Civil Disobedience In Mary Crow Dog’s Lakota Woman Experience is the key to living life and helping others live a better life. It is important for a person to know that mistakes are what make people grow and understand things. There is saying that goes like this, “History will repeat itself” (unknown). This quote is an important message to the people of the world because one day, history will repeat itself and the world must be ready to face what is to come. With this in mind, people have to look over the history that is dark and that is rarely explained.
Lakota Woman, a story by Mary Crow Dog is an autobiography of what an Indian woman went through during the times of discrimination and segregation of many people. Her story revolves around her life, her husband, and her traditions. Throughout the book, readers learn and understand how important it is to read about American Indians and their history. This book also focuses on AIM, which is the American Indian Movement, and how it was born and how it grew from there. Mary Crow Dog is an inspiring figure who wrote about her experience and helped bring awareness to Indians and their lives.
Throughout history, people all over the world have done something for equality, or equity. These people have made a difference or an impact on hundreds of cultures and societies. Yet, Mary Crow Dog’s experience has taught me that the government is corrupt, Indians have suffered more than what most people realize and there are people who are still suffering in the world based on the bad actions of the American government. School teaches students many things and changes the perspective of how people look at things.
For example, all throughout elementary school and middle school, the events of 9/11, the genocide of the Jews, and Martin Luther King, Jr. ‘s speech have been drilled into the minds of thousands of kids. Native Americans and their movements were only ever mentioned once or twice throughout those times. For example, they were mentioned when Christopher Columbus arrived in the Americas and mentioned in the times of Thanksgiving.
Lakota Woman changes the perspective of those who read the book because it shows a different side of history and how the government was corrupt. You need a white man’s education to live in this world. Speaking Indian would only hold you back, turn you the wrong way. “(Crow Dog 83 of 971). To start off, the whites had taken over the land of the Indians and now they wanted to civilize them and make them more like the white man. They were also unfair to the woman and their laws; “Indian girls accusing white cops are seldom taken seriously in South Dakota. ‘You know how they are,’ the courts are told, ‘they’re always asking for it”(Crow Dog 247 of 971).
Rape was always a big issue and yet, the officials did not do anything about it because they were the ones doing it. Another issue was blaming Indians for public disturbances when they were not the ones who started the mess. “Our Indian friends and clients have been assaulted by a bunch of vicious, white, drunken, would be rapists, but they are willing to withdraw these charges if your cowboys withdraw theirs. ” (Crow Dog 261 of 971). These problems have been going on for hundreds of years and they still are a big problem today. The Indians have suffered so much that “the U.
S. Indian population reached its low point — less than 250,000, compared to an estimated eight million in 1492″(Huey 8:57). Aaron Huey learned about the Lakota people and took pictures of their living conditions and comparing that to the conditions described by Mary Crow Dog: they are very similar. The United States government still continues to ignore the Indians and how they are suffering to this day. “How shall we define civil disobedience so that we may have a common ground for discussing it? I will define it as the deliberate violation of a law in pursuit of some so (Zinn 125).
While reading Lakota Woman, I realized that AIM was taking part of violating the law in order to give the government a message. AIM was seen as evil and dangerous to the whites, because the media and government portrayed them that way. For many Indians, it was a sign of hope and a sign of a new beginning. Yet once again, the government goes against the Declaration of Independence which states “that all men are created equal. ” In which, the government put AIM leaders and Indians in jail for events that only happened because they wanted to be heard.
Or they were falsely put in prison just for the sake that people wanted to see someone pay for the actions of another. This is what happened to Mary Crow Dog’s husband, Leonard when he was accused of knowing the location of Leonard Peltier, who has been considered a political prisoner. “There were a lot of things wrong with AIM” and Mary admitted that but it was still an organization that had a message worth fighting for (Crow Dog 277 of 971). There are a lot of things wrong with movements in the beginning, but throughout history, people see that the end result is usually good and the fight is worth it.
Martin Luther King Jr. , was a leader in the African-American civil rights movement and his cause was related around the same things as the Indians. Something that black people had in common with Indians were that they had the same disrespectful treatment given to them from the white people. “There are those who are asking the devotees of civil rights, ‘when will you be satisfied? ‘ We can never be satisfied as long as the Negro is the victim of the unspeakable horrors of police brutality”(King).
Indians, as well as black suffered under the hate of the white man. They were raped, beaten, and falsely charged with things that they were barely even a part of. They were stripped of what they believed in and were hated for the causes they supported. “The blacks want what the whites have, which is understandable. They want in. We Indians want out” (Crow Dog 279 of 971). While these two groups did have some differences, their treatment was very similar. The purpose of AIM was to be heard and get the equality that they deserved from the white man.
They wanted to keep their land sacred and be free from the influence of the whites. It seems as if all white men are bad, but not all of them are. There were many who helped in whichever way they could and also were contributors to the cause. In today’s society, it is hard to tell who is the victim anymore. Social media and the news always tries to pick a side and it is hard to tell what is the truth and what is a lie. The United States has hidden a lot of information from the public and it has changed the way people look at things, especially the government.
People try and expose the faults in America’s democracy but it is hard because while people have the freedom of speech and press, they still are limited to things that go against what the public should and shouldn’t hear. Social justice figures are important because they stand for a cause. They want to make the world a better place with ideals that fit a lot of people’s needs. While things have changed over the past century, issues that were a problem back then, are still a problem now. People face discrimination, people face the unknown, and people face unsuppressed power within powerful corporations.
In the end, the American people will stand for what they believe, even when most people will agree that it is not right or just. Something that should change is how people look at American history. America is seen as a model country with its motto, “land of the free, home of the brave. ” Our history is praised for the good deeds of the people who rose against the evil and injustice in America and yet in today’s world, people are still discriminated against, people are still treated poorly, and people are still seen as underprivileged and poor.
Our history has missing links to how America came to be and that is not right. Hopefully, someday people will learn about the mistakes that America has done or about the wrongdoings of America’s government and how to prevent it before it happens again. History is an important aspect in America and people like Mary Crow Dog expose the real life scenarios of how history was to Indians. Mary Crow Dog’s story teaches people many things and the knowledge taken from this story should be reflected on the lives of the American people.
Her story and others like her are the reason why people must learn history and know what to do in order for things like that to never happen again. History will repeat itself, yet we must learn so that terrible events will not happen again. While American history textbooks may show the most important events in American history, it is important to learn about everything else that all people went through in America. Life will be so different once people are made aware of all the things that makes America what it is today.
