Native American Activism

 Native American Activism

I)                    Occupation of Alcatraz Island Nov. 20, 1969, 19 months

1. The group occupied the island with the intent of reclaiming the rock in the name of all American Indians.

2. The Proclamation stated Alcatraz was more suitable for an Indian reservation as determined by white man’s standard

a.      It is isolated from modern facilities without adequate means of transportation

b.      It has no fresh running water

c.      It has inadequate sanitation facilities

d.      There are no oil or mineral rights

e.      There is no industry and so unemployment is very great

f.        There are no healthcare facilities

g.       Soil is rocky/nonproductive and land does not support game

h.      There are no educational facilities

i.        Population has always exceeded the land base

j.        The population has always been held as prisoners and kept dependent upon others

k.       Occupiers’ list of demands included the return of Alcatraz to the American Indians and sufficient funding to build, maintain, and operate an Indian cultural complex and a university

4.       

II. 1970: Activists Occupy Mount Rushmore

1.      Members of the United Native Americans, with support from the American Indian Movement, occupied Mount Rushmore

a.      To reclaim the land that had been promised to the Oceti Sakowin (the Great Sioux Nation) in the 1868 treaty of Fort Laramie in perpetuity

b.      When gold was found in the mountains, prospectors migrated there in the 1870s

c.      Federal government forced the Sioux to relinquish the Black Hills portion of their reservation

d.      When park officials asked protestors how long they intended to stay, UNA president Lehman Brighton replied -as long as the grass grows, the water flows, and 

  i.      A reference to President Jackson’s, then General, promise to protect the life and land of the Native People of Mississippi before his massive campaign to exterminate them.

III. 1970: first National Day of Mourning Occurs after speech censorship\

1.      On Oct. 26, 1970 -American Indian Movement (AIM) activists occupied Plymouth Rock, Massachusetts

a.      Became known as National Day of Morning

                                                              i.      Annual even sparked after Commonwealth of Massachusetts officials censored a speech given by Frank James (Wamsutta), an Aquinnah Wampanoag, on the 350^th anniversary of the landing of the Pilgrims

1.      The reasons FOR THE BAN, given the theme of the anniversary celebration, is brotherhood, and anything inflammatory would have been out of place

2. James' Speech included harsh truths: “History gives us facts, and there were atrocities

a.      Loss of language, culture, and land, and he closed his speech with a call for a new beginning

                                                              i.      Our spirit refuses to die…We are united…Standing tall and proud before too many moons have passed, we must right the wrongs

                                                             ii.      Lands stollen by the aggressors

                                                           iii.      Allowed the white man to keep us on our knees

                                                           iv.      What happened cannot be changed, but today, we must work towards a more humane America

                                                             v.      A more Indian America where men and nature once again are important

                                                           vi.      Where Indian's values of honor, truth, and brotherhood prevail

                                                         vii.      Where white man celebrates Plymouth, we, the Wampanoags, will help you celebrate the concept of a beginning

                                                        viii.      A new life for the pilgrims.

                                                           ix.      One ..after 350 years, a new determination for the original Americans: the American Indian

                                                             x. Thus began the National Day of Mourning a day of remembrance and spiritual connection as well as protest of the racism and oppression that Native Americans continue to experience.

IV. 1972: Trail of Broken Treaties Caravan Arrives in Washington, D.C.

1)      On Nov.  3, 1972, protestors occupied Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) offices in Wahington for six days

a.      Presented a 20-point manifesto which begins:

                                                              i.      We seek a new American majority a majority not content with merely confirming itself by superiority in numbers, but which by conscience is committed toward prevailing upon the public will in ceasing wrongs and doing right

                                                             ii.      See announcement

2)      1972 -Aim Opens Survival Schools

a.      Organizers and parents in the Minneapolis area started their own community schools as an alternative to public and Bureau of Indian Affairs (now Bureau of Indian Education) schools with their high dropout rates

                                                              i.      Known as survival schools, their focus was basic learning and living skills, strongly promoting Indian culture

                                                             ii.      The schools operated for over 30 years until a series of power struggles and funding misappropriations led to their demise.  See announcement.

