RICHARD MARSHALL FOUND INNOCENT
I was traveling all week one side of Oregon and then the other…Thursday I came home to the good news that the first fiasco trial in the Anna Mae Aquash murder outcome was innocent!!
A federal jury deliberated for less than two hours Thursday before finding Vine Richard “Dickie” Marshall not guilty of murder in connection with the 1975 slaying of American Indian Movement activist Annie Mae Aquash.
Marshall’s supporters, who filled one side of the U.S. District courtroom, erupted in cheers and applause when the verdict was read about 2 p.m. Marshall stood and hugged Dana Hanna, his court-appointed attorney.
Afterward, Hanna noted that people have said a Native American cannot get a fair trial in front of an all-white jury in South Dakota. “We have proved them wrong today,” he said.
Prosecutors had tried to prove that Marshall, 59, provided the handgun used to kill Aquash, who some in AIM believed was a government informant.
Arlo Looking Cloud, who was convicted in 2004 of her murder and is serving life in prison, was the government’s key witness. After years of denying that he, John Graham, Theda Clarke and Aquash had stopped at Marshall’s home in Allen just hours before Aquash was killed near Wanblee, Looking Cloud came forward in 2008 to say they had stopped in Allen and that Marshall had given them a handgun.
On the witness stand last week, Looking Cloud claimed he did not tell the story sooner because he was afraid of Marshall.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Robert Mandel suggested to jurors that there was another reason Looking Cloud didn’t talk sooner. If he had mentioned going to Marshall’s to get a gun, Looking Cloud would have been admitting he knew Aquash would be killed, Mandel said.
Mandel cited evidence that Clarke had given Graham a note that read something like, “take care of this baggage.”
“Folks, there wasn’t any baggage,” he said. “There was only a human being they wanted taken care of, and that was Annie Mae Pictou … ‘Take care of it?’ Hey, you can draw your own conclusions as to what that meant.”
In order for Marshall to be convicted, federal prosecutors had to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that he had both provided the gun and known it would be used to kill Aquash. Hanna suggested in his closing arguments that the government had proven neither.
“This case of the government consists of the words that came out of Arlo Looking Cloud’s mouth and Serle Chapman’s mouth,” neither of which Hanna said were credible.
Hanna argued that Looking Cloud made up the story about Marshall in hopes of getting out of prison and because Looking Cloud believed Marshall had “ratted him out” to investigators.
And Hanna questioned why Chapman, a British writer, did not tell investigators until 2008 about an unrecorded conversation in which he said he asked Marshall about the gun.
continued at RAPID CITY JOURNAL
Contact Heidi Bell Gease at 394-8419 or heidi.bell@rapidcityjournal.com
MONICA CHARLES WRITES ABOUT THE ANNA MAE MURDER TRIAL
ANNA MAE AQUASH: THE LEGEND
By
Monica J Charles
Anna Mae Aquash is the stuff of legends. She died in her prime under mysterious circumstances. She was only thirty years old and the mother of two small children. She was beautiful, smart and shined with promise. She was friends with the American Indian Movement leadership and the rank and file….CONTINUE STORY AT STELLAR HEALING
CLASSIC COINTELPRO
(The story of Anna Mae Aquash
and
Arlo Looking Cloud)
I don’t have words to name the anguish I have carried for Anna Mae, Arlo and John. Thirty years ago hope was a luminous butterfly breaking out of her cocoon in my heart. The days of the old movement, the 1970’s brought out the best in us, and the worst.
We flew to the sun and stole light at the occupation of Wounded Knee 1973 as our rag tag band of Indians yanked our history and destiny from the hands of the United States government. Wounded Knee had been synonymous with the death of our way of life. Close your eyes and you can see Big Foot and his people, frozen where they fell, shot by American soldiers…..CONTINUE THIS STORY AT STELLAR HEALING
YOUR FBI $$$’s HARD AT WORK???
WOW! Is this an example of our Federal dollars at work? Not sure who SNAPPLE is but since he came to my house uninvited supporting Special Agent Joseph Trimbach. As a courtesy I put up a video that he thinks is relevant to the John Graham/Richard Marshall debacle trial. I think the trial is tearing apart Indian country but mostly the mainstream media does not report on it…another example of how the United States continues their ongoing history of racist beliefs and actions against the indigenous people population of this beautiful land.
Although I posted the video late last night with his name in caps he cannot seem to find it even though I also linked the post to his own blog LEGEND OF PINE RIDGE. Snapple is upset not only because he thinks I did not put up Two Elks video but because he mistakenly wrote on a previous post “the FBI is against Indians” He corrected himself but apparently he has no sense of humor. SNAPPLE claims I was making fun at his expense and that he is “older”…not sure what that means…at any rate he is an “older” person who quickly resorts to insults and tantrums when he thinks he has not gotten his way. On top of that I specifically told him that I would post it sometime…I was going to wait until the weekend but stayed up last night..
Mr. Snapple you need to read RULES FOR COMMENTING ON MY BLOG.
Here is one of several comments he left on my blog…I am responding in parenthesis
You are obviously a stupid little idiot who is not able to argue honestly if you choose to make something of an older person’s typing error. And lazy and dishonest not to post TWo Elk’s recent video.
I have given you the youtube link a few times.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zbkm1lMI0DU
Monica and Anna Mae both were both reportedly in a relationship to Dennis Banks, although he was married to Ka-Mook.(Noo….Monica Charles says she was not in a relationship with Dennis Banks and what is your source to such a claim? Do you just throw that stuff out there hoping a sex scandal will spice things up? You sound like the NATIONAL ENQUIRER!)
Monica’s brother (where do you get your information??? Do you think everybody with the last name of Charles is Monicas brother???) Norman was allegedly with Peltier when the FBI agents were shot.
Monica is pretty much at ground zero and spends a lot of time discrediting Indians such as Richard Two Elk and Ka-Mook, who have told the authorities what they witnessed so that there would be evidence to take to court.(Didn’t Ka-Mook get paid 49,000 for her testimony? She basically testified heresay and seven months later married one of the governments lead investigators in the Anna Mae Aquash case. From what I understand Richard Two Elk’s testimony is so bad and he has put out so many conflicting stories that he is not taken too seriously on the stand….or by PBS.)
Here is something Two Elk said about what Dennis Banks ordered boys to do during the occupation:
“I was there, at Wounded Knee. At the age of 19, I backpacked weapons and supplies into the village with my AIM brothers. I remember it was near Easter, because that’s when our leader, Dennis Banks, ordered us to ‘take care’ of a young white guy, suspected of being an informant. We knew what that meant. We strung him up on a cross in a mock crucifixion, and beat him. After we took him down, they led him away and I don’t think he was ever heard from again.”(Richard Two Elk has apparently written several different versions of this incident…If this is true why have the FBI not prosecuted him for murder???)
http://www.expertclick.com/NewsReleaseWire/ReleaseDetails.aspx?ID=26541
Agnes Gildersleeve testified that Indian people were held in a church and threatened with guns. AIM took over a disabled man’s trailer and other people’s homes.
Agnes recounts:
“[AIM] took complete control of the telephone service and local residents were not permitted to answer any of the phones. When my phone would ring, an armed guard would immediately answer the phone and direct the call over to [disabled Wilber Reigert's stolen] trailer house where Banks, Means, and Bellecourt were located…” (Trimbach p. 88) (The Gildersleeves were well known for taking advantage of Native Americans at their trading post…selling objects offensive to Native Americans. Here is Steve Hendricks talking about the Gildersleeves:
Tim Giago writes that I unfairly impugned the honor of the late Clive and Agnes Gildersleeve. The Gildersleeves owned the trading post at Wounded Knee, which was looted by militants who had seized the village to protest oppression on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation and beyond. Sloppily lumping my book The Unquiet Grave with Peter Matthiessen’s In The Spirit of Crazy Horse, Giago writes, “In [the two books], you will read about a ‘white man’ and a woman often referred to as a ‘white woman,’ although Agnes Gildersleeve was an Ojibwa woman, who ‘ripped off’ the local Lakota people. This apparently justifies the attacks upon them and the destruction of their business.”
I did not write that Ms. Gildersleeve was white, did not use the words “ripped off” (though they are not far from the truth), and did not excuse the attack on them or their business. I did explain why many Indians hated the business:
“Its owners, the Gildersleeve and Czywczynski families, had strewn billboards for seventy-five miles that announced, SEE THE WOUNDED KNEE MASSACRE SITE, VISIT THE MASS GRAVE. POSTCARDS, CURIOS, DON’T MISS IT! The postcards showed slaughtered Indians, including Chief Big Foot, frozen in the 1890 snow. The traders enlivened their commerce with beadwork, quilts, and other curios bought low from Oglalas and sold high. A Catholic priest once watched Mrs. Czywczynski barter a beader to a stingy $3.50 for an exquisite work, then turn around and sell it for $12.00. The traders doubled as creditors, lending their Indian patrons $10 at humble interest of $2.25 a week. As village postmasters, they also offered a rudimentary auto-payment–opening the mail of customers who had run tabs, cashing their checks without asking, paying their bills at the post, and calling other shopkeepers across the reservation to see if debts were owed them too. There had been calls to boycott the post, but none had worked. The post was the only store for a dozen miles, and the many carless Oglalas of Wounded Knee had no choice but to buy groceries and other wares at its inflated prices. Years later Clive Gildersleeve was called to testify about his business practices, and he invoked his Fifth Amendment right not to incriminate himself ninety-nine times.”
