(no subject)

[lizzybennet]

I am watching G's kids for the next 4 days. S and E will be here until Saturday. Even though Pete has known them his whole life, he is having a hard time remembering their names for some reason. He called S "Lilo" when she first arrived (perhaps because she has red hair and there is a red headed little girl on "Lilo and Stitch"?). He has also been calling E "Tatum" all night long. I can't figure that one out at all. As their mom was leaving, she warned S not to be "combative or annoying". Although S is usually a little hard to take- due to her strong personality- she has been awesome tonight. She helped out with dinner and set the table. She also carried Connor around and played with him. I hope the next few days go as well as today did.

I have to say that I am really enjoying "Lakota Woman". Mary Crow Dog is an amazing woman. I'm learning about things that I had no idea happened in the US and only 30 years ago. This is why I love to study history. I'm always learning something new and exciting. Mary Crow Dog was part of AIM (American Indian Movement) in the 1970's. They went to Washington and took over the Bureau of Indian Affairs building to try and demand fair treatment. Another time, they went to Wounded Knee and held out there for two months. They actually had several fire fights with government officials during those two months. Its amazing that American Indians were still treated so poorly only 30 years ago. They were fighting for the freedom to practice their own traditions, to be treated as equals to whites without being expected to act exactly like whites. At this time, it was not uncommon for Native Americans to be killed by whites with no consequences to the whites. Also, Mary Crow Dog was raised by a Christian mom who had rejected her Native American ways. When Mary gets married to man who is a traditional medicine man, she has no idea how to act like a "native american". She can't even speak the language. Her story is interesting because she is fighting for the right to be a Native American as well as discovering what it means to be a Native American. I know that many Native Americans still have great challenges facing them. Living here, I've driven through several reservations. These reservations are in the middle of nowhere and the houses on them are old and run down--almost like shacks. I wonder if these Native Americans living there mind living like that. Is it only my "white" perspective that makes them seem poor?

After I finish reading "Lakota Woman", I have to write a paper comparing the American Indian Movement to the African American civil rights movement (as lead by Martin Luther King). The most obvious difference is the use of violence. AIM often felt compelled to fight back. Mary was in several fights herself, and even slashed a woman's face with a broken bottle when she was 8 months pregnant. Here's what she says about violence "After a while you yourself begin to strike out blindly, anticipating attacks even when none are intended. Many of these brawls are connected with drinking, but many occur just because you are an Indian. Also in Seattle I saw a white man kicking a passed-out Indian in the head with his boots, screaming, "This is for Wounded Knee!" By nature I am not a violent person. When I get mad, I start shaking, my blood starts to heat up, and I am afraid I might hurt somebody fighting or get hurt myself. So I try to cool off and stay out of it. But if I see an Indian sister being abused, harassed, getting beaten or raped, I have to take up for her. Once I am in the middle of a fight, though, I enjoy it. I have often thought that given an extreme situation, I'd have it in me to kill, if that was the only way. I think if one gets into an "either me or you" situation, that feeling is instinctive. The average white person seldom gets into such a corner, but that corner is where the Indian lives, whether he wants to or not."

Comments

[blackie-fox.livejournal.com]

Holy...She is definately not a person I'd want to meet in a darkened alley.

What do you think of her reasons behind the violence? I've often felt that violence is an excuse to get attention and it often does nothing to help a situation.

This thing she says about feeling it inside - if she had to kill she knew she had it in herself to do so - that's pretty strong. I understand part of it-although I don't think I could kill anyone. And I'll never understand where Mary Crow Dog comes from and where her instinct to fight comes from but I've recently become aware of my own protective instincts. We were at Publix at Archer Road and it was super busy. I was in line waiting for the customer service people and Mike had already gone out to the car. This guy comes up behind me and you can tell he's just a little high, must have been some kind of uppers because he was really agitated and getting aggressive.

Right away I set myself - I was thinking if I had to what would I need to do to put this guy down if he got any more agressive. He kept pacing around and around, clenching and unclenching his fists, going up to the counter, yelling at the cashiers - and they were so flustered and nobody was coming to help them out. The woman in front of me kept telling the guy to calm down which didn't help the problem and things just esculated from there.

I kept my hands out of my pockets and I evened out my breathing. I watched him the entire time and just as he gets really bad I say to him, "Dude, go in front of me. I have the time to wait and it's obvious your time is more important." Which I probably shouldn't have said but I knew that I wanted this guy out of my range quickly.

But it was there the whole time - punch to the solar plexes - that would have knocked the breath out of him at least, maybe even bend him down - enough time to get security over there. Kick to the back of the knee to send him to the floor. All this stuff was running through my head - how can I protect myself, if needed, how can I protect these other people.

I don't look tough. I'm flabby and girly looking, but my punches are right on and so is my instinct. I can move pretty quick when I need to. Mike does things to help me speed up too. Like he'll reach out with one hand and I'll swat it away meanwhile he's prepping to go with the other hand and I have to be quick to swat that one away too. And he'll change it up so I have to be on guard, I'll never know what hand, what foot is coming.

The cool thing is this isn't new. It's not that it's just started since the taekwondo but I've always been instinctual like that - move or get hurt - it's natural to me. But this instance at Publix was the first time I wasn't worried scared about someone acting this way. I was very calm and thought how to calm down the situation before it got even further out of hand.

But my possible violence was in reaction to something not starting it off. You don't fight to make a point, you fight to protect yourself if running isn't an option.

