[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
.You may re-member Mary Crow Dog as the woman who famously gave birth toher baby right in the middle of that standoff, refusing to leave hercomrades-in-arms. Most of the New York women who had sup-ported us had been feminists, Crow Dog reports. On some points Ihad disagreed with them.To me, women s lib was mainly a white,upper-middle-class affair of little use to a reservation Indian woman.With all their good intentions some had patronized me, even used meas an exotic conversation piece at their fancy parties (244).I have no doubt that this is true.Perhaps I m even doing that myself, here.I have myself been guilty of a thing I call political codepen-dency, empowering myself by being so HELPful to a people inneed, thus helping myself to feel indispensable as well as not inneed of help myself.As noted, white women are susceptible to a tendency to interactwith others this way not least because our place within patriarchy istenuous.When white women HELP nonwhites, we cement our statusas representatives of whiteness.This is how we know that racial oppression and gender oppres-sion are inextricably linked.When she turns on C-SPAN, it takes onlya minute for a little girl (of any color) to see that she won t be runningthis town anytime soon.She can only HELP now as she is able, as sheis permitted and this ability will differ from race to race and fromclass to class.Political codependency is a problem not just for those we HELPbut also for ourselves.Psychologists will tell you that codependentsoften distract themselves from their own problems when they focuson the problems of others.So who s been in charge of women s rights while we white womenhave dabbled in native rights?Which brings us to the story of Joanna LeDeaux.I know.It s another long story.Last one, I promise. 280 Conclusions without EndsOn June 26, 1975, a day that shall live in infamy, LeDeaux, white,young, probably middle class, lived on the Pine Ridge Reservation ofSouth Dakota, serving as an aide to the Wounded Knee Defense Com-mittee.The committee had been set up to provide legal support formembers of the American Indian Movement who had been arrestedfor participation in the 1973 occupation of Wounded Knee.I won t rehash for you every detail of the day of the ResMurs (or Reservation Murders, the FBI s name for the case that resultedin the political imprisonment of Leonard Peltier), but the story ofJoanna LeDeaux is one you probably don t recall.After FBI SpecialAgents Ronald Williams and Jack R.Coler set out that morning witha warrant to arrest Jimmy Eagle for the incredibly pressing crime ofhaving stolen a pair of cowboy boots from a white poker buddy; afterthe agents followed Mr.X and his passenger in their pickup truckonto the Jumping Bull compound west of Wounded Knee, justsouth of Oglala; after (who shot first?) gunfire was exchanged; afterMr.X shot and killed Special Agents Williams and Coler, executionstyle; after Mr.X and his passenger left the area so their load of ex-plosives wouldn t be ignited by gunfire (yes, explosives Pine Ridgewas a war zone then); after Leonard Peltier, Bob Robideau, Dino But-ler, and others ran down from their camp and began exchanging firewith other agents from some elevated distance away; after most ofthe women and children in the compound had begun to leave thearea; after a large force of (somehow, mysteriously) nearby law en-forcement officials had begun to descend on the compound from alldirections; and just after Peltier, Robideau, and Butler approached theagents cars, surveyed the scene, listened to the radios and heard whatkind of force was coming down on them; and just after Peltier beganto help organize what would ultimately be a miraculous escape froma vast FBI dragnet in the middle of one of the most violent, chaotic moments incontemporary U.S.law enforcement history young, white Joanna LeDeaux walks down the ridge at theedge of the Jumping Bull compound to HELP.She had convinced the FBI to let her go in, hoping to negotiate acease-fire, arrange for any necessary medical help, and give thewomen and children a chance to leave safely.(Reading this again in Peter Matthiessen s In the Spirit of CrazyHorse, I m thinking, Bizarre. Ten Digressions on What s Wrong 281(I m thinking, Joanna, Joanna, Joanna.What the hell were youthinking?)But the women those who wanted to leave and children werealready gone.The gunfire had already ceased.The agents were dead,so Peltier had no leverage with which to negotiate.He had alreadywaited too long to get the hell out of there.An hour later, LeDeaux left.This strange incident began when LeDeaux had just happened tobe driving her station wagon near the shoot-out and she was stoppedby FBI Agent David Price, who tried to commandeer her vehicle be-cause his own engine had overheated in his rush to the scene.He toldher about the gunfire at the Jumping Bulls s house and she drove himto the area, insisting that he would have to get out before they arrived,so that she wouldn t be seen HELPING the FBI by driving him there [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