V). 1973: Activists Occupy Wounded Knee

1) 250 Sioux Indians Feb. 27, converge on South Dakota’s Pine Ridge Reservation, launching 71 day occupation of Wounded Knee               

                a) set in the same impoverished village as the 1890 wounded Knee Massacre

                b) The occupation called global attention to unsafe living conditions and generations of mistreatment from federal and local agencies

                c) occupation hailed as one of AIM’s greatest successes

                d) The occupation ended when the U.S government agreed to discuss the state of treaties with the groups

                e) The movement called for everything from control of reservation lands and mineral rights to restoration of ancient tribal customs and the power to specify curriculums in Indian grade schools.

                f) at the height of the protests, over 300 FBI agents and U.S. marshals were stationed around Wounded Knee with M-16 rivals and gas masks

                g) three people died, and dozens were wounded during the occupation.

                h) more than 1,200 arrests and 275 court cases at federal, state, and tribal courts.

                i) leaders -Russel Means, Clyde Ballecourt, and Denis Banks initially faced 11 criminal charges, but the cases were eventually dismissed.

                j) occupation drew unprecedented attention to the issue of indigenous rights

                k) the Native American Activists were galvanized by the 1960 civil rights movements and protests against the Vietnam War. (History of the Wounded Knee Occupation | TIME)

 

1)      1975: Protesters Take Over the Bonneville Power Administration

a)      Booneville Power Administration building in Portland, Oregon taken over by 100 Native American Protestors

b)      In Response to killing of Joseph Stuntz, a member of the AIM movement

c)      A form of civil disobedience -office takeovers.

VII)  1978: Longest Walk -July 15 -might have been coopted

·         Peaceful transcontinental trek for Native Americans' justice

·         Began a few hundred departing Alcatraz Island..ended when they arrived in Washington

·         Over 30,000 marchers.

·         A week of demonstrations, lobbying, tribal ceremonies and workshops

·         After the first day, busses brought them to each day's events

o   Paid for by the federal government

o   Also provided Army field kitchens, tents, water tanks, and logistical support

§  cost taxpayers $250,000

§  None of the proposed bills ever passed by Congress.

VIII) 1981: Fort McDowell Yavapai Nation Celebrates the Orme Dam Victory

·         After 10 years of organizing and protesting the building of the Orme damn, on Nov 12, 1981, the Fort McDowell Yavapai Nation of Arizona won the struggle when Interior Secretary James Watt announced that the Orme Dam would not be built

·         The damn would have flooded more than half the Fort McDowell Yavapai Nation reservation

o   Which is most of their farmland and remnants of their ancestral homeland

Each year, the people have a weeklong celebration called the Orme Dam Victory Days to commemorate the event.

VIII) 1992: National Coalition of Racism in Sports and Media Forms

·         Was established to organize against using Indian images and names for logos, symbols, or mascots in professional and collegiate sports.  

·         The mascots and symbols serve to miseducate all youth by perpetuating an inaccurate history and encouraging a suspension of logic and reason.

·         School teachers and students become culturally illiterate in the realm of Native history and culturally insensitive concerning teaching tolerance and celebrating diversity.

IX) 2004: Coalition forms to “Protect the Peaks” -Feb. 2 -Save the Peaks formed

·         Address environmental and human rights concerns with Arizona Snowbowl's proposed developments on the San Francisco Peaks

o   Land has spiritual and cultural significance to at least 13 nearby tribes

o   This coalition (comprised of tribal and spiritual leaders, citizens, agencies, business, and conservationists) rallied to protest clearcutting of close to 30,000 trees that would threaten species, making new runs and lifts, and more parking lots, building 14.8 mile buried pipeline that would transport up to 1809 million gallons (per season) of wastewater to make artificial snow on 205 acres

§  Despite decades of protest, the U.S forest Service and other government agencies still permitted the Snowbowl ski resort to expand, the coalition continues to protests with calls of boycotts.

