The Chiricahuas

Their five year bloody resistance was the last American Indian war fought on U.S. soil. The Chiricahua were the last remaining Indian group still free from the whites in that they hadn't surrendered to the reservations. I thought it was really horrible how the American government treated these people, holding them as prisoners of war for 27 years. The remaining four hundred left of the Chiricahua were deported to Florida on a train. There they suffered greatly from the vastly different climate-humidity, different insects,etc. It was interesting to me how within the Chiricahua way of life there was a complete reliance upon raiding other people instead of providing for oneself in more traditional and self-sufficient ways. It seems to me that this dependence upon taking from others and what they have created and provided for themselves, makes it seem to me a sure-fire way of always accumulating enemies. They were always stealing from one town and then trading with another. I guess you can rationalize that they were a hunting and take-what-we-need type of people. Looking at all the pictures of their people, it's hard to believe that they deserved the level and degree of brutality that they received at the hands of the whites.

American-Indian relationship

The United States government had initially treated the Indian tribes and independent sovereign nations, but as they wanted to expand westward they decided to change the relationship to fit their own selfish desires of conquest and expansion. The United States now decided to consider Indians as "wards of the state" instead of "sovereign nations". President Grant sent General George Crook to Arizona. Crook's strategy was to contain the Indians in reservations and assimilate them into American culture gradually; those that did not want to live in the reservations and chose to rebel against the United States military were to be hunted down ruthlessly. Crook also played the Apaches against each other. If you became a "scout" for the American army, then you got your gun and horse back, your family could be fed with the U.S. currency they received as well. Indian scouts were often forced to hunt down their own people who refused to concede to the white demands. I know that Geronimo was captured by some of these Indian scouts, one of whom was Cochise's son. The Indian's had to wonder what had their way of life and communal trust when they are hunting each other down at the command of white folk.

Cochise

Cochise is another leader of the resistance against American encroachment during the nineteenth century. His means "firewood" and he was born 1815. He helped lead the Chiricahuas and other Apache tribes in an uprising against American military forces. The Chokonen and Nednhi Chiricahua became more and more dependent on food issued by the Mexican government to placate them from raiding. As a part of their attempt to control the Chiricahua, Mexican and American forces along with Native American mercenaries, began to kill Apache civilians (killing Cochise's father). Mexican forces finally captured Cochise once in 1848 in Sonora, but they exchanged him for nearly a dozen Mexican prisoners. Cochise is one of the most respected and venerated Native American figures. When Cochise died, the United State's government used the Apache lack of unifying leadership to remove the Chiricahua's one-hundred and fifty miles north to an uninhabitable and mosquito ridden San Carlos, where it is said that even the dogs don't like it there. It goes to show just how important leadership was to the tribes despite the tendency of the tribes to remain in small bands and remain relatively independent from each other.

American Experience: Geronimo( continued)

One of the most spiritually significant moments in Geronimo's life happened immediately after his family was murdered, and he headed deep into Chiricahua Country. Geronimo said he had buried his head in his hands and was crying when he heard a voice call out nowhere "No gun will ever kill you. I will take the bullets from the guns of the Mexicans, and I will guide your arrows". It was at this specific moment where Geronimo is said to be given his "Power". The concept of 'power' is fundamental to Apache belief. Power is everywhere and is contained in different forms Upon hearing this, Geronimo headed back to his people and gathered with tribal leaders to ask permission to avenge the Mexican soldiers who took the lives of his closest loved ones. Geronimo took two hundred men and laid waste to so many Mexican soldiers that Mexicans feared the name of Geronimo from that time onward. Though Geronimo was a great warrior, he was never destined to be a chief. In the eyes of the Apache, he was too impulsive, fretful, vengeful. The careful decision making that the Apaches relied upon their elders for did not fit well with Geronimo's temperament and personality. Geronimo's rash decision making sometimes had disastrous effects for other Apache who did not wish to rebel like he did against the Americans.