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.You may re-member Mary Crow Dog as the woman who famously gave birth toher baby right in the middle of that standoff, refusing to leave hercomrades-in-arms. Most of the New York women who had sup-ported us had been feminists, Crow Dog reports. On some points Ihad disagreed with them.To me, women s lib was mainly a white,upper-middle-class affair of little use to a reservation Indian woman.With all their good intentions some had patronized me, even used meas an exotic conversation piece at their fancy parties (244).I have no doubt that this is true.Perhaps I m even doing that myself, here.I have myself been guilty of a thing I call political codepen-dency, empowering myself by being so HELPful to a people inneed, thus helping myself to feel indispensable as well as not inneed of help myself.As noted, white women are susceptible to a tendency to interactwith others this way not least because our place within patriarchy istenuous.When white women HELP nonwhites, we cement our statusas representatives of whiteness.This is how we know that racial oppression and gender oppres-sion are inextricably linked.When she turns on C-SPAN, it takes onlya minute for a little girl (of any color) to see that she won t be runningthis town anytime soon.She can only HELP now as she is able, as sheis permitted and this ability will differ from race to race and fromclass to class.Political codependency is a problem not just for those we HELPbut also for ourselves.Psychologists will tell you that codependentsoften distract themselves from their own problems when they focuson the problems of others.So who s been in charge of women s rights while we white womenhave dabbled in native rights?Which brings us to the story of Joanna LeDeaux.I know.It s another long story.Last one, I promise. 280 Conclusions without EndsOn June 26, 1975, a day that shall live in infamy, LeDeaux, white,young, probably middle class, lived on the Pine Ridge Reservation ofSouth Dakota, serving as an aide to the Wounded Knee Defense Com-mittee.The committee had been set up to provide legal support formembers of the American Indian Movement who had been arrestedfor participation in the 1973 occupation of Wounded Knee.I won t rehash for you every detail of the day of the ResMurs (or Reservation Murders, the FBI s name for the case that resultedin the political imprisonment of Leonard Peltier), but the story ofJoanna LeDeaux is one you probably don t recall.After FBI SpecialAgents Ronald Williams and Jack R.Coler set out that morning witha warrant to arrest Jimmy Eagle for the incredibly pressing crime ofhaving stolen a pair of cowboy boots from a white poker buddy; afterthe agents followed Mr.X and his passenger in their pickup truckonto the Jumping Bull compound west of Wounded Knee, justsouth of Oglala; after (who shot first?) gunfire was exchanged; afterMr.X shot and killed Special Agents Williams and Coler, executionstyle; after Mr.X and his passenger left the area so their load of ex-plosives wouldn t be ignited by gunfire (yes, explosives Pine Ridgewas a war zone then); after Leonard Peltier, Bob Robideau, Dino But-ler, and others ran down from their camp and began exchanging firewith other agents from some elevated distance away; after most ofthe women and children in the compound had begun to leave thearea; after a large force of (somehow, mysteriously) nearby law en-forcement officials had begun to descend on the compound from alldirections; and just after Peltier, Robideau, and Butler approached theagents cars, surveyed the scene, listened to the radios and heard whatkind of force was coming down on them; and just after Peltier beganto help organize what would ultimately be a miraculous escape froma vast FBI dragnet in the middle of one of the most violent, chaotic moments incontemporary U.S.law enforcement history young, white Joanna LeDeaux walks down the ridge at theedge of the Jumping Bull compound to HELP.She had convinced the FBI to let her go in, hoping to negotiate acease-fire, arrange for any necessary medical help, and give thewomen and children a chance to leave safely.(Reading this again in Peter Matthiessen s In the Spirit of CrazyHorse, I m thinking, Bizarre. Ten Digressions on What s Wrong 281(I m thinking, Joanna, Joanna, Joanna.What the hell were youthinking?)But the women those who wanted to leave and children werealready gone.The gunfire had already ceased.The agents were dead,so Peltier had no leverage with which to negotiate.He had alreadywaited too long to get the hell out of there.An hour later, LeDeaux left.This strange incident began when LeDeaux had just happened tobe driving her station wagon near the shoot-out and she was stoppedby FBI Agent David Price, who tried to commandeer her vehicle be-cause his own engine had overheated in his rush to the scene.He toldher about the gunfire at the Jumping Bulls s house and she drove himto the area, insisting that he would have to get out before they arrived,so that she wouldn t be seen HELPING the FBI by driving him there [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]