Giago goes on to paint me as an apologist for the American Indian Movement, which led the Indian rights struggle of the 1970s. This is rank distortion. Mine was the first book to describe AIM’s secret killing inside Wounded Knee of an activist named Ray Robinson, and the book’s centerpiece was AIM’s infamous execution of Anna Mae Aquash two years later. As Giago well knows, I condemned AIM sharply for these and lesser brutalities, and more than one AIM leader has threatened me for my pains. What riles Giago is that I also praised AIM (the overwhelming majority of whose members were peaceful) for fighting oppression, and I denuded the oppressors, from small-timers like the Gildersleeves to big-timers like the FBI, the latter of which persistently goaded AIM to just the sort of violence it committed. In Indian Country, the haves like Giago have long fought to keep the have-nots in their place. It is one reason the have-nots are still so multitudinous.
RICHARD TWO ELK FOR SNAPPLE
I have posted on this before. I thought maybe it was something new…Richard Two Elk the man who wrote the forward to AMERICAN INDIAN MAFIA also makes videos. This is being put up again for SNAPPLE who runs the THE LEGEND OF PINE RIDGE blog. After watching it again I still have the same opinion….after the video…
I have several problems with this video…Richard Two Elks supposedly owns and produces videos yet he doesn’t know not to wear a hat on camera…indoors either as far as I am concerned. I was raised that it is disrespectful. Another thing that bothers me is that Richard Two Elks never speaks confidently into the camera…he hides his face and is always looking down at a prepared statement he also mumbles and slurs. It was a bizarre video the first time I watched it and still is. Richard Two Elks was at Wounded Knee II he knows who everyone is and the history….I still get names confused…but I can tell you what I know and believe….looking you in the eye confident that I am true to my feelings and in my beliefs based on what I know…But as I said this might be a difference between whites and Indians?? I am not trying to be mean but the video lacks passion and conviction for the subject never mind that I do not agree with all that is in the video….
Because I have read many other things by Richard Two Elk….I have a hard time believing that these are his words…this is how Richard Two Elks usually writes in some weird voice. This is a comment to me for posting the SNAPPLE post on alt.native
so…why da hill ya postin it hear?…
not nuff room onyer Clog, i meanz…blog…?
please refrain from redundant posting of content which may be read
elsewhere, in it’s entirety, IF anyone should want…DUH!
and this
da mistake ya repeatedly recycle IS…ya seem to bleev we all wanna
play yer stoopid pre-adolescent games witya…
AxeUWally…we find sum sick entertainment in watchin you flop
roundabout…pass dat Popcorn puleez…
and this from another post
if’n ya kickout 9 or 10 o yer C&Pz dat outta move yer last act o
IDIOCY off da Front Page anywhoz…den ya kin maka neu face til Sizzle catch up witya N Cookya agin…
Dang…me Know ya Gotta B havin Bic Phun messin witus, eh?
Like I said it may be a difference between whites and Indians…but Monica Charles doesn’t speak like that…its weird like he has to create another personality for???
I could be wrong but I was raised in a very conservative home and while I am quite liberal in my political views…I mostly carry quite conservative values and this man really bothers me…
One of the other things that bothers me about Richard Two Elks is that he admits to hanging a man on a cross and beating him…I know he was young but he was never charged by the FBI and speaks of the incident in the forward he wrote(?) to Special Agent Joseph Trimabach’s book AMERICAN INDIAN MAFIA. I am a huge believer that all laws should be for all people….while I may not be happy with the prison system in the United States…I believe that run correctly it should be a place where people are held accountable for their actions…I think it is a necessary step to healing all parties involved.I think that people either rise to the occasion or remain unable to confront the horror of what they have done and thus are never able to be totally free. I do not believe that informers involved in crimes should get lesser sentences than those they have informed on…I do think that it should be a consideration after remorseful behavior and parole is being considered. Richard Two Elk reminds me of someone who is not proud of who he has become.
There are a lot of accusations flung about on alt.native and I try not to pay attention to the ones that are just insults being flung around…there are a lot….one of the accusations being hurled around for awhile was that the “real victims” of Wounded Knees were those whose homes were destroyed and that the occupiers of Wounded Knee should sew blankets. Some write like the people are living in cardboard boxes not with no blankets or food….Wounded Knee seems to be a very emotional and sacred site, there was a movement of Indians who were being repressed by the government State and Federal….they thought quite mistakenly that a group of individuals with a few rifles were a match for for the United States government…and like Japan-they were wrong.
The appropriate response after Wounded Knee would have been for the governor at the time to declare an emergency ask for Federal money in order for the owners to rebuild….if this was not done? Shame should be on our government.
The video is very one sided and while Richard Two Elk claims PBS neglected to tell the death of a black supporter at Wounded Knee.. he fails to mention that he hung someone on a cross and beat them to death…this person has disappeared and apparently he changes his story…AIM took him….the FBI took him…??? This is a man who the FBI has chosen as their spokes person on AIM and Wounded Knee. Further more this video fails to mention the abuse and murder of Indian children on Pine Ridge…a little girls eye was shot out. Houses and cars were routinely shot up….even some of the lawyers for the occupiers were beaten. A young woman named Jancita Eagle Deer was raped by the future Governor…He was disbarred by the tribal courts…but the FBI was so racist against Indians that they did not consider the tribal judge to be legitamate….because he was Indian?? There are so many twists and turns to this story I encourage all of you who are interested to read THE UNQUIET GRAVE by Steve Hendricks. He seems to be unbiased and often criticizes or praises both the FBI and AIM.
The fact of the matter is PBS could do a five part series on Wounded Knee II and never be able to cover all of the finger pointing and accusations. The murder of Anna Mae Aquash alone has more whodunnit theories than CARTERS HAS LIVER PILLS!
My solution to all of this is to either let it drop or to put every single person under sodium penethol or hook them up to lie detector tests…every FBI agent, BIA workers…all of the major characters on Pine Ridge…in AIM…FBI informants…even with all of that peoples faulty memories probably still wouldn’t be enough to find out what really happened.
SNAPPLE LEAVES A COMMENT
This is a comment SNAPPLE just left on my blog for those of you who would like to hear from an FBI supporter’s take on the whole Anna Mae Aquash story. My response is below his.
On August 12, 2009 at 5:24 am Snapple Said:
Elizabeth,
Richard Two Elk has made a video that describes some things that happened when the AIM attacked the people at Wounded Knee.
I think you should hear his side instead of just listening to a woman who may be closely associated with the people who conspired in some crimes.
I have a number of posts about Two Elk, but you might want to see his new video.
The introduction of the Trimbach’s book is written by Mr. Two Elk. He writes about child abuse and alcoholism in the introduction. This book is based on Indian sources because it is Indians who witnessed the crimes or who were the victims.
I linked it on this post.
http://legendofpineridge.blogspot.com/2009/08/richard-two-elk-stolen-legacy-of.html
I think you are believing the lies that the criminals who killed Indians, FBI agents, and some young women and men at Wounded Knee told.
You write about abuse of women and children, but young women and girls were sexually assaulted and murdered during the take-over.
The lawyer for the AIM, Mark Lane, got money from the KGB. He was also the lawyer for the 900 people at Jonestown who were murdered. Mark Lane says he managed to escape that day. Only a few people weren’t poisoned or shot. Then Mark Lane–the AIMster lawyer who got money from the KGB–wrote a book that claimed the CIA killed those people.
Mark Lane got money from the Soviet KGB to make trouble and to discredit American security agencies like the FBI and CIA. We know this because a KGB archivist defected to the British with many years of notes he took on the documents in the KGB foreign intelligence archives.
Snapple,
You must not have read my posts or comments to James Simon very well. I do not just listen to Monica Charles…she merely suggested a book to read….I have been reading THE UNQUIET GRAVE by Steve Hendricks. I got hung up on the Jancita Eagle Deer story and wrote several posts about her. What do you think about Jancita Eagle Deer? Do you see her as just another lying drunk Indian woman who “got” what she asked for?
I in no way, shape or form support ANYONE who has raped or abused women or children…David Seals has spoken out against AIM leaders who treated women poorly…as has Monica Charles. (look up my posts on Bernard Red Cherries. I have a victims statement from his step daughter on my blog. A fellow blogger was threatened by Autonomous AIM Where is the FBI??) The point is Snapple, you and James Simon unconditionaly support those who who have either ignored or partaken in the abuse of women. As Monica Charles once wrote I see the law enforcement as public servants sworn to uphold the laws of the United States(she just plain mistrusts them). The FBI should have been protecting the rights of Native Americans and not just those of the colonizers.
I am not mired in opinion of one side over the other. I do not blindly support the AIM or the FBI. The only people I blindly support are the victims…and not the ones crying over the loss of their material possesions at Wounded KneeII
My sympathies and prayers go to the children like MaryAnn Little Bear and Jancita Eagle Deer…and the countless others who did not seem to warrant the FBI’s attention in the terms of a thorough investigation. That bothers me more than the Anna Mae Aquash murder…Anna Mae Aquash was a woman who made it to adulthood and made her decision to be involved in activities that may or may not get her killed…she felt that what she was doing was right and good. I do not agree with nor do I condemn her actions…She was caught up in something that became beyond her control. However I do not hold AIM to higher standards than I hold the FBI.The only law enforcement agent that looks to be a hero in all of this is U.S.Marshal Colburn…he’s good looking too!
