The Relevance of “Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee” in the Modern Context

By Mohd Abbas Abdul Razak

Title of the Book : Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee 

Author : Dee Brown

Publisher: New York: Holt, Rinehart & Winston

Pages : 512

One of the interesting books that I have read during my undergraduate studies was one written by Dorris Alexander popularly known as Dee Brown, entitled “Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee: An Indian History of the American West”.

This non-fiction book was introduced to me by an American friend named Muhammad Garyson. The first edition was published in 1970 and became the New York Best Seller. The popularity of the book grew beyond the U.S when it was translated into seventeen different languages.

The Washington Post in its review of the book said it was “shattering”, while The New York Times reported the book to be “heartbreaking”. The book sold one million copies on hardcover and four million copies in paperback. In the 19 chapters of the book, the author dealt with the massacre carried out by the whites on the different tribes of the Native-Americans. Based on the book, in 2007 a television movie was made by HBO Films.  

Brown starts his story by briefly stating the discovery and early settlement of the white people in America in 1492. On the whole, he covers the historical events that happened to the Native Americans between the years 1860-1890. The crux of Brown’s book was focused on the history of Native Americans in the American West. In reference to the compendium of documents that Brown got accessed to, he gives a vivid picture of what happened to the Native Americans, and how the Europeanisation marginalised the rightful owners of the land, which are now cherished by millions who have migrated from different parts of the world to settle there.

The story primarily focused on the plight of the Navajo Nation, Santee Dakota, Hunkpapa, Oglala Lakota, Cheyenne and Apache people. The author sparingly touches on other Indian tribes like Arapaho, Modoc, Kiowa, Comanche, Nez Perce, Ponca, Ute and Miniconjou Lakota.        

In the 512 pages, Brown takes you on a journey to explain in vivid detail how the Native Americans were displaced from their lands. The book provides undisputed documented evidence of how the land was robbed and transferred from the hands of the Native Americans to the European settlers. The book also explains how the great chieftains and warriors of the Dakota, Ute, Sioux, Cheyenne, Navajos, Apache and other tribes of the Indians lost their lands.

The white settlers were cunning in cheating the chieftains of the Native people. As a way to trick them in signing the land transfer documents, at times the white men offered illicit whisky to the chieftains. Once they were drunk, while in their state of drunkenness, they will be asked to sign the documents. By the time the Indian tribal leaders gained consciousness, they will come to realise that the land which was owned by them a moment ago, now had gone into the hands of the white men.

The Europeans, who came to the Americas, brutally persecuted, murdered, raped, and made the native people march under heavy blizzards which literally caused a “frozen death” to many of them. Simply put, it was a genocide carried out by the white people against the Native Americans. During the time when the white men arrived on the American soil, the population of the Native Americans was roughly around 20 million, but now they are only around 6 million, according to internet sources, but I guess it should be lower than that. At the time of its first publication, the Americans could not believe the horrendous crimes and the grave injustices done by the founding fathers of America to the Native Americans.

Besides the many bloody battles that took place between the whites and the Native Americans, Brown also mentioned the many pathetic conditions in the reservation camps and how they were induced to the torture of the worst kind. Even their women-folks and children were not spared. There were instances mentioned in the book whereby the women were raped and their private parts were mutilated and their corpses were hung on trees. Also, there were reported cases of how children and their mothers were asked to march on a blizzard. Many of them died of hyperthermia.    

The United States

The bizarre and shocking revelations of what happened to the Native-Americans give the readers a horrifying picture of how the birth of America as a great nation took place on the ashes of the rightful owners of America. At the moment, the Native-Americans have been marginalised from the mainstream American society. The horrific crime committed by the whites stays as a dark stain in the history of the USA. In the past, Americans have done a lot of misdeeds of torture, killing and usurping land belonging to the Red-Indians. 

As a young boy, I had watched many movies in the theatres and on television that gave me the idea that the Red-Indians were the bad guys while the white men were the good ones. Reading “Bury My Heart” during my mid-twenty had changed perception on the Native Americans. Brown’s narrative of the events in his book made me go through an emotional experience. After reading every chapter, with tears in my eyes, my heart went out for the Native Americans. Brown’s words in the book made me feel as if I am one of the Native Americans going through the same experience and pain at the time of the event that took place a century ago.

