Issues
Indian Influence & Contributions
to America and the world
Indian human & civil rights
movement
During the 1960's,
American Indian people as a collective whole
decided we had
had enough of being mistreated, insulted, and
just plain kicked
to the curb by the United States of America. For
decades, we had
existed in this land we have called home for time
immemorial as invisible
people. Mainstream Americans considered
us all dead and
gone. Countless books were written about the
'Vanishing Peoples
of North America'. Meanwhile, during all the
changes America
was going through - the first light bulb, the first
telephone, the
first automobile - we, the First People remained.
We were regarded
by many as not much more than a dream of
the not-so-distant
past. Most Americans had either forgotten or not
learned that we
Indians were still here, or they had relegated us to
a dreamlike, romantisized
fantasy character like Santa Claus or the
Easter Bunny.
This is where the sports team names and mascots
began, during this
time when we were considered as mere objects
for America's play
and amusement. We were not regarded as real
people. We
were seen as 'noble savages', 'fierce warriors' and/or
'stoic chiefs'.
Thus many sports teams of the day, with this concept
that 'Indians'
were not real people, but make-believe characters,
decided to give
their teams 'Indian' names & mascots. Then came
the countless American
products which were given 'Indian' names
and faces, such
as: Land O Lakes Butter, Dakota Trucks, Navajo
Trucking Lines,
Mohawk Carpets, Tecumseh Motors, Pontiac Cars,
Winnebago RVs,
Seneca Sauerkraut, Big Chief Potatoes and many
more. All
these trivial images of 'Indians' everywhere, yet the real
Indian people were
barely acknowledged. The U.S. government
had developed many
'Acts' which were ultimately designed to
undermine and destroy
our ancient, complex societies. This
continued government
policy of 'Indian extermination' combined
with the trivialization
of our beautiful cultures by mainstream
America culminated
with the rising up of the Indian voice in the
1960's. We
were sick and tired of the way America mistreated us,
abused and insulted
us, and just plain ignored us as if we, the
original
people of this land, did not even exist. A new voice rose
out of the silence
of Indian country and gave many Americans
their first look
at the real Indian face. That voice, was AIM....
The
American Indian Movement was just that - a movement. It was
organized,
politically empowered, and radical when necessary.
For
generations, American Indian people had been made to be
ashamed
of being Indian. AIM helped to change that. Indian pride
began
to resurface. AIM was the spark that lit the fire, but it was
the
fire in the hearts of Indian people that was truly at work during
the
great changes of the 60's & 70's. No longer were we content to
sit
by and watch our Treaties be dishonored. No longer would we
silently
tolerate the trivialization of our race in American sports,
media,
entertainment and industry. We were fed up, and so we
stood
up, and spoke up. We continue to do so. There is way too
much
history on the American Indian civil rights movement to be
able
to include even a small portion of it adequately on this page.
The
fight for civil and human rights for all minority groups in this
country
continues today. May we all continue to learn.............
By John Two-Hawks