My concept of my history has been pulled out from under me with this Indian stuff…totally blows me away at 43? My attitudes toward law enforcement and the government has changed considerably not because they made mistakes or did stupid things or even because they plotted to exterminate Indians but because they continue to support the wrong minded thinking in 2009. 2009 ! ! ! (kind of like the racism we are seeing with the election of Obama) They refuse to recognize, take responsibility and hold accountable those who did not enforce the laws that they were sworn to uphold. AIM was a group of protestors that got out of hand…the FBI is a government agency who only investigated crimes on Pine Ridge and other reservations when it suited their racist, paranoid beliefs.
As for Richard ‘Two Elks….have you ever read alt.native??? This is what the FBI supports??? Seriously???? All any jury would have to read is a copy of him making fun of a woman who was sexually abused by her father that pretty much negates what he claims to be consern and support for Native women. I own a copy of AMERICAN INDIAN MAFIA and I will get around to reading it. But being endorsed by Richard Two Elks and Bill Janklow….you guys are starting off on the wrong foot with me.
I am trying to finish THE UNQUIET GRAVE and it is difficult…they are in Oregon traveling with dynamite….It’s hard to read but this is not something that I can even discuss with you because you are 100 percent in support of genocide. I can’t even get James Simon to acknowledge that the government was stearilizing Indian women in the sixties. His avoidance of the topic makes me believe that he thinks that these were the right actions…that Indian women are less than human. What about you SNAPPLE….do you unconditionally support all actions by the United States???
A few more things why do you hide behind the name SNAPPLE?
Why are the FBI supporters so concerned about Monica Charles sex life? That really bothers me..why is that thrown around? Do you hold women to differnet standards? Is there any proof of her having sex with Dennis Banks? She says she didn’t….and if she did why bring it up like she is a whore? How many women or men have you been with??? Why aren’t the sex lives of the FBI agents under attack or investigated or commented about?
Get that video of Richard Two Elks on youtube and I will put it on my blog and make it a whole post!
Oh and I haven’t heard of any young women being murdered at Wounded Knee….but with all I have been stuffing in my head…did I gloss over it?
I look forward to hearing your response.
ANNA MAE AQUASH 61/ JANCITA EAGLE DEER MEETS exGOVERNOR BILL JANKLOW part IV
All excerpts are in italics and from THE UNQUIET GRAVE by Steve Hendricks.
On the night of Friday, April 4th, 1975, two weeks after(Doug) Durham was unmasked(by AIM as an FBI informant), two teenagers in a Pontiac GTO were careening across the southern Nebraska plain when they collided with a woman on foot. A suitcase she was carrying was impaled on the bumper of their car, the rest of her belongings were scattered across 70 feet, and her body was thrown 150 feet from the point of impact. When deputy sheriffs arrived, they found Jancita Eagle Deer lying partly across the road, perpendicular to traffic, and had badly mangled-dead beyond question. The boys who hit her said she was standing in the middle of their driving land and appeared to be weaving and disheveled. They hit her, they said, at fifty or fifty-five miles per hour and did not stop to see whether she was alive or dead, or even to move her out of traffic. Instead they continued to a nearby farmhouse and called the police. The deputies believed the boys’ general story but did not find the details convincing. Their survey of the accident scene suggested that Eagle Deer had been standing not in the middle of the lane but much closer to the shoulder and that the boys had been driving much faster than fifty-five. They had hit her because they were driving recklessly. The officers, however, did not issue so much as a written warning to the driver. Coincidentally or not, the driver belonged to one of the more prosperous families of the nearby town of Aurora and, unlike his victim, was white.
A few months later AIM’s Paula Giese made a more thorough investigation. She apparently spoke with the boys, who said that Eagle Deer had been “trying to flag them down. They assumed she had been pushed from a car by ‘some guy she wouldn’t put out for’ and had a few laughs about this. As they sped toward her, they expected her to jump out of the way, but they struck her.” Giese concluded that the boys had been criminally reckless but did not kill Eagle Deer intentionally.
She wondered, however, about Doug Durham . During her investigation, Giese learned that on Eagle Deer’s final afternoon, she had left South Dakota’s Rosebud Reservation for Des Moines with a dark-haired man in a late-sixties blue Chevrolet. The two of them were last seen in Valentine, Nebraska just south of Rosebud. The logical route from Valentine to DesMoines passed a hundred miles north of where Eagle Deer was killed. no one could explain her presence outside Aurora. Giese suspected that the dark-haired man was Durham and that if Eagle Deer had indeed been unsteady and disheveled just before her death, it was because Durham had beaten her and kicked her out of his car, perhaps while it was moving.
Giese had reason for her suspicions: eight months before her end, Durham had taken Eagle Deer for a lover and had quickly become her batterer.
The two had met in the summer of 1974. When Johnny cake came to AIM that July with his story about the rape of Eagle Deer, it was Durham whom Dennis Banks sent to investigate the claim. By coincidence, Durham and Eagle Deer both lived in Des Moines at the time.
Durham brought Eagle Deer to the AIM office in St. Paul, seducing her en route.
“About fifteen seconds after I first laid eyes on her,” Paula Giese wrote, “Jancita blurted out to me the story of the rape, the fact, as she saw it, that she was going to marry Durham, a few facts about his twenty-thousand-dollar a year salary in AIM, which caused my jaw to drop even further, and some facts about the near-fatal illness for which she was going to help him get cured. I felt it was hopeless to enlighten her, although in seven months of working ‘under’ Durham at the AIM house, I already knew he was a rotten character so far as women are concerned and I also knew he didn’t have leukemia, although he had for a while conned me into excusing a lot on the grounds that he’d soon be dead.”
Eagle Deer told AIM the story of the rape, and AIM declined at first to press it. when Eagle Deer dropped out of sight, Giese assumed Durham had taken her back to Des Moines. In fact, he had set her up in a Twin Cities apartment. “She was kept drunk,” Giese later claimed, “and a few Indian women became aware that Durham was, in effect, pimping for her.” He was also beating her. Once, when she threatened to leave him, he said if she did so, AIM would take her daughter and raise her “as an Indian” on a reservation.
Eagle Deer stayed put.
Three months after Eagle Deer was killed, Paula Giese received a call at the AIM office from a man who would not give his name but whose stiff manner and diction made her think he was a lawman.
“I understand you are interested in Doug Durham and are investigating the death of a young Indian girl, Jancita Eagle Deer,” the man said. “You might like to know that the license of the car that picked her up on the afternoon of April 4″-the day of her death-”was checked. the car belongs to Durham’s father.”
The man did not explain how a license plate number had been found for the car, nor did he say anything else before hanging up.
…the Sheldahls, (Jancita’s relatives) told Giese that when the Nebraska police gave them Eagle Deer’s personal effects, her address book was missing. Eagle Deer had always kept the book with her and, according to one witness, had it when she left rosebud on the day of ther death. The Sheldahls said the FBI had questioned them more than once about the adderss book’s whereabouts. They also said that not long after Eagle Deer’s death, their house was broken into. Nothing of value was taken, but Eagle Deer’s papers had been gone through and some may have been removed. The Sheldahls were certain that Durham or his colleagues were responsible for the break-in. “But what can we do?” one of the Sheldahls said. “Those people have so much power.”
ANNA MAE AQUASH 60/JANCITA EAGLE DEER MEETS ex GOVERNOR BILL JANKLOW part III
All excerpts are in italics and from THE UNQUIET GRAVE by Steve Hendricks.
Previously a young Jancita Eagle Deer alleges that Bill Janklow raped her. The investigation, like many rape investigations on reservations at the time (I hope things have gotten better),is poorly conducted with adults hesitating, unwilling to do their jobs. Years later she attends a press conference publicly stating that she was victimized. The press conference does not end well for her and she is accused of making up the story by Bill Janklow”s lawyer Jeremiah Murphy.
The story continues…
The reporters never asked how Jeremiah Murphy had seen the papers he said he had seen, papers like Eagle Deer’s school and medical records. these were personal documents, protected by law from prying eyes like Murphy’s, as any lawyer would have known. ….
Nor, above all, did reporters investigate the truth or falsity of the competing stories told by Murphy and Eagle Deer. They simply decreed Eagle Deer wrong.
A few days later, the Court of the Rosebud Sioux Tribe, Judge Mario Gonzales presiding, convened to hear evidence In re disbarment of William Janklow. The only reporter in attendance was Minnesota freelancer Kevin McKiernan. Janklow did not attend either, though Gonzalez had ordered him to appear and show cause why he should not be disbarred. Gonzalez had also ordered a BIA police officer to bring the BIA’s file on the alleged rape, but the officer’s superiors ordered him not to give Gonzalez the “confidential” file.This was a large insult. Virtually every court in the nation was entitled to review police records when relevant to a case at hand. For the BIA to say that Judge Gonzalez could not see the records was tantamount to saying that his court was no court.