In my personal opinion, the vast majority of the American people are good. But the same cannot be said of its policy-makers. Those in power in the United States like to dominate other countries. America’s greed for power is causing problems in parts of the world. As a result of that, America has gone to war in many parts of world, causing instability and loss of lives and damage to the infrastructure in those countries.

By too often going into war has made America addictive to war. Perhaps, the American idea to dominate and prevail over others has its roots in the Darwinian Theory that was explained in ‘On the Origin of Species’. This theory, explains that in order for any one species to survive it has to strive and dominate others. The state of dominance will cause others to go incapacitated or extinct. The famous term used by Darwin to explain the dominance of one species over the other is the “survival of the fittest”. 

Ever since it’s early days of establishment till to the present time, America has been going into war. This nature of its survival seems to be a perennial one. Being the only superpower, America has somehow been the cause to the many political chaos and economic fluctuations in many countries of the world. Look through the map of the world and you will find its influence in all continents of the world. At the moment, being the sole superpower in the world after the crumbling and disintegration of Soviet Unions, America is ambitious to build an empire bigger than one built by Rome in the ancient past.

American policy-makers have not learnt the fact that war is not profitable to both parties, neither to the victor nation nor to the one defeated. The lives lost in the war can never be brought back. Although America champions herself in the issue of human rights and democracy, the way in which the Afro-Americans have been treated in the USA at the moment is deplorable. The black Americans have been treated like second class citizens. 

Even at this modern age whereby democracy prevails in almost all parts of the world, the American policy-makers have not changed their policy of non-interference in the domestic affairs of other nations. As such, occupying other people’s land and plundering the wealth of other nations have become next to their nature. To prove the case, it can be witnessed in America’s bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945, involvement in the war in Vietnam between 1954–75, its intervention in the Korean peninsula 1950-1953, its attacks and regime change in countries like Iraq and Libya, and its preemptive war in Afghanistan (2001-2021) all have caused the death of millions of innocent civilians in those countries.

Not to forget, those military interventions have also caused enormous damage to the infrastructure and environment in those countries. On the part of America, it not only lost its young soldiers in the thousands but also it cannot claim victory in all those wars.

Besides the aforementioned criticism on America, I believe the vast majority of the American people are against the idea of America going into other countries to wage wars. Within America there are a lot of anti-war movements protesting against the American aggression in many parts of the world. These movements know that it is morally, ethically, religiously and politically wrong to attack and dominate other nations. At the moment, it seems that all their cries have fallen on the deaf ears of the policy-makers and warmongers of the United States. 

As atonement for the uncalled wars and the destruction to human lives and nature, it is about time America has to change its foreign policy to one that is friendly to other nations around the globe. America has to return back to its initial idea as a religious country as what it has stated in its currency. In addition to that, it should be in the forefront to promote peace, bilateral and multilateral relationship with others, conduct more research for the benefit of humanity, further advance itself as the centre for educational excellence, setting example to other nations by abolishing its arsenal of nuclear warheads, etc.   

A Message for other Nations

The take-home message for all other nations around the globe from “Bury My Heart” will be not to suppress, oppress and marginalise the minorities living in their countries. Nations around the globe should get rid of all feelings of hatred, racism, and class system that divide its citizens. The rights of the minorities should be recognised and the economic pie of the country should be shared with all.

On the personal level, I call for the rectification of the prevalent conditions in the following countries:

1. Israel should stop all its preemptive war against the Palestinian people. It should recognise the rights of the Palestinian people for self-determination. Israel should return all lands confiscated by force back to the rightful Palestinian owners and stop building new illegal Israeli settlements on existing Palestinian lands. All women and children detained by the Israeli authority should be freed. Palestinians should be given all the basic needs of life; like clean water, electricity, proper sewage disposal system, etc. The last thing that Israel needs to do is to bring down the wall that separates them from the Palestinians. If Israel learns to live in mutual friendship and brotherhood with the Palestinians, it doesn’t need the wall anymore.

