and workplaces as effort in retaliation of sort. Certainly not the cat's meow. That very same thing happened to deaf bloggers as well. If those kinds of practices on looking the other way as a matter of practice then any online deaf forum's popularity would only last for so long. Destined for the internet trash bins of yesteryear. 

Below you can see screen grabs from various deaf/hh forums over the years based on the Wayback Machine's number of crawl times. Less postings means less crawling by the Wayback on updating a website.  Around 2004 - 2006 were typically the heady years as you can see. Most popular deaf/hh forums died out around 2007 - 2009.

Over time popular discussion forums will someday soon go to the wayside and slowly die out into oblivion into internet obscurity only to be revised on occasion through the Wayback Machine or Google caches. Or that former members of one discussion forum gets peeled away to make way their own discussion forum but only to see the same pattern repeated and eventually get destined for the Internet trash bins of yesteryear. It's only a matter of time, ya see. Yet, forum owners have every right to see how their own forums take place and what is allowed and not allowed. That much is clear.

So, by now you are probably asking what are the "Green Brownie Eaters" seen in the blog title above? Well, they're the ethically-challenged people who think they can get away with things hoping others will look the other way, even among those higher up in the echelon ladder, knowing the substance baked into the brownies they are eating is illegal in an otherwise innocuous looking brownie treats. And how they hope others will eat them as well by jumping the bandwagon. Meow!

Deaf man to run for city council position in Minnesota

Sonny Wasilowski. If you haven't heard of him you will now. He's a deaf family man out of Minnesota who is running for the Faribault City council position. He's a familiar name in sComm, a deaf owned business, where he was interviewed on using a real time face to face communication product back in 2007 called the UbiDuo. So strong is his faith in this communication technology that put deaf people on equal footing with hearing people he is using it to his political advantage on reaching out to hearing people as seen in his Facebook photo in his quest to win the Faribault City council seat. A sign of a strong and independently but open-minded person. He has the means and political experience to take the task at hand. If you live in Faribault, Minnesota (map), take the time to vote for Sonny Wasilowski on November 6, 2012.

His background:

Name: Sonny Wasilowski 

Age: 31 

Family: Lisa, married for nearly ten years. Jane, 16 years old host-daughter from Malaysia. RJ, four years old son. Maggie, 14 months old daughter. 

Occupation: Human Resources Assistant with the United States Department of Agriculture. 

Education: Bachelors in Business Administration at Gallaudet University, Washington, DC and Graduate Certificate in Public Management at Minnesota State University, Mankato. 

Political/community involvement: Governor Dayton appointed Board Member of Minnesota State Academies, President of Christ Through Hands Ministry, past Director of Faribault Deaf Club 

Why are you running? My family and I love Faribault. Yet, Faribault could do better. I want to do Faribault right by being fiscally smart, making the right decisions for our future and most importantly, I want to give our residents top-notch services through our park and recreation, library, public works and so on. 

What's the most important issue facing Faribault? The Council has an obligation to be fiscally smart, short and long term. I also want to be equally concerned with constituents concerns and requests along with the delivery of city services. 

The power of a positive message with no hate on sign language

Here's a video of my 1 year old precocious baby at her 1st birthday party showing the many signs with Mom, Dad, and Grandpa asking Heather how to sign a particular word. She is my oldest daughter of the three girls (all hearing) I have and she just turned 19 years old recently. In this clip she signed several different words such as baby, table, tree, more, thank you, tummy, nose, ear, "Heather" (her name sign) and so on. In this video you can see people were asking her to sign certain words verbally like "Show me 'more' " and she would sign "more." This is a simple video using positive examples the power of using sign language with none of the deaf politics and hate in the effort to push an ideology. Avoid that and you'll go farther with your simple but positive message instead of hate. My daughter today is fluent in sign language.

