Jaycox 1

Meagan Jaycox
Ms.Cooper
English 3
21 August 2016

Like a Hurricane

Chapter 8 “The Native American Embassy”

“Inside the Bureau many of the occupiers had been watching a

documentary on the fishing struggle in Washington when news came of the

court’s decision. ‘As Long as the Rivers shall Run’ featured graphic footage of

state game wardens dragging Indian women across rocks. Hank Adams, who had

been a central figure in the fishing struggles since he had worked with the

National Indian Youth Council there in 1964, was in the film and had also

produced it. The movie inflamed the audience, and when combined with the news

of the court ruling, their growing rage exploded. The Indians launched a ferocious

wave of violence against the building. The earlier actions had been vandalism;

this was war.” (162)

Audience Response:

In this passage the writer and producer of “As Long as the Rivers shall

Run”, is trying to persuade the Indians occupying the BIA office, to accept the

mindset that they have fallen a victim to the systematic corruption of the United

States government. Hank Adams appeals to the occupiers, because he is aware

that by spreading his personal beliefs through the emotional manipulation, he

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could further enrage the occupiers, and use their vulnerability to cause the

immature destruction, of the BIA office, that ultimately led to the loss of Indian

sympathisers. For the novel, the audience is misinformed Americans, who had

previously heard false versions and accusations of the Indian movement. The

authors address this audience, so that they could share and repeat the correct

information, rather than continuing to spread false stories. (162)

Chapter 5 “The Monument Tour”

“The future of Indian activism would belong to the people far angrier than

the student brigades of Alcatraz. Urban Indians who managed a life beyond the

bottles of cheap wine cruelly named Thunderbird would continue down the

protest road. And, more importantly, the invisible reservation people whose tribal

leaders were so uncomfortable with the wave of direct action that was continuing

to grow, and who had yet to weigh in with their opinion of where the Indian world

was headed, were about to add themselves to the mix.” (111)

Subject Response:

The subject of the novel, as a whole focuses on the unorganized struggle

for Native American rights. However, the short passage focuses in more the

divide between urban Indians and the reservation Indians. Up until this point

activism had been lead and executed by the urban Indians focusing on their

specific problems, which often differed from the problems reservation Indians
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faced on a daily basis. As the media attention and activism dragged on, many of

the traditional Natives began to feel “uncomfortable”with the type of attention

their culture was receiving as a whole. Due to their different ways of life the

reservation Indians also felt misrepresented by the Urban Indians, this caused a

turning point in the direction of Native American activism, by having another

group of Indians enter the movement for Indian rights, it offered a new voice of

responsibility. The purpose of this paragraph is to introduce, to the reader, the

reservation people’s thoughts and motive for joining the protests.(111)

Preface

“As coauthors, we came to this project from different places, but with a

shared fascination to understand as much as we could the people and

organizations that comprised the story of ​Hurricane​. Coauthor Smith participated

in the aftermath of the story chronicled here, traveling to South Dakota in 1974 at

the age of nineteen to work on the Wounded Knee trials. He stayed with the

movement through most of the 1970s, joining the staff of the American Indian

Movement’s International Indian Treaty Council in 1977. Coauthor Warrior also

knew of these events, but from a greater distance. While a graduate student, he

wrote in the alternative and Native presses about Indian community issues and

kept running into questions that represented the legacy of the watershed years

featured here. Though not related to Clyde Warrior, whose life is told in the pages
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that follow, he has heard many stories of the Ponca leader from friends and

relatives in Oklahoma.” (VIII)

Speaker Response:

