Emergence of Red Power movement in 1960s - Research Paper Example

?Running head: EXPLAIN WHY THE RED POWER MOVEMENT EMERGED IN THE 1960S Emergence of Red Power movement in 1960s Insert Insert Insert Instructor’s Name 6 April 2011 Outline Introduction History of Red power movement Causes for the Emergence of Red Power Movement Conclusion Bibliography Emergence of Red Power movement in 1960s Introduction Red power was a force to reckon with in the 1960s. It had a huge influence in decisions made by the government including policies. The period in between 1960s and 1970s, was a period that the federal government faced immense pressure from the Native Americans in regards to addressing the issues that faced the Indians at the same time the need to reassert the rights of the Indians. By imitating other ethnic groups at that time, the Indians in America gained courage and stood up to reaffirm their cultural and ethnic identity. It is from these ideas and operations that constituted a movement that would come to be identified as the Red Power Movement. The main and particular aim of the Red Power Movement was to do away with the federal policy of termination, lead the Indians to their ancestral and cultural ways an at the same time revitalize as well as review the existing Indian communities of that time. As the movement established itself, it emulated its counterpart movements that represented the Africa Americans and Latinos in a number of different ways. The Red Power movement used various means of operations to pass their message across the public regarding the general grievances and plight of the Native Americans they represented. Among the various means used in sending their message across are demonstrations, protests, marches and sit-ins. One of the most attention-grabbing and publicized events that was undertaken by the Red Power movement was the famous nineteen-month occupation of an abandoned federal prison in Alcatraz Island in early 1969. Majority of the Indian activists perceived this as the crucial spark that was part and parcel of igniting the flame of the Red Power Movement. After the occupation in Alcatraz Island, more occupations were undertaken in various locations throughout the country. The siege in 1973 that lead to the occupation of Wounded Knee, which was in South of Dakota is recoded as one of the famous sieges that overshadowed the others1. From 1971, there have been numerous protests going on throughout the country, in reserves as well as in the cities. These protests incorporated Native Americans, organizations and native newspapers, all motivated to fight for the rights and interests of the American Indians. The 1970s period is regarded as years in which there was the most intense pressure brought about by Native American protests in the whole of twentieth century. The protests that took place in early 1970s were inspired by the Alcatraz occupation model as Indians repossessed the federal land and later on reclaimed it for cultural and educational purposes2. History of Red power movement The American Indian activism roots are dated back in 1492, despite much of their activities getting recognition in 1960s and 1970s. In 1492, there was an encounter between the indigenous people of Mesoamerica and European explorers. More encounters were to occur in 1607 and in 1622. At this period, the reasons for the activism were complicated and at the same time simple. The reasons were protection of their homeland and recognition by the incoming invaders3. According to Teruton, the leaders of Red Power brought about new social knowledge that was manifested in their political operations. This knowledge was often verified with the growth of the movement. Despite the discrimination they faced from the whites and the economic and social bondage they were in, majority of the Indians soldiered on with their cultural activities. The Red Power played a great role in inspiring the American Indians in declaring their rights and culturally expressing themselves. Majority of the Indians at this moment began transforming as they compared their cultures and that of the whites, recovering their cultural knowledge and solidifying their identities. It is from these measures that brought about the Indians resistance and domination4. Teruton suggests that Richard Oakes, who resided at St. Regis reservation, was one of the founders of the Red Power movement. Oakes had initially migrated to San Francisco with the aim of joining his fellow indigenous counterparts who had earlier on in 1950s relocated to urban areas due to the federal tribal termination that was taking place at that time. In the 1960s, the Indian community living in the Bay area was disgruntled with their displacement and the poverty situation they thrived in at that time. The disgruntling within the community resulted to the young people organizing themselves and protesting. The role of Oakes in the foundation of the Red Power movement is well defined while he was still a student in the San Francisco state college. At the college, Oakes would organize the Indian student group, which had the same objective and vision of renewing the American Indians as him. The collage group at the San Francisco collage spread its tentacles of change to Indian student organizations in the University of California. It is from this moment that the Red power movement is suggested to have started among the Native students. The Red Power movement was later on to be as much intellectual as physical as this was attributed to the physical momentum dancing, singing and drumming which were used by the leaders to drive the movement5. The leadership in 1960s and 1970s red Power movement was attributed to the Korean War native veterans. While