The Seventies are Over
23/10/12 05:49
Our lives are shaped by events that are bigger than us. I once read a comment by a social observer who said, “Who you are depends on where you were when.” I am probably not as swayed by generational theory as Neil Howe and William Strauss, but their 1991 book, “Generations,” does make a certain amount of sense and provides a framework to understand some of the things that shape our institutions and our culture.
The headlines in the newspapers were bringing news of World War I when my grandfather turned twenty. They were reporting the Nazi invasion of Poland, the defeat of France and the beginning of the Battle of Britain during my father’s 20th year. The year our son turned 20, the attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon topped the news.
The year I turned twenty, the end of the Vietnam War was making news as the US suspended all air activity and the first POWs were released. That year Elvis divorced Praiscilla, the OPEC Oil Embargo drove up the price of gas and AIM activists occupied Wounded Knee as United States Marshals and FBI agents cordoned off the area. Shots were frequently fired. The exact details of what happened have never been fully known. Two Native Americans were killed. One FBI agent was shot and paralyzed and later died from his injuries. This was a couple of years, a bunch of trials and a lot of dispute before the 1975 incident in which two FBI agents were killed in a shootout at a ranch where AIM activists were living. It was the second incident that resulted in the conviction and imprisonment of Leonard Peltier. Then in 1976 the body of Anna Mae Aquash was found on the Reservation.
Folks here in South Dakota have been arguing ever since about what did and did not happen, who was responsible and who was to blame for the events of those turbulent years in the 1970’s. It was during those years that I got married and moved away from the state of my birth for the first time. I was conscious of becoming an adult, trying to be responsible, and carefully reading the news.
It was a different set of events than those that shaped my forebears – and the events are unique and distinct from the ones that shape future generations.
But time moves on. We don’t live in the 1970’s any more. And if we had forgotten how much has changed, the events of the past week have invited us to remember and recognize how much change has occurred. Who would have predicted that George McGovern and Russell Means would come in the same week?
I am no expert and there will be plenty of others who will write about Russell Means. He certainly knew how to draw attention to himself and his cause. He lived his life as a warrior for what he believed to be the best interests of his people. He railed against broken treaties and acted in movies. He became a public spokesman in the midst of a bloody confrontation and he testified before congress.
I don’t know if Means was the first to call for the changing of sports teams, but he was one of the first persons I associated with that movement. He was constantly in the spotlight and he raised eyebrows in both the native and newcomer communities.
It seems trite, but it has struck me this week that the days of my young adulthood are really over. It should surprise no one. Four decades have passed. I’m three times as old as I was back then. New generations have come along. There are a lot of people in South Dakota who don’t remember what it was like before Russell Means was famous. There are a lot of people in our country who were born after the War in Vietnam and don’t know first hand the cultural upheaval and conflict that marked our country in those times. Current high school youth were toddlers when the 9-11 attacks occurred. Time goes on. Things don’t stay the same.
I suppose there will be nostalgia and remembrances as a part of the funeral services for McGovern and Means. I know there will be good memories along with the bad. I have my own memories as well. But it is time to put those days behind us.
There are still injustices suffered by Native Americans on South Dakota Reservations and in our own city. There is still institutional racism that is suffered by people. We have a lot of work to do before we have achieved our founders’ vision of “One nation, under God, with liberty and justice for all.”
But the days of picking up guns and firing them at each other as a way to achieve justice need to be put behind us. The days of replacing one form of paternalism with another have worn thin. Protests turned to standoffs are not what are needed to feed hungry children, provide equal education and opportunity, or address entrenched poverty. New times call for new methods and new solutions.
I will probably write more about it later, but I was struck with the contrast between the days of the 1970’s and a ceremony I attended Sunday in Pierre. We participated in the ordination of three Native American ministers. I don’t know of the United Church of Christ has ever ordained three Native Americans in the same ceremony before. The event was calm and dignified. Each of the men ordained could rightfully be called an elder. Each has demonstrated incredible pastoral leadership in his community. Each is distinguished in many different ways. But the word that I would use to describe all three is “humble.” Humility is a traditional Dakota and Lakota value. The three stand in stark contrast with those who have garnered the headlines. They have served their people quietly, behind the scenes, and without drawing recognition to themselves.
