Wounded Knee Incident
Encyclopedia
The Wounded Knee incident began February 27, 1973 when about 200 Oglala Lakota and followers of the American Indian Movement
(AIM) seized and occupied the town of Wounded Knee, South Dakota
on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation
. The grassroots protest followed the failure of their effort to impeach the elected tribal president Richard Wilson
, whom they accused of corruption and abuse of opponents; they also protested the United States government's failure to fulfill treaties with Indian peoples and demanded the reopening of treaty negotiations.
Oglala and AIM activists controlled the town for 71 days while the United States Marshals Service
, Federal Bureau of Investigation
agents and other law enforcement agencies cordoned off the area. The activists chose the site of the 1890 Wounded Knee Massacre
for its symbolic value. Both sides were armed and shooting was frequent. An FBI agent was paralyzed from a gunshot wound early during the occupation; a Cherokee and an Oglala Lakota were killed by shootings in April 1973. Ray Robinson
, a civil rights
activist who joined the protesters, disappeared during the events and is believed to have been murdered. Due to damage to the houses, the small community was never reoccupied.
The occupation attracted wide media coverage, especially after the press accompanied the two US Senators from South Dakota to Wounded Knee. The events electrified American Indians, who were inspired by the sight of their people standing in defiance of the government which had so often failed them. Many Indian supporters traveled to Wounded Knee to join the protest. At the time there was widespread public sympathy for the goals of the occupation, as Americans were becoming more aware of longstanding issues of injustice related to American Indians. Afterward AIM leaders Dennis Banks
and Russell Means
were indicted on charges related to the events, but their 1974 case was dismissed by the federal court for prosecutorial misconduct, a decision upheld on appeal.
Wilson stayed in office and in 1974 was re-elected amid charges of intimidation, voter fraud and other abuses. The rate of violence climbed on the reservation as conflict opened between political factions in the following three years; residents accused Wilson's private militia, Guardians of the Oglala Nation
(GOONs), for much of it. More than 60 opponents of the tribal government died violently during those years, including the executive director of the Oglala Sioux Civil Rights Organization (OSCRO). In 1975 in the "Pine Ridge shootout", two FBI agents were killed, found to have been shot at close range. Three AIM members were indicted for their deaths, including Leonard Peltier
, who escaped to Canada. In the first trial, the two AIM members were acquitted. Because of delays of the extradition process, Peltier was tried separately; he was convicted in a controversial case. Anna Mae Aquash
, the highest-ranking woman in AIM, was murdered in late December 1975 at the reservation, but her body was not found until February 1976. Two Native American men were convicted in 2004 and 2010 in her murder, but many people believe that the execution was ordered by the highest leaders in AIM.
), together with 200 activists and Oglala Lakota
(Oglala Sioux) of the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation
who opposed Oglala tribal chairman Richard Wilson
, occupied the town of Wounded Knee in protest against Wilson's administration, as well as against the federal government's persistent failures to honor its treaties with American Indian nations. The U.S. government law enforcement, including FBI agents, surrounded Wounded Knee the same day with armed reinforcements. They gradually gained more arms.
, "on 25 February 1973 the U.S. Department of Justice sent out 50 U.S. Marshals to the Pine Ridge Reservation to be available in the case of a civil disturbance." This followed the failed impeachment attempt and meetings of opponents of Wilson. AIM says that its organization went to Wounded Knee for an open meeting and "within hours police had set up roadblocks, cordoned off the area and began arresting people leaving town… the people prepared to defend themselves against the government’s aggressions." By the morning of February 28, both sides began to be entrenched.
Edward Chosa, an Ogichidaa from Lac Du Flambeau, WI brought over weapons for the other natives. Multiple tribes banned together for their treaty rights back.
"Traditionals" had their own leaders and influence in a parallel stream to the elected government recognized by the United States. The traditionals tended to be Oglala who held onto their language and customs, and did not participate in federal programs administered by the tribal government.
In his 2007 book on twentieth-century political history of the Pine Ridge Reservation, the historian Akim Reinhardt notes the decades-long ethnic and cultural differences among residents at the reservation. He attributes the Wounded Knee incident more to the rising of such internal tensions than to the arrival of AIM, who had been invited to the reservation by OSCRO. He also believes that the Indian Reorganization Act of 1934 did not do enough to reduce US federal government intervention into Sioux and other tribal affairs; he describes the elected tribal governments since the 1930s as a system of "indirect colonialism." Oglala Sioux opposition to such elected governments was longstanding on the reservation; at the same time, the limited two-year tenure of the president's position made it difficult for leaders to achieve much. Officials of the Bureau of Indian Affairs
, administrators and police, still had much influence at Pine Ridge and other American Indian reservations, which many tribal members opposed.
Specifically, opponents of Wilson believed he had sold grazing rights on tribal lands to local ranchers at too low a rate, reducing income to the tribe as a whole, whose members held the land communally. They also complained of his land-use decision to lease nearly one-eighth of the reservation's mineral-rich lands to private companies. Some full-blood Lakota complained of having been marginalized since the start of the reservation system. Most did not bother to participate in tribal elections, which led to tensions on all sides. There had been increasing violence on the reservation, which many attributed to Wilson's private militia, Guardians of the Oglala Nation
(informally called the GOONs), attacking political opponents to suppress opposition.
Another concern was the failure of the justice systems in border towns to prosecute white attacks against Lakota men who went to the towns for their numerous saloons and bars. Alcohol was prohibited on the reservation. Local police seldom prosecuted crimes against the Lakota, or charged assailants at lesser levels. Recent murders in border towns heightened concerns on the reservation. An example was the early 1973 murder of 20-year-old Wesley Bad Heart Bull in a bar in Buffalo Gap, which the tribe believed was because of race. AIM led supporters to a meeting at the Custer, South Dakota
courthouse, where they expected to discuss civil rights
issues and wanted charges against the suspect raised to murder from second-degree manslaughter. They were met by riot police, who allowed only five people to enter the courthouse, despite blizzard conditions outside. Reinhardt notes that the confrontation became violent, during which protesters burned down the chamber of commerce building, damaged the courthouse and destroyed two police cars, and vandalized other buildings.
