In the Spirit of Crazy Horse by Peter Matthiessen - Essay Example

? Lecturer: “In The Spirit of Crazy Horse” Introduction After years of virtual warfare between the American Indian Movement (AIM)militants and the Federal Bureau of Investigation(F.B.I) agents, a shoot out ensued between FBI agents and American Indians on a reservation near Wounded Knee in South Dakota in the morning of June 1975. As a result, two F.B.I agents Jack Coler and Ronald Williams passed on together with one Indian named Joe Killsright Stuntz. Later on four Indians members of American Indian Movement, were indicted on murder charges. This prompts Matthiessen to focus on the execution style murder of the two F.B.I agents and the events that followed. What drives Matthiessen to write this novel is that twenty two years thereafter, one of them Leonard Peltier is still serving two consecutive life sentences. This is because he believes that Peltier is innocent forming the core of the story thus a classic work of investigative reporting. Metthiessen brings forth the larger picture of the Pine Ridge shooting. He shows us the systematic discrimination by the white people in power, determination by corporate agencies to exploit the uranium deposits in the Black Hills, dishonoring of treaties, the F.B.I hostility towards the American Indian Movement and finally the rampant corruption and ineffective judicial system (Matthiessen, 6).This makes the readers to inadvertly rationalize and justify the murder because it is a representation of the repeated historical injustices done to the Native American people in the US. Discussion According to Metthiessen (231-278), he argues that justice is around the corner. This arises because many a times has been disappointed when he sees justice is to be administered only to be denied basing on a technicality in the legal appeals. Everyone had deposited their hope in the legal system only to be betrayed at the last minute. This is because the jury never made the effort to listen to the testimony of the witnesses only to sentence Peltier to life imprisonment without witnesses. The jury based the judgment on the evidence fabricated and manipulated by the FBI. This just shows how the corrupt and discriminatory the FBI is with the back up of a very an inefficient judicial system. This Spirit of a Crazy Horse is a spirit of being on total resistance to the wrongs directed towards the community, the people and ourselves. This provides the back drop of constant subversion of justice for Native Americans and it is perceived as a metaphor to depict the history of injustice against the entire race of people other than an isolated incident of the Peltier’s case. Most of the time the FBI have been an opposing force in bringing to the table the real issues that are affecting the Native Indian community and other people, but they continue to base their argument on the American Indian Movement in the 1970’s. When Peltier serves more than two consecutive life imprisonment times he is actually deprived his constitutional right. Therefore, if Petlier’s rights are to be respected he is entitled to be freed but this is not the case. The string of injustices directed towards the Natives through corruption of the fundamental legal practices and fairness and many other cited ways tries to keep the Native Americans from ever making steps forward with low levels of education, corruption of legal frame work, inadequate food supplies and racist leaders. This is evidenced through Peltire’s case and many others not mentioned. The American justice system and other related government agencies are unjust in the way they undertook issues particularly those affecting the Natives. Matthiessen easily moves the audience to rationalize and justify murder. He utilizes historical events and figures such as the creation of Mount Rushmore to poke holes in our sight of the superiority of the American legal system when he likens the President’s victorious dedication of the monument with utterances of Standing Bear who says, “The Lakota’s are now a sad, silent, and unprogressive people suffering the fate of the oppressed…Did a kind, wise, helpful and benevolent conqueror bring this about? Can a real, true, genuinely superior social order work in such havoc?” (Matthiessen, 26). It is also very vital to be informed that most of us are very ignorant about the American Indians. When we visit Mount Rushmore we fail to recognize that the sculptures of Jefferson, Lincoln and Teddy Roosevelt were chiseled out of this mountain. The author tries to bring to our attention that there are some things we take for granted yet they are important facets in the American history which the Natives Indians view as a very important thing. He writes in significance of Mount Rushmore, ''It means that these big white faces are telling us, 'First we gave you Indians a treaty that you could keep these Black Hills forever, as long as the sun would shine, in exchange for all of the Dakotas, Wyoming and Montana. Then we found the gold and took this last piece of land, because we were stronger. . . . And because we like the tourist dollars, too, we have made your sacred Black Hills into one vast Disneyland. And after we did all this we carved up this mountain, the dwelling place of your spirits, and put our four gleaming white faces here '' Metthiessen (34-38). Matthiessen persistently brings forth the large number of crimes committed against the Native American which in the long run destroys the Natives culture and people. From reapportion of sacred lands