June 9, 2009
by Michelle Cole
Recently I picked up the autobiography of Russell Means "Where White
Men Fear to Tread". I first read this book many years ago when it
was newly released in 1995. I have read more than a few books
written by American Indians, telling their personal tales of struggle
and triumph, but this is one of my favorites. It is a large book
filled with his personal history of growing up Lakota and figuring
out for himself what that meant to him. The story is filled with
resentment, frustration, anger and sorrow. I understand there will
always be those who feel defensive in the face of such powerful
emotion, but it is impossible for me to read his life story up to the
publish date, and not understand his emotions are hardly un-deserved.
Reading the writings of Russell Means reminds me a lot of the father
to my friend Nesto. It was hard to spend time in the company of that
man and not feel his anger, frustration and resentment-yet it was
clear that he never saw me as the problem simply because I had white
skin. He welcomed me into his home, and treated me like family and
made it clear I was welcome to share the Sweat ceremony he held every
week. If we are to get beyond words and prejudices, we must learn
that the term 'white man' is not aimed at anyone other than what Mr.
Means refers to as Eurocentric culture/thinking. Eurocentric
thinking sees undeveloped land and does not see nature in perfect
balance, but wasted space that could somehow be earning money. Time,
money, power and greed are all by-products of Eurocentric thinking,
while Indigenous culture encourages natural balance, respect for
nature, being fully present at all times and using both sides of the
brain to survive and appreciate life in it's beauty and bounty. This
book will give you examples of events that will help you to
understand where the resentment, frustration, anger and sorrow was born from.
We start by learning of his parents and the movement to relocate and
destroy the heritage of indigenous people by taking the children from
the families and sending them to religious boarding schools. There
is a whole generation of American Indians who were forced to cut
their hair and taught English without being able to learn their
native languages. This generation became largely converted to
Christianity and were taught to be ashamed of their heritage and they
shunned the wisdom of their Elders. These children were pulled away
from a Matriarchal society and planted into a Patriarchal society and
were told their culture as it had been for eons was nothing to be
proud of. Instead of learning the natural rhythms of nature, they
were 'educated', instead of being treated with respect and love, they
were beaten into submission.
Russell was fortunate to have Grandpa John, who held onto his pride
and passed to him the habit of thinking for himself to solve riddles,
stories and life's problems. From his grandfather he learned to
appreciate nature and to learn from the wisdom of the natural
world. To give his grandson an idea of how little humans meant to
the planet, he explained that if all the growing green things of
earth were taken from earth, there could be no life. If all the
four-legged creatures were taken, there could be no life. Same could
be said of the winged creatures, the creatures that crawled or swam
and lived in the depths of the soil or waters of the earth: without
them, there would be no life on earth. Take away every living human
being and life on earth would flourish. This is a thought I've
carried close to my heart for much of my own life, but I did not have
a Grandpa John to teach me, I think this should be common sense and
instead most humans seem to think life on earth was created solely for them.
He had a grandmother, lovingly named Grandma Twinkle Star (for her
habit of singing Twinkle Twinkle to her grandchildren) who converted
to Christianity but shared some family history with Russell. Her own
mother had been a young child when her grandmother grabbed a cooking
implement and chased Custer at the Greasy Grass. This was where
Custer died and while only those present will know for certain how
things happened and why, Grandma Twinkle Star had a different
approach than most historians will share. It has been widely
accepted that Custer died valiantly during battle and that the
Indians held him in such high regard or respect they did not disturb
his body where it lay. From her mother's account, none of the Lakota
wanted to soil their hands by even touching the vile filth that was
Custer and they witnessed his suicide as they ran after him, yelling
and screaming for him to leave. They wanted him to return to his
government and tell of his defeat, they wanted him to explain the
loss of his entire regiment, many to suicide. These men had
personally been responsible for the mutilation and deaths of enough
native people, they feared being caught and took their lives
instead. Suicide can be the ultimate act of cowardice, and I see it
a fitting end to the worst kind of coward that Custer was.
It does not surprise me that Russell Means was born under the sign of
Scorpio, a sign that urges us Scorpios to pursue matters of
spirituality. He has spent his life fighting for the Spiritual
Rights of his people, to live their lives in peace and harmony,
without the interference and harassment of the American
government. It is the desire of people like Mr. Means to see their
people rise above government reliance and become truly free once
again. Even though at one point, along with many others, the Federal
offices of the BIA were taken under siege and went unnoticed for over
a week, the BIA still exists today. The BIA still carries far too
much weight and control over the very people it was developed
(supposedly) to protect. Living on a reservation means being under
the control of the BIA, living on a reservation means you have no
rights. The Bill of Rights that we take for granted do not apply to
Reservation Indians, they have no right to bear arms and have no
protection from unreasonable searches of their homes. Poverty is
rampant on reservations, while people lament the deplorable
conditions of children around the world, they ignore the 3rd world
country in our midst. Federally supplied surplus food consists
largely of nutritionally deprived starchy ingredients, which make a
body eager for sugar. The fastest, quickest and easiest form of
sugar comes in the body of alcohol and alcoholism and spousal abuse
run rampant in a culture that lived in the harmony and balance a
Matriarchal society provided them before reservations existed.