Three weeks before Wounded Knee, the tribal council had charged Wilson with several items for an impeachment hearing. He evaded trial, as the prosecution was not ready to proceed immediately, the presiding official would not take new charges, and the council voted to close the hearings. Charges had been brought by a coalition of local Oglala, grouped loosely around the "traditionals," the Oglala Sioux Civil Rights Organization (OSCRO), and tribal members of the American Indian Movement. Wilson opponents were angered that he had evaded impeachment. US Marshals offered him and his family protection at a time of heightened tensions and protected the BIA headquarters at the reservation. Wilson added more fortification to the facility.
and Russell Means
were prominent spokesmen during the occupation; they often addressed the press, knowing they were making their cause known directly to the American people. The brothers Clyde
and Vernon Bellecourt
were also AIM leaders at the time, who generally operated in Minneapolis.
The federal government established roadblocks around the community for 15 miles in every direction. In some areas, Wilson stationed his GOONs outside the federal boundary and required even federal officials to stop for passage.
About 10 days into the occupation, the federal government lifted the roadblocks and forced Wilson's people away as well. When the cordon was briefly lifted, many new supporters and activists joined the Oglala Lakota at Wounded Knee. Publicity had made the site and action an inspiration to American Indians nationally. About this time, the leaders declared the territory of Wounded Knee to be the independent Oglala Nation. They demanded to negotiate with the US Secretary of State.
A small delegation, including Frank Fools Crow
, the senior elder, and his interpreter, flew to New York in an attempt to address and be recognized by the United Nations
(UN). While they received international coverage, they did not receive recognition as a sovereign nation by the UN. This was the beginning of indigenous
appeals directly to the United Nations and an international audience. Over the next decades, the UN would increasingly recognize indigenous issues and pass policy in favor of indigenous rights.
John Sayer, a Wounded Knee chronicler, wrote that:
The data gathered by the historians Record and Hocker largely concur: "...barricades of paramilitary personnel armed with automatic weapons, snipers, helicopters, armored personnel carriers equipped with .50-caliber machine guns, and more than 130,000 rounds of ammunition".
The statistics on the U.S. government force at Wounded Knee vary, but all accounts agree that it was a significant military force including "federal marshals, FBI agents, and armored vehicles." One eyewitness and journalist described "sniper fire from…federal helicopters," "bullets dancing around in the dirt," and "sounds of shooting all over town" [from both sides]. William C. Keefer was a deputy US Marshal assigned from Los Angeles. At Wounded Knee for the last few weeks of the confrontation, he wrote about it in his book, In A Pig's Eye. Keefer was assigned to arrest AIM leader Russell Means
at Deadwood, South Dakota; but Means got to Los Angeles, where he was arrested by the LAPD.
On March 13, Harlington Wood Jr.
, the assistant attorney general for the Civil Division
of the US Justice Department (DOJ), became the first government official to enter Wounded Knee without a military escort. Determined to resolve the deadlock without further bloodshed, he met with AIM leaders for days. While exhaustion made him too ill to conclude the negotiation, he is credited as the "icebreaker" between the government and AIM.
After 30 days, the US government tactics became harsher when Kent Frizell was appointed from DOJ to manage the government's response. He cut off electricity, water and food supplies to Wounded Knee, when it was still winter in South Dakota, and prohibited the entry of the media. AIM says that "the government tried starving out the [occupants]," and that its activists smuggled food and medical supplies in past roadblocks "set up by Dick Wilson and tacitly supported by the government." Keefer, the Deputy US Marshal at the scene, said there were no persons between federal agents and the town, and that the federal marshals' fire power would have killed anyone in the open landscape. The Marshals Service decided to wait out the AIM followers in order to reduce casualties on both sides. Some East Coast activists organized an air lift of food supplies to Wounded Knee.
Both AIM and federal government documents show that the two sides traded fire through much of the three months. The U.S. Marshal Lloyd Grimm was shot early in the conflict and suffered paralysis from the waist down. Among the many Indian supporters who joined the protest were Frank Clearwater and his pregnant wife, who were Cherokee
from North Carolina. He was hit in the head on April 17 while he slept, less than 24 hours after arrival, and he died on April 25.
When Lawrence "Buddy" Lamont, a local Oglala Lakota, was killed by a shot from a government sniper on April 26, he was buried on the site in a Sioux ceremony. After his death, tribal elders called an end to the occupation. Knowing the young man and his mother from the reservation, many Oglala were greatly sorrowed by his death. Both sides reached an agreement on May 5 to disarm. With the decision made, many Oglala Lakota began to leave Wounded Knee at night, walking out through the federal lines. Three days later, the siege ended and the town was evacuated after 71 days of occupation; the government took control of the town.
Ray Robinson
, a black civil rights
activist, went to South Dakota to join the Wounded Knee occupation. He was seen there by both a journalist and a white activist. He disappeared during the siege and his body has never been found. There were rumors that he angered AIM activists by promoting non-violence. One AIM leader, Carter Camp, said years later that Robinson had walked away under his own power, seeking aid for a wounded leg. Other witnesses have recalled open conflict between Robinson and AIM activists.
His widow Cheryl Robinson believes he was murdered during the incident. In 2004, after the conviction of a man for the murder of Anna Mae Aquash
, Robinson renewed her calls for an investigation into her husband's death. Paul DeMain, editor of News From Indian Country
, has said that based on interviews, he believes "Robinson was killed because AIM thought he was an FBI spy."
as well as various actors, activists, and prominent public figures, including Marlon Brando
, Angela Davis
, Jane Fonda
, William Kunstler
, and Tom Wicker
.
After DOJ prohibited the media from the site, press attention decreased. But, the actor Marlon Brando, who supported AIM, asked Sacheen Littlefeather
, an Apache
actress, to speak at the Oscar Award ceremony in Hollywood on his behalf, as he had been nominated for his performance in The Godfather
. She appeared at the ceremony in traditional Apache clothing. When his name was announced as the winner, she said that he declined the award due to the "poor treatment of Native Americans in the film industry." She also spoke to many of the press afterward about Wounded Knee. This recaptured the attention of millions in the U.S. and world media. AIM supporters and participants thought Littlefeather's speech to be a major victory for their movement. Although Angela Davis was turned away by federal forces as an "undesirable person" when she attempted to enter Wounded Knee in March 1973, AIM participants believed that the attention garnered by such public figures forestalled US military intervention.