American Series: Episode 4

I've finally been able to watch this series. I didn't realize till just the other day that the segments were online as well on "pbs.org". Anyway, I saw the segment on Geronimo and it was pretty compelling, very harrowing experience with roller-coaster like chases from Calvary after several captures and escapes. You can really see how he became a legenday American mythical figure- one of the really true iconic stories of America's past. Geronimo strove continually for Indian independence from the whites, never want to accept defeat. He eventually was chased so relentlessly that he eventually did surrender; but on his deathbed he said that he wished he never had surrendered; I thought that showed how much spirit and fight he possessed as a warrior. I thought the piece really helped the viewer get a sense of what the Apache, more specifically the Chiricahuas, were like as a people and how their livelihood was under attack from the ever-encroaching white European settlers and the U.S. military and government. After the Mexican-American War in 1848, the United States continually pushed into Apache soil and into the North American Southwest. The Apache had to fend off conflicts from both the Mexicans and the white Americans from the east. There were the 49er's and miners who travelled through their land to get to California during the Gold Rush, who were comprised mostly of lawless twenty-somethings who did some extremely horrible things towards the Indians- selling Indian girls into slavery, poisoning their food, tearing fetuses out of pregnant women. They eventually pushed Geronimo's father-in-law, Cochise, too far when they sent a boiled skull of a venerated Indian chief as a trophy back home east. Soon, all the Apaches to agreed they would no longer be friends with the white man anymore. I found the events that transpired in Geronimo's life captivating and fascinating- his finding the love of his life (Alope) and having three children, only to have them unexpectedly killed by a raid of Mexican soldiers. Geronimo was a man who underwent great pain and tragedy.

Joy Harjo

Joy Harjo was born May 9, 1951 in Tulsa, Oklahoma and is a member of the Muscogee Tribe. She went to the Institute of American Indian Arts in New Mexico and studied painting and theater, and not music and poetry. She earned her B. A. from the University of New Mexico and her M.F.A. from the University of Iowa. Her most recent book of poetry is How We Became Human: New and Selected Poems, which has gone on to win awards. She picked up the saxophone and put together a band that blended elements of tribal music, jazz, and rock. She says that “the band takes its name from this term because we are: a poet, an Indian water rights attorney, a tribal judge, two educators and a stock clerk; and because all of us have worked for justice in our lives, through any means possible and through music.” She also says that the term poetic justice “is a term of grace, expressing how justice can appear in the world despite forces of confusion and destruction.” She has taught at Arizona State University as a lecturer in 1980-81, at Santa Fe Community College, The Institute of American Indian Arts. She’s held Assistant and Associate Professorships at various academic institutions

Native American Studies

American Indian Studies programs have often been accused in the past of charges of political advocacy and of lacking a certain objectivity that is the standard for disciplines of academic scholarship. Several colleges in the Southwestern region of the U.S. began Native American Studies programs in the late 70's and early 80's. The University of Arizona started the first A.I. studies Ph.D. program in the nation, and University of California at Berkeley became a popular location for American Indian studies. The political rhetoric that was used in defense of keeping these programs in the 70's was one affirmative action and civil rights, and later shifted to the need to educate minority students to meet the growing needs of a shrinking and increasing technologically developing world. The interdisciplinary nature of the field has seemed so far to be best suited to the more focused aspect of graduate study. The challenge for Native American studies is that they are held to the standards of scholarship that must conform to the institutional norms, with strict adherence to written documents- which doesn't offer much flexibility to oral literatures and histories that Native Americans created.

