Within Lakota Woman, by Mary Crow Dog, a Lakota woman speaks of her story about growing up in the 60s and 70s and shares the details of the difficulties she and many other Native Americans had to face throughout this time period. Although Native Americans encountered numerous challenges throughout the mid twentieth century, they were not the only ethnic group which was discriminated against; African Americans and other minority groups also had to endure similar calamities. In order to try to gain equality and eliminate the discrimination they faced, such groups differed with their inclusion or exclusion of violence.
The goals of the Native Americans in the 60s and 70s were similar to those of the other groups during that time. Gaining equality
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Such students differ from the minority groups of Native Americans or African Americans in that they were not so much fighting because they were being discriminated against, but more because they wanted to change what was at that time “the norm.” The civil rights movement was created around this time, and many individuals were beginning to find a voice. African Americans and Native Americans were protesting in order to gain equality and their rights, as opposed to fighting for political reasons. Yet, some of the students at this time were beginning to change their views and believed that it was time for racial equality to exist. Primarily, students formed organizations and clubs, protesting peacefully on their campus and within the college towns to get their beliefs across to others. However, as it became apparent that peaceful protests did not have a big enough impact, as a result of the Vietnam war, the most extreme activists argued that only violent protests would lead to real social change. The Weathermen, a revolutionary group which formed in 1969, proposed an armed struggle to overthrow the U.S. government. This group of radicalists were responsible for a number of bombings during the late 1960s and 1970s. Though the majority of students in America during the sixties and seventies did not face the same racial …show more content…
African American’s still are thought to be discriminated against by law enforcement, according to recent scenarios which have occurred. For example, Eric Garner was seen to have been physically abused by police and many of the public believe this is because he was African American. Though racism is less common today, it is still relevant and apparent in society. Violence is still used by both individuals and law enforcement, as well as as a form of protest in some circumstances. Though there is still some violent-protests present today, for humanitarian reasons this form of protesting has become less common throughout all of the ethnic
During the American Indian Movement, many Native Americans tribes came together as a unit and fought against the injustices that were thrust upon them by American governmental polices. The fact that many Native people were ?whitemanized? through Christianity and other things that such as boarding school played a role in shaping Native peoples identity. However, the involvement in the American Indian Movement shaped the identity of Mary Crow Dog by making her accept who she was ?an Indian woman, and by making her more willing to fight for the rights of Native Americans.
In Lakota Woman, Mary Crow Dog argues that in the 1970’s, the American Indian Movement used protests and militancy to improve their visibility in mainstream Anglo American society in an effort to secure sovereignty for all "full blood" American Indians in spite of generational gender, power, and financial conflicts on the reservations. When reading this book, one can see that this is indeed the case. The struggles these people underwent in their daily lives on the reservation eventually became too much, and the American Indian Movement was born. AIM, as we will see through several examples, made their case known to the people of the United States, and militancy ultimately became necessary in order to do so. "Some people loved AIM, some hated it, but nobody ignored it" (Crow Dog, 74).
“Reclaiming Culture and the Land: Motherhood and the Politics of Sustaining Community” is about a mother who is a Native American activist who has two children, she wants them to be raised and go to school in an Indian community. “I put my children in that school because I wanted them to be in the Indian community.” She explains that she is not sure if her children know what she is doing is common, but they know that what she is doing is right. “My children do have the sense that what I do is not necessarily common. Recently my daughter started asking me if I’m famous.” She has fought for her children to have a good life, full of community, ritual, and an understanding of who they are and where they come from.
Students will partake in a seven week and seven lesson series on marginalized groups in America, these groups include- Mexican Americans, Asian Americans, African Americans, Native Americans, Women, Arab Americans, and Children. Lessons will take place the last two months of school, once we reach the 1960’s in American history. This is in an effort to have students realize that there is not merely one group that has seen racism, discrimination, and a near destruction of their culture. The following lesson will be on Native American portion of the unit. The goal of this lesson is for students to understand that each period from colonization to self- determination had causes of historical context and can still be felt today by many Native Americans.
Police brutality has been an apparent mark on the struggles, trials, and tribulations of people of minorities for years, primarily Black people. From the times of slavery to the present unlawful targeting and murders of black citizens with no justification, police brutality has been an enema in Black American culture for hundreds of years. Seen both in James Baldwin’s “Going to Meet the Man” and in the current happenings of the United States. The hashtag “#BlackLivesMatter” has been a focal point in the current struggle for equality of the races. The current outpouring of support for black lives and
Native Americans have been fighting till this day for freedom. Millions of Native Americans have lost their lives fighting for freedoms and their lands. So far, not much have been done to the Native Americans and they have not achieved everything they had hoped for. Most Native Americans are still living on reservations and government are doing little to help them. A book titled “Lakota Women” by Mary Crow Dog takes us into the lives of the Native Americans, her childhood, adulthood, and her experiences of being an Indian woman.