The U.S. District Court of South Dakota (Fred Joseph Nichol
, presiding judge) dismissed the charges against Banks and Means for the 1973 Wounded Knee incident (both were defended by William Kunstler
) due to its determination of prosecutorial misconduct
. This decision was upheld on appeal in 1975.
, who had moved to the reservation after an arrest warrant
against him was issued by the Eastern District of Wisconsin
on charges of having killed a policeman (he was later acquitted of the Wisconsin charges). The first two defendants were acquitted at trial. Peltier had fled to Canada, from which he was extradited in 1976.
Peltier was later convicted in a separate trial for the Pine Ridge murders and sentenced to serve two consecutive life terms in prison. His cause became prominent among activists who believed he had been wrongly prosecuted and convicted. Supporters cited questionable tactics used by the FBI in the course of prosecuting Peltier, but to date, no appeals have been successful, and he was last denied parole in 2009.
, the leading woman activist in AIM, was found on the Pine Ridge Reservation. She had been shot execution style and murdered in December 1975. It was later found that she had been taken from Denver, Colorado to the reservation for this action.
Decades later, some former supporters have changed their minds about Peltier, since 2002 editorials in News From Indian Country
and testimony in trials beginning in 2004 related to the murder of Anna Mae Aquash
in December 1975 at Pine Ridge. Witnesses have testified that Peltier bragged to other AIM members about killing the two FBI agents, and that Aquash was interrogated by AIM leaders in 1975 about being an FBI informant. They suggest that AIM leaders ordered the execution of Aquash out of fear that she was an informant. In 2004 and 2010, two Native American men have been convicted in separate trials of the murder of Aquash.
Paul DeMain, editor of News From Indian Country
, whose writings helped reveal the Aquash suspects, wrote in his review of Trimbach's work:
starring Val Kilmer
and Graham Greene
combined a modern era crime-story with spiritual allusions to both the massacre in 1890 and a fictional version of the Wounded Knee incident.
The 1994 film Lakota Woman: Siege at Wounded Knee
starring Irene Bedard
, Lawrence Bayne
, and others, depicts the coming of age of a South Dakota Brulé Lakota woman, Mary Brave Bird, who takes up the struggle for Native Rights, including Wounded Knee.
The 1989 novel Medicine River by author Thomas King
contains a character who had been a part of AIM at the Wounded Knee Incident.
American Indian Movement
The American Indian Movement is a Native American activist organization in the United States, founded in 1968 in Minneapolis, Minnesota by urban Native Americans. The national AIM agenda focuses on spirituality, leadership, and sovereignty...
(AIM) seized and occupied the town of Wounded Knee, South Dakota
Wounded Knee, South Dakota
Wounded Knee is a census-designated place in Shannon County, South Dakota, United States. The population was 382 at the 2010 census....
on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation
Pine Ridge Indian Reservation
The Pine Ridge Indian Reservation is an Oglala Sioux Native American reservation located in the U.S. state of South Dakota. Originally included within the territory of the Great Sioux Reservation, Pine Ridge was established in 1889 in the southwest corner of South Dakota on the Nebraska border...
. The grassroots protest followed the failure of their effort to impeach the elected tribal president Richard Wilson
Dick Wilson (tribal chairman)
Richard A. "Dick" Wilson was elected chairman of the Oglala Lakota Sioux of the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in South Dakota, where he served from 1972–1976, following re-election in 1974...
, whom they accused of corruption and abuse of opponents; they also protested the United States government's failure to fulfill treaties with Indian peoples and demanded the reopening of treaty negotiations.
Oglala and AIM activists controlled the town for 71 days while the United States Marshals Service
United States Marshals Service
The United States Marshals Service is a United States federal law enforcement agency within the United States Department of Justice . The office of U.S. Marshal is the oldest federal law enforcement office in the United States; it was created by the Judiciary Act of 1789...
, Federal Bureau of Investigation
Federal Bureau of Investigation
The Federal Bureau of Investigation is an agency of the United States Department of Justice that serves as both a federal criminal investigative body and an internal intelligence agency . The FBI has investigative jurisdiction over violations of more than 200 categories of federal crime...
agents and other law enforcement agencies cordoned off the area. The activists chose the site of the 1890 Wounded Knee Massacre
Wounded Knee Massacre
The Wounded Knee Massacre happened on December 29, 1890, near Wounded Knee Creek on the Lakota Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in South Dakota, USA. On the day before, a detachment of the U.S. 7th Cavalry Regiment commanded by Major Samuel M...
for its symbolic value. Both sides were armed and shooting was frequent. An FBI agent was paralyzed from a gunshot wound early during the occupation; a Cherokee and an Oglala Lakota were killed by shootings in April 1973. Ray Robinson
Ray Robinson
Rayford Harold Robinson was an Australian cricketer who played in one Test in 1936....
, a civil rights
Civil rights
Civil and political rights are a class of rights that protect individuals' freedom from unwarranted infringement by governments and private organizations, and ensure one's ability to participate in the civil and political life of the state without discrimination or repression.Civil rights include...
activist who joined the protesters, disappeared during the events and is believed to have been murdered. Due to damage to the houses, the small community was never reoccupied.
The occupation attracted wide media coverage, especially after the press accompanied the two US Senators from South Dakota to Wounded Knee. The events electrified American Indians, who were inspired by the sight of their people standing in defiance of the government which had so often failed them. Many Indian supporters traveled to Wounded Knee to join the protest. At the time there was widespread public sympathy for the goals of the occupation, as Americans were becoming more aware of longstanding issues of injustice related to American Indians. Afterward AIM leaders Dennis Banks
Dennis Banks
Dennis Banks , a Native American leader, teacher, lecturer, activist and author, is an Anishinaabe born on Leech Lake Indian Reservation in northern Minnesota. Banks is also known as Nowa Cumig...
and Russell Means
Russell Means
Russell Charles Means is an Oglala Sioux activist for the rights of Native American people. He became a prominent member of the American Indian Movement after joining the organisation in 1968, and helped organize notable events that attracted national and international media coverage...
were indicted on charges related to the events, but their 1974 case was dismissed by the federal court for prosecutorial misconduct, a decision upheld on appeal.
