Women of All Red of All Red Nations

by Carol Epstein

"A nation is not conquered until the hearts of its women are on the ground."

On June 25 about 30 members of Women of All Red Nations (WARN) celebrated the 104th anniversary of the Little Big Horn victory, when Ohio-born General Custer met his defeat. Traditionally portrayed as a merciless armed attack by Sioux Indians, led by Crazy Horse, upon unarmed forces, Custer's last stand actually amounted to an ill-advised, planned attack by well-armed cavalry troops upon the Sioux. WARN women celebrate the defeat of Custer because his military career was based upon the genocide of Native American people. At the time of Little Big Horn in 1876, Custer's interest in a fresh victory as a popular war hero was conceived as a scheme to achieve a democratic nomination for the Presidency. Of course we didn't learn these details in our American history courses; oppressed peoples always have to fight hard to wedge the facts into the American consciousness.

WARN women, escorted by Cleveland police, walked a 7-mile trek, starting from the American Indian Center at 5500 Lorain Avenue. With placards and chants announcing their purpose, they walked to the Tri-C Metro Campus, CSU, and ended at the Cleveland Stadium. For WARN, the Cleveland Stadium symbolizes a profit-making business, the Cleveland Indians, which promotes a racist logo of a cheerful, large-nosed Indian swinging a baseball bat. The discrimination suit of 1973 which challenges the use of such blatant racism and the exploitation of Native Americans remains unresolved. In fact, because the Cleveland Indians have been so successful at postponing scheduled court dates, it has never even gone to trial. The case is currently expected, to begin in October.

WARN, a national affiliate of the American Indian Movement (AIM), has a local active member.ship of some 40 women. However, an Indian woman does not have to apply for membership; every woman becomes a WARN member from the moment of her birth. The organization was started in 1976 by wives and friends of the male political leadership of AIM. One of its goals was to bring to the non-Indian world's attention the role of Native American women who have been repeatedly ignored by the establishment media. WARN does not advocate an antagonistic stance toward their Indian brothers, although as WARN leader Lynda Clause explains, there is reason to criticize some Indian men who, after converting to Christianity and adopting the values of dominant white culture, have taken to drinking in bars arid wife-beating. However, at this time the survival of their common heritage, values, lifestyle, and religion as Native Americans must be their primary goal.

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more Indians realize the value of their original ways.

The tragic and complex history of American Indian oppression lies beyond the scope of this article. Let it be said that white culture has radically altered the entire structure and integrity of Indian life. When the "white man" forced the Indians off their lands, he had little respect for them and cared little for

MY DEAR WOMAN-

IF YOUR DAUGHTER COESN'T UNDERSTAND That the INDIANS Hap it coming-SHE CERTAINLY Hashe BenefiteD FROM AN AMERICAN EDUCATION.

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where they-should-go. Many tribes were-scuttled off to reservations and shuffled from one to another as convenience dlerated

During the Truman-Eisenhower years the government's concept of "termination" came into vogue. It was explained to the Indians that they had "made It," in the sense that they now preferred non-

LOCAL NEWS

traditional ways. After termination begins, the reservation is closed, the tribe disbanded, the land divided and sold, and federal assistance substantially withdrawn. As a result, another concept called "relocation" is implemented. Otherwise known as cultural genocide, relocation encourages Indians to move into urban areas under the "guidance" of the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA), commonly called "Boss Indians Around" by Indian activists.

The government tries to excuse its action by emphasizing that relocation is really for the Indian people's best interest. According to AIM, such policies actually serve the interests of multinational corporations in need of a "free hand to take the valuable resources increasing steadily in importance in Indian country." For example, the Federal Government is presently trying to buy the Black Hills reservation in South Dakota for $115 million. The 60,000 Sioux who live on the land want to keep it. And guess what's lurking behind the schemes? A uranium stripmining project, of course.

Cleveland AIM has printed a booklet called "Hunting Ground," which exposes the injustice done by government coercion in its policy of forced assimilation of Native Americans. "No one is doing any Indian any favor by enticing them into cities or encouraging them to stay. Reservation life, as bad or as good as it might be, should be preferable because of the clean air, wide open spaces, cultural ties to the land, being with one's own kind, and being where one's ancestors are interred. The urban alternatives are obvious in view of the multiple evils of city life in an unstable job situation. And as anyone knowledgeable of Indian programs knows, the reservations receive many times more funding than urbans for a complete spectrum of social services.'

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In Cleveland, the number of relocated Indians steadily diminishes as they realize that reservation life offers more than urban living. A core population of (continued on page 11)

A Blue Cross to Bear

A starvation wage is when you make just enough money to survive. Blue Cross of Northeast Ohio pays such a wage. The definition of "survival" depends, of course, on the context. A clerical worker living at home with her parents might find she can get by on $7-$9,000 a year. A single parent with three children to support would certainly call this income a starvation wage! One Blue Cross worker who works in data processing with six years of experience started at $3.83 an hour: "Clerical workers, telephone operators, key-punch operators-they all consider their salary too low. It's the kind of pay that makes you lean on men for, say, an extra dress, just to add some comfort to your life.'

Yet if it isn't bad enough to starve someone, Blue Cross has, over the years, outdone itself by ruthlessly pushing pregnant women out of a job with no pay and firing older women before they reach retirement. There is always an excuse made to cover up the fact that Blue Cross has contempt for its workers, most of are women. Without the protection of a union, a pregnant woman on maternity leave. may find it difficult to challenge the fact that her job has been cancelled out altogether by management which, if it doesn't like that particular worker, always comes up with a smooth excuse for its decision.

In its earliest forms native American culture had a matriarchal power base which gave life to the direction of the tribe, Women's work on the land was considered a dominant factor in the lifestyle of the Indian community. The clan mother had the ability to disempower the tribe's Chief if he did not guide his people well and to select another in his place. When a marriage took place, it was the man who came to live under the woman's roof. These traditional practices.whom were gradually replaced 'as some Native Americans. underwent acculturation into Western society and adopted the attitudes and values which discriminate against women. For example, a Canadian woman of the Tuscarora tribe married a man of the same tribe located in New York State. When she moved onto the new reservation, she lost all of her status as an Indian and was treated as such. A change back to the traditional practices has begun, however, as more and

Blue Cross has absolutely no consideration for women who are single parents. These workers are punished with "problem-solving" probations for taking time out when their children are ill. Workers

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are allowed 60 hours a year for sick time. If the supervisor doesn't care for a worker's use of sick time, the worker will be punished with lower payrating, loss of sick pay and lower cost-of-living raises. Although formal policies are worded in an acceptable manner on the books, the supervisor wields a lot of power playing the game of favoritism among the office workers.

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There are numerous other ways Blue Cross shows its lack of concern. For example, the sexist and racist policies of Blue Cross allow few women and Blacks. on the board of directors or in upper management. Intimidation tactics range from calling female employees "girls" to belittling employees daily about

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August, 1980/What She Wants/Page 3