The decision by Ernie LaPointe and his sisters to participate in the DNA study — to allow a sample of their ancestor’s hair to be used in genetic research — was not made lightly or without reflection.

LaPointe has spoken publicly about the family’s reasons for agreeing to the research, and those reasons are instructive.

One reason was practical: the ongoing disputes about the recognition of Sitting Bull’s burial site and the family’s authority over decisions related to his legacy were taking place in institutional and legal contexts where scientific evidence carries weight.

Having a peer-reviewed study supporting the family relationship provided a form of documentation relevant in those contexts — not because the family needed the science to know who they were, but because the institutions they were dealing with treated scientific evidence as particularly authoritative.

Another reason was related to the method itself.