Wilson stayed in office and in 1974 was re-elected amid charges of intimidation, voter fraud and other abuses. The rate of violence climbed on the reservation as conflict opened between political factions in the following three years; residents accused Wilson's private militia, Guardians of the Oglala Nation
Guardians of the Oglala Nation
The Guardians of the Oglala Nation were a private paramilitary group active on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation during the early 1970s.-Formation:...
(GOONs), for much of it. More than 60 opponents of the tribal government died violently during those years, including the executive director of the Oglala Sioux Civil Rights Organization (OSCRO). In 1975 in the "Pine Ridge shootout", two FBI agents were killed, found to have been shot at close range. Three AIM members were indicted for their deaths, including Leonard Peltier
Leonard Peltier
Leonard Peltier is a Native American activist and member of the American Indian Movement . In 1977 he was convicted and sentenced to two consecutive terms of life imprisonment for first degree murder in the shooting of two Federal Bureau of Investigation agents during a 1975 conflict on the Pine...
, who escaped to Canada. In the first trial, the two AIM members were acquitted. Because of delays of the extradition process, Peltier was tried separately; he was convicted in a controversial case. Anna Mae Aquash
Anna Mae Aquash
Anna Mae Aquash was a Mi'kmaq activist from Nova Scotia, Canada who became the highest-ranking woman in the American Indian Movement in the United States during the mid-1970s.Aquash...
, the highest-ranking woman in AIM, was murdered in late December 1975 at the reservation, but her body was not found until February 1976. Two Native American men were convicted in 2004 and 2010 in her murder, but many people believe that the execution was ordered by the highest leaders in AIM.
Occupation
On February 27, AIM leaders Russell Means (Oglala Sioux) and Carter Camp (PoncaPonca
The Ponca are a Native American people of the Dhegihan branch of the Siouan-language group. There are two federally recognized Ponca tribes: the Ponca Tribe of Nebraska and the Ponca Tribe of Indians of Oklahoma...
), together with 200 activists and Oglala Lakota
Oglala Lakota
The Oglala Lakota or Oglala Sioux are one of the seven subtribes of the Lakota people; along with the Nakota and Dakota, they make up the Great Sioux Nation. A majority of the Oglala live on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in South Dakota, the eighth-largest Native American reservation in the...
(Oglala Sioux) of the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation
Pine Ridge Indian Reservation
The Pine Ridge Indian Reservation is an Oglala Sioux Native American reservation located in the U.S. state of South Dakota. Originally included within the territory of the Great Sioux Reservation, Pine Ridge was established in 1889 in the southwest corner of South Dakota on the Nebraska border...
who opposed Oglala tribal chairman Richard Wilson
Dick Wilson (tribal chairman)
Richard A. "Dick" Wilson was elected chairman of the Oglala Lakota Sioux of the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in South Dakota, where he served from 1972–1976, following re-election in 1974...
, occupied the town of Wounded Knee in protest against Wilson's administration, as well as against the federal government's persistent failures to honor its treaties with American Indian nations. The U.S. government law enforcement, including FBI agents, surrounded Wounded Knee the same day with armed reinforcements. They gradually gained more arms.
Disputed facts
According to former South Dakota Senator James AbourezkJames Abourezk
James George Abourezk is a former Democratic United States Representative and United States Senator, and was the first Arab-American to serve in the United States Senate. He represented South Dakota in the U.S...
, "on 25 February 1973 the U.S. Department of Justice sent out 50 U.S. Marshals to the Pine Ridge Reservation to be available in the case of a civil disturbance." This followed the failed impeachment attempt and meetings of opponents of Wilson. AIM says that its organization went to Wounded Knee for an open meeting and "within hours police had set up roadblocks, cordoned off the area and began arresting people leaving town… the people prepared to defend themselves against the government’s aggressions." By the morning of February 28, both sides began to be entrenched.
Edward Chosa, an Ogichidaa from Lac Du Flambeau, WI brought over weapons for the other natives. Multiple tribes banned together for their treaty rights back.
Background
For years, internal tribal tensions had been growing over the difficult conditions on the Pine Ridge Reservation, which has been one of the poorest areas in the USA since it was set up. Many of the tribe believed that Wilson, elected tribal chairman in 1972, had rapidly become autocratic and corrupt, controlling too much of the employment and other limited opportunities on the reservation. They believed that Wilson favored his family and friends in patronage awards of the limited number of jobs and benefits. Some criticism addressed the mixed-race ancestry of Wilson and his favorites, and suggested they worked too closely with BIA officials who still had a hand in reservation affairs. Some full-blood Oglala believed they were not getting fair opportunities."Traditionals" had their own leaders and influence in a parallel stream to the elected government recognized by the United States. The traditionals tended to be Oglala who held onto their language and customs, and did not participate in federal programs administered by the tribal government.
In his 2007 book on twentieth-century political history of the Pine Ridge Reservation, the historian Akim Reinhardt notes the decades-long ethnic and cultural differences among residents at the reservation. He attributes the Wounded Knee incident more to the rising of such internal tensions than to the arrival of AIM, who had been invited to the reservation by OSCRO. He also believes that the Indian Reorganization Act of 1934 did not do enough to reduce US federal government intervention into Sioux and other tribal affairs; he describes the elected tribal governments since the 1930s as a system of "indirect colonialism." Oglala Sioux opposition to such elected governments was longstanding on the reservation; at the same time, the limited two-year tenure of the president's position made it difficult for leaders to achieve much. Officials of the Bureau of Indian Affairs
Bureau of Indian Affairs
The Bureau of Indian Affairs is an agency of the federal government of the United States within the US Department of the Interior. It is responsible for the administration and management of of land held in trust by the United States for Native Americans in the United States, Native American...
, administrators and police, still had much influence at Pine Ridge and other American Indian reservations, which many tribal members opposed.
Specifically, opponents of Wilson believed he had sold grazing rights on tribal lands to local ranchers at too low a rate, reducing income to the tribe as a whole, whose members held the land communally. They also complained of his land-use decision to lease nearly one-eighth of the reservation's mineral-rich lands to private companies. Some full-blood Lakota complained of having been marginalized since the start of the reservation system. Most did not bother to participate in tribal elections, which led to tensions on all sides. There had been increasing violence on the reservation, which many attributed to Wilson's private militia, Guardians of the Oglala Nation
Guardians of the Oglala Nation
The Guardians of the Oglala Nation were a private paramilitary group active on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation during the early 1970s.-Formation:...
