Midterm Project Abstract

For my project I am going to look at the types of activism both Alanis Obamsawin and Winona LaDuke have employed to voice issues pertinent to Native people today. I am going to look at their work through the lens of three of our class themes. The first theme I am going to apply is restoration, the second environmental justice, and the third; matrilineal forms of resistance. In one way or another both of these women have addressed/ utilized matrilineal and restorative forms of activism in their work to bring awareness to Indigenous issues like environmental justice, land and water rights, education issues, and women’s rights, etc. I am going to take a closer look at how these two women applied/ addressed these themes in their work to bring awareness to Native issues and to open communication to create a better future for Indigenous people.

American Indian Women's Activism in the 1960s and 1970s

During the time when many different groups were organizing movements dedicated to civil rights. American Indians were drawing on their unique history of resistance and loss of land and resources to create a movement that would forever change racist policies aimed at assimilating Indigenous people.

In 1944 the National Congress of American Indians (NCAI) was founded and became one of the leading Civil Rights groups of the American Indian Movement (AIM). Membership was restricted to people with Indian ancestry prohibiting Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) employees from leadership positions, which placed Native people in charge of their own issues. From the NCAI came goals for Indian policy and tribes and lobbying victories.

Lobbying Victories of the NCAI:

• Indian Self-Determination and Education Act (1965)
• Indian Civil Rights Act (1968)
• 1972 Indian Education Act
• 1975 Indian Education Assistance and Self-determination Act
• 1978 Indian Children Welfare Act
• 1978 Religious Freedom Act

Racist Policies

1953 Termination Act

• Occurred during time when Americans felt their values were under threat from outside and within the country.
• Compensation for stolen lands was only considered if tribe would develop a termination plan.

• Tribes divided into categories of immediate and eventual termination
• Began with Paiutes in Utah
• “Tribes were refused building permits for hospitals and schools since this might encourage some to remain on their land rather than relocate” (Langston, 2006, p.2).

Relocation Program (1952)

• Offered one-way bus fair and promises of help finding jobs and housing
• Focused on young tribal members with “more employable skills”
• In 1940 13% of Indians lived in urban areas—by 1980 more than half were urban
• BIA estimated that 200,000 Indigenous people were relocated under this program while the Indian Removal Act of 1830 forces less than half this number—89,000 to relocate.
• High point of termination policy 1952-1962
• By late 1960s termination policy in remission
• 1972 officially ended!

Consequence: Renewed interest in tribal values.

Response Groups

National Indian Youth Counsel (NIYC)

• Founded in 1961 after disputes between Oklahoma and Great Plains tribes and between tribal (leaders who dominated the NCAI) and younger urban Indians.
• Began in Chicago but a group was formed in New Mexico by Shirley Hill Witt and others shortly after.
• Began holding meetings on reservations. Meetings included traditional tribal songs and drum ceremonies.
• Employed non-violent, humorous, and symbolic ridicule of white society through publications on ABC of Americans Before Columbus.
• Perceived reservations to be that of internal colonies under the rule of the BIA—“white colonist movement” (Langston, 2006, p.3).
• First action students took was joining Fish-in Movement in WA (1964).

Fish-in Protests

• Responded to WA State policy that trued to use state laws to restrict fishing rights guaranteed by federal treaties.
• With high poverty rates fishing was an important subsistence strategy. Fishing traditionally formed basis of diets, culture, and spirituality.
• Boldt decision recognized treaty rights of tribes regarding fishing.
• Women carried the arms during the fish-ins.
• There were shootouts and firebombings, Ramona Bennett was shot by white vigilantes while 7 months pregnant.
• Women were the key figures in the fish-ins and comprised the majority of the protesters but only half of those arrested.

Occupation of Alcatraz (1969-1971)

• First “red power” movement to gain national attention.
• Began with 40 Indians from Bay Area Council of American Indians
• Drove claim stakes into the ground and offered government $0.47/acre for a total of $9.40 for the island.
• November 20^th a group of 90 students began building structure for long-term occupation. Conditions were similar to those found on reservations; no electricity or running water.
• 56,000 Indians took part in occupation, named themselves Indians of All Tribes
• Symbolized renewed cultural pride and more militant stances regarding self-determination.
• Remains longest occupation of federal site by Native people to date.

Occupations that Followed

• 1970 Fort Lawton in WA State was successful at getting land for Daybreak Star Cultural Center
• 1971 Davis CA successful in establishing DQ University
• Ellis Island 1970 Thanksgiving occupation of the Mayflower by AIM
• Numerous occupations of BIA offices including Washington D.C. headquarters

9 Policy Changes that Resulted from Alcatraz:

• Indian Self Determination and Education Act
• Indian Financing Act
• Indian Health Act
• Return of Mount Adams to Yakima tribe
• Return of 48,000 acres of the Sacred Blue Lake lands to Taos Pueblo in NM
• Nixon signed papers ending Termination Policy

American Indian Movement

Focuses/Goals of AIM:

• Maintain cultural integrity
• Gain enforcement of treaty rights

• Empower the tribe not the individual

One of the groups to organize the

Trail of Broken Treaties

• March to D.C. to voice grievances to presidential candidates
• Occupied BIA office
• When riot police tried to remove them from building police were pushed into the streets and the doors were blocked
• Madonna Gilbert-Thunderhawk and Russell Means collected 1.5 million pounds of documents on the practice of sterilization abuse and other abuses.