There was irony in this turn of events because tribal courts had been created a century before by the Indian Bureau to strip traditional chiefs of power and give it to Indian Judges who could be kept servile.
Gonzalez answered the BIA’s insult by jailing the officer who refused to hand over the file and promising the same for his superiors if they set foot on the reservation. Judge Bogue immediately reversed Gonzalez and, more insult to injury, misspelled his name.
Dennis Banks proceeded with his case, calling twenty witnesses against Janklow.
Eagle Deer testified, in Gonzalez’s words, “in obvious discomfort at reliving old horrors.” He found her testimony entirely credible. Kaye Lord and others recounted the rape as Eagle Deer had told them, and eagle Deer’s medical records, unlike her police file, were produced by the hospital. Contrary to the press-conference claim of Jeremiah Murphy, the records contained evidence of some kind, not made explicit by Judge Gonzalez, that was consistent with a claim of sexual assault.
“Furthermore,” Gonzalez wrote, “the evidence indicates that an obstruction of justice followed the rape. When a complaint was being made to the Bureau of Indian Affairs Special Officer, Janklow was there. No relief or representation was possible through the Legal Services Program since Mr. Janklow ran it…..testimony indicates that as recently as two months ago, Mr. Janklow offered Miss Eagledeer’s grandfather money after inquiring about her. The depth of the suffering which Miss Eagledeer conveyed in her testimony cannot be reproduced through words on paper. Feeling shame, she left the Rosebud Reservation and returned only once until today. Her foster parents testified that her grades and interest in school fell after she was raped. She still feels frightened and inhibited by the beastly act committed against her by Mr. Janklow. It can only be hoped that she will come to realize that she should hold her head up proud for she has not guilt. She is a victim.”
Gonzalez disbarred Janklow from tribal court, then went one better and issued a warrant for his arrest.
The newspapers of the state might have been expected o give at least a few paragraph to the warrant, to the disbarment , or to the finding that Janklow had raped Eagle Deer.
They did not.
ANNA MAE AQUASH 57/ JANCITA EAGLE DEER/ANATOMY OF A THREAT
All excerpts are in italics and from THE UNQUIET GRAVE by Steve Hendricks.
I have been avoiding these posts because of this chapter on Bill Janklow and Jancita Eagle Deer. It’s like I want to crawl out of my skin….turn myself inside out rip my heart out. It drives me crazy.. I wish I could copy and paste this part of the story because I want it to be over…but I have to read and type because I can’t find a good version of what happened.
I wrote the above early yesterday morning and had to quit…the story of Jancita Eagle Deer is so sad and filled with despair…one of the many reasons that Joseph Trimbach and his FBI colleagues should be in jail along with some goons, Bill Janklow, probably half of the United States government…Monica probably thinks it should be more! (finally I made myself laugh this morning)
There seems to be little support or concern for Indian women…the men of AIM beat their chests and congratulate themselves….they seem to be more concerned with a power struggle and prestige…titles. Things the white government has taught. It is the same for all women…we have lost much of the ground during the eight years of the Bush administration…but in America today it seems that Indian women are so strong and the most abused and looked down upon.
I think the two stories have been merging on me as of late…injustice for women continues. You can read more about Anatomy of a Threat on THE ABUSE PAPERS
Strong women
Here is a picture of Jancita Eagle Deer and a link to her story here and here and here.
Other strong and beautiful women I have encountered surrounding this and the issue of abuse are
Monica Charles who got me involved in this
Martha Alvarez a young woman who speaks with such conviction against her abuser…she has inspired bloggers to confront the issue.
Anna Mae Aquash who through her spirit is working tirelessly as ever.(There are no sites that I know of that are non-biased about Anna Mae Aquash…they all seem to have an agenda. Everyone has an opinion and everyone thinks that they are right. While I am reading The Unquiet Grave, I have formed no opinion on who did it. I do have a strong opinion that the FBI was grossly negligent and incompetent in their duties to American citizens.
Shusli of Spring Thunder blog who was one of the original supporters of Martha Alvarez’s right to speak against her abuser.
Mary Ann Little Bear a little girl who had her eye shot out and the FBI and BIA police couldn’t be bothered to investigate. I truly hope she is doing well now.
Ellen Moves Camp...who had the courage to ask “Where are all our men?”
I have encountered some good men, the most graceful and humble Jumpybird on alt.native he probably does not know that his example does have a profound effect on some.Then there is brave Eugene Johnson from Pudgy Indian 2….Having a hard time coming up with more will add them later if I can think of any.
Peace to all..
and my prayers to Runningwolf in this difficult time she is experiencing.
Much love to Ordinary Sparrow who is a constant reminder that there is another way.
AMEN!
ANATOMY OF A THREAT/INDIAN CHIEFS
I must confess that with all of the sorid business surrounding Bernard Red Cherries; I don’t have a high opinion of Indian chiefs. I do not mean to offend anyone especially since I have all of the colonizer guilt weighing upon me. But in my opinion victims rights in any country by any color for any type of abuse by far outweighs the need to “protect” the image of an Indian chief. In fact it seem mighty white to me…sort of like how police officers always cover for one another. Not a damn Indian chief has stood up for what is right and honorable.
This fucking thing goes from Oregon to Montana to Oklahoma and as far as Florida…it involves the groups THE RED BROTHERHOOD, PORTLAND AIM, AND OKLAHOMA AIM….And the only man who has stood for victims rights is Eugene Johnson of PUDGY INDIAN2. And of course cjames who has put up THE ABUSE PAPERS who may or may not be Indian. Seriously what exactly is the point of being an Indian chief or in a group like AIM if you don’t have the courage or don’t know better than to support a young woman courageous enough to tell her story? What is the fucking point of your existence?
There is a Portuguese word for people WHO DON’T EVEN KNOW TO HAVE SHAME ON THEIR FACE!…if only I could remember it!!
Getting back to Indian chiefs…Martha Alvarez wrote a new comment on alt.native
My grandfather is a Chief and claimed by his people, which is more
than I can say about you. He is to be respected; he is a great man,
unlike you! He is the son of Mary Jim, where he gets his title. My
grandmother is Carrie Jim Schuster, his sister, both well know for
their work in bringing down a dam on the Columbia River, which is
still an ongoing project to bring the remaining dams on the Columbia/
Snake River down. My great-grandmother also was one of the main
person’s interviewed for the book “Renegade Tribe: The Palouse Indians
and the Invasion of the Inland Pacific Northwest” By Clifford E.
Trazfer, look it up it’s a good book.
As an Indian I think Eugene is a credit to us all for bringing this
forward, it takes a lot of courage to stand against any person in
power. He and his wife Shusli are still taking the heat for this and I
appreciate and respect them greatly, it really is unfair.You talk about sacredness when you yourself drink and use drugs. I
think a person in a leadership position should set an example and put
their standards higher than anyone else’s. A Chief is a leader of his
people and a person who represents them, so if he is a drunk/addict
what does that say to world about his people. He is misrepreseneting
them. It is only because of people like you we have negative views of
our way of life. The misuse and abuse of your position. Practice what
you preach is the expression that comes to mind.So how many children do you have? How many of them are still in
contact with you? From my understanding your daughter Lori is in
Mexico, and your son Bernard Redcherries the III is in prison, and
your niece Lori Redcherries doesn’t talk to you, you know why, well
that side of the family for that fact. I know you were not even wanted
at Monica’s funeral. So why would such a great father and leader be so
distant from his own blood? Or not wanted by them?You once called me obsessive, I think it was, so my thought was you’re
on here a great deal more than I am attacking anyone who lets their
opinion be known. What does that make you, Psychotic? And if you are
this Lisa person, as you have stated, why would you use so many names?
You posted as Lori Redcherries, Eaglewingwomen, Fox, Judy, Wilbur
Hawk, Beverly H., friend of the Redcherries family, all from the same
IP address’ supporting the great Chief Redcherries.
If anyone is laughing it’s us at your expense. This is a war you’re
going to lose eventually.
Martha F. Alvarez
So I did as Martha suggested and I ordered the book off of Amazon but being the poverty stricken person I am I bought the used copy for 1.45. Once again the book is called RENEGADE TRIBE they have more used copies still available!!! I have been wanting to read more about the real history of the state I grew up in….although it sounds like it took place more in Washington. And anyone who has a hand in getting rid of those damn dams is a hero in my book!!! But as a typical colonizer I forget there didn’t used to be states….doh!!!
It better be a good book because I broke my vow that I wouldn’t buy any more books from Amazon until I finished reading 10 more!!!
And here is a National Geographic page that says the Appaloosa horse is named after the Palouse Indians. How cool is that?
And to end this post here is the quote from Martha’s profile:
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“I do not want people to be agreeable, as it saves me the trouble of liking them.”
love that!
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ANNA MAE 56/Grrrrrr!!!
As some of you know I have been on vacation of the road trip sort….It was good to get away from the Anna Mae story, the posts were getting short because I would get pissed off…outraged. When I was young grown-ups would tell me that I was too ideal and that the world was not ideal….they said I would change. I didn’t. In fact as an adult and encountering opportunities to further my career, money or social status in exchange for a bit of corruption….found I could not live with myself. Having faced the choice….I am even more adamant in my beliefs…there is a whole process when it comes to choosing between the right thing and the wrong thing.