in a Minneapolis city jail in the year 1968, Dennis Banks a U.S. navy veteran and Ojibwe founded the American Indian movement. Banks is said to have taken part in the famous Alcatraz Island occupation and later on led a number of protest, which included the Bureau of Indian affairs office in Washington occupation, Trail of Broken Treaties and Wounded Knee occupation6. Causes for the Emergence of Red Power Movement According to Amott and Matthaei, the Red Power movement was first established because of police repression and racism. Despite the fact that the federal government was trying to institute the reforms of giving the Indians self- determination, it was also violently repressing the American India movement in barbaric and brutal manner. It is indicated that the FBI, reservation and the police activities are attributed to the killings of over 60 Indians in America during the period that followed Wounded Knee. Among the killings that took place during this time was the killing of Anna Mae Aquash, a heroin who was part and parcel of the establishment of the Native American center situated in Boston during the 1960s. In 1970s, Aquash was also an active member of the American Indian movement. It was in 1976 that Aquash was arrested, her house ransacked and threatened with threats of taking her children away from her. Aquash was later found dead having been shot as a bullet was lodged in her skull7. The aim of preserving and maintaining the cultural and economic interests of the of the American Indians was another cause that led to the emergence of the Red Power movement especially after the Wounded Knee standoff between the American Indian movement and the federal officials. It is indicated that after the Wounded Knee standoff, the militancy possessed by the Red Power deteriorated drastically and it was later replaced by legalistic aspect that aimed at enhancing and maintaining the economic and cultural diversities of the Indians8. Self-determination is another issue that culminated to the emergence of the Red Power movement. The Indian Self- Determination and Education Assistance Act were passed by the congress in 1975. The act insisted on offering the various types of Indian tribes an opportunity to take control of the different federal programs. It is from this act that is considered as a revolutionary break as the Indian tribes are released from the grip of Bureau Indian Agency that once existed. The effect of this drive and initiative was the renewing of tribal sovereignty and at the same time reversing the policy of termination. The tribal government took over the mantle of leadership of majority of the social, reservations, and economic functions. The positive effects of self-determination were not achieved without inconveniences. In 1980’s the Regan government reduced significantly the federal assistance to the American Indians. The aim of the government in undertaking these cuts was to pass on the mantle to the private sector. These cuts have ended up affecting the reservation programs. The once appreciated and accepted policies of self-determination that had attained grounds in 1970s were now suffering a rejection setback. This setback did not live for long as they were dominated by court orders that sought to strengthen the self-determination of the Indian people. The Native American Languages Act also had a major impact in strengthening the sovereignty of the Indian people9. Land and recognition of Indian cultural practices were major issues that brought about the emergence of the Red Power movement. According to Kurtz the American Indian movement made use of nonviolent strategies that led to Alcatraz Island occupation for 19-month. This Alcatraz occupation of 1969 brought about the treaty rights that urged the Native Indians to return to unused federal property. It is indicated that the Wounded Knee protest not only revealed the identity of the US questionable support of local tribal government but it also raised the solidarity as well as the pride levels of the Indians in regards to their identity. The Red Power movement as well as other civil right activism raises their indigenous issues in the courtrooms in the early 1970s. Conflicts such as the Western Shoshone land conflict are among the land issues that found their way into the American court system. The Sioux had earlier on indicated that monetary compensation would not satisfy their grievances and the only thing that only thing that could satisfy these grievances was land. The Taos Pueblo had been kicked out from their Blue Lake Lands in 1906 by President Theodore Roosevelt who incorporated these lands into the National Forest Lands. However, in 1970 the Blue Lake Lands were returned back to the Taos Pueblo through a bipartisan congressional act that received a strong backing from President Nixon. In 1971, the Passamaquoddy were involved in a suit against the U.S. government regarding the lost lands it was later to be upheld through appeals10. According to Waldman, the issue of land has always been a core issue surrounding the history of the relationship between Native Americans and the Euroamericans. As the dominion of the Euroamericans thrived from ocean to ocean, the opposite was happening to the Native Americans as their presence dwindled slowly by slowly. The American history is one way or the other shaped by the displacement of the Native people through the expansion process of the non-Native people. In the history of the Native people, private land ownership concept was unheard of as the land was communally own by all members of the tribe. Land was hence regarded as a source of life by the Natives unlike the non-natives who structured it as best suit to fit their lifestyles. In addition