Charles Wilkinson and his famous book “Blood Struggle: The Rise of Modern Indian Nations” provide a brilliant description of the life of American Indians and how Indian tribes' could lose their sovereignty in the 1950s that was the turning point in the history of Indian nations. The author of the book characterizes Indians as passive victims of dark pages of their history. In fact, the author provides the description of separate stories which prove how American Indians became the active creators of their own history and moved from dispossession and darkness to well being and flourishing. Wilkinson accurately demonstrates that Indians reach their well being thanks to their experience and wealth of knowledge which could be reached through hard and long work. This book aims not only at highlighting the most significant achievements of the American Indians, but also at characterizing the generation of modern college-educated American Indians which came under the influence of modern movements. The establishment of the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act, Menominee Restoration and the National Congress of American Indians are all presented in the book as significantly important issues in the process of the American Indians’ self-determination and world approval.
“Blood Struggle” is full of bright examples which brilliantly portray the struggle of American Indians for their rights, equal position and treatment in the world among other nations. For instance, a serious trouble appeared in one of the Hopi Indian villages. The villagers refused to deal with their sheep, though it was wartime and it was one of their duties. They also refused to take up arms because of their religious scruples. The speaker of the Hopi village was asked to explain this problem for the governing authorities. The Hopi Spokesman came to the authorities from the field in the ordinary work clothes, spoke in low and calm voice, but the issues he touched upon, became alarming for the government. He explained that Hopi people came from the underground and joined other people who had lived on that land for a long time. These people shared everything and lived together in peace. In some time, white people came and interfered with their own rules in the life of Hopi people. They refused to share their rules with Hopi people and demanded to follow their own ones (Wilkinson 215). This example explains the symbolic meaning of the book title and reveals other social problems that black people face. The symbolism of the book title is explained in the way that two bloods, the blood of the white and the blood of the black, have always been struggling for the self-determination, self-superiority and ruling position in the world. The white people have always been proving their domination over other races throughout the whole history of the humankind. This example reminds the place of slavery in the history of the humanity, and how black people were disrespected by white people. At the same time, this example reveals other important issues in the nowadays world. Black people face discrimination even today. The problem of racism is vital in modern society, and even not only American Indians suffer from this. The problem of racism and social disrespect causes powerful terrorist activity that becomes quite popular today and raises the level of violence in the society. This issue touches upon every sphere of human life, as people of different nations face disrespect at schools, universities, when applying for a job and so on. These alarming issues were touched by an ordinary spokesman for the Hopi village, and they prove that blood struggle has become much powerful in the modern world.
Throughout the book, ‘Blood Struggle’, the author brings up the word ‘sovereignty’ numerous times. He uses it to explain the point that gaining sovereignty was a difficult and long-time period for American Indians. The description of the life of American Indians reveals the essence of the word ‘sovereignty’. It possesses the meaning of self-governance in all spheres of human life. Sovereignty of American Indians presupposes the existence of the autonomous Indian Country that stands for protecting human rights, the possibility to govern their own territory, people, education, economy and other aspects of life. Sovereign state has independent government that works for protecting their nation and supporting their country. This word, used in different stories of the book, emphasizes great efforts taken by Indians on their way to self-determination and the right for self-governing. The author implements this word describing the movement for tribal sovereignty and its inspiration leader Vine Deloria (Wilkinson 361). At the same time, Wilkinson characterizes American Indians as a sovereign nation. For instance, Wilkinson describes the election of the tribal officials in order to prove that the Indian community has their own country with their own autonomy and the government of which preserves all rights of the Indian people (Wilkinson 320).
Throughout the book, the author utilizes quotes from Native Americans to emphasize the Native American voice. As every approach, it has its own strong and weak points. Generally speaking, Native Americans’ quotes provide the evidence of the termination process of sovereign Status of American Indians. These quotes prove the difficulties that Native Americans have faced in the process of fighting for self-determination and sovereignty. From the point of view of linguistics, the quotes create a special mood of the story that helps the reader to get the most significant issues raised in the book and explain many historical and social phenomena that occurred and occur now in the modern society. In contrast, the quotes are the sayings of separate people that express subjective views on the situation rather than objective reality. Separate sayings cannot accurately reflect the true history of American Indians. The subjectivity cannot be regarded as the truth and is perceived as another perspective on certain issue, though such an approach makes the book vivid and interesting to read and analyze.