X) 2011: Keystone XL Pipeline Protestors Launch Massive Campaign -August

·         Environmental and Indigenous groups campaigned to press President Obama not to approve Phase IV of Keystone XL Pipeline Project

o   Runs through and near tribal lands, water resources, and places of spiritual significance

o   Nov. 6, 2015, President Obama rejected the Keystone XL Pipeline proposal

They issued a statement saying that their efforts, including those of the Lakota, Dakota, Ponca, Cre, Dene, and others, to defend Mother Earth and the sacredness of water were validated by the rejection of Keystone XL.

XI) Havasupai tribe Files Lawsuit to stop the Operation of Uranium Mine -March 7

·         Filed against U.S. Forest Service over its decision to allow Energy Fuels Resources, Inc. to begin operation uranium mine near Grand Canyon National Park without initiating or completing formal tribal consultations and without updating an outdated 1986 federal environmental review.

o   In April 2015, a District Judge ruled on this suit and decided uranium mining could continue in Northern Arizona

Uraning mining on or near tribal and ceremonial lands has raised concerns about tribal rights, environmental impact, and safety issues for decades.

o   In collaboration with the Havasupai, Hualapai, Hopi, Navajo, Zuni Paiute, and Yavagai leaders, Arizona Congressional Paul Grijalva announced bill designed to permanently ban uranium mining in Grand Canyon watersheds -did not pass

The protest continues—see announcement. Also, they are currently protesting the shipment of uranium across their lands.

XII) 2016: Standing rock Sioux Oppose the Dakota Access Pipeline -April 1

·         One of the greatest organizing efforts to protect land, human rights, and the future of this planet began in North Dakota

·         Tribal citizens of Standing Rock Lakota Nation and allies Lakota, Nakota, and Dakota citizens under the name of Chante tinsa kinanzi Po -founded a Spirit Camp along the proposed route of the Bakken oil pipeline, Dakota Access

·         The Spirit Camp is dedicated to stopping and raising awareness of dangers associated with pipeline spills and the necessity to protect the water resources of the Missouri River

·         Dakota Access Pipeline proposed to transport 450,000 barrels per day of Crude oil (which is fracked and highly volatile) from the lands of North Dakota to Patoka, Illinois

·         The threats pose environmental, human health, and human rights similar to those associated with Keystone XL

It will cross over the Ogallala Aquifer (one of the largest aquifers in the world) and under the Missouri River twice (the longest river in the US) U.S.

The possibility of water contamination poses a national threat.

o   Over 200 other native American tribes and allies joined this protest. Standing

o   It continues to this day see announcement.

XIII) 2018: Ancestral Land Returned to Ponca Tribe -June 10

                Along the Trail of Tears in Neligh, Nebraska, a farmer signed a deed to return ancestral land to the Ponca Tribe

Nearby is the gravesite of White Buffalo Girl -a 18-month-old Ponca girl who died during the forced removal of the Ponca Nation

1877 -The Ponca Nation was forced by the federal government to leave their home of Nishude ke (also known as Missouri) and relocate 600 miles south into present-day Oklahoma

Took 55 days and killed several, including White Buffalo girl

This is known as the Ponca Trail of Tears.

When Art Tanderup retired on his wife’s farm outside Neligh in 2013, he discovered that the Keystone XL Pipeline would be built right across their property.

Tanderup and others formed a coalition with farmers, ranchers, and Native Americans and called on the governor of Nebraska to oppose the decision.

During this protest, Tanderup learned of a member of the Ponca Nation named Makasi, whose grandfather had worked this form as an eight-year-old boy during this forced relocation.

Tanderup and Horinek decided to plant corn in the middle of the Keystone Pipelines proposed route.

They used 137-year-old kernels, which were both successful and ceremonial. Becoming an annual event of the Ponca nation and non-Ponca alike

The Tanderup family decided to formally deed the portion of the farm back to the Ponca Nation. Wanting this to be a form of reparations for the wrongs done by their ancestors.