Urban Planning - Term Paper Example

PLANNING Introduction The movie Thunder Heart gives an example of a concerning US federal government relation with residents of an Indian reserve, in this case specifically the Sioux (Thunder Heart 1992) The kinds of issues I will discuss in this essay are1) politics and political corruption, 2) the majority white populations’ lack of understanding of the Sioux culture and 3) how we judge other cultures.. Politics and Political Corruption In the 1970s the Sioux reservation of South Dakota had a murder rate of about triple the state average. Most of the crimes were unsolved according to the movie. Although the reservation had local police, major crimes such as murder were under the jurisdiction of the FBI. For several years one FBI detective was in charge of dealing with major crimes on the reservation. Although the movie is not explicit about the reason, probably due to public pressure a second detective was assigned to help the resident detective solve the latest of the multiple homicides. The agent was selected on the basis that he had Sioux blood, although this was a very minor component of his heritage. This selection was probably part of a deliberate plan to assuage public opinion by giving the appearance of impartiality. However he was only given 3 days to solve the latest murder which suggests to me that the FBI were not serious about him being allowed to be effective. In other words, I suspect the supervising agent in Washington already knew the identity of the perpetrator and was just planning to go through the motions pretending to conduct a real investigation. Although the militant group ARM (Aboriginal Rights Movement} was blamed by the resident agent, it turned out that he was responsible. He was taking kickbacks for secretly arranging a lease on a remote part of the reservation to allow strip mining of uranium. This was kept secret because it most likely would not have been approved by the local band council due to the environmental implications such as the pollution of the reservation’s lakes and rivers. While it is unclear how high in the federal bureaucracy the corruption reached, it appears there were plans to mine a valued resource covertly to avoid political fallout from exposing the legitimate environmental concerns and effectively usurping the authority of the band council to stop the illegal activity. Anyone who got close to the truth was murdered by the resident agent and ARM made the scapegoat for the crime. It would appear there should be at least 2 resident agents detectives so that hopefully at least one will be honest and not collude with the other in nefarious activities. The militant ARM Sioux have pointed to the conviction of 300 of their forerunners for war crimes in the Great Sioux Uprising of 1862. (Homstad 2006) which was precipitated by rumors that that the federal government, financially strapped by the Civil War, would stop paying treaty mandated annuity gold to impoverished Sioux Indians. When the Sioux were eventually defeated speedy show trials were planned and held convicting over 300 Sioux, who were not allowed to have the benefit of defense counsel, because of pressure from white settlers and local authorities to exact revenge. All were sentenced to execution but under law their punishment had to be confirmed by President Lincoln.. He reviewed the trial transcripts and to his credit in my view he upheld the death penalty for only 38 based on the test that they would apply only to convictions for massacres and rapes as opposed to battle killings. Although many of the convictions were suspect, Lincoln felt that he could not order retrials as this would likely have resulted in mob violence. Presumably those spared the death penalty were subject to life imprisonment and the questionable convictions are a source of great mistrust by the Sioux especially members of the ARM movement Although native Americans including the Sioux now have the right to vote federally, the Sioux have only 6 days of early voting opportunities while the rest of the state has 46 which a recent lawsuit argues is discriminatory (Scherno 2012) The argument is that the basis of funding under the Voting Rights Act which requires the state to reimburse for expenses incurred in providing polling stations is discriminatory because the poorer counties such as the one including the Sioux reservation can finance upfront only for a shorter period than the more affluent counties. Further it is argued that polling station serving the Sioux community should be open for more days because of the difficulty their residents have getting to the remote polling stations as many do not have their own cars and those that do are more likely to be stopped and charged by prejudiced police for minor offences than mainstream whites. I do not know the outcome of the lawsuit. However the question that arises is whether this situation is an accidental byproduct of the funding system or whether it is a deliberate plan to discourage Sioux voting which would likely lean more Democratic than Republican. Our Lack of Understanding of Native American Culture Mainstream America largely does not understand Native American culture including the Sioux because without our scientific knowledge of cause and effect of natural phenomenon they tend to attribute outcomes to the disposition of gods they feel inhabit various parts of their surrounding environment. For example, if there is a lack of rain this is not because of adverse atmospheric conditions, but rather because the rain god is not happy with mortals and must be appeased with traditional sacrifices. In Thunder Heart the new FBI agent from Washington, although of some Sioux ancestry is not familiar with their culture because he grew up in mainstream white society. For example, he does not know to include a half eaten apple in a sacrificial offering, to bring a gift of cigarettes to a meeting with a venerated senior, who happens to be the father of a falsely accused ARM participant, as a sign of respect, or to engage in bartering as a display of friendship and mutual status recognition. Most importantly when the senior urges him to think about the polluted waters of the reservation’s rivers and lakes to determine who is responsible for the rash of murders, the conscientious agent is bewildered. It is not clear whether the senior knew or strongly suspected the resident agent was the perpetrator or merely intuitively assumed there must be a connection between the homicides and the water pollution because they started about the same time. Although Indians lacked scientific knowledge of