I used to worry the trial would be over long before I was halfway through the book after being in the desert for a week I had the thought that it was all waiting for me. How is that for ego??
What I need to say is how terribly wrong all of this is.
All excerpts are in italics and from THE UNQUIET GRAVE by Steve Hendricks.
CHAPTER 9
Grrrrr. Chapter 9 is about Bill Janklow….not sure that man’s name should even be uttered on my blog ever again. One time I was listening to G.Gordon Liddy and he was on a tangent because Ted Turner had made some statement that the TEN COMMANDMENTS didn’t mean anything anymore…G. Gordon Liddy in that correct, precise, enunciation of the English language of his said something to the effect of…”Well, I guess if you have broken all ten commandments they would not mean anything to you”. Kind of reminds me of BJ (interesting initials).
Soooo President Ford nominates this accused rapist and future murderer to the board of directors of Legal Services Corporation. By the way my Dad drank and drove every single day of my life growing up…never ran over anyone. Didn’t drive like a fucking idiot like this BJ. My Dad was courteous and would pull over if a car wanted to pass him….I still do that (pull over not drink and drive!).
This position requires Senate confirmation and when he was called for questioning he had disappeared. Apparently he flew home..
He told them he had left the hearing room when a network television crew arrived because he did not care for his past to be debated before the entire nation.” (Waaaahhhh! Is this a Republican or South Dakota trait?? Send that man a crying towel.)
Jimmie Durham , who ran a group called the International Indian Treaty Council (an offshoot of AIM that worked for indigenous rights worldwide)…..told the Senate that Janklow had raped Eagle Deer (Jancita) and had committed other crimes as enumerated in Judge Gonzalez’s Rosebud courtroom. Durham also said that since becoming attorney general, Janklow had sent eighty state troopers to assault a pork plant that was seized by Indians on the Yankton Reservation. The assault was illegal because only the federal and tribal governments had jurisdiction over reservation crimes. Janklow’s troopers had no more authority to quell a disturbance on Yankton than in Omaha.
Grrrrrr. You might think that his cowardly actions would raise some suspicions but the FBI had already investigated him and found the rape charges baseless….now the White House turned to the FBI again (too fucking tired to rant about that!
GUESS WHAT??? Those corrupt fucks at the FBI said
…”these allegations are simply unfounded”
Senator Jacob Javits of New York….declared the exoneration of Republican Janklow by a Democrat-controlled Senate (Yet another reason to be a Socialist!) “a vindication of your system….We all can be very proud (Apparently Jacob Javits has very low standards) that this was the result, and you should take satisfaction from it rather than laboring under any feeling that you have been harassed. (Jacob Javis did it ever occur to you that bj felt harassed because he was….guilty???) You have really proved something very, very useful and important to our country.” (INDEED YOU HAVE PROVEN THE SENATE TO BE FULL OF IDIOTS AND THAT THE FBI IS CORRUPT…THAT OUR SYSTEM IS NOT WORKING!!!)
So much for Peace and harmony!!
HERE IS YET ANOTHER ACCOUNT OF JANCITA EAGLE DEER this pisses me off more than Anna Mae’s story…Anna Mae was older and stronger with more of a sense of who she was…Janklow probably robbed Jancita of that right.
ANNA MAE AQUASH 54/MAINSTREAM MEDIA IGNORES THE CONTINUING RACISM AND GENOCIDE OF NATIVE AMERICANS
All excerpts are in italics and from THE UNQUIET GRAVE by Steve Hendricks.
It has been almost a week since I have done an Anna Mae post. For various ways…I have to consider that Monica is right about spirits and that everything is happening for a reason. Some dark things are being exposed to light..that is always a good thing eventually, even if there is pain and turmoil involved. We may not recognize the good because we may not be the recipients.
When I last posted on this book the government had pushed AIM leaders to the brink…our government and justice and political system is not fair…it is outrageous in its overt racism…but to become what the colonizer has taught will not and has never worked. Having said that and watching what has been going on in Iraq I wonder if some revolution is necessary for change. Americans are too weak and afraid of their government to protest on that level. I once attended a Wobblies meeting and there was a man from Denmark visiting he said that Americans will rise up when they have fallen far enough. It gave me great hope but then when you read about North Korea….maybe not so much.
Five days after Anderson (a reporter) started raising questions-two months after the beating-U.S. Attorney General Edward Levi announced that Dick Wilson and six of his goons (including Brewer and Dick Wilson Jr.) would be indicted.
In the year before the beating, twenty-six people had been murdered in South Dakota, twenty-three of them had been on Pine Ridge, and nearly all of the victims had been Indians. The murder rate on the reservation was eight times that of Detroit, then America’s most homicidal city.
Yet the national press almost entirely ignored the story.
WKLDOC tried to interest reporters in the more sensational murders, like the case of the Eagle Hawk family, whose care was rammed by goons, killing the mother, her four month-old daughter,and three-year-old nephew. Goons threatened the survivors in the hospital, and the authorities declared the murder a routine auto accident.
But reporters didn’t bite. A few dead Indians in an out-of-the-way corner of an out-of-the-way state didn’t count for much individually, and collectively they were not seen as the alarming result of systemic racism.
The reporters and editors who hastened Jim Crow to his grave would not do the same for bigotry against Indians.
Here is a link to a site called OUR FREEDOM it is about the John Graham/Richard Marshall farce trial. They have written a Chronology of Oppression at Pine Ridge.
Here is a “book” on a pdf file called FREE JOHN GRAHAM it has his story …Anna Mae’s…pictures and letters of support including one written by Monica Charles!
ANNA MAE AQUASH 53/ELEPHANTS…YEAH IT’S OFF THE PATH
All excerpts are in italics and from THE UNQUIET GRAVE by Steve Hendricks.
The FBI did a lackadaisical job of investigating the beating of the WKLDOCkers. The one thing that they turned up was an incident that was a prologue to the beating.
Earlier that afternoon Dick Marshall, an Oglala and low-level AIM leader, had an appearance in tribal court on a charge of disorderly conduct. (Marshal said he had only been resisting a goon attack, for which he was charged with a trumped-up crime.) Marshall came to court with a vanful of friends including Russell Means, and demanded a trial by jury rather than by one of Wilson’s judges.
The judge closed the court apparently intimidated by the show of support for Dick Marshall. There was a group of police and goons gathered in the parking lot in anticipation of a caravan from AIM two days before the second anniversary of Wounded Knee. Duane Brewer began challenging members of AIM to fight and they all declined until he smashed Russel Means in the face with his fist.
The van that AIM was using drove away the BIA police captain Joseph Jacobs…
…radioed ahead for other goons to stop the van because when the AIMers neared the airport, a few miles to the east, a car emerged from the parking lot of the tribal planning building and blocked the highway.
“Let’s ram that sucker!” Means said, and the driver of the van, Tom Poor Bear, jammed the accelerator. The goons in the car reversed their makeshift roadblock off the highway in a hurry, and as the van passed, the AIMers threw open the sliding door and emptied their shotguns at the car….
Within the hour, the planeload of WKLDOCkers landed at Pine Ridge Airport, completely ignorant of these events.
In the meantime, Brewer returned to tribal headquarters and blackened the eyes of a court officer who had held him back when he was attacking the AIMers.
Now is the point where AIM starts acting like the FBI, the colonizers…I understand the frustrations that would lead to such actions but they will never work against the United States government….It didn’t before there were tanks, and planes, and machine guns…there is a never ending supply of men that are all to0 eager and willing to do the dirty work for the government.
AIM started firing potshots at people who drove by the mass grave of Wounded Knee and they set up a road block in Porcupine and threatened the townspeople.
The FBI continued its half- hearted investigation of the incident…when all was said and done Russel Means, and Dick Marshall, and Tom Poor Bear were indicted for firing on the goons from their van. Wilson and his goons walked.
This all reminds me of a show I watched many years ago on elephants. Colonizers removed the children…demoralized the adults and elders so they could be repressed continued this for a few century out of fear that minorities that they had wronged for so long would rise up and retaliate and now it has also spread to the colonizers…parents get divorced don’t have time to raise their children…too many single mothers…the effect on society is devastating. The show is sliced and diced into 3 minutes but after an hour of searching it was all I could find. If you ever have the opportunity to watch the whole thing it is well worth it!
Well behaved elders are so very important to our future generations.
ANNA MAE AQUASH 52/SO FAR THE FBI HAS TOLD MULTIBLE LIES IN A COURT OF LAW, IGNORED A CHILD SHOT IN THE EYE, A TEENAGE BOY GIVEN LIQUOR, A FIFTEEN YEAR OLD GIRL THAT WAS RAPED, MULTITUDES OF INDIANS BEING BEATEN, AND NOW WHITE LAWYERS FOR AIM(my apologies for anyone I have missed…it is too much for me to remember. I was thinking of turning it into a song to the tune of the Twelve Days of Christmas…only I have a real sick feeling that it will exceed twelve.
All excerpts are in italics and from THE UNQUIET GRAVE by Steve Hendricks.
It has been a while since I have been in a funk for this long….they usually only last a few hours these days.