(informally called the GOONs), attacking political opponents to suppress opposition.
Another concern was the failure of the justice systems in border towns to prosecute white attacks against Lakota men who went to the towns for their numerous saloons and bars. Alcohol was prohibited on the reservation. Local police seldom prosecuted crimes against the Lakota, or charged assailants at lesser levels. Recent murders in border towns heightened concerns on the reservation. An example was the early 1973 murder of 20-year-old Wesley Bad Heart Bull in a bar in Buffalo Gap, which the tribe believed was because of race. AIM led supporters to a meeting at the Custer, South Dakota
Custer, South Dakota
Custer is a city in Custer County, South Dakota, United States. The population was 2,067 at the 2010 census. It is the county seat of Custer County.-History:...
courthouse, where they expected to discuss civil rights
Civil rights
Civil and political rights are a class of rights that protect individuals' freedom from unwarranted infringement by governments and private organizations, and ensure one's ability to participate in the civil and political life of the state without discrimination or repression.Civil rights include...
issues and wanted charges against the suspect raised to murder from second-degree manslaughter. They were met by riot police, who allowed only five people to enter the courthouse, despite blizzard conditions outside. Reinhardt notes that the confrontation became violent, during which protesters burned down the chamber of commerce building, damaged the courthouse and destroyed two police cars, and vandalized other buildings.
Three weeks before Wounded Knee, the tribal council had charged Wilson with several items for an impeachment hearing. He evaded trial, as the prosecution was not ready to proceed immediately, the presiding official would not take new charges, and the council voted to close the hearings. Charges had been brought by a coalition of local Oglala, grouped loosely around the "traditionals," the Oglala Sioux Civil Rights Organization (OSCRO), and tribal members of the American Indian Movement. Wilson opponents were angered that he had evaded impeachment. US Marshals offered him and his family protection at a time of heightened tensions and protected the BIA headquarters at the reservation. Wilson added more fortification to the facility.
Incident
The traditional chiefs and AIM leaders met with the community to discuss how to deal with the declining situation on the reservation. Women elders such as Ellen Moves Camp, founder of the Oglala Sioux Civil Rights Organization (OSCRO), Gladys Bissonette and Agnes Lamont urged the men to take action. They decided to make a stand at the hamlet of Wounded Knee, the renowned site of the last large-scale massacre of the Indian Wars. They occupied the town and announced their demand for the removal of Wilson from office and for immediate revival of treaty talks with the US government. Dennis BanksDennis Banks
Dennis Banks , a Native American leader, teacher, lecturer, activist and author, is an Anishinaabe born on Leech Lake Indian Reservation in northern Minnesota. Banks is also known as Nowa Cumig...
and Russell Means
Russell Means
Russell Charles Means is an Oglala Sioux activist for the rights of Native American people. He became a prominent member of the American Indian Movement after joining the organisation in 1968, and helped organize notable events that attracted national and international media coverage...
were prominent spokesmen during the occupation; they often addressed the press, knowing they were making their cause known directly to the American people. The brothers Clyde
Clyde Bellecourt
Clyde Howard Bellecourt is a White Earth Ojibwe civil rights organizer noted for co-founding the American Indian Movement in 1968 with Dennis Banks, Herb Powless, and Eddie Benton Banai, among others. His older brother, the late Vernon Bellecourt, was also active...
and Vernon Bellecourt
Vernon Bellecourt
Vernon Bellecourt, Indian name WaBun-Inini, was a member of the White Earth Band of Ojibwe , and a Native American rights activist, one of the highest leaders in the American Indian Movement...
were also AIM leaders at the time, who generally operated in Minneapolis.
The federal government established roadblocks around the community for 15 miles in every direction. In some areas, Wilson stationed his GOONs outside the federal boundary and required even federal officials to stop for passage.
About 10 days into the occupation, the federal government lifted the roadblocks and forced Wilson's people away as well. When the cordon was briefly lifted, many new supporters and activists joined the Oglala Lakota at Wounded Knee. Publicity had made the site and action an inspiration to American Indians nationally. About this time, the leaders declared the territory of Wounded Knee to be the independent Oglala Nation. They demanded to negotiate with the US Secretary of State.
A small delegation, including Frank Fools Crow
Frank Fools Crow
Frank Fools Crow was a Lakota Sioux spiritual leader, Yuwipi medicine man, and the nephew of Black Elk. He was instrumental in negotiating the end of the insurrection at Wounded Knee in 1973 and the subject of a biography by Thomas Mails.-Life:...
, the senior elder, and his interpreter, flew to New York in an attempt to address and be recognized by the United Nations
United Nations
The United Nations is an international organization whose stated aims are facilitating cooperation in international law, international security, economic development, social progress, human rights, and achievement of world peace...
(UN). While they received international coverage, they did not receive recognition as a sovereign nation by the UN. This was the beginning of indigenous
Indigenous peoples
Indigenous peoples are ethnic groups that are defined as indigenous according to one of the various definitions of the term, there is no universally accepted definition but most of which carry connotations of being the "original inhabitants" of a territory....
appeals directly to the United Nations and an international audience. Over the next decades, the UN would increasingly recognize indigenous issues and pass policy in favor of indigenous rights.
John Sayer, a Wounded Knee chronicler, wrote that:
- "The equipment maintained by the military while in use during the siege included fifteen armored personnel carriers, clothing, rifles, grenade launchers, flares, and 133,000 rounds of ammunition, for a total cost, including the use of maintenance personnel from the national guardNational GuardThe term National Guard originally referred to a French citizen militia . The term is now used in many countries. Depending on the country in question, "national guard" may refer to an organized militia, a military force, a paramilitary force, a gendarmerie, or a police force:- Americas :* National...
of five states and pilot and planes for aerial photographs, of over half a million dollars."
The data gathered by the historians Record and Hocker largely concur: "...barricades of paramilitary personnel armed with automatic weapons, snipers, helicopters, armored personnel carriers equipped with .50-caliber machine guns, and more than 130,000 rounds of ammunition".
