The Red Power Movement: Activism for Sovereignty and Determination

The Red Power Movement have utilized many methods to promote positive change, with their most significant methods being occupation, speeches and marches. The majority of these methods were a directly confrontational and civil disobedience approach that included mass, militant, and unified action, which enacted change in a more rapid fashion than other movements such as NCAI, which used negotiations and settlements.

A common method used by the Red Power movement is occupation, which is an act of protest that is often used by social movements in order to take and hold public and symbolic spaces. Occupation attempts to use space as an instrument in order to achieve political and economic change.

This method has been instrumental in the Red Power movement, with over 6 occupations over the course of the movement, including Wounded Knee, which began on February 27, 1973, when approximately 200 Oglala Lakota and members of AIM seized and occupied the town of Wounded Knee on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation, which was a symbolic site due to the 1890 Wounded Knee Massacre. The protesters criticized the government's failure to fulfill treaties with Native American people and demanded the reopening of treaty negotiations. The activists controlled the town for 71 days. For weeks during and after the event, it received international coverage and was considered as a major event and public relations victory, as Americans became increasingly aware and sympathetic to the Indian cause. Other notable occupations include Alcatraz, D-Q University Mount Rushmore, and Winter Dam.

Speeches were another method utilized by the movement, with individual statements and proclamations highlighting the oppression of Native Americans. They have been fundamental in raising awareness about the oppression of Native Americans, and through the systematic persuasion and pressure from the protestors public opinion and government policies have been changed for the better.

Notable protests include the speech given by Wampanoag leader Wamsutta on 1970 for the celebration of the 350th anniversary of the Pilgrim arrival. His speech marked the first day of the first National Day of Mourning. Wamsutta was invited to make a speech at the celebration, however when his speech was reviewed by the anniversary planners, they decided it would not be appropriate. To protest the attempted silencing of his position detailing the uncomfortable truth of the First Thanksgiving, he and his supporters went to neighbouring Cole's Hill overlooking Plymouth Harbour and Wamsutta gave his speech. Wamsutta based his speech on a Pilgrim's account of the first year in North America: a recollection of opening of graves, taking existing supplies of corn and bean, and selling Wampanoag as slaves for 220 shillings each. His words 'We forfeited our country. Our lands have fallen into the hands of the aggressor. We have allowed the white man to keep us on our knees,” marked the first National Day of mourning, and consequently, every year it continues to commemorate the past and present struggles of Native American peoples.

Marches were another method in raising awareness and enacting change utilized extensively by the Red Power Movement. The Longest Walk, is a notable event that included several thousand American Indian activists and supporters. The first walk began on February 11, 1978 with a ceremony on Alcatraz Island to initiate the march. The 5,100 km walk's purpose was to educate people about the government's continuing threat to Tribal Sovereignty, the rights of Native people in the United States and to protest 11 anti-Indian bills introduced in Congress that threatened treaty rights. Emphasizing the walk as a peaceful spiritual protest, thousands of Native activists, spiritual leaders, allies, and community members gathered together to support the movement. After 5 months, the march/walk concluded in Washington, D.C., where the protestors stayed in the capital for the following week to ensure that their voices were heard and to conduct workshops to educate others about Native people, bringing together members of different Native nations to share knowledge and experience. As a result of this activism, Congress passed the American Indian Religious Freedom Act, which allowed Native Americans the use of peyote in worship. Since then, there has been four additional major walks/marches, with each drawing to attention specific issues afflicting Native American peoples, including the protection of scared sites, domestic abuse and highlighting diabetes a disease that many native people struggle to combat. These marches are an effective method of promoting positive change due to their peaceful nature and the wide-reaching nature of the protest that educates a wide demographic of people.

The use of a wide range of protesting methods have resulted in the widespread education of the American public, as well as many crucial negotiations with the American Government. Occupations, being a directly confrontational approach, and often being controversial, have achieved widespread awareness about the oppression of Native Americans, and directly challenged the American Government, thus persuading them in a more rapid fashion than other, more peaceful protests. Speeches have been a more passive approach compared to occupations, however, they excel in uniting, inspiring and educating people. Speeches are instrumental to all civil right movements as the deliverance of passionate speeches by leading figures are a voice for the oppression and struggles people go through. People can relate to and rally around a central figure and resonate with the words being broadcasted to an extensive audience. Finally, marches, another method of promoting positive change, are equally as effective. They gain international recognition and involve thousands of people and media coverage while still being a peaceful method that anybody can join. They have the added benefit of educating and raising awareness to all the people they come in contact with. Overall, the various methods of activism used by the Red Power Movement have enacted several positive changes in Government laws and policies as well as the mindsets of the general public.