In the early chapters of the book, the author discusses the policy of Termination that was applied to Native Americans beginning in the early 1950s. Termination was the main direction of Indian policy of the American authorities in the 1950s-1960s. It meant the elimination of the special status of indigenous population of the United States and rejection of the federal government's commitment to provide the assistance to the Indians. Termination, the beginning of which coincided with the country's rampant chauvinism and reaction, was not an accidental turn of the Indian policy of the federal government. The main reason, according to which the position of the status of indigenous people suddenly became a stumbling block for the country's ruling authorities, was the eternal desire of the private sector to facilitate access to natural resources of the Indian reservations. In order to change the Indian policy, Republicans offered such components needed to be implemented for the purpose of effectiveness: to reform the social organization of indigenous people, abolishing the community as an institution, divided between their members and the general funds of the territory reservations, removing the restrictions on the sale of Indian lands; to stop federal custody over the Indians, deprived of their lands and special status by passing the Native American health and education issues within the competence of the relevant ministries with responsibility for the states responsibility to the Indians’ social and economic assistance. It presupposes the elimination of the legal community autonomy. As a result of the loss of the status and the implementation of the policy components, the former members of the community automatically came out of the scope of federal custody. They lost the right to social assistance, specifically designed for the Indians. Health care was transferred to the jurisdiction of the country's health ministry. Indian education was passed under the control of the appropriate state authorities. Termination for the indigenous population was the beginning of the ordeal. It proved particularly difficult situation of the residents of the suppressed communities, which perfectly illustrates the situation on the climate reservation. Forest resources and a private sawmill seemed to give hope that after the cessation of the state aid, the Indians would have a good source of income. But the lack of preparation to participate in the competition in the market of hired labor has become an insurmountable obstacle to the effective use of these resources. Most communities, the status of which has not been legally abolished, were affected by the termination strongly as well. Reducing the total amount of government subsidies, they were forced to finance their own development funds. In case of insufficient state aid, the low standard of living of the Indians began to drop and the living conditions of the Indians were becoming worse and worse (Wilkinson 137). According to official data, in 1959 the average annual income of an Indian family was equal to just four hundred dollars. The situation with health care became worse as well: half a million people had to be served by a total of two hundred doctors, but because of federal funding cut, 70 seats out of this number were vacant. In such circumstances, the Indians had practically the only way to improve their situation, namely, to begin to sale their lands. Sale of Indian lands during the Republican administration has acquired large scale: each year an average of 0.6 million acres passed in the hands of the white population (Wilkinson 169). Commenting on the situation of the Indian affairs after the elimination of the status of reservations, Democratic Congressman Metcalfe said that the only merit of the government in solving the Indian problem consisted in providing the indigenous people with the right to buy alcohol and with the possibility to be arrested by federal or state police. It meant that Indians did not have their place in the world and could not defeat the white population in order to gain their right for self-determination.
After discussing Termination, the author discusses the policy of Self-Determination. In order to weaken the Termination policy, the state government established the principles of a new policy. According to them, the president tried to find in the Indian politics the middle line between liberalism and the reactionary reformism of the postwar period, or in other words, between the paternalism and violent termination. The idea, which would allow to overcome the negative effects of these two extremes, was to provide indigenous people with a balanced policy oriented on the self-determination without termination, or in other words, to strengthen the autonomy of the Indians, without destroying the foundations of their community life. President proposed the following: to confirm the status of the communities, to strengthen the state aid for health and education of the Indians, to strengthen the autonomy of communities through giving them the right to monitor and participate in the implementation of a program financed by the federal government (Wilkinson) 473). President Nixon described his proposal as a historic turning point in the Indian policy of the USA. In his message, self-determination actually meant only the possibility of independent decision-making in all spheres of human life.
This book provides a deep insight into the life of the Native Americans. Blood Struggle gives any reader an opportunity to analyze the reasons of the difficult life of the American Indians. The book provides the reader with the accurate historical facts that help to create the appropriate image of the Indian people.
Works Cited:
Wilkinson, Charles F. Blood Struggle: The Rise of Modern Indian Nations. New York: Norton,
2005. Print.