The statistics on the U.S. government force at Wounded Knee vary, but all accounts agree that it was a significant military force including "federal marshals, FBI agents, and armored vehicles." One eyewitness and journalist described "sniper fire from…federal helicopters," "bullets dancing around in the dirt," and "sounds of shooting all over town" [from both sides]. William C. Keefer was a deputy US Marshal assigned from Los Angeles. At Wounded Knee for the last few weeks of the confrontation, he wrote about it in his book, In A Pig's Eye. Keefer was assigned to arrest AIM leader Russell Means
Russell Means
Russell Charles Means is an Oglala Sioux activist for the rights of Native American people. He became a prominent member of the American Indian Movement after joining the organisation in 1968, and helped organize notable events that attracted national and international media coverage...
at Deadwood, South Dakota; but Means got to Los Angeles, where he was arrested by the LAPD.
On March 13, Harlington Wood Jr.
Harlington Wood Jr.
Harlington Wood, Jr. was an American lawyer, jurist, political figure and an amateur actor. He served as a judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit from 1976 until his death in 2008. He was considered one of the country's leading legal historians on the life and legacy...
, the assistant attorney general for the Civil Division
United States Department of Justice Civil Division
The United States Department of Justice Civil Division represents the United States, its departments and agencies, Members of Congress, Cabinet officers and other Federal employees...
of the US Justice Department (DOJ), became the first government official to enter Wounded Knee without a military escort. Determined to resolve the deadlock without further bloodshed, he met with AIM leaders for days. While exhaustion made him too ill to conclude the negotiation, he is credited as the "icebreaker" between the government and AIM.
After 30 days, the US government tactics became harsher when Kent Frizell was appointed from DOJ to manage the government's response. He cut off electricity, water and food supplies to Wounded Knee, when it was still winter in South Dakota, and prohibited the entry of the media. AIM says that "the government tried starving out the [occupants]," and that its activists smuggled food and medical supplies in past roadblocks "set up by Dick Wilson and tacitly supported by the government." Keefer, the Deputy US Marshal at the scene, said there were no persons between federal agents and the town, and that the federal marshals' fire power would have killed anyone in the open landscape. The Marshals Service decided to wait out the AIM followers in order to reduce casualties on both sides. Some East Coast activists organized an air lift of food supplies to Wounded Knee.
Both AIM and federal government documents show that the two sides traded fire through much of the three months. The U.S. Marshal Lloyd Grimm was shot early in the conflict and suffered paralysis from the waist down. Among the many Indian supporters who joined the protest were Frank Clearwater and his pregnant wife, who were Cherokee
Cherokee
The Cherokee are a Native American people historically settled in the Southeastern United States . Linguistically, they are part of the Iroquoian language family...
from North Carolina. He was hit in the head on April 17 while he slept, less than 24 hours after arrival, and he died on April 25.
When Lawrence "Buddy" Lamont, a local Oglala Lakota, was killed by a shot from a government sniper on April 26, he was buried on the site in a Sioux ceremony. After his death, tribal elders called an end to the occupation. Knowing the young man and his mother from the reservation, many Oglala were greatly sorrowed by his death. Both sides reached an agreement on May 5 to disarm. With the decision made, many Oglala Lakota began to leave Wounded Knee at night, walking out through the federal lines. Three days later, the siege ended and the town was evacuated after 71 days of occupation; the government took control of the town.
Ray Robinson
Ray Robinson
Rayford Harold Robinson was an Australian cricketer who played in one Test in 1936....
, a black civil rights
Civil rights
Civil and political rights are a class of rights that protect individuals' freedom from unwarranted infringement by governments and private organizations, and ensure one's ability to participate in the civil and political life of the state without discrimination or repression.Civil rights include...
activist, went to South Dakota to join the Wounded Knee occupation. He was seen there by both a journalist and a white activist. He disappeared during the siege and his body has never been found. There were rumors that he angered AIM activists by promoting non-violence. One AIM leader, Carter Camp, said years later that Robinson had walked away under his own power, seeking aid for a wounded leg. Other witnesses have recalled open conflict between Robinson and AIM activists.
His widow Cheryl Robinson believes he was murdered during the incident. In 2004, after the conviction of a man for the murder of Anna Mae Aquash
Anna Mae Aquash
Anna Mae Aquash was a Mi'kmaq activist from Nova Scotia, Canada who became the highest-ranking woman in the American Indian Movement in the United States during the mid-1970s.Aquash...
, Robinson renewed her calls for an investigation into her husband's death. Paul DeMain, editor of News From Indian Country
News from Indian Country
News From Indian Country is a nationwide, privately owned newspaper, published twice a month, founded by Paul DeMain in 1986, who is the managing editor and an owner. It is the oldest continuing, nationally distributed publication that is not owned by a tribal government...
, has said that based on interviews, he believes "Robinson was killed because AIM thought he was an FBI spy."
Support for action
Public opinion polls revealed widespread sympathy for the Native Americans at Wounded Knee. They also received support from the Congressional Black CaucusCongressional Black Caucus
The Congressional Black Caucus is an organization representing the black members of the United States Congress. Membership is exclusive to blacks, and its chair in the 112th Congress is Representative Emanuel Cleaver of Missouri.-Aims:...
as well as various actors, activists, and prominent public figures, including Marlon Brando
Marlon Brando
Marlon Brando, Jr. was an American movie star and political activist. "Unchallenged as the most important actor in modern American Cinema" according to the St...
, Angela Davis
Angela Davis
Angela Davis is an American political activist, scholar, and author. Davis was most politically active during the late 1960s through the 1970s and was associated with the Communist Party USA, the Civil Rights Movement and the Black Panther Party...
, Jane Fonda
Jane Fonda
Jane Fonda is an American actress, writer, political activist, former fashion model, and fitness guru. She rose to fame in the 1960s with films such as Barbarella and Cat Ballou. She has won two Academy Awards and received several other movie awards and nominations during more than 50 years as an...
, William Kunstler
William Kunstler
William Moses Kunstler was an American self-described "radical lawyer" and civil rights activist, known for his controversial clients...
, and Tom Wicker
Tom Wicker
Thomas Grey "Tom" Wicker was an American journalist. He was best known as a political reporter and columnist for The New York Times.-Background and education:...
.
