Mary Frances Kocurek

Ms. Cooper
AP Language Period 6
7/19/16
Kocurek 1
Summer Assignment
Preface
We have tried to provide an honest account of the period, through the eyes of urban
Indian rebels, conservative tribal chairmen, Bureau of Indian Affairs officials, White House
aides, and others. The decision to write a book where not everything is red or white means that
some of what follows reflects negatively on the Indian struggle. (IX)

Audience Response
Like a Hurricane is written from many different perspectives. This accomplishes an
honest account of the period. The different perspectives, which include urban Indian rebels,
conservative tribal chairmen, Bureau of Indian Affairs officials, White House aides, and other
are all from real, credible people who were present on the scene of the events mentioned in the
text. This first hand dialogue from these various sources creates ethos within the text. The ethos
in Like A Hurricane, being from so many different sources, attracts a diverse audience of
educated people who wish to learn the truth about the events of the Indian Movement.

Mary Frances Kocurek

Ms. Cooper
AP Language Period 6
7/19/16
Kocurek 2

Epilogue
It was a spectacular ride, all the more exciting because no one really knew where they
were headed. The fast times had more than their share of brilliant mistakes, misguided strategies,
and foolish bravado. It was also a time of hope and idealism when Indians could imagine a
university rising from the wreckage of a prison, when a bureaucratic fortress could become a
Native American Embassy, when a desperately poor and repressive reservation might become a
free and independent nation. (279)

Subject Response
The focus of Like a Hurricane is to show all of the brilliant mistakes, misguided
strategies, and foolish bravado involved in the Indian Movement, along with the hope and
idealism embodied by so many Native American people of the twentieth century. Smith and
Warrior describe people who imagine a university rising from the wreckage of a prison. People
who turned a bureaucratic fortress into a Native American Embassy. People who fought for a
a desperately poor and repressive reservation [to] become a free and independent nation. By

Mary Frances Kocurek

Ms. Cooper
AP Language Period 6
7/19/16
Kocurek 3
closing the book describing these events, Smith and Warrior leave the reader with a sense of
pride for the Indians and the Indian movement. This sense of pride contributes to Smith and
Warriors argument throughout the book, that though the Indians are a small and often ignored
population and despite all the roadblocks and failure they faced, the Indians put up an
outstanding fight for the importance of their beliefs and culture.

Chapter 10: The Independent Oglala Nation

He remembered that in 1890 Big Foots band of Minneconjou had been traveling in the
opposite direction, heading to Pine Ridge to surrender to federal authorities, knowing they would
be arrested and chained on reservations.
To his comrades Crow Dog said, Here we come going the other way. Were those
Indian people, were them, were back, and we cant go any further. Wounded Knee is a place
where we cant go any further. (201-202)

Tone Response
Throughout Like a Hurricane, no matter how serious the situation got, the Indians refused
to surrender. When they arrived in Wounded Knee they knew they [couldnt] go any further

Mary Frances Kocurek

Ms. Cooper
AP Language Period 6
7/19/16
Kocurek 4
because they would be arrested and chained on reservations. By setting claim on the land at
Wounded Knee the Indians continued their movement and avoided the United States government
for that much longer. Their ability to improvise no matter what the stakes helps the authors
establish a tone of persistence. Even though there were massacres and death threats, the Indians
refused to give up fighting for their voice and their culture.

Chapter 3: Fancydance Revolution

One of [Clyde Warriors] earliest existing writings is an essay titled What I
Would Like My Community to Look Like in Ten Years. His first priority was in the area of
Indian-white relationships at the local level where the white man tends to rate the Indian as lazy
and the worthless. Stemming from that according to the young Warrior, was the root problem.
The Indian, he writes, sees to make it a point to act and be exactly as hes rated. Yes,
Warrior argued in this essay and other forums, Indian people needed economic development
programs, educational opportunities, and technical assistance, but not until Indian people

Mary Frances Kocurek

Ms. Cooper
AP Language Period 6
7/19/16
Kocurek 5
changed their view of themselves and took pride in who they were would any form of assistance
make any real difference. (41)

Purpose Response
During the Indian Movement the Indians really began to [take] pride in who they were,
which was key in receiving attention from media, which was the Indians best weapon and how
the movement took off. Once the Indians stopped believing the way the white man rates [them]
The started making a real difference. Paul Chaat Smith and Robert Allen Warrior want the
reader to see the Indians gaining confidence in themselves and their culture and they want the
reader to see that the result of this newfound confidence is the Indians ability to become heard
and stage a big movement that actually did make a difference in the lives of Native Americans
because now the United States is aware that they are a force to be reckoned with, not just a small
rebel force.