Noah Buchholz's Journey: Part 4 and 5 series

Lots of surprises on daring to communicate in the most effective way with hearing people. Part 4 Part 5

Sarah Churman's new book....Powered On

Remember Sarah Churman with almost 14 million hits to date on YouTube? Yeah, you remember her (and all the hate or lamentations that followed like here,  here, here, here, here, ....ad nauseum) and the Esteem Envoy implantable hearing aid that was turned on for the first time and it turned Sarah Churman into an overnight internet sensation. That sensation is still continuing almost a year later with the ongoing media coverage.  Anyways, she has a new book coming out in October. The book is called "Powered On."  The title certainly does make sense. And if you pre-order now you can save a few bucks before her book comes out officially in October. I already ordered mine! And I'll let you know when I'm done reading it. I'm sure it's much better than buying a blank book under false advertisement and pretenses (oh, I never bought it, fyi) but I still reserve that the Steve Jobs book I got would be the better one to read and enjoy. We'll see. Get yours today!

19 Perfect Moments in Subtitles History

I wouldn't call them "perfect" but here ya go. Click here and see 19 screen grabs from different TV shows with subtitles that line up absolutely perfectly.  Or so they say.

Did Facundo Element violate the 501(c)(3) exemption requirement?

Any organizations that is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization, such as Facundo Element, need to be aware of the restrictions regarding political activity if they are to be a tax-exempt organization. From the IRS page:

Under the Internal Revenue Code, all section 501(c)(3) organizations are absolutely prohibited from directly or indirectly participating in, or intervening in, any political campaign on behalf of (or in opposition to) any candidate for elective public office. Contributions to political campaign funds or public statements of position (verbal or written) made on behalf of the organization in favor of or in opposition to any candidate for public office clearly violate the prohibition against political campaign activity. Violating this prohibition may result in denial or revocation of tax-exempt status and the imposition of certain excise taxes.

Under Facundo Element's own YouTube channel with Alison Aubrecht speaking on behalf of the Facundo Element organization where at the end of the video a link was provided to Facundo Element's website. In the video it discussed politics publicly with obvious political bias in support of or against a political candidate. And by doing so may have violated IRS restriction (a grey area in this instance with its video presentation but it is still obvious all around where that video was going) by making public statements of position of support or against made on behalf of the organization in favor of or in opposition to any candidate for public office. Even though at the end of the video she tells viewer to think carefully on who to vote for despite the obvious bias throughout the 7 minute long video.

For a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization it is better to protect their tax-exempt status at all cost in order to fulfill their own mission to help others in need rather than risk their tax-exempt status organization by speaking on behalf of its own organization on political campaigning in favor of or against a certain candidate. An effort to influence viewers to vote one way.  It'd be a whole different story had Alison Aubrecht voiced her political opinions or expression in her own personal YouTube channel rather than under Facundo Element's own YouTube channel.  When it comes to politics it'd be better to stay out of it and remain unbiased.

UPDATE: My video response on lie #1.

Deaf man hears music and can't stop listening to it

Here's an article of a profoundly deaf man who got a Phonak digital hearing aid which made a world of difference on its ability to give Austin Chapman a greater access to the breadth of sounds in music enabling him to hear Mozart's "Lacrimosa." It was a realization to him that using advanced state of the art hearing aid technology makes a world a difference really hearing the variety of sounds.

The 23-year-old filmmaker, whose life has largely been visual until now, still struggles to adequately explain the rush of new sounds echoing through his head. He compares them at one point to seeing a high-resolution photograph for the first time. Later, he describes the sensation as being exposed to a color you've never seen before. Finally, with a broad smile on his face he offers this analogy: "It's like the first time you kiss a girl. It's like that."

That's the difference when you can use an advanced hearing technology will the world open up like a colorful, inspiring painting suddenly in front of you.

Read more here: http://www.kansascity.com/2012/08/25/3779010/a-deaf-man-hears-music-and-cant.html#storylink=cpy

Read more here: http://www.kansascity.com/2012/08/25/3779010/a-deaf-man-hears-music-and-cant.html#storylink=cpy

Drama...drama...drama...