In the Midwest AIM served as a portable response unit for crimes committed by whites against Native people which were rarely prosecuted.

Pine Ridge

• Dick Wilson tribal chair of Pine Ridge Reservation and his ‘goons’ “created an atmosphere where arson, beating, and murder were common” (Langston, 2006, p. 9).
• All AIM activities banned
• Half of BIA police moonlighted as ‘goons’
• Murder rate 700 times that of Detroit
• Women spearheaded dissent on Pine Ridge and performed all tasks including carrying the weapons
• Out of 350 occupiers, only 100 were men.
• After dissent on Pine Ridge two years of terror followed with the ‘goons’ acting as a death squad—250 traditionalists were killed and 69 AIM supporters, 1/3 women.

Important Women in these Movements

• Lehman Brightman
• LaNada Boyer-Means
• Grace Thorpe
• Stella Leach
• Dr. Dorothy Lone Wolf Miller
• Wilma Mankiller
• Ramona Bennett
• Janet McCloud
• Pat Ballinger
• Lavonna Weller
• Madonna Gilbert-Thunderhawk
• Sarah Bad Heart Bull

Informative Resources:

AIM Website: http://www.aimovement.org/

Film: The Spirit of Crazy Horse

Indian Women as Cultural Mediators

Looking at Indian Women as Cultural Mediators is somewhat of a new concept to me because it is not something i have previously learned very much about. Indian women i feel, are largely ignored in the greater picture of what an Indian is...When looking at Native people as a whole much of the emphasis is put on looking at Native men and the struggles they have encountered due to colonialism. As well, we often look at the negative effects colonialism had on Natives in general or sometimes more specifically a particular tribe. I think that we look at these issues through this lens because of our egocentricity. In our culture the male is dominant, when a hardship is faced it is the white male who deals with it and "protects" his family. Consequently, when we look at Indigenous societies we tend to ignore the roles Indian women played because "women's words are not the stuff of history" (Kidwell, 2007, p. 55). "The voices of Indian women are not heard in the written documents or in the history books..." however, Indian women were "actors in history, and their actions affected its course" regardless of whether or not we acknowledge this fact (Kidwell, 2007, p. 55). Fortunately though, scholars, students, historians, and Indigenous people, etc. have begun to research, explore and unravel the roles Indigenous women played in the history we all share.

In fact, "there is an important Indian woman in virtually every major encounter between Europeans and Indians in the New World" (Kidwell, 2007, p. 54). In all aspects of life Indian women were involved and this only changed after colonization started. Before this Indian women played roles in war, hunting, food preperation, raising of children, communication and relationships between tribes, healing ceremonies, and so on. There was an equality in most tribes that we do not see in our society today. Individuals more than men and women enjoyed roles that ensured the success of their whole tribe rather than the success of a specific person. Thus, when Indians had to create relationships with Europeans it was through their women that most of these relationships were built. "As mistresses or wives, they counseled, translated, and guided white men who were entereing new territory" (Kidwell, 2007, p. 54). In fact, many of the stories of Native women we are familiar with such as Pocahontas, Dona Marina, Sacagawea, and Nancy Ward, etc. have been changed or molded to fit our western ideals. In regards to Pocahontas we are all familiar with the Disney rendition of her life but the accuracy of this story is something we are not familiar unless we do some research.

Yes, Pocahontas saved John Smith's life but it was most likely not out of lusty love, as we are lead to believe in Disney's version of what happened. In fact, Pocahontas did not even marry John Smith as most believe but she married and had a son with a man named John Rolfe after moving to England. However, before moving to England Pocahontas visited the settlers often and created relationships with them. In regards to history, it is important to recognize and be aware of the roles Indian women played because if we are aware we may be able to deconstruct the stereotypes we have placed on Indian women and Indian societies.

The "Squaw Drudge"

The "Squaw Drudge" looks at the stereotypes placed on Native societies at the time of colonization based on the Euro-American ethnocentric view that Native people were savages. Based on this view Euro-Americans were able to justify their harsh ideas that Native women were basically work horses pushed by lazy Native men. This idea led Euro-Americans to conclude "that Indians personified savagism" which "served as the grand rationale for imperialism" (Smits, 2007, p. 29). Consequently, Europeans could justify their maltreatment and harsh criticisms of how native people lived their lives. Europeans believed that as the more advanced and more evolved civilization it was their job to civilize and Christianize Native people in order to elevate them from their savage status. Specifically Europeans saw the roles Native women took on as particular signs of savagism because Native women played roles that in European society were played by men. In European society women were suppose to be submissive, weak, quiet, "ladies". According to Wright Native societies were savage because "the weaker sex" was the one that did the physical labor. "Where we find the weaker sex burdened with hard labour, we may ascribe to the stronger something of the savage" (Smits, 2007, p. 36). The reason Europeans saw for insinuating Native people were savages was that it furthered their agenda in gaining land, in my opinion. If Native people were savages, they must be less deserving of land and resources than the more civilized individual.

