Hello All!
Here's an interview I thought was relevant to the list. Again, sorry
to those subscribed to NATIVE-L for the cross-posting.
Cheers,
Stefanie Rixecker
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Subject: Mary Brave Bird Interview
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Finally I'm making good on posting transcripts. This first one is
with Mary Brave Bird, formerly Mary Crow Dog. The idea was to talk
about her books "Lakota Woman" (1991) and "Ohikita Woman" (1993),
just republished in paperback.
Due to time limitations I had to cut out what little she said about
the TNN Special based on "Lakota Woman," which is scheduled to air
this Oct. 16th. She said she was on the scene when it was filmed,
and she feels it will accurately represent her story -- given
there's little you can really include in a couple hours. She also
said, I think (I had to recycle the raw interview already) that
they couldn't film it on the rez cuz people still find those times,
and those events (1973, Wounded Knee II) troubling.
This was what we call a tough interview. Meaning, Ms. Brave Bird
was not, at least on this day, the talking type. It was hard pull
much out of her, particularly about anything germane to or
tangental to the books.
Of course, she didn't write them, really -- Richard Erdoes did. He
came along at least on this part of the book tour (he says he lives
in Santa Fe, which is about an hour north of here). He sat
politely off to the side during the interview -- a sixty-ish,
professorly man with big glasses and a heavy foreign accent.
Afterward I asked Mary to sign my copies of her books, and Richard
signed them too. In each he drew a picture. One, a buffalo head.
On the other flyleaf, a little teepee with a glorified stick figure
indian and a fire, I think. "I used to be an artist before I
started doing this," he said.
Here's the edit of the interview:
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Mary Bave Bird: "Ohikita Woman"
Interview Date: Thrs. 15 Sept. 1994
Air Date: Thrs. 15 Sept. 1994, "The KUNM Evening Report"
By Catalina Reyes
Time: 4:31
ANNOUNCER'S INTRO:
You might have heard of Mary Brave Bird under another name:
Mary Crow Dog. During the 1970s she was married to Leonard Crow
Dog, a healer and American Indian Movement -- or AIM -- activist.
And she gained national visibility under that name when her book
about those years, "Lakota Woman," won the American Book Award in
1991. This year she's remarried and back on track after years of
hardship, and Harpercollins is bringing out new paperback editions
of "Lakota Woman" and it's sequel published last year, "Ohitika
Woman." Earlier today, she told reporter Catalina Reyes that in
the years following the 1973 AIM takeover of Wounded Knee, just
surviving was her biggest concern:
Mary Brave Bird: It was just really hard for AIM people, for
movement people, to really be out there because of the FBI. There
was a lot of propaganda against the movement -- the movement was a
good thing. There were indians getting killed all the time. Even
before, during, and after Wounded Knee, a lot of people died. And
a lot of people struggled.
So that's what, really -- what I did. I survived. Any way
I could.
Cata: In the press materials it says that you had a car accident,
and that was kind of a turning point? Is that what happened to
you?
Mary Brave Bird: Yeah. I had a real bad car accident.
Cata: When did that happen?
Mary Brave Bird: That happened about four years ago. The Indian
Health Service at that time -- I was having a lot of pain, I guess
chronic pain. I had, like major heart surgery, my ribs were
busted, my lung was collapsed. Well, later on -- just, recovering
during the months later -- they wouldn't really give me anything.
Like, Motrin wouldn't help me. At the hospital they wouldn't give
me much medication. So I guess that's where I started drinking
[giggles], 'cause I found that if I drank a six pack it would help,
I could move around.
Cata: So you then encountered your husband, who sort of helped you
find another way to deal...
Mary Brave Bird: Yeah. He really turned my life around I guess.
He really talked to me a lot about my drinking, and about my kids,
and about what I was doing to myself.
Cata: Are you continuing to work towards some of the issues that
you focused on during the '70s when you were involved with AIM?
Are you still involved with them?
Mary Brave Bird: Oh yes, I'm still involved with -- I represent
myself. I don't represent AIM, but I do support AIM and all the
issues. I was on the Walk for Justice, which was a walk led by
Dennis Banks from Alcatraz to Washington, D.C. And we took
different issues with us from different lands -- you know, indian
country, where we walked through. Like: indian territories are
being targeted for nuclear waste dump sites, and it was a walk for
justice for Leonard Peltier. Who we believe is the longest held
political prisoner since the Movement occupied Wounded Knee.
Cata: Do you feel that as a native woman involved in these issues,
that there's been any struggle for you _because_ you're a native
woman, in having a voice, and being able to say what you need to
say, and being I guess given credibility with the men you're
working with?
Mary Brave Bird: Well see, that's why I'm, I guess I'm
freewheeling it. Because, you know, I'm my own boss; I don't have
to answer to -- a man. But there's always been the man thing,
within the movement, and it's still there.
I guess I don't have enough energy or time for anything like
that. We're against tremendous odds, us as nations. And Mother
Earth of course. We all realize, I think, the struggles of the
peoples and Mother Earth. And there's gonna be a Mothers of All
Color caravan for Peltier's freedom, asking for Executive Clemency
and freedom for Leonard Peltier, October 25th and 26th of this
year. Washington.
Cata: He's gonna run out of options unless he gets clemency at
this point, right?
Mary Brave Bird: Oh yes. I really do believe that Clinton wants
to do another term, and I really don't think he really wants to --
you know, rock his world right now politically, by supporting
Leonard Peltier.
Cata: So it'll take some pressure.
Mary Brave Bird: Yeah.
Cata: And you're there to put it on.
Mary Brave Bird: Oh yes. Women. Women and mothers concerned, for
Mother Earth _and_ Peltier.
Cata: Thank you very much Mary Brave Bird -- the author with
Richard Erdoes of "Lakota Woman" and "Ohitika Woman," both
officially republished in paperback yesterday. Tonight in
Albuquerque she'll be reading and signing her book at Page One
Books from 7 to 9 p.m. And tomorrow in Santa Fe you'll find her at
The Ark Books from 5-7 p.m.
For KUNM,
I'm Catalina Reyes
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|Catalina Reyes | Onate Hall | internet: |
| Public Radio Producer | University of New Mexico | [EMAIL PROTECTED] |
|KUNM 89.9 FM | Albuquerque, NM 87131 | bitnet: |
|(505) 277-8016 | USA | catrey@unmb |
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