You know, looking back all those years we got to see one drama scene after another take place practically every 3 to 6 months in the deaf culture world, sometimes multiple times in a space of a few months that are manifested in the form of blogs, vlogs or some kind of petition on getting the word out. The latest drama would be this recent petition to get Dr. Karl White to resign from EHDI and leave the "culturally deaf community." This new drama earns the "Stephen Colbert's Drama Scream" animated gif for the continuing pathos evoked time and time again with the hyperbolic outrage as if everybody is on the same boat.

Not really.

It wasn't long ago, two months ago in fact, that there was a petition to get rid of a 19th century statue of two Indians fighting a mother grizzly bear (in her effort to protect her two cubs as it would appear) which was created by Douglas Tilden, a world renowned deaf sculpture, where it stands at the California School for the Deaf in Fremont, California, claiming that the statue is racist and it "represents generations of dehumanizing violence towards Native American communities."

Not at all.

Of course, it appears that the majority of those in the Deaf community do not even accept the idea to get rid of the Combat with Grizzly statue that was made by a world renowned deaf sculpture.

Oh, I mustn't forget another recent outrage a few months back about a dirty sign language book penned by a hearing author. 

And, of course, another petition to get a printing company, St. Martin's Press, to not print her book because sign language only belong to culturally deaf people and not to the world.  By the way signing your name in an online petition does not work nor is it really that effective. It is one of the laziest ways to protest. Sorry to bring that horrified fact to you.

So, what are other list of dramas that I failed to mention here?

Hypocrisy when it comes to captioning vs transcript in videos?

This has been an ongoing hypocrisy for quite awhile when it comes to signed videos that do not provide any subtitles or captions but instead provide transcripts for those who do not know sign language. For years culturally deaf people have complained loudly how videos they watched were never captioned such as TV shows and movies over cable and the internet, including YouTube videos. But that has been changing slowly (or quickly depending on your perspective) while captioning and easy to use subtitling technology catches up. But imagine instead of subtitles or captions you have a transcript for each video. Why not just provide a transcript instead?

Well, it's not quite the same thing since it provides an obvious disconnect between the viewers and those in the videos because other visual cues and emotions would be entirely lost.  So, it makes good business sense is to provide captions/subtitles along with the signing in a video. This allows non-signing viewers a certain connect with signers seen in a video. It is just not those who do not know sign language but those who may be weak in sign language and having captions helps. It also makes good common sense to include captions in videos since that will help reach a wider audience regardless of who the viewing audience is.

But the hypocrisy continues. Some bray saying that putting captions in a signing video "pollutes" it. If that is their logic for an excuse then putting captions in a speaking video also "pollutes" it. Laughable on both sides.

So, if you are running a deaf/hh business or an organization and have the means and wherewithal to include captions to your videos then please do it. If you believe in communication access and inclusion your business or organization ought to be including captions/subtitles in their videos otherwise you and your organization or business  just end up as a bunch of hypocritical people with a stupid excuse not to provide captions/subtitles but tosses out a transcript instead. If you do that, then please do not complain again about the lack of captions or subtitles in movies, TV shows, news shows, internet videos, and on YouTube.  In fact, you would have no right to complain because your organization or business refuses to provide captions/subtitles in their own videos. In fact, by refusing to do so you've become just like....them.

Milestones....

I recently looked at my site counter and saw that it is nearing the 1 millionth hit mark. It'll be a few more months until that happens. I figured that this is an opportunity to pause and reflect back on my blogging history going back 8 years beginning in October of 2004. I've become, I believe, the longest running and most posted deaf/hh blogger with probably having the most cumulative blog hits as well.

I covered many subjects on American politics, deaf politics, deafness issues, technologies, medical science, the environment, Earth science, the nonsense global-warming-as-caused-by-human-beings-which-will-cause-sea-levels-to-rise-20-feet, interviews with Matt Hamill over the years who is now making a comeback, the "deafhoodism" cultural mindset that people would swear it is a cult following, the failed walked outs against DeafTV and Deafread, and many more topics. Some blogs I wrote were funny ones like the ever so famous Monopoly money debacle to covering serious issues like the rapes at Gallaudet University which continues to get worse are enough to keep pace with my varied interests on what to blog. Enough so for readers and fans to keep coming back. I thank you for that. With 1,978 blog posts so far and another milestone coming up as reach closer to my 2000th blog post I never imagined my blog would come this far 8 years later with so many twists and turns along the way. I met a lot of haters along the way but they were by far outweighed by the many fans and readers who like to read my blogs and contribute their opinions and thoughts.