like Mount Rushmore to discussion of Pine Ridge reservation as it is at present, he says “Alcoholism…where 70 percent of the people are unemployed is approximately five times the national average” (Matthiessen, 427). The issues of guilt and innocence are portrayed throughout the text both in their technical legal sense and their wider moral sense. The theme of violence of the A.I.M cannot be comprehended in a vacuum but must be related against the suffering inflicted upon the bearers of A.I.M, Pine Ridge residents and all Indians over the subsequent centuries. To some extent Matthiessen is absolutely symphonic when he defends the legal innocence of the individual Indian criminals. No sovereign state can accommodate militias within its boundaries. This is because they perpetuate killings in the name of a movement fighting for their rights through shedding of blood (Matthiessen 122). When the two F.B.I agents are executed, they were no eye witnesses and it only leaves the circumstantial evidence to point at Leonard Peltier, one of the most notorious A.I. M leaders. It is presumed that the F.B.I agents were in pursuit of the A.I.M militia when they encountered their death. But according to Matthiessen he is affirmed that the F.B.I was framing Peltier for the murder which in his perspective he did not commit thus was innocent. The author tries to invoke radicalism in the story because every conspirational claim of the movement, no matter how unfounded or prosperous it defended. Ranging from car crashes, unexplained deaths and unrelated arrest are all according to Matthiessen pretense fabricated by the F.B.I and their associates. “From the Indian’s viewpoint—and increasingly from my own—any talk of innocence or guilt was beside the point. All the Indians who were here that day were warriors…because no Indian that day was guilt” (Matthiessen, 547). These events at Pine Ridge are a representation of the contorted laws of war where murder is acceptable. Though shooting of the F.B.I is not equated to war thus going against the social norms. But according to Matthiessen he views it that killing was a necessity in preservation of life in the colonial war between White settlers and Native people. The A.I.M claims that the F.B.I was infiltrating in the movement for purposes of creating internal distrust and dissension are right. These claims are greatly substantiated because these were antics that the F.B.I was using in its investigative operations against radical groups and political persuasions. But other allegations like the use of coercive interrogation techniques on the suspects of A.I.M but they are not credible as they are against the 1945 Geneva Convention on use of coercive interrogation techniques. Therefore, Matthiessen (456) continues to defend the innocence of the arrested victims regarding the murder of the FBI agents. No matter how persuasive the American government tries to be regarding the case, he views it as a framing of the victims for deeds they did not commit, he quotes one of the AIM’ lawyers ''I know Bill Kunstler (another of the AIM lawyers) thought they killed the agents, but he believes that they were innocent whether they did it or not''? As a result he maintains they were framed. As the story unfolds, though the FBI is trying to administer justice to the society by eliminating the criminal elements in them they are forces who are against it. When Matthiessen writes, ‘‘Made it plain that Peltier had been railroaded into jail'' (Matthiessen, 67). In his opinion Peltier was framed by the FBI thus he is innocent of all the charges he is being faced with. This according to author is subversion of justice and the killing of the F.B.I agents is a legitimate act of self defense not for the participants but in defense of the dying culture of the Natives. Conclusion ''In the Spirit of Crazy Horse” highlights the imperfections of the American legal system especially if it is mustered to work against organized criminals. It makes us comprehend the purposes of rationalization and deep historical motive for the Pine Ridge murders by offering contrasts in the victors against the oppressed ideology and the current state thus making it too easy to sympathize with a criminal. It sums up the details of the government led violents, history of inequality and over racism that extends long before the reservations lands were ever given and agencies like the F.B.I and A.I.M ever existed. In addition, it also manifests the self destructive quality of the self-proclaimed leaders of the American Indian Movement. Drawn from the most vocal, violent and extremely radical Native Americans, many of these leaders exploited the newly found heritage of their own personal ends. In the process some have ended up where they should belong behind bars while others have eluded the police drag net. What remains behind are thousand of poverty gripped Indians who accepted the doctrines of violent minded leaders which is a very ineffective mode of guiding the society. The tragedy in ''In the Spirit of Crazy Horse” is that the author fails to comprehend that the radical, violent self proclaimed leaders of the American Indian Movement did act in the selfless spirit of chief crazy horse the noble leader of the 19th century leader of Indian resistance. By acting in the violent spirit of Custer, they created an avenue for dashing the dreams and hopes of the American Indians of ever progressing like their white counterparts. Work Cited Matthiessen, Peter. In The Spirit Of Crazy Horse. New York: Random House, 2012. Read More