I finally finished reading POWWOW HIGHWAY. (Way better than the movie!!!) I read a few chapters ahead of THE UNQUIET GRAVE because I wanted to see if Steve Hendricks wrote more about Jancita Eagle Deer. He did….and a lot of other things that did not help me to get out of this mood I have been in.
In Chapter 8 a team from WKLDOC was looking to fly out of Pine Ridge airport when they got to their plane it hsd rounds of shot in it damaging
the fuselage, cabin, engine compartment and wings, making it unfit to fly.
While on of the team snapped hurried photographs of the damage, the other moved legal files from the plane to the car. As they did so, they noticed cars whipping in and out of the parking lot of the nearby tribal planning building..
The six WKLDOCkers squeezed back intoFinzel’s convertible and made for the exit, but before they could reach it they were cut off by a dozen cares that raced off the nearby highway and into the airport parking lot. Dick Wilson’s car was in the lead. He stuck an arm out the window and pointed to the convertible, and the following cars encircled it and came to a halt. Out stepped twenty-five or thirty goons. One sat on a pickup fender with a pump-action shotgun leveled at the convertible’s windshield. The WCKLDOCers rolled up windows and punched door locks, as the goons tried the handles without luck. Because it was winter, the roof of the convertible was on. A tall, muscled specimen walked up to the driver’s side of the car and yelled at the WCKLDOCkers to get out. Finzel knew him as Duane Brewer, an expoliceman and Vietnam veteran who ran the tribe’s highway safety program.
Finzel answered Brewer that the WKLDOCkers were just fine where they were.
“I can’t hear you through the window!” Brewer shouted.
“I can hear you fine!” Finzel shouted back.
This opinion wrought bedlam. Brewer kicked at the window, and the rest of the goons, as if on cue, swarmed over the hood and trunk and stomped out the windshield and rear glass. One of them struck a knife in the convertibles roof and ripped a hole above Ginzel’s head. Hands rushed through, one tugging Finzel’s hair, another punching his face. A second gash was made over the backseat, and Bernard Escamilla, the Wounded Knee defendant whose case the WKLDOCkers had come to investigate, was pounded with fists and boots. the car was rocked wildly, glass began to shatter. Brewer yelled something about Finzel having been involved in an incident at the tribal court house.
“There must be a mistake !” Finzel screamed. “Get Dick Wilson! He knows I wasn’t there!”
Dick Wilson came for ward and the goons asked him what he wanted them to do with the WKLDOCkers
“Stomp ‘em,” he said. “I want you to stomp ‘em.”
The goons then resumed the beating of the WKLDOCkers. Some of the WCKLDOCkers decided it best to leave the vehicle.
William Rossmoore, the lawyer who had piloted the plane left…
He made it twenty or thirty yards before being beaten into the ice and muck of a nearby ditch. Each time he rose, a boot crashed into his ribs or calves and down he went again. Eventually he stopped trying to get up, but the boots kept coming all the same.
I have to interrupt this because I was trying to imagine what it is like to be that ruthless….to just pound and kick someone and then have to live with it, what lies you tell yourself….the excuses for your animal behavior. Then I had a thought that this was brought on by someone who once felt powerless in life. Instead of remembering the pain in his life and choosing not to commit the crimes that were committed against him he chose to worship the worst of his life. A lot of this stuff with AIM was about full bloods vs. half bloods. It goes on today but imagine back then what it must have been like growing up on a reservation with insults being hurled like rocks at the young ones growing up…each side thinking they were better…these adults can’t figure it out and then they bemoan that another generation is lost to gangs, drugs and alcohol…it goes on in every minority. I just ran into a man who married an Indian (from India) and her parents have banned her from their lives…they talk to the white husband but the daughter has to stay in the car. This is 2009 and people still care about that shit. Imagine how bad their children are going to feel and with the mother banned will it have a reverse effect? Will the children grow up ashamed their mother is from India? Since she is the one banned? Kind of like white people adopting babies….never mind all of the black children that need to be adopted..can’t have a dark skinned baby…gotta go to Romania and then China, and Vietnamese, Mexico….Only since Angelina Jolie adopted African children has it become more fashionable with Madonna following the trend.
Seriously because of our actions as adults we make the next generation feel bad about them selves…this is no different than standing them before you and throwing mud on them. And then you have white people that are plagued with self hatred like Ward Churchill…a white person who says he is an Indian…what sort of message is that? Why not just say you are a white person that follows Indian ways because they make more sense to you…where did that shame and hatred come from? I certainly hate the actions that whites have taken part in but I’m not about to hate myself for being born white. (I was raised to hate myself for other reasons but not for being white!!!) If you are half white and half something else and you hate the white side…what you are teaching your children or your nephews and nieces is how to hate….themselves. But as I have observed many parents love their hate more than they love their children. White people are masters at this we use the bible, race, income, beliefs, divorce any excuse to hate…..we mostly love our hate more than we love our children. But things have gotten a lot better in many ways but we also see extreme religions that are putting girls back into servitude or treated as property and then we see other parents completely ignoring their children…treating them like adults long before they are ready. Parents who let their young children watch anything on tv. As if they have never heard of age appropriate. They let them make adult decisions when they are still children.
Good Lord I have written a novel!! I will conclude this by saying that children watch how adults behave and treat each other. That is where they learn their future…never mind the past.
O.K….getting back to the story. THE WKLDOCkers are getting the shit kicked out of them by the goons. Finzel is beat until he loses consciousness..
Bernard Escamilla, who had been well-battered even before leaving the car, was thrashed to the asphalt on emerging and kicked mercilessly int he gut, he rolled over to protect himself but succeeded only in transferring the kicks to his back. He managed to stagger up once, but a fist smashed his skull and he wilted.
The two women WKLDOCkers remained in the car held at knife point by a goon. The beatings finally stopped and the goons threatened them to leave and never come back or they would be killed. They called the U.S. Marshals Service in rapid City to ask for help and the Marshals told them to call the BIA. Now that breaks my heart…
They did call the BIA and who of course were no help. So they turned to the FBI….that of course was a joke. Then they tried to call friends on Pine Ridge and were told that the goons had set up road blocks and that they had attacked Severt Young Bear(I have heard of him somewhere….) and Marvin Ghost Bear who were Wilson critics.
Someone finally lent the WKLDOCkers a car and thy went to St. John’s Hospital in Rapid City…
Rossmoore, Gordon, Finzel, and Escamilla were treated for multiple contusions. three doctors and two dozen X rays were required to rule out broken bones in Finzel’s head, neck, chest, back, and legs, all of which were badly contused. Several of his muscles had been ripped from his bones, and cartilage in his ribcage had been ruptured. Escamilla had a broken arm, and his viscera wee bruised and possibly bleeding. He was kept in the hospital for two days to make sure none of his organs gave out. Rossmoore had sprains that took months to heal. Gordon suffered from knifed hands.
ANNA MAE AQUASH 50/JUSTICE SYSTEM FOR THE FEW
All excerpts are in italics and from THE UNQUIET GRAVE by Steve Hendricks.
I am ever so depressed to be reading THE UNQUIET GRAVE this morning. The perfect white world where everybody can “pull them selves up by their boot straps” and there is a chicken in the pot and a car in the driveway….(yes I am aware that countries have it much worse than we do but I do not judge our country by the lowest of human standards) …is crumbling all around. The story of corruption just gets worse and worse.
As Monica mourns the history of her people, I mourn the loss of the facade of mine. Well I don’t mourn it in the sense that I regret it’s being torn apart. I mourn that it wasn’t true….or only true for a very small segment. And for that small segment it is only true as long as you remain ignorant to what is happening in the areas or circles that you don’t normally travel. It is only true if you think that the rights of human beings exclude minorities, activists, or those of lower income.
The trial of Dennis Banks and Russel Means was so outrageous that the judge lectured the prosecution for an hour and threw out the remaining charges against Banks and Means.
It was an enormously important decision, or should have been. But as the trial’s foremost historian, John Sayer, wrote,”To a public saturated with misconduct at the highest levels of government, the escapades of the FBI at a trial somewhere in the Midwest could not have mattered much….”
Days after Nichol dismissed the case, the Justice Department named. R.D. Hurd and David Gienapp two of the nation’s outstanding assistant U.S. attorneys. Banks likened the commendations to the Congressional Medals of Honor given the Seventh Cavalry after the massacre at Wounded Knee.
In the following months, both the FBI and the U.S. attorney’s office undertook postmortems to determine what had gone wrong at the trial. Much of the FBI’S analysis focused on Joseph Trimbach, but in the end the Bureau concluded that neither he nor his agents had done anything-not a thing- wrong.
The prosecution came to the same conclusion….it was all the fault of those pesky Indians. Reminds me of some people on a certain discussion group….
But losing the trial did not mean losing the fight against AIM-quite the contrary. As prosecutor David Gienapp said year later, ” To some extent, the prosecutions accomplished as much by getting dismissed or an acquittal as they would have had there been a conviction, because Russell Means and Dennis Bands realized even if you get off, sitting nine months in a courtroom isn’t what they want to do.” Gienapp was speaking not merely with the advantage of hindsight; the strategy was one the government consciously pursued at the time. At the end of the siege, for example, colonel Volney Warner urged the Justice Department to throw the proverbial book at AIM. “AIM’s most militant leaders and followers, over three hundred,” he wrote, “are under indictment, in jail, or warrants are out for their arrest. the government can win even if no one goes to prison.” It was not a new strategy. FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover had used the same plan in the late 1960′s to kneecap the Black Panthers.