In regards to the land found in The New World, Europeans believed that they were more deserving of the land and should have ownership of the land because Native people were not working the land and did not own the land in the European sense. "By disregarding Indian agriculture, Euro-Americans could defend their territorial dispossession of the Native Americans" (Smits, 2007, p. 37). In fact, according to European thought "...the frontiersmen could not be accused of trespassing, for "the man who puts the soil to use must of right dispossess the man who does not..." or Europeans believed that "the world would come to a standstill" because taking this land was God's destiny for Euro-Americans (Smits, 2007, p. 38). However, what Europeans did not know or acknowledge was that for several thousand years Native people had not only been living but thriving in the New World enjoying sexually defined roles that were "complementary, equitable, and harmoniously integrated" into their way of life (Smits, 2007, p. 40).

Declaration of Independence VS The Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous People

The aspect of the Declaration of Independence that struck me most was the view point it apparently came from. The white male view point. In effect i felt that this document was written and aimed at creating a nation that would further the white male agenda. I believe that this document took into account only the desires of the white male and in essence his goal of creating a place where he is in control and in power and can consequently assert his power and authority over others including females and people of other races..people who are not white or white male. So, when i began reading the Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples i was intrigued and happy to see that there was such an emphasis on recognizing that everyone is equal while also recognizing that each individual is unique. Specifically i felt that this affirmation was particularly important; "indigenous peoples are equal to all other peoples, whilerecognizing the right of all peoples to be different, to consider themselves different, and to be respected as such" ( http://www.iwgia.org/graphics/Synkron-Library/Documents/InternationalProcesses/DraftDeclaration/07-09-13ResolutiontextDeclaration.pdf ).

Another aspect of the Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples that caught my attention was that even after the different nations have repeatedly broken treaties and agreements with Indigenous groups they still included in this declaration that they would uphold agreements with these nations in good faith. This is very different from the U.S. constitution because part of the United States agenda is to rule, have power over, and constitute nations inferior to the U.S.. Ironically i believe that it was this agenda that caused the injustices suffered by Aboriginal groups in this country!

Native Women in the Labor Force

Women in the labor force, in my opinion are generally underestimated and ignored but when it comes to the accomplishments of minority women I think this problem is magnified immensely. Particularly, discussing Indigenous Women in the labor force is difficult because we rarely hear about the trials Native Women go through in the work force if we are privy to any of their struggles at all. So for me this assignment had to begin with a little research because I know so little about the struggles Native Women face in the work force other than like many minority groups then are subjected to discrimination AND sexism because they are female.

Today there is a popular image of Native Women as sexualized beings which is portrayed by the popular media and even in Disney’s Pocahontas we see the stereotypical image of a timid Indian woman with long flowing black hair, wearing buck skin, running scantily clothed through nature. To illustrate some of the stereotypes Native women face here's an interview with two Native girls who are talking about these issues

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bzck-_MROrI&feature=related

If you go to google images and search “Native American women” you will also find images of stereotypical Native women including some very sexual images and even some nude pictures of “Indian” women. Also, you can find pictures of Indian maiden costumes so that you can be an Indian maiden for Halloween. Here are urls to some of the images you find when you search Native American women in google images however, i suggest you google it for yourself because it is very interesting to see some of the things that come up.

http://www.utopiasprings.com/treegirl.jpg

http://www.properperiodproductions.com/images/native_american_woman_early_1600_s1.jpg

http://www.psychic-tarotreader.com/images/native%20american%20woman%20w%20moon.gif

http://www.sillyjokes.co.uk/images/dress-up/fancy/ladies/value/indian-woman.jpg

With these images being portrayed by the media and even Disney I feel that finding a place in today’s society and in the work force must be extremely difficult for Indigenous women to be accepted and to get the recognition they deserve because they have to deal with this sexualized image along with other negative stereotypes along with the sexism many women face while trying to do their jobs.

Other than this rudimentary understanding however, I don’t know the struggles Native women face in their jobs today so I began to look into it a little more. What I found is that "Women of color have made noteworthy gains, both in terms of workplace numbers and status," said Commission Chair Cari M. Dominguez in an EEOC press release” (http://usgovinfo.about.com/cs/censusstatistic/a/aawomeneeoc.htm) however, Native women comprise 0.3 percent of the workforce in the U.S. which seems like a very small number. But in relation to the number of Native people residing in the United States this number is probably not as small as it seems. Never the less with only 0.3 percent of the workforce being made up of Native women it’s easy to see why we rarely hear about the difficulties they go through. In fact, even as I was trying to find out about Native women in the workforce I found very little information regardless of what I searched. Mainly I found information on minority women but even this information was limited. So where can I find information on this issue? Why don’t we talk about these issues?