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A review by laynerr
Custer Died for Your Sins: An Indian Manifesto by Vine Deloria Jr.
challenging
funny
informative
lighthearted
reflective
slow-paced
4.75
this is honestly a must read for americans. i had to give time to gather my thoughts after reading this because it's so thought provoking.
i wont lie, you can tell vine deloria is not a historian. he would say certain statements that were obviously not true, i.e. native americans were never slaves. however, i think that his central argument(s) are so important that you can over look some of those blips.
delorias central argument (to my understanding) is that native americans are not an extinct 'species' of people. they are not of antiquity. native americans are still around, and are trying to maintain their cultures in a country that is hellbent on erasing them. within that main argument, he makes tons of other arguments, such as the united states seeing native americans as 'wild' animals that need to be tamed, as well as the fact that the fight for soverignty is the crux of their struggle.
this book was written in 1969, and you can tell, but so much of what he said still sounds brand new and relevant to today. one chapter that really stuck out to me was the 'cultural anthropologists and other friends' essay. he stated that many of the difficulties faced by native americans are rooted in historical problems, such as forced relocation. this concept of historical trauma is still something that our country is trying to grapple with and learn about until this day.
another thing that really stuck with me is the constant comparisons to black americans. in fact, theres a whole chapter explicity dedicated to that, even though these comparisons are brought up in nearly every chapter. i was not expecting that. i see the book as a partial criticism of the civil rights movement in general, and why it did not suffice not just for POC in general, but for black americans. deloria made the argument that the fight for civil rights could have been seen as black americans wanting to be a part of white culture, something he didnt understand. furthermore, he said that just because 'a middle class black can eat lunch at the holiday inn does not mean you've achieved equality'. that especially stuck out to me. further furthermore, deloria even made the arguement that black people should embrace american indian tribalism and create our own ethnostate (lol). my main rebuttal to deloria's slight chastising of the black community is that whenever black people did create their own institutions, they were burned down like tulsa. its times like that when im reminded that this is not meant to be a historical book. but, i was still very surprised that he talked at length about the black community in this indian manifesto.
this was a really good and at times hard read. however, i think its worth it if you want to learn about radical movements from the 60's and 70's as well as native american history. we can all learn from each other.
i wont lie, you can tell vine deloria is not a historian. he would say certain statements that were obviously not true, i.e. native americans were never slaves. however, i think that his central argument(s) are so important that you can over look some of those blips.
delorias central argument (to my understanding) is that native americans are not an extinct 'species' of people. they are not of antiquity. native americans are still around, and are trying to maintain their cultures in a country that is hellbent on erasing them. within that main argument, he makes tons of other arguments, such as the united states seeing native americans as 'wild' animals that need to be tamed, as well as the fact that the fight for soverignty is the crux of their struggle.
this book was written in 1969, and you can tell, but so much of what he said still sounds brand new and relevant to today. one chapter that really stuck out to me was the 'cultural anthropologists and other friends' essay. he stated that many of the difficulties faced by native americans are rooted in historical problems, such as forced relocation. this concept of historical trauma is still something that our country is trying to grapple with and learn about until this day.
another thing that really stuck with me is the constant comparisons to black americans. in fact, theres a whole chapter explicity dedicated to that, even though these comparisons are brought up in nearly every chapter. i was not expecting that. i see the book as a partial criticism of the civil rights movement in general, and why it did not suffice not just for POC in general, but for black americans. deloria made the argument that the fight for civil rights could have been seen as black americans wanting to be a part of white culture, something he didnt understand. furthermore, he said that just because 'a middle class black can eat lunch at the holiday inn does not mean you've achieved equality'. that especially stuck out to me. further furthermore, deloria even made the arguement that black people should embrace american indian tribalism and create our own ethnostate (lol). my main rebuttal to deloria's slight chastising of the black community is that whenever black people did create their own institutions, they were burned down like tulsa. its times like that when im reminded that this is not meant to be a historical book. but, i was still very surprised that he talked at length about the black community in this indian manifesto.
this was a really good and at times hard read. however, i think its worth it if you want to learn about radical movements from the 60's and 70's as well as native american history. we can all learn from each other.