Rusell Means: The American Indian Movement

Identity in Native America is directly associated with culture and language. As a result, some of the issues today which are important in shaping the identity of modern Native Americans include: representations of native people by the media in sports and popular culture; how indigenous languages are being revitalized and maintained; and identity reclamation. The Native American lifestyle has changed significantly during the last half of the 20th century and that is because views on the Native people have drastically changed over time. They have had many hardships that have greatly impacted their culture over the past few centuries leading up to today.

The debate over the legality of sovereignty and acquired lands from the native Americans, specifically the Cherokee, has long been debated. The issues involved have included treaties, land sold, and the right of the Government to physically enforce their rules on Indian land "sovereignty". This paper will examine the strategy used by the Federal Governments, the State Governments as well as those of the Cherokee Indians. The three-way relationship as well as the issues will examine how the interpretation of the Constitution changed society prior to the year of 1840.

The AIM was founded in Minneapolis, Minnesota by Dennis Banks and Clyde Bellecourt, mainly to stop the police brutality and other violence going on within the Indian communities. In the 1950’s the United States government had decided to establish a policy that included taking all the land they had given to Native Americans back. This would

In the 1830 there was an act that pass it’s called the Indian Removal it made the indians tribes move from their land. According to the text the cherokee leader sign the treaty of etocha to agree to move the cherokee but 90% percent of the cherokee didn’t want to leave. What should the best way for the cherokee to decide? We should remove the cherokee from their land so nobody gets hurt or kill. Another reason, some of their chief already sign the Treaty of Etocha agreeing them to move. Last reason cherokee killed a lot of people back then so they really don’t deserve it.

The American Indian Movement, AIM, was founded in 1968 by Russell Means, Dennis Banks, and other Native American leaders. AIM was founded as a militant political and civil rights organization for the Native Americans. AIM members occupied Alcatraz Island off San Francisco from November 1969 to June 1971, because they said the treaty granted them permission to unused federal land. AIM occupied the Bureau of Indian Affairs in Washington, D.C. in November 1972 to protest the controlling reservation development.

One Native American tribe in the southeastern region is the Cherokee tribe. The Cherokee tribe was the largest tribe in the southeastern region. They lived in log cabins instead of tee pees the cabins were circular they were made from various materials including cane, plaster, and sticks.. They were mostly farmers. they ate corn, squash, and beans the men however, hunted deer, bear, and turkeys The men of the tribe wore leggings and breechcloth. A breechcloth is a long rectangular piece of clothing. The women wore wraparound skirts made from fiber and deerskin. Men covered themselves with tribal tattoo art and painted themselves bright when they were in a war, but the women did not paint themselves. The Cherokee believed that certain beings created the Earth, moon, and stars, when the fruits of the Earth were

Pino also wrote an article called,” The Life and Legacy of an Oglala Lakotah Patriot” which gives another outlook on the impact both Banks and Mean had on Native Americans. This article goes into depth on both Banks and Means career. For example, Dr. Pino said,” Russell’s lifelong commitment was fighting to protect the treaty rights, sovereignty, and integrity of Indigenous peoples throughout the world” (Pino 19). He is describing the amazing career that Means had as one of the founders of the AIM. Dr. Pino saw Means actions something the AIM needed at the time to get the attention for the media it needed. The actions that are described in this article, such as Banks being appointed AIM’s first national director to creating Yellow Thunder Camp in the Black Hills, are key events that were needed to happen. With the occurrence of these events, Means got the attention of the Media, which would lead to getting the attention of the U.S.

European settlements in the new world had a number of impacts on Cherokee Native Americans. It led to them dying or being pushed onto reservations.

I'm Nancy ward I am an Indian from the Cherokee nation. I'm considered a beloved women by the Cherokee nation. I talk about peace to the nation and set orders with the chief of the Cherokee nation. I was born in the year 1738. My mother’s name is Tame doe I don't know who my father is. I was married twice my first husband was kingfisher. We had 3 children. After my husbands death I got married again to my cousin. My cousin and I had 2 girls. I was called wild rose by my mother. They had given me the name of ghigau because of my bravery. The battle of taliwa (1755) my husband Kingfisher died in this battle. I took my husband’s rifle and rallied the warriors to victory.(Ball ground, Georgia 1755) I Became a member of the tribal council of chief

Marcus Garvey once said, “A people without the knowledge of their past history, origin and culture is like a tree without roots” (Bro). Here, he proclaims the idea that in order to live a culture must be passed down from generation to generation, growing its roots. When two cultures were fighting for dominance in the U.S., the American government developed a plan to eradicate the First Nations’ roots, buying into the philosophy of Captain Richard H. Pratt when he stated that instead of killing all the Natives it would be of more use to “kill the Indian, and save the man” (“Kill”). Between the late 1800’s and early 1900’s, the United States government used boarding schools to try to assimilate Native Americans into modern American culture;

Russell Means, (born Nov. 10, 1939, Pine Ridge Indian Reservation, South Dakota—died Oct. 22, 2012, Porcupine, Pine Ridge Indian Reservation), Oglala Sioux activist who championed Native American rights and drew attention to the mistreatment of native peoples with audacious and controversial actions that were equal parts protest and theatre. As a leader of the American Indian Movement (AIM), Means orchestrated a takeover in 1970 of a replica of the Mayflower ship in Plymouth, Mass., a prayer vigil in 1971 atop the Mount Rushmore National Memorial, and a weeklong occupation in 1972 of the Bureau of Indian Affairs headquarters in Washington, D.C. He also helped lead the occupation in 1973 of the town of Wounded Knee on the Pine Ridge Reservation.

Removed Cherokees initially settled near Tahlequah, Oklahoma. When signing the Treaty of New Echota in 1835 Major Ridge said "I have signed my death warrant." The resulting political turmoil led to the killings of Major Ridge, John Ridge, and Elias Boudinot; of the leaders of the Treaty Party, only Stand Watie escaped death.[47][48][49] The population of the Cherokee Nation eventually rebounded, and today the Cherokees are the largest American Indian group in the United States.[50]

The word “Indian” actually originated with Christopher Columbus, on accident! Columbus thought that he had landed in the East Indies, and called the people Indians and the term stuck. There are many different views on the American Indians. Often they are portrayed as fierce warriors always fighting. These stereotypes of big men with war paint and tomahawks are very broad, and some tribes were actually quite docile.

The book “How the Indians Lost their Lands” by Stuart Banner is about how he claims everything really went down for the Native Americans of being kicked out from their birth home from the so called “Americans”. Stuart Banner, “who is a law professor at the University of Los Angeles school of law, seemed to have never denied any knowledge regarding the transfer land trade of the United States from Native American to non-natives in the early 17th century to the end of the 19th century” (“Author Introduction: HTILTL”). Instead in “How the Indians Lost Their Land”, he describes and admits the truth of the way it really happened in the early 17th century. In this book Banner mostly criticized about how the Native Americans lived on their private property, due to their birth right, but were tricked into selling their land because of the beliefs

The Bill of Rights contains all of the basic rights endowed to all American citizens. For the purpose of our argument we will consider the Indians of the 19th century as American citizens. After reviewing the Bill of Rights it became extremely apparent that as American citizens many Indians civil rights were not only withheld, but also flat out denied and violated. Under the direction of anti-Indian president Andrew Jackson, the Congress passed the Indian Removal Act of 1830 and within five years the Treaty of New Echota was formed and thus began the saddest series of events, which became known as the Trail of Tears. These events and more added to the delinquency of the