StudentShare
Contact Us
Sign In / Sign Up for FREE
Search
Go to advanced search...
Free

Civilize Them With a Stick by Mary Crow Dog - Essay Example

Cite this document
Summary
Although the rationale behind Mary Crow Dog’s will to resistance is clear, what is entirely unclear is why a city educated comparatively wealthy white girl from New York would engage herself in such a type of resistance and revolution as the author indicated. This brief essay…
Download free paper File format: .doc, available for editing
GRAB THE BEST PAPER93.2% of users find it useful
Civilize Them With a Stick by Mary Crow Dog
Read Text Preview

Extract of sample "Civilize Them With a Stick by Mary Crow Dog"

Dr. Hartnett Section/# Essay One Organizing Civil Disobedience Although the rationale behind Mary Crow Dog’s will to resistance is clear, what is entirely unclear is why a city educated comparatively wealthy white girl from New York would engage herself in such a type of resistance and revolution as the author indicated. This brief essay will attempt to disagree with the way in which the supposed “teacher” sought to engage the students in a type of Marxist Revolution that they were neither ready for nor fully understood the ramifications of.

Although the revolution that the teacher inspired within the students, to include Mary Crow Dog, did not affect any type of violence, it nonetheless was based on revolutionary/Marxist movements that were sweeping the United States at that time that were based on violence and therefore the causation of such a movement was necessarily grounded in violent revolution. Rather than advocating such a violent revolution and antagonizing influence among the student body, this author believes that a much more effective strategy for change could have drawn upon the influences of Dr.

Martin Luther King and others who have advocated non-violence throughout history. It should be understood that the “hippie”, described to the reader as “Wise” did not actively advocate a violent solution to the repression that the students on the reservation faced; instead, she merely drew inspiration from movements such as the Black Panthers, Young Lords, and Weathermen. Although advocating a sense of liberation and freedom from an overly repressive regime was no doubt needed and overdue, the fact of the matter was that holding such groups up to a repressed minority as exemplifiers of the best means to accomplish one’s goal is of course the very worst example that could be given (Mulloy 217).

Although each of the groups that has been mentioned head its own reasons for defying the powers of the time, the means by which these groups accomplished their goals often relied on intimidation, violence, and coercion. As such, indoctrinating a group of young impressionable students with such hatred was shortsighted and foolish on her part. Said Wise, “Black people are getting it on. Indians are getting it on in St. Paul and California. How about you? – Why don’t you put out an underground paper, mimeograph it, it’s easy tell it like it is.

Let it all hang out” (Bird 307). Although the idea of freedom and the ability to express oneself regarding the issues that most severely affected the life of the girls and boys at the institute was useful, welcome and much needed, the fact of the matter is that this type of tacit support from an educator encouraged students so fully that they put out a paper that included quotes such as the following: “I put all my anger and venom into it. I called him a goddam wasicun son of a bitch.

I wrote that he knew nothing about Indians and should go bac to where he came from, teaching white children whom he could relate to. I wrote that we know which priests slept with which nuns and that all they ever could think about was filling their bellies and buying a new car” (Bird 308). Although many of these items were no doubt true, such a vitriolic and hate-filled expression of feelings would have little effect in seeking to liberate the students; rather, it only served to invite a crack down from administration.

Such a short sighted approach by “Wise” showed that she truly was an idealistic city girl that knew and appreciated little of the struggles that those who lived and went to school on the reservation had to endure on a daily basis. Though the girls identified with her and appreciated the new way in which she approached topics regarding freedom and liberation, the fact of the matter was that neither the students nor the teacher had little if any experience in what it meant to resist and/or to go against the system.

In this way, the naiveté of both the students and the teacher is exhibited in the fact that the obvious conclusion of the episode was not anticipated by the instructor that at first sought to instigate it.Although the rationale behind the resistance is well understood and the authorities that sought to repress the girls and boys at the school were reprehensible, the approach that “Wise” advocated was entirely foolish. Although it helped to provide a powerful epiphany for Mary Crow Dog, the result of such a brash and brazen disregard for civility and dialogue is cringe-worthy.

To her credit, “Wise” did not have the advantage of seeing the Black Panther and Weathermen movements for what they were: politically motivated hate groups that sought to widen the divide between peoples in order to advocate complete and total revolution to achieve their goals. Works CitedBird, Mary. Lakota woman. New York, NY: HarperPerennial, 1991.Mulloy, D. J. "New Panthers, Old Panthers And The Politics Of Black Nationalism In The United States." Patterns Of Prejudice 44.3 (2010): 217-238.

Academic Search Complete. Web. 11 Nov. 2012.

