Hippies Indians And The Fight For Red Power by Sherry L Smith

Professor's email: We have talked a great deal about how the belief in containment and the consensus defined the early years of the Cold War. The consensus was a political solution to the anxiety of the McCarthy era, a stimulant toward consumer spending, and a cultural sense of coalition and togetherness. Television presented a coherent identity of American culture, the American family, and containment of deviancy and subversion. By the 1960s, counter culture choose to reject these principles; instead of cohesion and consensus, the counter culture found American suburban culture to be conformist and lacking in authenticity. At the same time, by the late 1960s many of the peoples and voices who were not part of the consensus began carving out their own sense of identity and culture, hence the rise of the Black Power movement, the Chicano movement, the women's rights movement, the gay rights movement, the American Indian movement, etc. As we read last Saturday, Cointelpro not only feared the rise of the movements but also the possibilities of connections and alliances between these movements. Yet two very different efforts were underway in the late 1960s. The members of the largely white and middle-class “new left” were rejecting their parents' culture and politics while minority groups were trying to carve out their own identities and cultures. By the early 1970s, the new left began to try to replace consensus culture and counter culture (which were connected to each other) with something else (preferably something ‘authentic'). This is what drew them to the politics and struggles of the American Indian movement. Yet AIM had its own interests and politics, interests that had their roots deep in the history of American expansion into the west and reservation policy dating from the 1890s. Hippies and Indians did not necessarily want the same things. Professor's instructions: This is the story that Sherry Smith traces and that I would like you to write about. How did AIM, the new left (hippies), black nationalists, and Chicanos try to find common ground and common identities? In what ways did these connections work and in what ways did they not work? Why does Smith call this a “fight for red power”? Writer needs ANSWER above questions !! The only source should be the book, no wiki or brief summary please. Essay will be checked through turnitin.com. It is very important for me to make my professor believe that I've read the book. If you have ANY questions or need me to purchase the book for you, please let me know. +1-513-765-9291 Alex