There were no television reporters at the ceremony. There were no reporters quick to grab quotes. It was a calm and quiet ceremony. It was as it should have been. The seventies are over. Public attention has faded. But the need for genuine servants remains. I am glad I was there to witness the dawning of a new day. I have great hope for tomorrow.
The headlines in the newspapers were bringing news of World War I when my grandfather turned twenty. They were reporting the Nazi invasion of Poland, the defeat of France and the beginning of the Battle of Britain during my father’s 20th year. The year our son turned 20, the attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon topped the news.
The year I turned twenty, the end of the Vietnam War was making news as the US suspended all air activity and the first POWs were released. That year Elvis divorced Praiscilla, the OPEC Oil Embargo drove up the price of gas and AIM activists occupied Wounded Knee as United States Marshals and FBI agents cordoned off the area. Shots were frequently fired. The exact details of what happened have never been fully known. Two Native Americans were killed. One FBI agent was shot and paralyzed and later died from his injuries. This was a couple of years, a bunch of trials and a lot of dispute before the 1975 incident in which two FBI agents were killed in a shootout at a ranch where AIM activists were living. It was the second incident that resulted in the conviction and imprisonment of Leonard Peltier. Then in 1976 the body of Anna Mae Aquash was found on the Reservation.
Folks here in South Dakota have been arguing ever since about what did and did not happen, who was responsible and who was to blame for the events of those turbulent years in the 1970’s. It was during those years that I got married and moved away from the state of my birth for the first time. I was conscious of becoming an adult, trying to be responsible, and carefully reading the news.
It was a different set of events than those that shaped my forebears – and the events are unique and distinct from the ones that shape future generations.
But time moves on. We don’t live in the 1970’s any more. And if we had forgotten how much has changed, the events of the past week have invited us to remember and recognize how much change has occurred. Who would have predicted that George McGovern and Russell Means would come in the same week?
I am no expert and there will be plenty of others who will write about Russell Means. He certainly knew how to draw attention to himself and his cause. He lived his life as a warrior for what he believed to be the best interests of his people. He railed against broken treaties and acted in movies. He became a public spokesman in the midst of a bloody confrontation and he testified before congress.
I don’t know if Means was the first to call for the changing of sports teams, but he was one of the first persons I associated with that movement. He was constantly in the spotlight and he raised eyebrows in both the native and newcomer communities.
It seems trite, but it has struck me this week that the days of my young adulthood are really over. It should surprise no one. Four decades have passed. I’m three times as old as I was back then. New generations have come along. There are a lot of people in South Dakota who don’t remember what it was like before Russell Means was famous. There are a lot of people in our country who were born after the War in Vietnam and don’t know first hand the cultural upheaval and conflict that marked our country in those times. Current high school youth were toddlers when the 9-11 attacks occurred. Time goes on. Things don’t stay the same.
I suppose there will be nostalgia and remembrances as a part of the funeral services for McGovern and Means. I know there will be good memories along with the bad. I have my own memories as well. But it is time to put those days behind us.
There are still injustices suffered by Native Americans on South Dakota Reservations and in our own city. There is still institutional racism that is suffered by people. We have a lot of work to do before we have achieved our founders’ vision of “One nation, under God, with liberty and justice for all.”
But the days of picking up guns and firing them at each other as a way to achieve justice need to be put behind us. The days of replacing one form of paternalism with another have worn thin. Protests turned to standoffs are not what are needed to feed hungry children, provide equal education and opportunity, or address entrenched poverty. New times call for new methods and new solutions.
I will probably write more about it later, but I was struck with the contrast between the days of the 1970’s and a ceremony I attended Sunday in Pierre. We participated in the ordination of three Native American ministers. I don’t know of the United Church of Christ has ever ordained three Native Americans in the same ceremony before. The event was calm and dignified. Each of the men ordained could rightfully be called an elder. Each has demonstrated incredible pastoral leadership in his community. Each is distinguished in many different ways. But the word that I would use to describe all three is “humble.” Humility is a traditional Dakota and Lakota value. The three stand in stark contrast with those who have garnered the headlines. They have served their people quietly, behind the scenes, and without drawing recognition to themselves.
There were no television reporters at the ceremony. There were no reporters quick to grab quotes. It was a calm and quiet ceremony. It was as it should have been. The seventies are over. Public attention has faded. But the need for genuine servants remains. I am glad I was there to witness the dawning of a new day. I have great hope for tomorrow.