2. The Chinese communist regime in China should stop brutalising and detaining its minority Uighur Muslims in concentration camps. At the moment, the Muslim population has been detained in one of the largest prisons in the world that houses a million people who are subjected to torture, humiliation and depriving of their rights to perform their Islamic rituals. China should stop its intervention in Tibet. The infiltration of a large number of Chinese into Tibet has made Tibetans becoming a minority group in their own county. Moreover, the presence of the Chinese is slowly uprooting the Tibetan culture, tradition and heritage. Now, the Tibetan language has been replaced by Mandarin. Though many have criticised the Chinese policy in Tibet, so far, nothing has been done to change the situation there.

3. The Indian government should not intimidate and terrorise people living in Kashmir. It is estimated that some 600,000 Indian soldiers are operating in the whole of Kashmir with the claim to suppress the rebellion there. Experts say that some 20,000 to 60,000 innocent lives have gone ever since the trouble started in the Kashmir valley. It is said that Kashmir is the most militarised zone in the world. At the moment, young men and women are feeling unsafe to walk on the streets.  In a way, the presence of the Indian army is causing a lot of mental health issues for the youth of Kashmir. It is believed by demilitarisation, life for the local can come back to normal. Moreover, removing the army in a way can revive the once flourishing tourism industry there. Besides the people of Kashmir, the Indian government should treat Dalits and other indigenous people as equal to others. These marginalised groups of people should be given proper help to improve their lives in order for them to stand tall with the rest of the Indians. As a secular country, India should provide equal opportunities to Muslims and Christians for job opportunities and to preach their religion freely. The last thing India has to do is to abolish the age old caste system.

4. The government of Myanmar should stop all genocidal killing of the Rohingya people. At the moment, it is estimated that 1.3 million Rohingya refugees are living in Bangladesh, while another 600,000 have sought asylum in Malaysia. This is the first time the world is witnessing a brutal massacre perpetrated by a Buddhist nation on its minority population in the country. The barbaric killing of the innocent Rohingya by the Buddhist government runs contrary to Buddha’s teachings mentioned in the sutras (canonical scriptures).   

From An Islamic Perspective

Islam as a religion of peace disapproves the killing of others, except in self-defence during war. All human lives are precious regardless whether one is Muslim or not.

The following is what the Qur’an says on the subject of killing, “That is why We decreed for the Children of Israel that whoever kills a soul, without [its being guilty of] manslaughter or corruption on the earth, is as though he had killed all mankind, and whoever saves a life is as though he had saved all mankind” (5:32).

Regardless we are white, black or brown we are all equal in the sight of God as human beings. God Almighty is not racist as every one of us has come from Him. In the sight of God, the degree of greatness of any individual is always measured in terms of his/her piety, righteousness and how well he/she behaves as a human being.

In an Islamic state, the killing, robbing and displacement of the minority population is not allowed. The rights of the non-Muslim minorities should be respected and they should be treated as equal like any other citizens of the country. Countries like Myanmar, China, Israel and India should follow the good example that can be seen in Malaysia. Although there are political differences and some racial polemics, the dissatisfactions are deliberated at the parliament and in public forums either face-to-face or over the social media. Lessons learnt in the 1969 (racial tension) have matured the people to live with our difference and to see beauty in their philosophy of life that is based on “Unity within Diversity” and “Malaysia is Truly Asia”.

Recommendation

Generally, I recommend “Bury My Heart” to people of all walks of life, and particularly to teachers and students of History, Political Science and Sociology. Reading the book will make one appreciate people of different religion, culture and ethnicity. Moreover, I truly believe that upon reading the book, one will stand up for justice, equality, coexistence and as one who advocates anti-war and for the creation of a better world.  Simply put, the book will make you feel for all those who are oppressed, suppressed and downtrodden, living in great pain and agony in many parts of the world. ***   

(Dr. Mohd Abbas Abdul Razak is an academic in the Department of Fundamental and Inter-Disciplinary Studies, KIRKHS. The views expressed here are those of the author/contributor and do not necessarily represent the views of IIUMToday.)

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