….the strategy was beginning to have the desired effect. AIM was spending something like three of its every four hours and dollars just to keep its members out of jail. which did not leave much time or money for the betterment of its people or the recruitment of new followers or calm thought about is future or past. It was the sort of strain that could lead a group to do desperate things.
ANNA MAE AQUASH 48/THE GOVERNMENT VIOLATES THE POSSE COMITATUS ACT AT WOUNDED KNEE….TOO BAD
All excerpts are in italics and from THE UNQUIET GRAVE by Steve Hendricks.
The testimony about the senate report led to the release of more documents. The documents related examinations on the stand showed that Army Vice Chief of Staff Alexander Haig had ordered two colonels to Wouned Knee to oversee the siege and to do so in civilian garb-the latter an order they had never been given in their long military careers.
Colonels testified about how much ammunition and supplies were sent
16 ARMORED PERSONNEL CARRIERS
400,000 ROUNDS OF AMMUNITON
120 SNIPER RIFLES
20 GRENADE LAUNCHERS
1 PHANTOM JET
3 HELICOPTERS
AND A CHEMICAL WARFARE TEAM WTF??? Did they think the Viet Cong had invaded??
Confronted with this evidence, the prosecution shifted its argument: “The Pentagon had no role at Wounded Knee” became “The Pentagon had no real role at Wounded Knee”.
It turned out the FBI’s Joseph Trimbach had lobbied the army to invade the village with 2,000 GI’s. He was apparently undeterred by the certain knowledge that scores-maybe hundreds-of the combatants would die. His scheme was vetoed by Colonel Warner.
…the government shifted its arguement again: the Pentagon was really involved, but it was only by an oversight that neither the president nor Congress had publicly authorized the Pentagon’s involvement. And since it was plain that the president wanted the military there it hardly mattered that he had not issued a public order.
Judge Nichol was of the same mind. he concluded that the armed forces had been used illegally at Wounded Knee, but he also concluded that the case of U.S. v. Banks and Means afforded no remedy against the government for this crime-save for dismissing the charges against Banks and Means, which he still was not prepared to do. if AIM wanted to hold the Pentagon accountable, Nichol said, it would have to file a separate suit.
WKLDOC did, naming as defendants General Haig, Attorney General Kleindienst, Colonel Warner, and other men of war.
WKLDOC filed its claim in Washington, D.C., but a federal judge there ruled that the case should have been filed in South Dakota.
It took seven years after the first suite was filed….
(Judge) Porter held that even if government officials had violated the Posse Comitatus Act at Wounded Knee, they could not be sued because the act did not specifically authorize suits in cases where the law was broken.
There’s lots of twists and turns and legal wrangling…basically as United States Citizens….
WERE ALL FUCKED….as is evidenced by the erosion of our CIVIL LIBERTIES. I think the white people running everything back then were saying to themselves who cares its just a bunch of commie Indians…see where the sins of the previous generations have led us to
I found this video of Jesse Ventura at the RNC he actually says American citizens have the right to have weapons so if they don’t like the government they can bear arms and change the government….maybe I should send him a video of the governments firepower at Wounded Knee II!
ANNA MAE AQUASH 47/YOUR TAX DOLLARS AT WORK
All excerpts are in italics and from THE UNQUIET GRAVE by Steve Hendricks.
Prosecutor R.D. Hurd was also quizzed by judge and defendants about what and when he had known of the wiretap papers. Hurd admitted that he had first seen Trimbach’s affidavit months before but had not given it to the defense as required by law. He also admitted that he hadn’t bothered to correct Trimbach when Trimbach testified under oath that he knew nothing about the wiretap.
…(the) Justice Department memo was released saying that the FBI knew the tap was illegal but had decided to keep it in place anyway.
The newly found memo did, however, give the defense a chance to summon to the stand the number-two man at the FBI, Mark Felt. Decades later Felt would be revealed-and lionized-as Deep Throat, the shadowy source who helped Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein expose Watergate….he freely admitted it was and said he saw nothing wrong with the wiretap, which perhaps explained why his men int he field saw nothing wrong with it either.
But then when the white politicians began to be illegally wiretapped…..by golly lets stand up for what is right!!! Sorry for the sarcasm I’m guilty of it too…we don’t concern ourselves with the plight of others until we are in the same plight…and even then many people do not “get” the correlation.
At any rate here is an interesting piece about Mark Felt apparently he had been convicted under the Carter Administration and pardoned under the Nixon administration for his complacency in “black bag” break ins against the Weather Underground. Nixon passed him up for promotion and so in retaliation he outed Nixon’s own break ins…..you can read about it here.
Banks and Means tried to make a citizens arrest of the lying wiretappers but the judge was not having any of it! Those guys must have been hysterical in the courtroom….I would have been dismissed from the jury for laughing too hard!!!
Far more grave than wiretapping was the defendants’ charge that the government secretly-and illegally-used the U.S.Army and Air Force at Wounded Knee. The Posse Comitatus Act of 1878 forbade the president from sending federal troops against citizens unless he or Congress explicitly and publicly ordered the forces sent.
During Wounded Knee neither the president nor congress had ordered the armed forces deployed yet, if AIM was right, they had come to Wounded Knee all the same.
The government said it was the National guard and not the Army and Air Force which was legal.
…a reporter called WKLDOC’s Ken Tilsen to ask if he had seen a certain senate report about Wounded Knee. Tilsen said he knew of the report-the prosecution had given him a copy-but he had seen nothing of interest. The reporter was surprised: what about the section discussing the Pentagon’s involvement at Wounded Knee? Tilsen said his copy of the report said nothing of the kind. The reporter sent Tilsen his copy, where-upon Tilsen learned that the copy the prosecution had given him had been doctored: the section discussing the Pentagon’s role at Wounded Knee-a role that had been quietly approved by the White House-had been excised. the reporter had chanced across the uncensored copy when a secretary in the prosecutors’ office sent it to him by mistake.
Judge Nichol, so apprised, asked what the prosecution had to say for itself. R.D. Hurd said he had no idea how Tilsen could have been given a doctored version because his office had only one version-the true and correct one. But when the same questionwas put to one of Hurd’s assistants, the assistant said there were two versions in the office: one with and one without the section on the Pentagon. Asked why only the shorter version was given to Tilsen, the assistant speculated that there had been a copying error.
Better yet why not ask them why a doctored copy even existed…
What most Americans fail to realize is that every single one of these actions was a nail in the coffin of the future generations. The willingness of the everyday citizens working for these government organizations making the choice to commit crimes, to lie, and the tolerance of those who participating in these crimes, are all a part of how we got into the current financial and civil rights meltdown of our society.
“This is about the most bizarre explanation I’ve heard,” Judge Nichol said, noting that only “the grossest kind of a fluke” had brought the document to light.
“Aren’t you getting kind of tired,” he asked Hurd, “of explaining your own negligence in some of these matters?”
“No, Judge,” Hurd said. “I’m getting used to it, as a matter of fact.”
ANNA MAE AQUASH 46/TRIMBACH LIES UNDER OATH…AGAIN AND AGAIN AND AGAIN….
All excerpts are in italics and from THE UNQUIET GRAVE by Steve Hendricks.
See??? I’m writing another post finally! Funny how things grab you and don’t let go…the stuff over at Pudgy Indian was keeping me up. I sleep much better now that I have been writing about the threats….Some people its the opposite they get scared and can’t sleep until they hide…me I get scared and can’t sleep until I understand or confront it. Although the new series is twice as popular as the Anna Mae Posts…I think she resides in all of them!
When I last posted on Anna Mae Dennis Banks and Russel Means were on trial and the FBI had forged some documents..
…prosecution called Special Agent in Charge Joseph Trimbach to the stand, and WKLDOC took the opportunity to ask him whether the FBI had wiretapped the sole phone line that had been left running into Wounded Knee. The line was used only for negotiations between the besiegers and the besieged and for privileged conversations between the besieged and their attorneys. A tap on the phone would have been illegal without a court order, which the FBI did hot have. Trimbach testified there had been no tap.
Wow Joseph Trimbach and the FBI hold themselves above the United States courts….But as any intelligent human being understands the FBI was never about protecting democracy…which has never really existed in this country anyway.
…he was followed by Joe Pourier, a lineman from Bison State, the phone company that served Pine ridge. “He was a goon,” WKLDOC’s Sand Brim remembered of Pourier. “But he had been a childhood friend of Pedro Bissonette, and when Pedro was killed, Joe Pourier, like Poker Joe Merrival, flipped.
Pourier testified that he had set up a phone at one of the government roadblocks and tied it into the phone line that came out of wounded Knee so that the occupiers and the government could speak directly. That much was perfectly legal. But Pourier also rigged the government’s phone to work as a party line, a line the government could pick up and, anytime the occupiers were talking to their attorneys, eavesdrop on the conversation. It was a low-tech wiretap, but it was a wiretap all the same-and, without a court order, illegal.