Russell was raised outside the reservation, a move his parents
consciously made to prevent their children being taken from them and
sent to boarding school. However, the pressures of trying to keep a
family together proved difficult and while his father fought
alcoholism, his mother tried to care for her children while
working. When the stress become too much, she reverted to what she
had been taught as acceptable behavior and was constantly hitting and
yelling. Russell grew up spending much of his time fighting and
ultimately placed his life in danger more than once to stand up for
what he knew to be right. Early in the book he acknowledges that
when he put fear aside he won the ultimate victory because "as long
as you suffer fear, you cannot experience true freedom"
Understandably, he does not have many kind words for the missionaries
who moved onto Lakota lands to convert his people. I've never
understood this feeling that it is your job to 'save' someone else,
especially when that someone else already has in place an extensive
and ancient Spiritual practice. Today, many churches still carry
title to many native lands actually on reservations. Ask yourself:
how can an outside entity, such as a Church, own Indian land? The
Quakers were once very active on reservations, but they eventually
moved on, realizing Christianity was not helping the Indians. What
kills me is the ignorance and refusal to acknowledge that Indigenous
people have their own traditions, that to Indigenous people, their
spirituality and way of life are one and the same. In a speech given
by a friend of his, a number of Ojibwa who were taking place in a
Catholic Church pageant were told "They tell us 'Thou shalt not
steal', yet the Catholic Church owns more land on Indian reservations
than any other single entity!". The Ojibwa took a stand and refused
to take part in the farce that was a pageant showing the feelings of
brotherhood shared with the Catholic Church. While I respect the
born desire to connect to Spirituality in most people, I have no
patience for the ignorance of people who believe their personal brand
of religion/spirituality is superior to others, especially in regards
to cultures that have their own traditions and
ceremonies. Especially when you realize those cultures have been in
place long before white man even developed written language.
During the story of his life, we learn of the many fights Russell
Means has fronted to promote the fight for justice in the names of
all American Indians, in fact for all indigenous people all over the
world! His personal "Holy Grail" has been the fight to restore the
lands of the Black Hills to their proper caretakers-the Lakota. I
have before mentioned my personal avoidance of Black Hills Gold
jewelry and the reasons behind it. In 1868 a treaty was entered with
the Lakota, promising them their Holy Lands. Then gold was
discovered and even though in a previous treaty it was stated no land
could be sold without 75% of the Lakota's approval, less than one
ninth of the population were given ample liquor and coerced into
putting their 'marks' on a piece of paper, which basically gave away
their rights to their sacred Paha Sapa. It amazes me the flippant
disregard Americans hold this event with, never realizing the Black
Hills are to the Lakota what Israel is to the Jewish. Their
traditions state that they came from the earth in the Black Hills,
this is where they lived for eons before white men forced them to
take residence up on the open plains.
While making a stand for attention to the betrayal of the Lakota
people, they camped out atop Mt. Rushmore. Upon arrival, they
scouted about to get a feel for things, and discovered postcards
being sold that depicted the Wounded Knee massacre in 1890. The
picture showed a mass grave, Indian bodies piled high and the
cavalrymen looking mighty proud of a 'job well done'. This was in
the early 70's, not more than 30 years ago the lives lost of peaceful
Indian women and children were being touted as meaningless, just a
picture on a postcard showing how the American Way had triumphed over
those savages. The thought of this postcard makes me ill, angry and
saddened at the continuing ignorance prevalent in society. I never
plan on visiting Mt. Rushmore, because I see it as insult to
injury. First the government steals the Sacred Lands of the Lakota
and then carves the heads of men who contributed to their hardships.
Russell Means also played a large role in AIM, joining after it was
formed and becoming heavily involved in it's fight to promote the
rights of American Indians. AIM stands for the American Indian
Movement and while it was touted in media and by government as a
militant group, they formed to bring power to the voices of ignored
Indians across the country. The BIA (Bureau of Indian Affairs) was
once taken and held by AIM and followers of AIM. The government
funded BIA was unable to perform any duties for over a week, and was
never missed. What better example of bureaucratic waste of taxpayers
money can there be?
After reading this autobiography, I am convinced that the 'land-grab'
the American government started so long ago is still going strong to
this day. People will say it's just the way it is, the conquered
become property of the conquerers-get over it. Yet, I still believe
in what is right, what is just and I don't understand how anyone can
look at the lands originally granted to hundreds of Nations of
American Indians compared to what they are today and not feel the
wrong done to them. There are many nations that have completely
disappeared, slowly having their lands chipped away until they no
longer have the will, strength or numbers to continue fighting for
their ancestral lands. Whole cultures have faded into American
Society and I see that as something to be saddened by, not gladdened by.
I will continue the review of Russell Means' autobiography in Part
2. To learn more about Russell Means, his continuing fight for the
Lakota and Indigenous people around the world, you can visit these
two sites. The T.R.E.A.T.Y. site is dedicated to his personal fight
for total immersion schools for Lakota children-to teach them their
language and traditions, because it is still illegal for them to
learn their own language in the schools our government sets up on
reservation lands. I admire this man for his never-ending struggle
to bring his people back to balance and harmony, against the greatest
of odds and always having to fight the ignorance of the majority.
.
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