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The radical history of the Red Power movement's fight for Native American sovereignty

The radical history of the Red Power movement's fight for Native American sovereignty

Nov 27, 2020 1 min, 33 secs

policies toward Native American people.

Through the Red Power movement, Indigenous activists challenged those practices—and cultivated a sense of pride in their communities—as they demanded sovereignty and self-determination.

government—which had once recognized Native American tribes as nations—began to dismantle Native sovereignty under a policy of “termination.” Under the pretense of helping Native people assimilate into mainstream American society, the federal government terminated the tribal status of more than 100 tribes and bands, removed more than a million acres of land from its protection, and attempted to relocate Native Americans from reservations to urban areas.

The Bureau of Indian Affairs, the federal agency that had imposed laws on Native Americans without their input or approval since 1824, became a symbol of hatred and oppression.

In response, a growing movement of young Native Americans sought to reclaim their sovereignty through what they called the Red Power movement.

Though the activists didn’t get their island, they inspired awareness and more protests from groups like American Indian Movement (AIM).

The occupation of Alcatraz Island galvanized a movement through which Native Americans won back much of their sovereignty.

President Jimmy Carter refused to meet with the activists, but Congress withdrew the bills and instead passed the 1978 American Indian Religious Freedom Act, which protected Native rituals.

(Here's how Olympic lacrosse is next battleground for Native American sovereignty.).

government reversed its policy of termination, giving tribes the ability to control their own affairs through the Indian Self-Determination and Education Assistance Act.

Armed with a new national awareness of the injustices Native Americans faced and new investment in the preservation of Native culture, Native Americans managed to seize much of their long-denied sovereignty

Bruce Johansen, a professor of Native American studies at the University of Nebraska at Omaha and author of The Encyclopedia of the American Indian Movement, calls the period “a voyage of discovery and recovery of culture.”

Summarized by 365NEWSX ROBOTS

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