AIM marks 40th anniversary of Wounded Knee
Some believe impact of Wounded Knee still being felt
by Jack Siebold, MyTown editor
“For 71 days, this place right here held the attention of the world.” That’s what Herb Powless, a founding member of the American Indian Movement, said Wednesday on the 40th anniversary of the takeover of Wounded Knee.
The small wind-swept village is sacred to Native Americans, first for the tragic massacre of an estimated 150 to 300 Lakota men, women and children in 1890; and then in 1973 when AIM occupied the village in a stand against the Oglala Sioux tribal government.
A lot of things were coming to a head on Feb. 27, 1973, according to Powless. Poverty levels were the highest in the nation (and still are 40 years later). “They talk about poor Blacks? This is the poorest of the poor,” Powless exclaimed. That economic strife; coupled with the conflict between the Oglala traditional elders and the tribal President Richard “Dickie” Wilson set the stage for the takeover of Wounded Knee.
Some accounts have AIM in a “meeting” in the village and the federal government blocking them in. It just happened that 50 federal marshals were on the Pine Ridge a couple of days before the takeover, due to the conflict between the tribal government and its people. Others say AIM planned the takeover all along. There were 200 AIM members and supporters in the village and the marshals were reinforced by FBI agents.
Before an agreement was reached to end the occupation, an FBI agent and two AIM members had been killed. A civil rights person who joined the occupiers disappeared and was believed to have been murdered.
At the time of Wounded Knee, AIM already had several years of experience in protests and occupations. AIM, according to Powless, made a difference by taking Wounded Knee. “AIM came on the scene and helped change the lives of American Indians,” Powless claimed. “We gave them hope.”
“For 71 days, this place right here held the attention of the world.” That’s what Herb Powless, a founding member of the American Indian Movement, said Wednesday on the 40th anniversary of the takeover of Wounded Knee.
The small wind-swept village is sacred to Native Americans, first for the tragic massacre of an estimated 150 to 300 Lakota men, women and children in 1890; and then in 1973 when AIM occupied the village in a stand against the Oglala Sioux tribal government.
A lot of things were coming to a head on Feb. 27, 1973, according to Powless. Poverty levels were the highest in the nation (and still are 40 years later). “They talk about poor Blacks? This is the poorest of the poor,” Powless exclaimed. That economic strife; coupled with the conflict between the Oglala traditional elders and the tribal President Richard “Dickie” Wilson set the stage for the takeover of Wounded Knee.
Some accounts have AIM in a “meeting” in the village and the federal government blocking them in. It just happened that 50 federal marshals were on the Pine Ridge a couple of days before the takeover, due to the conflict between the tribal government and its people. Others say AIM planned the takeover all along. There were 200 AIM members and supporters in the village and the marshals were reinforced by FBI agents.
Before an agreement was reached to end the occupation, an FBI agent and two AIM members had been killed. A civil rights person who joined the occupiers disappeared and was believed to have been murdered.
At the time of Wounded Knee, AIM already had several years of experience in protests and occupations. AIM, according to Powless, made a difference by taking Wounded Knee. “AIM came on the scene and helped change the lives of American Indians,” Powless claimed. “We gave them hope.”
For Clifton Desersa, it was a fight for rights. The then 24-year-old Desersa had just come back from Vietnam when protests against the tribal government turned violent. “It was just fighting against the government,” Desersa said. He wasn’t with the occupiers, although some of his family members were. Desersa’s job then was to get media past government checkpoints and into the village so AIM leaders could do interviews.
Desersa still believes in that fight. “I’ll probably be fighting the government the rest of my life,” he said. “I’ll probably be gone and the younger generations will still be fighting the government.”
Desersa still believes in that fight. “I’ll probably be fighting the government the rest of my life,” he said. “I’ll probably be gone and the younger generations will still be fighting the government.”
That fight takes a younger generation than the AIM leaders at Wounded Knee. Russell Means has recently passed on; Vernon Bellecourt is gone and his brother Clyde, along with Dennis Banks, is aging. Others, like Pedro Bissonette, director of the Oglala Sioux Civil Rights Organization, were among the dozens of people killed on Pine Ridge in the 1970s.
Susie Barta, who calls herself a “first generation AIM baby; an original AIM kid,” is one of the younger leaders. Barta was 16 years old when she joined the occupation a couple of days after it started. “It was a hostile time for us,” she said. “Forty years ago it was a very dangerous situation.”
As for today: “I think there is still a fight for us to be who we are,” Barta said. “I think, until we get the history right in this country and our people can feel good about who we are I think nothing will ever change. What I’m fearful most is that people have a mindset already and they teach their kids that same mindset so we’re fighting that. The fight continues.”
As for today: “I think there is still a fight for us to be who we are,” Barta said. “I think, until we get the history right in this country and our people can feel good about who we are I think nothing will ever change. What I’m fearful most is that people have a mindset already and they teach their kids that same mindset so we’re fighting that. The fight continues.”