Looking at our online resources for this module, I was struck by the long-lasting consequences of some U.S. policies regarding our First Nations. I started with the American Indian Film Institute website, and came to a short film about the Lakota people, their impoverished lives on the Pine Ridge reservation, their efforts to keeps their traditions and language alive with their young people, and the amazing affinity they have with their horses. The film is called "Mitakuye Oyasin" (We are all related) I knew that horses were a central part of many Indian nations' lives, but I did not realize how sacred and beloved they were and how much the horses were a revered part of the family. The speaker in the movie talks about honoring the horses like " a mother, a father, a grandmother, a grandfather..." She states that the horse is part of the Lakota identity, that all Indian children can ride instinctively, and that when the horses were killed in droves by U.S policy, the Lakota lost their way of life. Horses had allowed them to hunt efficiently, to communicate with other groups, to move swiftly when necessary, to defend themselves, and their loss coincided with the Lakota's defeat and their settlement in reservations. That a people's loss of mobility equated to their loss of freedom and hope, was an efficient government policy allowing white settlement in areas otherwise invincible, but the consequences are heartbreaking. .Extreme poverty, very high unemployment, suicide rates for teenagers four times higher than those of the general population, disease and low life expectancy for the Lakota are all related to living on the reservation nowadays. There is concern that if conditions do not improve rapidly, the Lakota could disappear, and an effort is being done to reintroduce the wild horses to their lands. This situation is a far cry from life on the Great Plains, where thousands of wild horses roamed freely and the Lakota had such a symbiotic relationship with them that the horses did not need to be fenced in. As white settlers started moving west, the US reneged on one treaty after another to make room for homesteaders and prospectors, and enacted harsh measures such as the extermination of horses and buffalo to force the Lakota's relocation; The beautiful wild horses that were intrinsic to Lakota life were slaughtered in droves to handicap the Indians: "The Us Army killed or confiscated most of their horses as a matter of policy." (Nokotahorse.org) The grand scale extermination of horses and buffalo by the US government in order to facilitate white settlement shows a complete disregard for the long-term consequences of their actions.
Sources:
http://aifisf.com/best-of-the-american-indian-film-festival-presented-by-ak-chin-indian-community/
http://nokotahorse.org/cms/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=46&Itemid=12
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5m8pMmcEkSA
P.S. Now that I am citing my sources, I cannot find how I got from the film website to "Mitakuye Oyasin" but I am including a you tube link.