Read More
Cite this document
  • APA
  • MLA
  • CHICAGO
(“Civilize Them With a Stick by Mary Crow Dog Essay”, n.d.)
Retrieved from https://studentshare.org/literature/1608194-civilize-them-with-a-stick-by-mary-crow-dog
(Civilize Them With a Stick by Mary Crow Dog Essay)
https://studentshare.org/literature/1608194-civilize-them-with-a-stick-by-mary-crow-dog.
“Civilize Them With a Stick by Mary Crow Dog Essay”, n.d. https://studentshare.org/literature/1608194-civilize-them-with-a-stick-by-mary-crow-dog.
  • Cited: 5 times

CHECK THESE SAMPLES OF Civilize Them With a Stick by Mary Crow Dog

Conflict between Federalist and Anti-Federalist: Manifestation in American Politics Today

During the “dog Days”, people used horses and traditional firearms to protect their communities against the enemy.... b) Old Lady Horse of the Kiowa and Pretty Shield of the crow talk about what the disappearance of the buffalo meant to their societies and economies.... The Blackfoot community that was famous in rearing buffaloes fought the enemy so hard and managed to send them to the buffer zones.... The fundamental reason that led to the extermination of buffaloes was the desire to civilize and improve economically....
4 Pages (1000 words) Essay

Causes and Cost of Women Economic Marginalization in Third World Countries - Pakistan and India

Advocacy Briefing Causes and Cost of women economic marginalization in third world countries Special focus on Pakistan and India “Women often times are unheralded in the work that they do for the economies of their families, communities and even their nations.... hellip; Despite the significant progress, there is still a wealth of untapped potential in women....
10 Pages (2500 words) Essay

Sustainability in Event Industry

Tourism is only beneficial in the long run if it is managed in a manner that enhances cultural and environmental sustainability, therefore culminating into sustainable tourism; which results from careful resource management such as to ensure the aesthetic needs are met while cultural integrity and biological diversity are preserved It is estimated that over the last decade, the Caribbean could have lost over 80 percent of it coral reef owing to environmental degradation and host of human events; not the least among them tourist related activities (Balch, 2013)....
5 Pages (1250 words) Essay

The Palace of King Minos

'One of the great islands of the world in midsea, in the winedark sea, is Krete: spacious and rich and populous, with ninety cities and a mingling of tonguesand one among their ninety towns is Knossos.... Here lived King Minos' As we made our way in from the coast after a journey of rough seas, our entourage of archeologists set forth up the mild steppes of Crete's rugged and beautiful coast toward our destination at Knossos where we would be commencing work with Sir....
8 Pages (2000 words) Essay

Robinson Crusoe - a Story of a Common Man Surviving Uncommon Conditions

Jeremy Hubbell says that through 'Robinson Crusoe', Defoe was giving an idea to England that psychological tools like reason, ethic and protestant faith can make them successful in colonialism.... The paper "Robinson Crusoe - a Story of a Common Man Surviving Uncommon Conditions" discusses that Robinson Crusoe is a story of a boy, who takes the journey that his heart desires and through rough and rougher times, is transformed from a boy who believes in fate to a man who believes in miracles....
11 Pages (2750 words) Research Paper

The Boston Massacre Trial, 1770

If the civilians had behaved themselves a little better, the soldiers would not have felt the need to react against them in any way.... In September 1768, the Governor sent forth to Boston two British military troops to help restore order and respect for British law after many of Boston's residents refused to pay the required custom duties (Linder, 2001)....
2 Pages (500 words) Research Paper

El Dorado and Houyhnhnm Land

? By conversing with the Houyhnhnms, and looking upon them with delight, I fell to imitate their gait and gesture, which is now grown into a habit; and my friends often tell me, in a blunt way, “that I trot like a horse;” which, however, I take for a great compliment.... ? They have a kind of tree, which at forty years old loosens in the root, and falls with the first storm: it grows very straight, and being pointed like stakes with a sharp stone (for the Houyhnhnms know not the use of iron), they stick them erect in the ground, about ten inches asunder, and then weave in oat straw, or sometimes wattles, between them....
29 Pages (7250 words) Essay

Architectural History and Building Colosseum

ere were eighty entry points at the ground level which seventy-six of them were used by ordinary spectators.... The paper "Architectural History and Building Colosseum" focuses on the influence of the material and technology in the design of Colosseum.... The author of the paper discusses the structure of the building, the interpretation of architectural forms, stylistic identification and differentiation....
6 Pages (1500 words) Coursework
sponsored ads
We use cookies to create the best experience for you. Keep on browsing if you are OK with that, or find out how to manage cookies.
Contact Us