Sociology 4949: Worksheet--"Spirit of Crazy Horse" (1990)
1. Describe the conflict betweent the "hostiles" and the "stay-around-the-fort" Indians, as the narrator terms them. What created the violence?
2. How does that conflict relate to the economics of the reservation?
3. How does it relate to racial differences on the reservation?
4. How has the revival of Lakota culture helped to bridge the gap between these two groups?
5. The Lakota are in South Dakota at least in part because of events in Minnesota in the early 1860s; read the account of what happened following the U.S.-Dakota War of 1862, from an Indian perspective, at the following website: http://www.dakota-march.50megs.com/onered.html. What about the charge of "ethnic cleansing?" Do you see it as having any validity?
1. One of the themes of our course thus far has been the relationship between economic conflict and racial/ethnic conflict. The original economic conflict between whites and Indians is obvious--the land. What ongoing economic conflicts are still involved in white-Lakota relations?
2. Of all minority groups in the United States, American Indians have probably been the most resistant to acculturation. Begin to develop a theory about this. In other words, what might be the general conditions that make a group more resistant to acculturation, and how do those conditions apply to American Indians?
3. Describe the ways in which the federal courts proposed settlement of Lakota claims to the Black Hills highlights differences between the economic values of the two cultures. Were you surprised to find the Lakota rejecting the court's solution? What do you believe should be done to resolve this dispute?
4. What was the impact of FBI presence on the conflicts on this reservation? What are the factors that make it difficult for an outside law enforcement agency to have a positive impact in this kind of situation?
5. Melissa Walls in our department, who does research relating to Indian suicide rates, called my attention to a recent article in the The Guardian, January 11, 2010 about the Pine Ridge Reservation. This year the tribe's president, Theresa Two Bulls, has declared a "suicide state of emergency." More than 100 people including quite a few children tried of succeeded in taking their lives this past year. Per capita income on the reservation is less than $7000. There is a severe shortage of jobs. Many people's image is that Indians have prospered with casino gambling, and the Pine Ridge Lakota have the Prairie Wind Casino, but "it is a sad affair, too isolated to make real money." The Pine Ridge police captain says: "I'd say the majority of problems we having right now, 90% of it is alcohol." There is also a major problem with gangs modeled on urban black and Latino gangs. What do suppose happened to the hopefulness we see in the last part of our movie (which dates all the way back to 1990)?