Extra Credit: Speaker

On Thursday April 16, 2009, I attended what was more than just a lecture, but a passionate woman who only wanted to tell of her life and the struggles that her and her Lakota people had to deal with in the past, present, and as she indicated, far into the future as well. Mary Brave Bird or also known as Mary Crow dog, came to Ohio University with more than just a heavy heart, she came with stamina and the strength to keep fighting for her ancestors. Mary paced back and forth the front of the room in the University Baker Center as she told of her past. She was born on the Pineridge reservation. Her was father was the first to leave her soon after she was born and not much later her mother did the same. She was then forced to live with her grandparents until her and her siblings were old enough to be sent to boarding school. As she grew up prior to boarding school, she was nurtured with love and the most important thing was family. In the Catholic boarding school she said that it felt like there was no love or family at all. The priests and the nuns would have no time for talk of Indian culture; there was only room for the lessons and the teachings of GOD. Although today Mary accepts Jesus and believes in him, her Lakota beliefs and ideas is the strong force within her. Her faith she said, was one of her only reasons that she is even alive today. She discussed her experience during the Indian Revolution. The things that she saw were extremely terrible. One time she recalled Green and Yellow Thunder, a native man in Nebraska, who was made to dance naked in front of the Legion men as entertainment. Later he was killed and stuffed into the trunk of a car. One of the most important things that Mary hold within herself, to this day, is her Lakota language. She had to learn the language twice, which she places the blame on her grandparents that she had to do that. She said, "Language comes with feelings -- emotions with the universe." Between each deep breath that Mary took because she was getting very emotional during parts of her story, you could see the passion in her eyes and the pride that she took in all of her work and her culture. But most of all, I have never seen a speaker so great full for the attendance of so many listeners. I thought she was going to break out into tears again when the group that sponsored her to come speak to us gave her a gift. I thought that listening to Mary Brave Bird was very enjoyable.