"The thing to keep in mind is that laws are framed by those who happen to be in power and for the purpose of keeping them in power."

Lakota Woman

Lakota Woman by Mary Crow Dog is a powerful memoir about life, injustice, and activism. Mary Brave Bird grew up in South Dakota on the Rosebud Indian Reservation. She was sent to the brutal Reservation schools where the Nuns beat her and her fellow students. Many of those converted to Catholicism just to stay safe and out of the law's eye. Mary Brave Bird discusses what life was like growing up on the Reservation with no father and being raised by her mother and grandparents. They lived in a small cabin and discusses how the Reservation was rampant with alcohol. However, she thought that everyone lived this way. She goes into in-depth about the social constructs and the daily lives of those who lived around her. Then her life changes at 18 when she joins the American Indian Movement which aimed to address issues such as poverty and police brutality against the Native Americans and also fighting for their rights that they have lost due to Colonialism. In this movement, she meets and marries a Spiritual Leader named Leonard Crow Dog. She participated in the Occupation of Wounded Knee.

I found it impossible to not be moved by Mary Crow Dog's words and her perspective. In fact, we need more of this perspective. Our nation has often silenced the voices of the Indigenous Peoples of America. Colonialism stripped them of their rights, their cultures, and more often than not...their lives. This book was published in 1991 but is still very relevant today. In fact, where I live there is a residential school that is going to be investigated for the atrocities committed on the Cahuilla and Serrano peoples who were the original inhabitants of the area. This isn't something that happened ages ago. There are people still alive today who experienced the horrors of these schools.

Mary Crow Dog has a beautiful passion for her culture and sharing it with everyone around her. I found the pace of this novel to moved at a great pace and it left me researching ways I could help in my community. Mary Crow Dog is inspiring and I recommend this book to everyone. I rate this book 5 out of 5 stars.

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