Lakota Sioux Indians

North Carolina seems to be the home of the Sioux. They lived as seven tribes. The word "Lakota" means ally or friend. They moved to the plains abut the middle of the seventeenth century. It was a great turning point for the Sioux when they acquired the horse from the Cheyenne. Once established in the high plains, the original seven Sioux groups divided. The Lakota drove the Crow, Pawnee, Shoshone from their hunting grounds. The Lakota smoked k'nick k'nick tobacco, which was an important spiritual element of their culture- the pipe from which they smoke from contains, or is the universe. In the winter, tribes would break up into smaller bands because it was easier to feed everyone that way. Lakota women performed a lot of hard labor and were not regarded any less than men. They were quite influential in tribal affairs. A willingness to follow leaders was never a strong suit for the Lakota. They really didn't rely very heavily or regard them as having the same authority as leaders in European cultures follow their leaders. It was also a Lakota custom to have different names for oneself at different points in life. Crazy Horse acquired his name from his father shortly after he related to him a vision he had of a dancing horse made of shadow.

Crazy Horse

I researched Crazy Horse as the subject of my review project and found some very interesting things about how the myth around his legend was created. The first thing that I noticed upon approaching the subject was how scarce the information about Crazy Horse is, and that a major part of his representation relies upon the mythology about him, the stories about him, and secondhand accounts of people who knew him. There are no letters or speeches to look at and study, we must extrapolate from what has been said about him decades after he died. It seems that he was such a revered figure because of how selfless a person he was. He had very little possessions, and helped the most impoverished of his Lakota people stave off hunger. He tried very hard to live up to the expectations that his people had about his character; it was considered very important that a Lakota member live up to their unique individual role in the community. Crazy Horse was a very independent, aloof personality to his people. He was physically different that most Lakota- with very light skin and light hair. His skill and prowess as a warrior is where he gets his most acclaim; he gained respect and showed his leadership through example.

John Trudell

Before watching the film, I had heard of John Trudell, but I didn't really know anything about him at all. I thought the opening was interesting with the "Extremely eloquent, therefore extremely dangerous" quote from the FBI. I was surprised the FBI didn't think he would therefore probably be helpful. A guy that eloquent is probably very smart, able to give insights others do not have access to. I found him to be a very endearing man, with noble motivations despite so much hardship in his life- from his battles with the U.S. government and the resulting loss of his family in a fire. I thought the Alcatraz incident was an interesting showcase in the battle of sovereignty and the disregard for treaties. Some compelling comments or quotes from him I thought were "America does not have the spirit to live". "The great lie is that it is civilization, or civilization is a lie" Some interesting things about his life to me was that his mother died when he was only six years old. He said he didn't like God, didn't trust him. I was surprised to find out that a such a peaceful protester type of guy that he is had been in the military, even though he only did it because he wanted to get away from his current situation at the time. I found interviews with him to be very compelling. He is a very engaging speaker; I can see why many people listen to what he has to say. I also thought it was pretty ballsy of him to burn the American Flag on the steps of D.C.

Week 4 Post #1

I thought the reading in Chapters 4-6 to be very informative. From the decisions of John Marshall and its impact over tribal sovereignty, to the abandoning of making treaties with Indian tribes, the United States played a huge role in the fragmentation of Indian tribes and their removal from their own lands. This lack of acknowledgment of the Indian tribes to be involved with the making of treaties showed that Indian sovereignty was dead. The United States denied viewing Native Americans as a foreign nation or entity, but instead a ward that needed to be protected by its guardian. I think the United States did this because they didn't want to have to justify their seizing of land from the Native Americans, who were technologically incapable of preventing the Americans from pushing them aside and doing whatever they wanted. The United States, when you look back at history, was pretty harsh and very inhuman in its treatment of the Indians. For as romantic as the making of America is made out to be, we sure have our dark spots. Regarding language, some of what I find striking is their distinguishing between animate and inanimate nouns. Also, the intricate nature in which their language is created with close attention to 'details of position, direction, motion, form, shape, and texture' (87 Kidwell). Native American language is also highly metaphorical; words are not simply things, they express in highly complex and imaginative poetic thought the relationship between physical and spiritual forces. In Indian literature and aesthetics, telling a story is a way of maintaining the order of the world.