cause and effect t, often they were able to predict natural events because of their observation of a pattern of related phenomenon. Also the senior may have been fearful of adverse repercussions if he revealed who he knew or suspected was behind the murders and this is why he planned to talk in what appeared to be riddles to the bewildered FBI agent. One fundamental difference between native and mainstream culture is that native culture is a gift economy, meaning that status is given to individuals based on what they give to others as opposed to the commodity or exchange mainstream economy where status at least until recently is given to individuals who have the most as evidenced by conspicuous consumption behavior. (Francis 2005) In the Sioux economy there was probably no money as goods were obtained through barter or exchange. In Thunder Heart the visiting FBI agent exchanged goods of increasing value. At first the agent was reluctant to part with his expensive Rolex watch as requested by as requested by the senior. When he eventually did in exchange the senior gave him his valued peace pipe. By this exchange both parties ascribed each other high status. While the potlatch ceremony is considered wasteful by many mainstreamers, it celebrates the giving and distribution of wealth among tribal members to mark the transfer of power between generations and the social initiation of heirs. Theses different valuations of wealth between mainstream and Indian cultures have created barriers to understanding and trust between the 2 cultures. Native cultures are based on the philosophy that humans are stewards of the natural world rather than consumers of the world’s resources as practiced by the dominant European American values. This helps explain the Sioux concern to maintain a pristine natural environment as possible and avoid potentially contaminating activities such as strip mining. Wealth is not measured by simply by net financial worth, but rather by a combination of spiritual values, material goods and behavior. Because the Sioux and other American Indians have had much of their resources taken away from them by plans for mainstream industry, it has become more difficult for them to practice their gift giving economy and maintain autonomy as they have been reduced to subsistence level existence. What is needed is help to start new native run enterprises such as casinos to replace the no longer viable traditional hunting and fishing economies. How We Judge Other Cultures Most of us, except social scientists, tend to judge other cultures on an ethnocentric basis especially if we have scientific and military superiority over that culture. This means that particularly if we enjoy this kind of advantage, we assume our culture overall is superior. Social scientists are trained to refrain from this kind of judgment about other cultures in comparison to their own. Instead they look at how well that culture performs in meeting the needs of its’ people with a minimum of internal strife. Ethnocentrism can take 2 basic forms. People may be disdainful of the culture they regard as inferior and use people from that culture to further their own ends disregarding the negative effects they may have on the dominated culture. In Thunder Heart the resident FBI agent planned to make the ARM Sioux “take the fall” for his own nefarious deeds. On the other hand people may have a paternalistic attitude and argue that the so called inferior culture is incapable of managing its’ own affairs therefore like the parents of a child sincerely believe they must step in and do so in the “inferior” culture’s own interest. This was the outlook of missionaries who tried to convert Indians to Christianity and later the government administration of Indian Affairs. (Livingston) For example in Thunder Heart while there is a reservation police officer, he is limited to dealing with minor offences such as traffic. Serious crimes like murder and rape are under the exclusive jurisdiction of the FBI. This is in contrast to mainstream society where the FBI is called in assist local police only in special circumstances, such as in the case of interstate/international implications, terrorism or there is evidence of a hate crime racially/religiously motivated. While the paternalistic government policy is ostensibly in the interest of the Sioux, although not proven there is a suggestion of planned collusion with the nefarious activities of the resident FBI agent because the visiting agent is only given 3 days to solve the latest reservation murder, probably not enough time for him to discover the truth especially when he is under the control of the resident agent. Although partly Sioux himself, the visiting agent’s attitude toward the Sioux culture evolved during his time on the reservation. When he arrived he was disgusted with the litter he saw, which was probably due in large measure to Sioux poverty and their feelings of helplessness. Thin he was bewildered by the school teacher’ who was collecting water samples for pollution testing and later murdered herself when she discovered the strip mining, and the elder’s obtuse hints. Then when he began to understand the significance of these hints he developed a respect for the positive aspects of Sioux culture. Conclusion The full title of this essay is “Urban Planning”. I would suggest that the word “urban” refers to the fact that the policy administration of Indian reservations including the Sioux has been largely paternalistically planned and controlled by the federal government in the urban capital of Washington, DC responding to the development interests of corporations and the national electorate rather than the needs of the Indians even though it may be executed by bureaucracies such as the FBI including its’ local reservation agent. Works Cited 1). Francis, Heather “Native American Culture of Giving” Grand Valley State University (Fall 2005) retrieved from learningtogive.org/papers/paper 255. 2).Homstad, Daniel W. “Abraham Lincoln Deciding the Fate of 300Indians Convicted of War Crimes in Minnesota’s Great Sioux Uprising” American History Magazine Dec. 2011 retrieved from www.historynet.com/abraham-lincoln-deciding. 3).Livingston, Deborah” Impact of European Imperialism on Native American Indian Nations” retrieved from https://politics.kmoj.com/impact-of-imperialism-on-native-american-Indian-Nations. 4) Scherno, Diane Jean “SD Indians Sue for Early Voting” 100 Reporters Jan. 30, 2012 retrieved from 100r.org/2012/01/south-dakota-indians-sue-for-early-voting. 5) “Thunder Heart” (1992) Vimeo retrieved from https//vimeo.com/112516611 . . Read More