The novel ​Like a Hurricane​, is a third person narrative. The book was

written by two Indian men, Paul Chaat Smith and Robert Allen Warrior, who felt

that the majority of novels written about American Indians were inaccurate. They

thought this for two reasons, none of the novels were written by Indians, which

makes the novel's lack ethos, because the non-indian authors didn’t have the same

intellect of the culture and upbringings as Indians. The books also attempted to

“persuade readers that government policies were cruel and misguided”. Both of

these men grew up at the time the Indian movement was occurring, making them

more prone to being biased and, or inflating the events that occurred, due to

personal judgments. Smith was active in certain aspects of the movements

aftermath, in 1974 he participated in the wounded knee trials, and he was also a

member of “the American Indian Movement’s International Indian Treaty

council in 1977”. As these events occurred coauthor Warrior, wrote on issues in

the Indian community, and watched the movement from a far. The authors choose

a third person point of view, making the novel intensely factual and dry. They
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tried to make it unbiased to their personal beliefs, in order to make the story as

truthful as possible for the reader to decide which side to support.(VII-VIII)

Chapter 10 “The Independent Oglala Nation”

“ It was, arguably, the finest moment in AIM’s brief and often troubled

history. Together, the chiefs, the local activist, and AIM could accomplish what

individually they could not, a synergy that perfectly realized the vision AIM

always had for itself as a modern-day warrior society and defender of Indian

communities. At times the movement’s concept of going anywhere, anytime, to

stand up for Indian people sounded like empty rhetoric and resulted in

embarrassing misadventures, but on that February night, AIM kept every promise

it had ever made to itself and to Indian people.”(200)

Purpose Response:

The author’s included this passage to enforce the purpose of the novel,

being Native American’s, more specifically AIM’s push for change, and Indian

rights. The passage clarifies the purpose of the novel, describing the unity and

loyalty throughout this culture. In the quote the author mentions AIM’s past

“embarrassments” , but concluded on a positive note, saying AIM ended up

keeping “every promise it had ever made to itself and to Indian people.”
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Eventually, through loss and hardships, the activist achieved small change in the

rights for Native American’s.(200)

Chapter 8 “The Native American Embassy”

“Adams opened one office door to see someone rifling through papers. The man

broke down in tears, explaining he was a bureau employee only trying to collect

his personal possessions. He pleaded with Adams not to hurt him. His terror was

so great that Adams had trouble assuring him he would not be harmed, by Adams

or anyone else. The depth of the man’s fear made Adams realize that it would be

almost impossible for people to understand, much less sympathize, with the

unleashed rage that tore through the building two days earlier. Surrounded by the

frightening evidence of wholesale destruction, no wonder the employee begged

for his life.”(165)

Occasion Response:

The date was November 8, Adams was checking the BIA office for

stragglers, or any occupiers who refused to leave, the unsafe conditions. Instead,

he found a man who had worked for the BIA. The employee was terrified of

Adams, and begged for Adams not hurt him. This occurred because AIM had just

violently vandalized the entire BIA building, causing lots of people who had

supported the group, to be afraid of them. This passage serves to support the

author’s point that through AIM’s reckless anger, they won’t accomplish
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anything. The novel was written, because the authors felt, the other novels

misrepresented the government and Indians. Stories previously written

inaccurately by non-Indians, giving far too much glory to the Indians. That’s why

this novel focuses on the vandalism, destruction and the overall struggles the

Indians faced in the movement.

Chapter 12 “Hundred Gun Salute”

“Inside Wounded Knee, there were injuries. One man had been shot

through both legs, another in the hand, and a woman received lacerations from

flying glass. The fourth casualty was the most serious. Buddy Lamont had been

shot and killed. A bullet pierced his heart and shattered the stock of his rifle,

ending his life and, effectively, the Wounded Knee occupation.” (257)

Tone Response:

The tone which appears throughout the novel is helpless and conveys a

sense of chaos, revealing the unorganized childish acts of AIM. In this quote,

another one of AIM's protest has gone down hill. Leaving large amounts of

occupiers injured, starving, arrested, or even dead. Many of the occupiers did not

mean to risk their life for the cause of Indian rights, for example, the majority of

the Indians on Alcatraz, were college students, who saw the movement as a

chance to be apart of something historical. They stepped into an event so

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unpredictable, unorganized, and unprepared for, there was no way for the

situation not to become helpless and unlivable, for occupiers and activist

throughout the story.