The Native American people have struggled throughout the history of the United States. They have been forced away from their land and have been oppressed for years, while the majority of society, the white population, thrives. The American Dream that has been introduced to Native Americans is the idea that all people, including them, can achieve the freedom, wealth and equality that the land of opportunity has to offer. Unfortunately, this is a false optimism. Because of Native American’s long history of oppression and the relocating of their people to reservations, they have lived impoverished lives and have had to cope with many inequalities, especially
Racism is a common and ancient social problem in the U.S.. African Americans spend many years on solving the problem. From the Emancipation Proclamation to the Civil Rights Movements, they consistently fought against racism and gradually gained the justice and rights. During that time, many famous people were born, such as Martin Luther King. Because of their efforts, nowadays, even the president of the US, Barack Obama, has African American blood. However, racism becomes a headline in the news again recently. In the past few months, protests have happened in many big cities like New York and Washington. African Americans went on the street protesting against the discipline of the police department. They claimed that they
The Sioux Nation are faced with challenges in their life due to the lack of help from the government as they did back then. The teenage suicide rate is 150 percent higher than the U.S. national average. The book The Saga of the Sioux, the author describes conflicts the natives had in their life and the theme.
Racism is a form of segregation that is an everyday problem in our world. Racism is different now than what it was in 1971. Some might consider it better than what it was, but in reality, things have not changed since 1971. African Americans have been treated very different from white people since the early 1900’s. One big problem with racism in the current year, 2016, is the way that policemen have been treating African Americans. This topic is controversial considering all the deaths of African Americans in the past few years. Some might say that the police were protecting themselves, while others will say it was just unfair for the victim since the victim was unarmed and following instructions. The topic is very argumentative and many people believe that the police are always right and we should not do anything about an unarmed death from a police officer. The segregation from this topic alone is a very big complication among the people of the United States.
Discrimination was a tremendous concern in the nineteenth century, as slavery was still in place, and Native Americans were being moved across the country. Mark Twain’s book, Adventures of Huckleberry Film, consisted of a main character who faced discrimination due to the fact that he was a black slave. Not only was discrimination against Blacks prominent, so was discrimination towards Native Americans as depicted in Kevin Costner’s film Dances With Wolves. It is important to look at the experiences of the people within these examples to grasp a better understanding of discrimination in the nineteenth century. Minorities were thought of as inferior to white people, but experience with these people changed the way they were viewed, which led to Whites believing that minorities were just as equal.
All men are created equal (Declaration of Independence). Yet, the Native Americans continue their fight for decades since colonization. There is a constant struggle to urge for equality from William Apess in his 1833 essay, An Indian’s Looking-Glass for the White Man. In modern day, the fight continues after his lifetime. Equality and freedom is the goal for most Native Americans. Although securing the rights of the Native Americans are progressing, it is slow. Therefore, the inequality continues at a faster pace, as opposed to major changes that would impact the Native Americans positively. Throughout history, they are exploited for their land and natural resources and severely underfunded. As a matter of fact, the common theme seems to be that the Native Americans are continuously suppressed by the “superior race”, which showcases the prevalent thoughts in America. William Apess and
In 2014, the death of Eric Garner in New York City raised controversial conversations and highlighted the issues of race, crime, and policing in neighborhoods that tend to be poor and racially isolated. Garner, an unarmed black man, was killed after being tackled and held in a “chokehold.” According to the AP Polls in December 2014, “Police killings of unarmed blacks were the most important news stories of 2014.” The problem is that young black men are targeted by police officers in which they have responded with the misuse of force and policy brutality. It is evident that this issue affects many people nationwide. The civilians do not trust the police department and the justice system because they hold the perceptions that police officers are immune from prosecution despite their actions. In particular, black individuals, specifically black males, do not feel safe in the presence of police officers because they are not held accountable for their mistakes.
When I first hear the word Indian or Native American I am instantly transported to the past where the whispery echo of pain filled cries and the shouts of angry men seem to weave in and out of time. Groups of Native Americans were forced away from their homes; their homes reduced to hot ashes and black smoke or more commonly taken over by European settlers. The Indians were pushed out of European society and were involuntary made to walk on the mixture of sharp stone and dusty paths that eventually ended in disease and was quickly followed by death. The thirteenth century to the nineteenth century were the hardest years in history for the Indian tribes with exploitation, foreign diseases, wars, forced displacements, famines, and mass massacres of the Indian tribes. This is where a lot of us think it ends and all the Native Americans now live on reservations, get tons of money from the government, and happily live their life surrounded by narcotic substances while drowning themselves in alcohol to better communicate with Grandmother Willow. I hope that this paper will show us how the Native Americans are very real and still existing in America today. I hope to break down the stereotypes set down by the American
The daily news networks have a new headline about riots or violence almost every month. Recently, several riots broke out in Ferguson, Missouri due to Michael Brown, an unarmed, African American teenager being shot and killed by a white police officer. A copious group of people lashed out and began fighting for what they believe in. Sadly, the riot spread to more places than Ferguson. BBC News in Ferguson states, “thousands of people also protested in other US cities, from Los Angeles to New York” (BBC News). Unfortunately, countless people get killed or greatly injured during these riots. Riots are utilized in a negative manner. In fact, an abundance of riots derive from situations between the police and young, intercity black males. According to Jake Halpern: “During the past year, a series of police killings of African-Americans across the country has inspired grief, outrage, protest, and acrimonious debate. For many Americans, this discussion, though painful, has been essential” (Halpern). While the officer was sure Brown was attempting to grab his gun, it was considered a racial conflict. The officer’s initial instinct was this because of the negative stereotype intercity African Americans are portrayed as; regardless, this does not make the incident acceptable. Minorities committed a number of crimes before and after the unfortunate events that occurred in