Native American's have been victims of white settlers, since the first contact. In Mary Crow Dog's memoir, she talked about how the Native Americans decided to stand up for themselves, and unite as one people; they were one unified tribe against the white people. In Mary Crow Dog's own words, "we had faced White America, collectively, not as individual tribes"(Lakota Woman, pg. 91). What significance did AIM play a part in this feeling of collective identity? Through analysis of Mary Crow Dog's memoir, Lakota Woman, the causes of the Indian civil rights movement will be analyzed, and the significance of AIM will be evaluated.
The causes of the Indian civil rights movement stemmed from the way they were treated by white Americans, They were …show more content…
The Indian civil rights movement gave the Native Americans a chance to fight to preserve the remainder of their culture. The movement allowed Native Americans to fight back against the people who screwed them over, repeatedly, throughout history. Based on the previous history that is often associated with Native Americans, it can be inferred that one of the main causes of the Indian civil rights movement, was the desire to get away from White America. The Black Civil rights movement also fueled the fire of the Indian civil rights movement, because they were both seen as a minority compared to white Americans. "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!"(Lakota Woman, pg. 77). In the previously mentioned quote, Mary Crow Dog talks about how both the African Americans and the Native Americans were treated similarly by White America however, the key difference was the fact that the Indians did not want to be accepted by white Americans, they wanted to be left alone. Additionally. the Indian Civil Rights movement came about as a way of protesting the treatment of Indians by the …show more content…
AIM or "American Indian Movement" as it was called, was founded in1968, by"men who were doing time in Minnesota prisons" (pg. 76). In the beginning, the goal of AIM was to educate Indians who lived in cities, on Native American culture. Mary Crow Dog herself, mentions that "one can't take away from AIM that it fulfilled its function and did what had to be done at a time which was decisive in the development of Indian America" (Lakota Woman, pg. 82). Another factor that can be attributed to the Indian Civil Rights movement was the way they were treated by the white police.According to Mary Crow Dog, "most of the arrests occurred not for what we did, but what we were and represented- for being skins" (pg. 64). Indians who lived in the cities were often subjected to police brutality, more than Indians that lived on the reservation were. Women were specifically vulnerable to white policemen, because they were often raped, and they wouldn't be able to report it because nobody would believe them. Native Americans were never safe, they were always being pushed around by white people. In the end, based on Mary Crow Dog's memoir, AIM was both a success and a failure. AIM was successful in that it united Indians from multiple tribes and had them fight together. This camaraderie was spurred on be the idea that certain Indian cultures were diminishing;
The causes of the Indian civil rights movement stemmed from the way they were treated by white Americans, They were …show more content…
The Indian civil rights movement gave the Native Americans a chance to fight to preserve the remainder of their culture. The movement allowed Native Americans to fight back against the people who screwed them over, repeatedly, throughout history. Based on the previous history that is often associated with Native Americans, it can be inferred that one of the main causes of the Indian civil rights movement, was the desire to get away from White America. The Black Civil rights movement also fueled the fire of the Indian civil rights movement, because they were both seen as a minority compared to white Americans. "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!"(Lakota Woman, pg. 77). In the previously mentioned quote, Mary Crow Dog talks about how both the African Americans and the Native Americans were treated similarly by White America however, the key difference was the fact that the Indians did not want to be accepted by white Americans, they wanted to be left alone. Additionally. the Indian Civil Rights movement came about as a way of protesting the treatment of Indians by the …show more content…
AIM or "American Indian Movement" as it was called, was founded in1968, by"men who were doing time in Minnesota prisons" (pg. 76). In the beginning, the goal of AIM was to educate Indians who lived in cities, on Native American culture. Mary Crow Dog herself, mentions that "one can't take away from AIM that it fulfilled its function and did what had to be done at a time which was decisive in the development of Indian America" (Lakota Woman, pg. 82). Another factor that can be attributed to the Indian Civil Rights movement was the way they were treated by the white police.According to Mary Crow Dog, "most of the arrests occurred not for what we did, but what we were and represented- for being skins" (pg. 64). Indians who lived in the cities were often subjected to police brutality, more than Indians that lived on the reservation were. Women were specifically vulnerable to white policemen, because they were often raped, and they wouldn't be able to report it because nobody would believe them. Native Americans were never safe, they were always being pushed around by white people. In the end, based on Mary Crow Dog's memoir, AIM was both a success and a failure. AIM was successful in that it united Indians from multiple tribes and had them fight together. This camaraderie was spurred on be the idea that certain Indian cultures were diminishing;