[mysteena.livejournal.com]

In the chapter that she discusses fighting, she also points out that alcohol played a big part. She was drinking a lot and as a result fighting a lot. However, I think part of why the AIM movement resorted to violence was that they felt there was no other option. There was literally no justice for them. She tells of two or three different instances when she and her Native American friends were attacked by whites. When they fought back, the police arrested them and let the whites go free. The Indians had to spend time in jail, pay court fees, etc., while the whites had no consequences whatsoever. She also relates an old Indian joke " One Indian tells his white neighbor: "You've stolen my land, shot my father, raped my wife, got my daughter with child, turned my son on to whiskey. One day I'm gonna lose my patience. Better watch that shit!"

They tried to make themselves heard in peaceful ways, but often they were reacted to with violence. Whenever they danced, sang or let out loud "indian" yells, the white police or government officials would get scared and over-react. Another instance she tells about is a woman who goes to a court house to protest the murder of her son, and to make sure that the white man who killed him is prosecuted. A riot soon erupted as the Native Americans were not allowed inside the court house. The mother of the murdered man was arrested, but the white murdered went home, and didn't spend one single night in jail.

Mary just relates story upon story like this. It is really hard to believe that life was so violent and oppressed for them, but it was. Violence begets violence- isn't that the expression?

[blackie-fox.livejournal.com]

Yes, you are right there. This is totally awful! Why in God's name is this stuff still going on? I've never been able to figure out why one group of people think they are better than others because of their skin color. Sometimes I feel so embarrassed by what people do.

[blackie-fox.livejournal.com]

Another question: I'm just full of them...how much of this is, I don't even know how to phrase it. Okay, we were listening to Sean Hannity yesterday and he was talking to Michael Eric Dyson, black guy, Princeton PhD., author, and MED was saying how Bill Cosby's comments to the African American community on child rearing were nasty and bad. We heard a segment of Bill's speech and Bill said something very important - thinking it's all the white man's fault is analgesic, but if you're not willing to work hard and push for the things you want in this country - black, white, blue, purple - you're not going to get anywhere in this world.

I believe that. Mike comes from poor white folks. He lived in a shack in high school. They never had money. Never and yet here he is working hard everyday at his job and he has earned the respect and the position he has. Poor White Folks. It was a shack, no a/c, one heater, and his dad still lives there - it was built by Mike's Great-Grandad close to a hundred years ago and there've been the minimum improvements on it.

Why is it okay for Mike to work hard and bring himself out of poverty but it's not okay for the black kids, the hispanic kids, and the Native-American kids? This Michael Dyson guy was saying that we need to treat the black families (he didnt' even mention the hispanic kids or the Native American kids) with kid gloves and not be pushing them to achieve goals.

The guy Mary Crow came upon beating on that Native American and saying it was for Wounded Knee is such an excuse. That white guy beating some one up for something that happened so long ago is just an excuse for his racism. Do you think Mary Crow has some of her own prejudices?

That corner she talks about - the one where the Indian lives - it originated as a white man's made corner for the Native American. But what is keeping them there? Pride for their land? I can understand that, but if your land is hurting you, hurting your family it's hard to understand why anyone would continue to live like that. If someone couldn't afford to move, at least teach your kids to understand that there is a better life out there for them. One thing about Mike's ex-stop-mom was that regardless of the lack of money and the shack they lived in her kids were going to go to school. They were going to study. They were going to do something with their lives. She pushed them to be better than they were. She taught them manners. She taught them about respect.

I think that's what is lacking so much today - regardless of race - Everyone just thinks respect, riches, status should just be given to them.

OY! I've gone off on a tangent and I ask you to forgive me and my crazy head.

[mysteena.livejournal.com]

We discussed Bill Cosby's comment earlier this semester when we studied Booker T. Washington and WEB DuBois. DuBois also felt that it was up to the Black community to be honest within itself. He, like Cosby, felt that they had to be honest about the challenges facing them in order to overcome them.

Mary Crow Dog points out that Native Americans don't want to be like Whites. She says "I think it significant that in many Indian languages a black is called a "black white man." The blacks want what the whites have, which is understandable. They want in. We Indians want out! That is the main difference." When I first picked up this book and started reading it, my reaction was "well, they could have a better life if they choose to. There are plenty of opportunities out there for education, they could just leave the reservation and work somewhere." However, as I've read more I realized that I was thinking not only as a white person, but also as a year 2000 person. This book took place in the 1970's and discrimination was so fierce then that they literally could not make life better for themselves. It was virtually impossible, which is why they started up the AIM movement in the first place. Also, they didn't necessarily want the life that white people want. She repeatedly points out that they would have been happy with their simple ways, if they could have been left alone. Whites were constantly trying to force them to be less Indian and more white.

[blackie-fox.livejournal.com]

What would they like? That's the question. They certainly could do with better land. Their land is terrible. Those reservations are awful.

[mysteena.livejournal.com]

I haven't finished the book yet. I will let you know what conclusion I come to when I'm done!)

[mysteena.livejournal.com]

I forgot to mention one more thing. The "Wounded Knee" that the guy was referring to was the 2 month seige that happened in the 1970's.

[blackie-fox.livejournal.com]

I thought there was a battle back around the end of the Civil War the Battle at Wounded Knee.

[mysteena.livejournal.com]

There was, you're right. That's why they chose that sight to stage another hold out in attempt to get their demands met. Mary actually gave birth there during the seige.

[blackie-fox.livejournal.com]

Oh my gosh! That's crazy stuff!