After DOJ prohibited the media from the site, press attention decreased. But, the actor Marlon Brando, who supported AIM, asked Sacheen Littlefeather
Sacheen Littlefeather
Sacheen Littlefeather is a Native American activist who donned Apache dress and presented a speech on behalf of actor Marlon Brando, for his performance in The Godfather, when he boycotted the 45th Academy Awards ceremony on March 27, 1973, in protest of the treatment of Native Americans by the...
, an Apache
Apache
Apache is the collective term for several culturally related groups of Native Americans in the United States originally from the Southwest United States. These indigenous peoples of North America speak a Southern Athabaskan language, which is related linguistically to the languages of Athabaskan...
actress, to speak at the Oscar Award ceremony in Hollywood on his behalf, as he had been nominated for his performance in The Godfather
The Godfather
The Godfather is a 1972 American epic crime film directed by Francis Ford Coppola, based on the 1969 novel by Mario Puzo. With a screenplay by Puzo, Coppola and an uncredited Robert Towne, the film stars Marlon Brando, Al Pacino, James Caan, Robert Duvall, Sterling Hayden, John Marley, Richard...
. She appeared at the ceremony in traditional Apache clothing. When his name was announced as the winner, she said that he declined the award due to the "poor treatment of Native Americans in the film industry." She also spoke to many of the press afterward about Wounded Knee. This recaptured the attention of millions in the U.S. and world media. AIM supporters and participants thought Littlefeather's speech to be a major victory for their movement. Although Angela Davis was turned away by federal forces as an "undesirable person" when she attempted to enter Wounded Knee in March 1973, AIM participants believed that the attention garnered by such public figures forestalled US military intervention.
Aftermath
Following the end of the 1973 stand-off, the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation had a higher rate of internal violence. Residents complained of physical attacks and intimidation by president Richard Wilson's GOONs. The murder rate between March 1, 1973 and March 1, 1976 was 170 per 100,000. Detroit had a rate of 20.2 per 100,000 in 1974 and at the time was considered "the murder capital of the US." The national average was 9.7 per 100,000. More than 60 opponents of the tribal government died violently during this period, including Pedro Bissonette, executive director of OSCRO. AIM representatives said many were unsolved murders, but in 2002 the FBI issued a report disputing this.- 1974 trial of Banks and Means
The U.S. District Court of South Dakota (Fred Joseph Nichol
Fred Joseph Nichol
Fred Joseph Nichol was a United States federal judge.Born in Sioux City, Iowa, Nichol received an A.B. from Yankton College in 1933 and an LL.B. from the University of South Dakota School of Law in 1936. From 1936 to 1938 he was an Assistant to the Administrative Assistant, U.S. Senate,...
, presiding judge) dismissed the charges against Banks and Means for the 1973 Wounded Knee incident (both were defended by William Kunstler
William Kunstler
William Moses Kunstler was an American self-described "radical lawyer" and civil rights activist, known for his controversial clients...
) due to its determination of prosecutorial misconduct
Prosecutorial misconduct
In jurisprudence, prosecutorial misconduct is a procedural defense; via which, a defendant may argue that they should not be held criminally liable for actions which may have broken the law, because the prosecution acted in an "inappropriate" or "unfair" manner. Such arguments may involve...
. This decision was upheld on appeal in 1975.
Shootout at Pine Ridge
On 26 June 1975, two FBI agents, Ron Williams and Jack Coler, were shot at close range and killed in the course of a shootout near Wounded Knee on the reservation, at a ranch where AIM activists were living. Three members of AIM were charged, including Leonard PeltierLeonard Peltier
Leonard Peltier is a Native American activist and member of the American Indian Movement . In 1977 he was convicted and sentenced to two consecutive terms of life imprisonment for first degree murder in the shooting of two Federal Bureau of Investigation agents during a 1975 conflict on the Pine...
, who had moved to the reservation after an arrest warrant
Arrest warrant
An arrest warrant is a warrant issued by and on behalf of the state, which authorizes the arrest and detention of an individual.-Canada:Arrest warrants are issued by a judge or justice of the peace under the Criminal Code of Canada....
against him was issued by the Eastern District of Wisconsin
Wisconsin
Wisconsin is a U.S. state located in the north-central United States and is part of the Midwest. It is bordered by Minnesota to the west, Iowa to the southwest, Illinois to the south, Lake Michigan to the east, Michigan to the northeast, and Lake Superior to the north. Wisconsin's capital is...
on charges of having killed a policeman (he was later acquitted of the Wisconsin charges). The first two defendants were acquitted at trial. Peltier had fled to Canada, from which he was extradited in 1976.
Peltier was later convicted in a separate trial for the Pine Ridge murders and sentenced to serve two consecutive life terms in prison. His cause became prominent among activists who believed he had been wrongly prosecuted and convicted. Supporters cited questionable tactics used by the FBI in the course of prosecuting Peltier, but to date, no appeals have been successful, and he was last denied parole in 2009.
Murder of Anna Mae Aquash
In February 1976 after an uncharacteristic thaw, the body of Anna Mae AquashAnna Mae Aquash
Anna Mae Aquash was a Mi'kmaq activist from Nova Scotia, Canada who became the highest-ranking woman in the American Indian Movement in the United States during the mid-1970s.Aquash...
, the leading woman activist in AIM, was found on the Pine Ridge Reservation. She had been shot execution style and murdered in December 1975. It was later found that she had been taken from Denver, Colorado to the reservation for this action.
Decades later, some former supporters have changed their minds about Peltier, since 2002 editorials in News From Indian Country
News from Indian Country
News From Indian Country is a nationwide, privately owned newspaper, published twice a month, founded by Paul DeMain in 1986, who is the managing editor and an owner. It is the oldest continuing, nationally distributed publication that is not owned by a tribal government...
and testimony in trials beginning in 2004 related to the murder of Anna Mae Aquash
Anna Mae Aquash
Anna Mae Aquash was a Mi'kmaq activist from Nova Scotia, Canada who became the highest-ranking woman in the American Indian Movement in the United States during the mid-1970s.Aquash...
in December 1975 at Pine Ridge. Witnesses have testified that Peltier bragged to other AIM members about killing the two FBI agents, and that Aquash was interrogated by AIM leaders in 1975 about being an FBI informant. They suggest that AIM leaders ordered the execution of Aquash out of fear that she was an informant. In 2004 and 2010, two Native American men have been convicted in separate trials of the murder of Aquash.