to this, the Natives believed their land was alive, filled with animalistic spirits and ghosts, and above all, sacred. In light of this, by displacing the Indians out of their land the non-Natives people not only displace the natives but also disrupted their way of living and dispossessed their cultures. These issues were eventually bound to instigate reactions from the natives who felt they were being oppressed in their own land. The Natives were to soon indicate their discomfort through civil rights movements, which included the Red Power movement11. By early 1970’s the Natives American society had created a powerful Red Power movement that had been inspired by the civil rights movements at that time whose main aim was to fight against their marginalization throughout the American society. Inspiration from their African American counterparts the Red power movement and the American Indian movement advocated for their equal rights as well as the recognition of their unique cultures. It is from these movements that the birth of new identity politics took place. The proponents of the identity politics perceived that the existing differences within the ethnic groups and American racial were crucial and equally important. It was suggested that group identity should be the foundation of the political action in America and it is the responsibility of the government as well as the social leaders to address the problems of the nation’s different ethnic groups and not to view the nation in terms of individuals12. In 1968 to 1975, the Native American activists used force to pas their message across the American society. The issues that drove to demanding attention from the American public revolved around the U.S. government policies that were constituted towards the native people. Cultural nationalist beliefs were one of the major influencing factors that drove the urge of the Native American activists. The young activists advocated for the return of old ways in order to challenge their tribal leaders who advocated for collaboration with the federal agencies. The November 1969 occupation of Alcatraz was undertaken with the aim that the natives’ peoples land should be returned for the sole purpose of establishing an Indian cultural center. Although the protestors at the Alcatraz Island did not succeed in reclaiming the Island, they succeeded in drawing the American society’s attention on matters that were crucial to them and were not addressed. In addition to drawing attention, the protest inspired the operations of the expanding Red Power movement. The urban Indians are said to be the people behind the Alcatraz Island protest. Their main aim of undertaking these protests was to be a part and parcel of the shared Indian identity. These Indians had acquired their urban Indian name from their migration from the reserves to the cities with the aim of attaining jobs13. The negative perception that surrounded the life of the Native Indians was one of the issues that members of the Red Power movement sought to change in their quest for social liberation. The Red Power movement at that moment was urban, young and intertribal that was geared up to face Imperialist world that was comprised of physical, intellectual, and spiritual weapons. The anger displayed by the protesters during their protests was justified, as they understood the colonial experiences they were undergoing in their Native American world. In this regard the movement’s growth sprout out of the encounters with the world as members of the movement geared up to produce the actual accounts of the Native Indian lives in America. The upsurge created by the Red Power movement in regards to the life of Indians, could not come at better time as the movement’s scholars took the golden chance to publish important articles defining the Red Power movement14. Conclusion In within the Red Power movement, issues of colonialism were displayed out to the public in a way of explaining the relationship that existed between the indigenous Natives and United States government at that time. In their quest to lead the Native Americans, the leaders of the Red Power movement attained a completely new set of knowledge through their political activities. This knowledge would be revised as the movement’s growth expanded throughout the nation. In recent political scenario dealing with American Indians, the focus is pointed to the direction of self-determination and the means of protecting the Indian land that is remaining. In the last two decades, Indians have attested greater empowerment in the whole of their native history. All the achievements attained by the Indians in America can be attributed to the early foundation set by the Red Power movement and other civil rights movement. Bibliography Amott, Teresa and Matthaei, Julie. Race, gender, and work: a multi-cultural economic history of women in the United states. MA: South End Press, 1996. Johnson, Troy and Rosier, Paul. Red Power: the Native American civil rights movement. NY: Infobase Publishing, 2007. Josephy, Alvin et al. Red power: the American Indians' fight for freedom. NE: University of Nebraska Press, 1999. Kurtz, Lester. Encyclopedia of violence, peace, & conflict. CA: Academic Press, 1999. Marger, Martin. Race and Ethnic Relations: American and Global Perspectives. CA: Cengage Learning, 2009. Norton, Beth Mary. A People and a Nation: since 1865. MA: Houghton Mifflin, 2005. Pencak, William. Encyclopedia of the Veteran in America, Volume 1. CA: ABC-CLIO, LLC, 2009. Teuton, Kicummah Sean. Red land, red power: grounding knowledge in the American Indian novel. NC: Duke University Press, 2008. Waldman, Carl. ATLAS OF THE NORTH AMERICAN INDIAN. NY: Infobase Publishing, 2009. Read More