Milestones.

They can only be reached if you take your first step and keep moving forward.

Apps for your Android phone on voice recognition

Here's an app, Closed Capp, that you can download to your Android phone where you can ask a person to speak into your phone and two seconds later have their words transcribed across your phone screen. This is a great app for those who have trouble hearing or are unable to hear.  Not exactly real time captioning nor real time conversation which last only 5 to 10 seconds long for a limited conversation to be transcribed each time.  But it's the next best thing for those who would want to opt for that piece of technology with the help of Google. Voice recognition technology is getting better and better as more people use it, and Google is constantly updating the service and accuracy they offer.  To understand how it works check out the Closed Capp video demo page.

It's only a matter of time that technology will improve to a point where voice recognition technology with the aid of powerful and fast computers will see accurate transcription, in real time, of at least at the 95 percentile range that will enable real time conversation without pressing the button every 5 to 10 seconds to transcribe what was spoken.

A captioning question.....

How come at a live political rally there is a sign language interpreter next to a person giving a speech who is running for office in front of thousands of people but no real time captioning nearby?

That's something to think about.

You have about 600,000 culturally deaf people (adults) who use sign language as their main mode of communication but you also have some 38 million people with hearing loss ranging from mild to profound who do not know a lick of sign language. You have about 6 million people who have difficulty hearing in the 18 to 74 age group, a rough estimate. But if you include those over 74 years old the estimate jumps to about 10 million as a total for those 18 and older.  There are about 200 million people in the United States in the 18 to 74 year old age category, an age group of those who are most likely to attend a political rally.  So that means 1 out 33 people in a large crowd listening to what a person is saying on stage at a political rally will have difficulty hearing what's being said vs 1 out 333 people who may be culturally deaf attending the event.

For example, in a crowd of 10,000 people attending a political rally you may have 300 people in the audience who will have trouble hearing or understanding what's being said versus perhaps 30 culturally deaf people who may be in attendance. I think it is a disservice to those who attend a rally but have trouble hearing what's being said with no access to real time captioning. Some have requested CART services at rallies (see page 5) yet this should be done automatically, within reason if it's not cost prohibitive, without the need to ask just as sign language interpreters are sometimes automatically provided.

The real hidden and silent majority of those with hearing loss are not the culturally deaf people but those who don't sign and have trouble hearing while relying on their hearing aids. In time this will change for the better on providing better communication to all those who need it.

Vice president Biden mocks sign language!!

Um, no, he didn't do it to mock or make fun of sign language but did it as part of his joke about how his sign language interpreter may soon suffer from tendonitis with his excessive babbling. Even the interpreter laughed at his joke. He imitated a signing movement to go with his joke. Mocked sign language itself? Not really.
This is what Biden said:

"I have more to say, but I am saying too much already because these guys get me going... and you're gonna have trouble translating all this! The poor lady, she's gonna have tendonitis by the time she finishes this."

NAD, NAACP or any other organizations won't even bother with this one so don't expect any chastising from them towards Biden.  Some people simply need to calm down over this one. Nothing worth getting your panties in a bunch or have your blood pressure burst an vein in your forehead with more of. this faux outrage. 

ADDENDUM: One more time, folks, people need to stop with the faux outrage about Biden's signing. The sign language interpreter was obviously enjoying Biden's humor and no embarrassment at all on her part. Really, the whole thing is a non-issue except for the most limp-wristed, sensitive folks out there.

Matt Hamill comes out of retirement to fight again

Matt Hamill stated last week that he has come out of retirement after a year long break to fight in the upcoming UFC 152 fight on September 22 against Roger Hollett. The Hamill vs Hollet fight can be seen on Pay Per View TV.

