Floyd Red Crow Westerman (1935 - 2007)

[blackcrowheart]

Floyd Red Crow Westerman (1935 - 2007)

Floyd Red Crow Westerman, Sisseton-Wahpeton Dakota musician, actor, and activist, passed away at 5:00 a.m. PST, at Cedars Sinai Hospital in Los Angeles after an extended illness. He was 71.

Westerman, who began his career as a country singer, appeared in over 50 films and televison productions, including Dances with Wolves, Hidalgo, The Doors, and Poltergeist, and Northern Exposure. He appeared in 12 episodes of the 1990s TV series, Walker, Texas Ranger, as Uncle Ray Firewalker.

As a young man, he was educated at the Wapheton and Flandreau Boarding Schools, where he became a close companion and life-long friend of Dennis Banks. He left his home on the Lake Traverse reservation in South Dakota, with a suitcase and an old guitar in hand. He rambled across the country playing country music and original tunes in bars and clubs, living for some time in Denver. In 1969, his first album Custer Died for Your Sins became the background theme of the emerging Red Power Movement. Before that,

As a member of American Indian Movement, and a spokesman for the International Indian Treaty Council, Westerman traveled the world extensively working for the betterment of native people. His vision of improved social conditions for indigenous people around the globe is reflected in the music of his second album, The Land is Your Mother, 1982. In 2006, he won a NAMMY Award for his third album, A Tribute to Johnny Cash. During his career, he played and collaborated with a number of notable musicians including Willie Nelson, Kris Kristopherson, Buffy St. Marie, Jackson Browne, Harry Belafonte, and Sting.

Before his musical acomplishments, Westerman had earned a degree in secondary education from Northern State University in South Dakota.

Westerman also worked throughout his life to empower Indian youth. "They are our future," he said in a November interview. "Today we are fighting a great battle against the popular culture that surrounds them. It's a battle for their hearts and minds. We need to work to inspire them to embrace their own history and culture. Without them, we Indians have no future."

Flowers may be sent to the Sisseton Flower Shop,

Sisseton, South Dakota.

http://nativetimes. com/index. asp?action= displayarticle& article_id= 9182

[blackcrowheart]

Remembering Native cultural ambassador Floyd Red Crow Westerman
Wednesday, January 2, 2008
By: Gloria La Riva

In memory

Floyd Red Crow Westerman, Native leader, actor and musician, died Dec. 13 in a Los Angeles hospital of complications from leukemia at age 71. A funeral procession of 100 vehicles accompanying him to his burial place in South Dakota and the tributes by friends and family were touching reminders of his legacy of activism and artistic integrity.

Westerman was born in South Dakota of the Sisseton-Wahpeton Oyate on Lake Traverse reservation. The Sisseton-





















Floyd Red Crow Westerman
Photo: Bill Hackwell

Wahpeton Oyate were known formerly as Sisseton-Wahpeton Sioux Tribe until 2002 when a referendum in that community amended the name to Oyate, meaning people.

Westerman’s experiences as a youth shaped his commitment to social justice and to setting the historical record straight about Native people’s struggles against the U.S. government genocidal policies. In songs, film projects and his involvement in many actions on behalf of Indigenous peoples, Westerman earned the title of Cultural Ambassador of American Indian Movement and the International Indian Treaty Council.

When he was 10-years-old, he was sent to the Wahpeton boarding school, the same school that AIM founder Dennis Banks was also forced to attend. Indian boarding schools were intended to expunge Native children’s culture, language and family and tribal ties.

Westerman and Banks were of the generation of Native men and women who came into political activism in the 1960s, partly influenced by the great civil rights movement of African American people, and by their own experience of oppression. The sweeping struggle for civil rights and sovereignty among the oppressed nationalities in the United States led to the formation of organizations like the Black Panther Party, the American Indian Movement, the Puerto Rican Young Lords Party, the Brown Berets and others.

A milestone in the Native struggle was the AIM defense of Wounded Knee on the Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota in 1973 when U.S. armed forces of the FBI, the Bureau of Indian Affairs and the U.S. military surrounded the town in a 71-day siege. With the siege on, Westerman was among those who slipped in through the military encirclement to join the takeover.

One of his biggest contributions to the movement was the revival of Indigenous people’s culture and history, which is buried by U.S. official history that seeks to justify genocidal policies against Native people.

Although he was known to the wider U.S. public as an actor, primarily for a leading role in the Hollywood film "Dances with Wolves," Westerman was first a singer and songwriter. He had a beautiful, deep and resonant voice, and a guitar-playing style rooted in the country and folk genres.

He composed music with themes of pride and vindication of Native culture and in defense of nature. Among his record albums were "Custer Died for Your Sins," "The Land is Your Mother," and in 2006 he recorded an album in tribute to Johnny Cash. For the Cash tribute album, he won Best Country Recording honors at the Native American Music Awards last year.

Westerman was the recipient of many honors and awards, including the Living Legend Award at the Native American Music Awards in 2002 and the Award for Generosity by the Americans for Indian Opportunity.

Westerman performed at many benefits for social causes including rallies for political prisoner Leonard Peltier. He often participated in the annual "Thanksgiving" sunrise ceremonies at Alcatraz Island in San Francisco. In 2000, he performed in San Francisco for the send-off of the Native cultural delegation to Cuba that was led by Dennis Banks.

In October 2007, Westerman and Banks came to San Francisco for Indigenous Peoples Day. There, he gave a stirring talk about the need to support Venezuelan president Hugo Chávez, the Bolivarian revolution and Bolivia’s Evo Morales.

One of his treasured projects was a documentary series called "Exterminate Them: America’s War on Indian Nations." The first part, "California Story," details the extermination of many Native nations in that state with the onset of the 1848 Gold Rush. His family has pledged to see the project completed.

Along with the thousands of people who knew Westerman over the years, I have very fond memories of Floyd Red Crow. He loved a good laugh and, more than anything, he truly came alive when he picked up his guitar to sing. He was a man of great dignity with a big heart and generous spirit for all people. He in turn was loved and respected by all who knew him.

His family includes his wife, Rosie, three daughters and a son.