Introduction
He was born in 1939 in South Dakota’s Pine Ridge Reservation. The eldest son of Hank Means , Theodora (Feather) Means, which stands for a full-blooded Yankton Sioux. Russell is known to abhor what other Americans refer to him as Native American. This is a generic term that is used to refer to the indigenous prisoners of the United States. These are the Micronesians, American Samoans, and the Aleutes, erroneously termed Eskimos (inupiats and Upiks), Hawaiians and the American Indian.
He says he prefers the term American Indian because with it he says he knows the origin. The word Indian comes from two Spanish words, En Dio which when translated means, in with God. In the international conference of Indians from America that was held in 1977 at the United Nations Geneva, Switzerland, Russell stands out with the common agreement that was reached; to go under the term American Indian. He says they were colonized under the term American Indians, enslaved as American Indians and he believes that they will gain their independence under the term American Indian, Annette, J., (1992).
Native Americans in the United States
It’s a term used to refer to the indigenous people from the North America region that is encompassed by the currently continental United States that includes part of Alaska. They are composed of a number of distinct states, tribes and ethnic groups. Many of these still endure as political communities. There is a controversy over the wide range of terms used to describe them. Some of these are known as Indians Amerindians, American Indians, Amerinds, Aboriginal, indigenous or Original Americans. Some of the Native Americans do not come from contiguous U.S. some of them come from insular regions and others from Alaska.
Some of these e.g. Alaskan Native such as Yupik Eskimos, Inupiaq and Aleuts are not always regarded as Native Americans although in the Census 2000 demographics they are listed as “Alaskan Native American Indian” collectively. Although it is not common to use this designation, some Pacific Islander American people and Native Hawaiians are sometimes also referred to as Native American, Snipp, C.M., (1989).
Russell was once described by the L.A times as the “the most famous American Indian since Sitting Bull and Crazy Horse,”. His life has been devoted towards eliminating racism. It was in the 1960s that he fought for the rights of the American Indians under the American Indian Movement (AIM). In 1978, he led “the Longest Walk” that was protesting anti-Indian legislation. He was the first national AIM director that led the 71-day armed takeover of the Wounded Knee battleground.
Of late, he has used Hollywood as a communication tool of peace and equal rights. His records of protest includes two albums of protest music, “Electric Warrior” And “The radical”. He has also contributed in the major films such as “Natural Born Killers,” “The Last of the Mohicans,” “Wind Runner” and “Wagons East”. He was father’s voice in Disney’s “Pocahontas” and also starred in “Under a Killing Moon”. his real life influence of the media and his activism make him to be a renown leader and spokesperson that people from all over the word appreciate and learn from, Sletcher, M., (2005).
His involvement with AIM
After being proclaimed the leader of AIM, he was part of Native Americans group that occupied Alcatraz Island for 19 months. He was one of the leader during AIM’s takeover of Mount Rushmore. He led the occupation, Wounded Knee by AIM in 1973, and in 1972, he had participated in the Bureau of Indian Affairs office takeover by AIM in Washington, D. C.
He first ran for presidency of his native Oglala Sioux tribe in 1974 against Dick Wilson. Although he lost and claimed inefficiency in the election procedures in a federal court which ordered a new election, Wilson’s government declined to carry this one out and the court also refused to enforce the ruling, Annette, J., (1992).
Other involvement in politics
He supported libertarian political causes putting him at a disagreement level with other AIM leaders. He sought the Libertarian Party nomination for presidency which he lost to Congressman Ron Paul although he had attracted a considerable support within the party. He began an independent candidacy for Governor of New Mexico in 2001 which he was not listed because of some procedural problems. He then ran for Oglala Sioux presidency supported by Twila Leebaux but narrowly lost to incumbent John Yellow Bird Steele, Kathryn W., (2004).
In his argument against the use of the word “Native American” in favor of the “American Indian”, he argues that the use of the word Indian in the phrase is from an Italian expression indios, which means “in God” or “as God made them” and not from a confusion with the word India. He also argues that treaties as well as other legal documents write “Indian” on them, and not “Native American.” The Indian people can use the term Indian as a loophole to engage in legal proceedings in a struggle to regain their land.
He announced on December 20, 2007, the withdrawal of Lakota Sioux from all treaties in the United States government. With his delegation of activists, he declared Lakota a sovereign nation that was to enjoy property rights thousands of square miles in South Dakota, Nebraska, North Dakota, Montana and Wyoming. Although their website, Republic of Lakota website asserted that their group held a “traditional treaty councils” meeting in eight communities, they admitted that their delegation did not act for elected tribal governments. In a different briefing, he asserted that his group does represent collaborators whom he termed as tribal government and Vichy Indians set up by United States of America whom he compared to the French leaders of Nazi Germany-Occupied France headquartered at Vichy in France, Kathryn W., (2004).
Means is well known for his struggle of Lakota Secession. During this time he was quoted saying that they were no longer citizens of the United States of America and thus those who lived in the five state area that encompassed “their” country was free to join them. According to him, the new Lakota nation was not to charge taxes and was to issue its own passports and drivers licenses. Within the nation, there were going to be loosely confederated autonomous communities each of them making their own community rules.
In this attempt, he was trying to break the 150 year old treaty with the United States that made the large Lakota Reservation part of U.S. He argues out that as per Article VI of the Unites States constitution, treaties being the supreme law of the land can be renounced if they were worthless. He characterizes the Lakota-United States treaties of 1851 and 1868 as one of the worthless treaties. He argues out that although the treaties were designed in such a manner as to make the Native people sovereign, in practice the treaties are sovereign, Annette, J., (1992).
Conclusion
Russell Means is one of the America’s contemporary prolific and best-known activists for the American Indian rights. He has pursued careers in acting, politics and music. Russell believes that the American Indian stands out to be the only ethnic group within the United States that had the American before the American ethnicity. Russell stands out strong with a believe that he will not allow any government to define who he was.
Reference
Annette, Jaimes M. The State of Native America: Genocide, Colonization, and Resistance By.South End Press Boston. 1992
Snipp, C.M. American Indians: The first of this land. New York: Russell Sage Foundation. 1989.
Sletcher, Michael, ‘North American Indians’, in Will Kaufman and Heidi Macpherson, eds., Britain and the Americas: Culture, Politics, and History, 2 vols., Oxford. 2005.
Kathryn Winona Shanley.The Paradox of Native American Indian Intellectualism and Literature MELUS, Vol. 29. 2004.