Apparently Hamill's hunger to fight has not entirely disappeared after allowing his body, mind and spirit enough time to recover. The question now becomes can he make it at age 35 years old? Can he succeed in winning more UFC fights? We'll have to wait, watch and see what happens after September 22.

Welcome back, Matt!

The Hammer returns!

(Check out my past interviews with Matt Hamill here, here, here, and here).

Missing Deafread Link

Not sure what his problem is about an old Deafread's link to my old blog piece that I did 5 years ago saying the link is missing from the Deafread aggregator list on a particular page number. In this case on page 1809 as he stated in his blog piece.

Egbert is unable to find Deafread's old link to my blog piece on page 1809 in Deafread because it is now has moved to page 1816. Tomorrow or the next day it should move to page 1817 and so on. Egbert need to go back again to Deafread because the link in Deafread's aggregator list that link to my old blog piece is still there where it is currently on page 1816, not on page 1809 which was the case a few days ago.

Egbert needs to remember that every new blog link that gets added to the Deafread's aggregator current list on page 1 pushes all older archived links further back a page or two. So if you linked to an older archived link in Deafread, say, on page 1815 (http://www.deafread.com/page/1815/t/) on the aggregator list to find Hair Cell Regeneration, for example, and click on the page 1815 link again a week later you won't find it on that page since the Hair Cell Regeneration location will be found on page 1816 or 1817 or further depending on how many new blog links that got added to Deafread aggregator's current list on page 1. Deafread captured my old blog piece on July 20, 2006 and that is the date you should be looking for rather than the exact page number of the aggregator list if you happened to save the link to that particular page number. If you can't find it on that page number simply go back a page or two until you can find it.

This is all real simple stuff that really need no explanation here. Just try and keep up with the growing list of pages on the Deafread aggregator archived list. Nothing sneaky on what Deafread has been doing all these years. Pretty straight forward stuff here. Instead Egbert jumped to conclusion without checking out why a particular link wasn't on page 1809 and if had taken the time he would have found it a few pages further. The link to a particular blog you were looking for, Egbert, never disappeared from Deafread's aggregator archived list.

Historical role of a deaf Indian on the massacre at Wounded Knee

Here's an interesting but sobering history about the massacre at Wounded Knee where a deaf Indian possibly played a role in a key event that may have helped accidentally trigger a massacre resulting in the death of at least150 Indians with 50 of them wounded. Based on various accounts it appears that a lack of communication and understanding by a deaf Miniconjou Indian warrior named Black Coyote who may not have gotten the message on a deal requiring Indians to give up their arms.

The consensus among them seems to be that, whatever the catalyst, it was accidental; a gun that went off somewhere in the assembled ranks provided the spark for the subsequent mayhem. Dewy Beard describes how a deaf Indian named Black Coyote refused to give up his rifle; he was having difficulty understanding why the Miniconjous were being asked to give up their weapons in the first place. It was winter. Food was scarce. Each warrior needed a weapon to help feed his family. A few Indians close to Black Coyote agreed  that they would take it upon themselves to explain to the deaf man through sign language why the soldiers wanted his weapon. The Indians were confident that once they explained the situation, Black Coyote would hand over the rifle. But before they could try, several soldiers came up behind the deaf man and tried to wrest the gun away. There was a struggle. Black Coyote refused to yield. "Look out! Look out!" cried a soldier, who stepped back and leveled his gun. The rifle, held rigidly by Black Coyote in an upright position with the barrel pointed harmlessly in the air, accidentally discharged. A single shot splintered the gloomy air. The sound was like a clarion. The strain of the morning hours suddenly dissoled in a paroxysm of violence. Several Indians threw off their blankets and brought their weapons into play. The eruption of gunfire on both sides in some instances was simultaneous. With no audible order from their officers, soldiers of Troops K and B started blasting.

The massacre resulted in the death of "at least 150 Indian men, women and children, Spotted Elk  being among one of the killed, as well as 25 officers dead and 40 wounded." Although accounts of that event differed.