Chapter 2: We Wont Move

Alcatraz was the perfect symbol but a dangerous place to live. The citizens of the island
nation occupied a surprisingly vast area, and the hundred or so people who lived there (by some

Mary Frances Kocurek

Ms. Cooper
AP Language Period 6
7/19/16
Kocurek 6
accounts an optimistic estimate) used hardly the available space. Given the amount of space and
the number of nooks on it, enforcing any kind of real security on the island was impossible. How
could anyone hope to stop a drug dealer from blending into the general population while
maintaining a cache in some dark basement closet? Who could hope to deter out of hand parties
when the revelers always had somewhere else to go? The abandoned prison had a thousand
places to hide and a million ways to get in trouble. (34-35)

Occasion Response
Throughout the book, Smith and Warrior focus on the disorganization and the
unpredictability of the Indian Movement. The number of nooks on [the island] allowed for riff
raff such as drug [deals] and out of hand parties. These details highlight the disorganization
of the movement and chaos that came with the Indian Movement. The nooks speak to the fact
that before the movement the Indians were somewhat forgotten and somewhat secluded from
each other and the rest of the country making it difficult for them to put together a well
thought-out movement. The drug deals call attention to the fact that the Indians were breaking
many laws in trying to claim land for their own nation and the out of hand parties speaks to the
fact that the Indians made a huge mess for the United States government and themselves through
destruction of property and raids.

Mary Frances Kocurek

Ms. Cooper
AP Language Period 6
7/19/16
Kocurek 7

Preface
As coauthors, we came to this project from different places, but shared a fascination to
understand as much as we could the people and the organizations that comprised the story of
Hurricane. Coauthor Smith participated in the aftermath of the story chronicled here, traveling to
South Dakota in 1974 at the age of nineteen to work on the Wounded Knee trails. He stayed with
the movement through most of the 1970s, joining the staff of the American Indian Movements
International Indian Treaty Council in 1977. Coauthor Warrior also knew of these events, but
from a greater distance. While a graduate student, he wrote in the alternate and native presses
about Indian community issues and kept running into questions that represent the legacy of the
watershed years featured here. Though not related to Clyde Warrior, whose life is told in the
pages that follow, he has heard many stories of the Ponca leader from friends and relatives in
Oklahoma.
We have relied on a wide range of sources, including more than sixty interviews;
archives in California, Minnesota, New Mexico, and Washington D.C.; contemporary press
accounts from Indian and mainstream news organizations; memoirs; and other records. (VIII)

Mary Frances Kocurek

Ms. Cooper
AP Language Period 6
7/19/16
Kocurek 8

Speaker Response
The speaker, or rather speakers, of Like a Hurricane are the two authors, Paul Chatt
Smith and Robert Allen Warrior. The two came to [writing Like a Hurricane] from different
places. Coauthor Smith [actually] participated in the aftermath of the story chronicled here,
traveling to South Dakota in 1974 at the age of nineteen to work on the Wounded Knee trails. He
stayed with the movement through most of the 1970s, joining the staff of the American Indian
Movements International Indian Treaty Council in 1977. Smith is thus able to give somewhat
of a first hand account of the lay of the land at Wounded Knee and of the survivors. He is also
able to do this with the American Indian Movement, which is a large part of the story, because he
actually served on it. Coauthor Warrior also knew of these events, but from a greater distance.
While a graduate student, he wrote in the alternate and native presses about Indian community
issues and kept running into questions that represent the legacy of the watershed years featured
here Warriors knowledge of the movement makes the information he provides believable
because of the obvious time he has spent studying the movement. But what really makes the two
credible is the wide range of sources from many different places. This brings a variety of
perspectives to the table and adds to the truth of the material they have written.

Mary Frances Kocurek

Ms. Cooper
AP Language Period 6
7/19/16
Kocurek 9
Works Cited
Smith, Paul Chaat and Robert Allen Warrior. Like a Hurricane: The Indian Movement from
Alcatraz to Wounded Knee. The New Press. 1996