Knowing Who You Are: Lessons from Native America
For years the indigenous peoples of the U.S., after having been dispersed and decimated and relegated to reservations, were reduced to caricatures. We all knew Indians and their culture. There was the familiar medicine man, the trading post, Geronimo and Crazy Horse, papooses and squaws, tepees and tomahawks, war dances and war parties. Tonto was the epitome of faithfulness and subservience. The formation and rise of the American Indian Movement, AIM, in the late 1960s and early 1970s did much to break down conventional stereotypes. AIM, through its actions at Wounded Knee, Alcatraz, Mount Rushmore and the Bureau of Indian Affairs, demonstrated that Native Americans could and would fight back against racism and oppression.
Recorded at the Boulder Public Library.
Speaker
Russell Means
Russell Means was a renowned activist for Indian Rights. An Oglala Lakota, he was born on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in South Dakota. He was a founding member of the American Indian Movement and its first national director. His autobiography is Where White Men Fear to Tread. He passed away in 2012.
From a listener in Thailand –
Loved loved loved Russell Means. Amazing how it is still so relevant.
Listener –
Listening now to Russell Means and really enjoying it! Thank you for your amazing work.
Dinah Mellin –
I was listening to this broadcast and was touched by the history of the indigenous women and how they had an influence on what might be going on around their clan. Also, that when it was the full moon the women went off together to deal with their monthly menstrual cycle, leaving the men with the children, etc. I must share this on our WOMR International Women’s Day FB page.
Jane –
500 years ago, the United Kingdom shipped convoys of felons to America as a form of punishment. They were allowed to return after 14 years.
The convicts, both men, and women were poor, uneducated, Protestant, and unwilling to mix with the people already living in America.
Their intolerance has meant death in America and the World.
Matthew Evans –
Crucial story telling for Turtle Island and The World. Seeds for a New People’s understanding…
carol lee –
Russell Means was a tireless activist for indigenous peoples and educator for us all.