Alcatraz signalled the start of the strategy of highly public direct protest employed by the Red Power movement during this period, and over the next several years, many protests of the same highly public calibre were carried out. The next large scale protest was organized in 1972, and was called the Trail of Broken Treaties. The Trail of Broken Treaties was a protest march on Washington D.C., where the Native American leaders were to present a twenty point framework “for considering the status of Indian tribes and the nature of their federal relationship ”. This was originally supposed to be a peaceful protest, timed just before the presidential election in an attempt to work with the federal government in order to further the goals of the
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Legs were ripped off wooden desks and made into weapons for the confrontation that appeared imminent ”. Unsurprisingly there was huge media attention and coverage of this incident, however this time the reception was not good, unlike the Alcatraz occupation which mobilised massive support for the Red Power movement. “The militant actions were condemned by many Indians, who declared that the activists were largely young urban Indians who did not have deep roots in the reservations, and by many whites, among whom a mild backlash developed ”. The result of this negative reaction to the Trail of Broken Treaties protest is perhaps evident in the reaction which the Nixon administration gave to the twenty point framework provided by the Native American leaders. Despite Nixon acting favourably towards the Native Americans in the past, the response given to the twenty points was an outright rejection of one of the key points within the framework; that all Native Americans be governed by treaty relations . This reaction outraged the Native Americans, and resulted in further alienation of many of the Native Americans, causing them to become yet more militant and progressively violent in order to achieve their …show more content…
In 1973 these heightened feelings of militancy within the Red Power movement materialized in the Wounded Knee incident or Wounded Knee II. This incident occurred when a group of Native American Movement members led by Russell Means and “tribal elders went into the village of Wounded Knee, South Dakota, on the Pine Ridge Reservation, and occupied it in the name of the Oglala Nation ” in protest of alleged corruption . Significantly, AIM proclaimed political independence when they took control of Wounded Knee, and the resulting standoff between the Native Americans and the FBI and federal agents led to national and international coverage of the story . Vine Deloria Jr. writes that many of the tribal leaders across the United States were inspired by the declaration of independence made by Means at Wounded Knee, stating that “Indian country secretly glowed with the knowledge that the mouse had finally roared ”, however scholars such as Francis Paul Prucha have stated that the “militant actions were condemned by many Indians ”. The extensive media coverage of the occupation of Wounded Knee played into the American Indian Movement’s strategy of bringing Native American issues into the forefront of American consciousness, and it can be argued to be a huge success, as “the move for self-determination
Legs were ripped off wooden desks and made into weapons for the confrontation that appeared imminent ”. Unsurprisingly there was huge media attention and coverage of this incident, however this time the reception was not good, unlike the Alcatraz occupation which mobilised massive support for the Red Power movement. “The militant actions were condemned by many Indians, who declared that the activists were largely young urban Indians who did not have deep roots in the reservations, and by many whites, among whom a mild backlash developed ”. The result of this negative reaction to the Trail of Broken Treaties protest is perhaps evident in the reaction which the Nixon administration gave to the twenty point framework provided by the Native American leaders. Despite Nixon acting favourably towards the Native Americans in the past, the response given to the twenty points was an outright rejection of one of the key points within the framework; that all Native Americans be governed by treaty relations . This reaction outraged the Native Americans, and resulted in further alienation of many of the Native Americans, causing them to become yet more militant and progressively violent in order to achieve their …show more content…
In 1973 these heightened feelings of militancy within the Red Power movement materialized in the Wounded Knee incident or Wounded Knee II. This incident occurred when a group of Native American Movement members led by Russell Means and “tribal elders went into the village of Wounded Knee, South Dakota, on the Pine Ridge Reservation, and occupied it in the name of the Oglala Nation ” in protest of alleged corruption . Significantly, AIM proclaimed political independence when they took control of Wounded Knee, and the resulting standoff between the Native Americans and the FBI and federal agents led to national and international coverage of the story . Vine Deloria Jr. writes that many of the tribal leaders across the United States were inspired by the declaration of independence made by Means at Wounded Knee, stating that “Indian country secretly glowed with the knowledge that the mouse had finally roared ”, however scholars such as Francis Paul Prucha have stated that the “militant actions were condemned by many Indians ”. The extensive media coverage of the occupation of Wounded Knee played into the American Indian Movement’s strategy of bringing Native American issues into the forefront of American consciousness, and it can be argued to be a huge success, as “the move for self-determination