21st century appraisals
The trials of the murderers of Anna Mae Aquash revealed information about internal AIM activities, including the fears of leaders in 1975 about possible FBI infiltration, and suspicions of one of their most highly regarded members. Douglass Durham, an FBI informant, was discovered and turned out of AIM preceding Aquash's murder. New studies of AIM and the Wounded Knee Incident have been more critical of activists and reveal the divisions among residents at Pine Ridge Reservation regarding the activities of AIM. In 2007 Joseph H. Trimbach, an FBI agent present at the standoff, and his son self-published a book about the events: American Indian Mafia: An FBI Agent's True Story about Wounded Knee, Leonard Peltier, and the American Indian Movement (AIM).Paul DeMain, editor of News From Indian Country
News from Indian Country
News From Indian Country is a nationwide, privately owned newspaper, published twice a month, founded by Paul DeMain in 1986, who is the managing editor and an owner. It is the oldest continuing, nationally distributed publication that is not owned by a tribal government...
, whose writings helped reveal the Aquash suspects, wrote in his review of Trimbach's work:
"It's an ugly dark feeling realizing you were lied to. For many years I supported clemency for Leonard PeltierLeonard PeltierLeonard Peltier is a Native American activist and member of the American Indian Movement . In 1977 he was convicted and sentenced to two consecutive terms of life imprisonment for first degree murder in the shooting of two Federal Bureau of Investigation agents during a 1975 conflict on the Pine...
, and toed the line for leadership of the American Indian Movement. The facts, the anger, and the blame 'Mafia' puts on AIM, on its sympathizers, and even on the institution Trimbach once worked for [FBI], is from a law-enforcement perspective, and is revealing. See clearly through the foggy AIM alibis, the false cry of civil rights. From a tiny element of Native America we once looked up to, the people's Movement was hijacked by false warriors, murderers, and liars. Whether you support the FBI or thought of it as your enemy, 'Mafia' is a must-read for understanding the other side of the DMZ, established at Wounded Knee '73."
In popular culture
In 1992, the film ThunderheartThunderheart
Thunderheart is a 1992 American contemporary western mystery film directed by Michael Apted from an original screenplay by John Fusco. The film is a loosely based fictional portrayal of events relating to the Wounded Knee incident in 1973...
starring Val Kilmer
Val Kilmer
Val Edward Kilmer is an American actor. Originally a stage actor, Kilmer became popular in the mid-1980s after a string of appearances in comedy films, starting with Top Secret! , then the cult classic Real Genius , as well as blockbuster action films, including a supporting role in Top Gun and a...
and Graham Greene
Graham Greene (actor)
Graham Greene is a Canadian actor who has worked on stage, and in film and TV productions in Canada, England and the United States.-Early life:...
combined a modern era crime-story with spiritual allusions to both the massacre in 1890 and a fictional version of the Wounded Knee incident.
The 1994 film Lakota Woman: Siege at Wounded Knee
Lakota Woman: Siege at Wounded Knee
Lakota Woman: Siege at Wounded Knee is a 1994 TNT original movie starring Irene Bedard, Tantoo Cardinal, Pato Hoffmann, Joseph Runningfox, Lawrence Bayne, and Michael Horse and August Schellenberg....
starring Irene Bedard
Irene Bedard
Irene Bedard is an American actress best known for her portrayal of Native American characters in a variety of films. Bedard was born in Anchorage, Alaska...
, Lawrence Bayne
Lawrence Bayne
Lawrence Bayne is a Canadian actor, born November 11, 1960 in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. He has appeared in various movies and television series, both live action and animated, and also sings/writes with his band The Lawrence Bayne Issue....
, and others, depicts the coming of age of a South Dakota Brulé Lakota woman, Mary Brave Bird, who takes up the struggle for Native Rights, including Wounded Knee.
The 1989 novel Medicine River by author Thomas King
Thomas King
Thomas King, CM is a noted novelist and broadcaster who most often writes about North America's First Nations. He is an advocate for First Nations causes. He is of Cherokee and Greek descent...
contains a character who had been a part of AIM at the Wounded Knee Incident.
Further reading
- R. A. Bonney, (1977). "The Role of AIM Leaders in Indian Nationalism" [Electronic version]. American Indian Quarterly, 3, 209-224.
- Mary Crow DogMary Crow DogMary Brave Bird, also known as Mary Brave Woman Olguin and Mary Crow Dog is a Brulé Lakota writer and activist who was a member of the American Indian Movement during the 1970s and participated in some of their most publicized events, including the Wounded Knee Incident when she was 20 years...
and Richard Erdoes (1990). Lakota WomanLakota WomanLakota Woman is a memoir by Mary Brave Bird, formerly Mary Crow Dog, a Sicangu Lakota. Reared on the Rosebud Indian Reservation in South Dakota, she describes her childhood and young adulthood, which included many historical events associated with the American Indian Movement.Lakota Woman describes...
, Harper Perennial (ISBN 0-06-097389-7). - Steve Hendricks (2006). The Unquiet Grave: The FBI and the Struggle for the Soul of Indian Country, Thunder's Mouth Press (ISBN 978-1-56025-735-6)
- Akim D. Reinhardt (2007). Ruling Pine Ridge: Oglala Lakota Politics from the IRA to Wounded Knee, Texas Tech University Press
- Paul Chaat Smith and Robert Allen Warrior. (1996) Like a Hurricane: The Indian Movement from Alcatraz to Wounded Knee, New York: The New Press
- Vicky Waltz (2009). "Interview with William Means: From Wounded Knee to Comm Ave", BU Today, Boston University, 21 April 2009
- Joseph H. Trimbach and John M. Trimbach, (2007). American Indian Mafia: An FBI Agent's True Story about Wounded Knee, Leonard Peltier, and the American Indian Movement (AIM), Outskirts Press (Note: Self-published)
External links
- "Records of Wounded Knee Legal Defense/Offense Committee", available for research use at the Minnesota Historical Society
- Owen Luck Photographs Collection, 1973-2001, Princeton University, open for research. Luck was at the incident and took 39 photographs held in this collection.