When the defendants asked the government to produce the records for Pourier’s work, the government said the records had been destroyed….One of the FBI reports acknowledged that the FBI did not have a court order for the tap but said it hoped to get one soon. It never did. When Banks and Means asked why they had not been given the documents to begin with, the prosecutors said they had meant no harm; it was just that they had so many papers, they didn’t know these particular ones existed.
“You see, that’s the disturbing thing, ” Judge Nichol said. “We’re always finding out that the head of the bureau of the guy at the top never seem to know anything.
Joseph Trimbach was called back to the stand and asked why he had said the FBI had not wiretapped the defendants when it most assuredly had. Did he know about the tap at the time, or were his subordinates running amok?
Trimbach said he must have known at the time, only to have forgotten about it later.
Trimbach replied that while he may have technically authorized the withholding of the papers, he hadn’t really made the decision. His aides see, were forever sticking papers under his nose, and he didn’t always read them before signing them..
Before dismissing Trimbach, the defense asked whether he was aware that it was illegal to run a wiretap without a court order.
… he never thought of the party line as a wiretap. had he known it was considered a tap, why naturally he would have gotten a court order before letting it be installed.
…WKLDOC pried another paper loose from the FBI, this one an affidavit in which the affiant, whose name had been doctored out, formally requested that a judge legalize the wiretap. That is, the FBI’s affiant acknowledged that it needed a judge’s approval to listen in on the party line. Nichol forced the government to release an undoctored copy of the affidavit, and the affiant turned out to be none other than Joseph Trimbach. Once more Trimbach was called back to the stand.
Had he known about his own affidavit, the defense asked…
Trimbach answered that he must have read it-only he couldn’t recall a single thing about the affidavit.
The defense asked why the affadavit that Trimbach originally released to Banks and Means was missing the pat of the page that bore his name and signature.
Trimbach said he had no idea.
What a surprise…and does anyone wonder why Indians call it the “just us” system???
ANNA MAE AQUASH 45/BANKS AND MEANS ON TRIAL/THE FBI FALSIFIES DOCUMENTS
All excerpts are in italics and from THE UNQUIET GRAVE by Steve Hendricks.
The saga of Pudgy Indian continues and I really have to wonder if this wasn’t a good thing. Light coming to a dark subject is always a good thing. I wonder if Autonomous AIM really supports the inappropriate behavior of some of their members or if there are just some overly enthusiastic people who are acting without thinking the issue through….you know take your friends side blindly. Apparently one of the leaders of Portland AIM was appointed by Dennis Banks himself. I don’t know Dennis Banks or that much about him…but it seems to me while reading THE UNQUIET GRAVE that he has probably figured out that this nonsense is just that….non sense. There are a lot of comments about what a bad person he is or was with the drinking and womanizing. Being a woman I get frustrated at the AIM leaders who do not protect women…the stuff about his sex life and his children beating up women while horrific is really no different than Paul McCartney. Jimmy Page was the worst carrying around a special suitcase of whips to beat his groupies…I don’t think that Dennis Banks was abusing women for gratuitous reasons like Jimmy Page was. I think it is more conducive to someone who was ripped away from his family and thrown in a boarding school….it takes a tremendous effort to overcome the cycle of abuse. When you consider the resources that have been historically available to the Native population it is a miracle and a blessing when just ONE Indian can stop the cycle of abuse. It is not easy and to blame men for all of the ills is too easy. I myself am guilty of it…as evidenced by some of my rants on the blog. Sort of like the poll WKLDOC took in this installment, it is easy to answer by pointing your finger at the obvious scapegoat. Right or wrong. The problem is more complex than that. Its just that women are brainwashed from the day that we are born that men will take care of us. That men are in some way superior….that we should hold them to above us. And of course our society reinforces this by denigrating the importance of stay at home mothers, unequal pay etc.. So by the time I figured out that I had been lied to….I was pissed off. Sort of like being pissed off about the quality of teachers in the schools teaching American History!! My whole existence as an American is a lie. The history of the country I grew up in is just an empty lie. And I believed every word of it!!!
Here is the PORTLAND AIM WEBSITE. I used the search to look up Bernard Red Cherries and Eugene Johnson and came up with nothing. So either they have nothing to do with the nonsense going on or their website is like a false store front in a ghost town. In which case the movement that may have started out with good intentions is already insignificant…they just haven’t figured it out yet. The moment AIM became insignificant in the previous decades was the moment they allowed fear to creep into their minds and they started hiding their actions which started a chain of paranoia. It is the history of every revolutionary group. DIVIDE AND CONQUER!! It doesn’t matter how many times the government does it….people fall for it every single time. WE NEED TO STOP LETTING THE GOVERNMENT DIVIDE US. And the care and safety of children should be put above all else.
This is an excellent song that is done much better by Lucinda Williams but I couldn’t find her version of this song. I do own it though.
The song starts out…
Well let’s start by
Making it clear
Who is the enemy, here
And we’ll show them
That it’s not them
Who is superior
The video contains disturbing images….
Dennis Banks and Russell Means were the first of the Wounded Knee defendants to be tried for the takeover. They asked Bogue to recuse himself for blatant bias, and much to their surprise he did.
The case fell to Fred Nichol, a prairie moderate, former prosecutor, and chief federal judge for South Dakota. Nichol intended to try the case in the state until WKLDOC commissioned a survey of bias among South Dakotans. the the question “What should be done about Indian militants, American Indian Movement members, and other Indians who demonstrate claiming they haven’t been given equal rights?” the most common answers were “Jail ‘em” and “Shoot ‘em”. Judge Nichol moved the trial to St. Paul. It started in January 1974.
People give answers to polls like that without giving it any consideration because it does not effect them…..who cares abut Indians getting a fair trial? If only they would play the game and get in line….Now I’ll bet if you polled white South Dakotans standing in line waiting to pass through airport security with their shampoo and nail clippers….
Banks and Means served as their won co-counsel, backed by some of the country’s most accomplished trial lawyers. These including the gifted embellisher Mark Lane, the meticulous Ken Tilsen, and the wild-haired, brass-tongued Bill Kunstler, whose clientele included Martin Luther King Jr., Black Panther Stokely Carmichael, the Chicago Seven from the 1968 Democratic Convention, and the antiwar Berrigan brothers.
Hurd and Geinapp agrgued a straightforward criminal case; Banks and Means had conspired to riot, seize, and hold Wounded Knee and then had done so, along the way destroying property, taking hostages, and firing on officers of the law.
The defendants denied everything…
Every time the Oglalas and their allies in AIM tried to right the reservation’s many wrongs, federal and tribal governments blocked them with duplicity, persecution, and terror. The Indians had been left no choice but to break the law.
The key to this defense lay in destroying the government’s credibility and Banks and Means caught a break early when the prosecution called a witness to disparage a petition signed by 70 percent of the permanent residents of Wounded Knee.
the copy the government produced at trial was doctored to seem weaker. On cross examination, the defense proved that the FBI had had custody of the petition at the time it was doctored. An FBI agent was called to the stand to explain how the document had been altered. The agent was at a loss. He said the FBI had a lot of files on Wounded Knee and it was hard to keep them all straight. Perhaps there had been a clerical error.
Judge Nichol declared himself “greatly disturbed” by this answer. “I used to think the FBI was one of the greatest bureaus that ever cam down the pike. I think it’s deteriorated, and I don’t care how may FBI agents are here in court listening to me.
…Judge Nichol to ask exactly how many the FBI had on Wounded Knee. He was astounded to learn 315,000. WKLDOC was astounded too. the government was bound by law to give the defense nearly all of its files that might help exonerate the defendants, but Banks and Means had not received anything approaching 315,000. they asked Judge Nichol to find out whether all appropriate files had been handed over, and Nichol forced the prosecution to give the defense 200 of the unseen files as a test. Half of the 200 files turned out to be relevant to the defense and should have been handed over months earlier.
ANNA MAE AQUASH 43/A PARANOID GOVERNMENT
All excerpts are in italics and from THE UNQUIET GRAVE by Steve Hendricks.
I finally watched the Wounded Knee segment of WE SHALL REMAIN on the computer…now I see why Trimbach and his cheerleaders are upset. I was laughing through a lot of it because I had never seen any footage. Sometimes when I laugh it seems inappropriate but when the truth is exposed the world rejoices and no matter how bad the truth is it has been set free which brings me great joy….It is the lies that are causing so much damage.
The thing that struck me was the uproar the government gets its self into. You would think that Brezhnev himself had landed in America and taken over Wounded Knee their paranoia is so great!! Can you imagine living with such unfounded fears every single day?? This could have been settled by simply listening to the Indians no need for guns. They just wanted to be heard…to have their very valid complaints addressed. There was so much wrong about the whole thing. I think it must be like the mass hysteria that can sometimes be experienced by a crowd only it is stretched over a few generations….some fear that what they have done is going to be done to them. I am also reading a book called FBI SECRETS An FBI Agent’s Expose’ by M.Wesley Swearingdon. You know he was a Hoover guy like G.Gordon Liddy he turns his first name into an initial!
They could have easily done a five part series on just the occupation of Wounded Knee. There is so much that was left out. Somewhere on alt.native I think there was a thread with Richard Two Elks response and something about why they didn’t interview him…I will try to get to that on the next post. My time management is lacking these days! Also I need to watch the program again because one woman was talking about the Commission on Civil Rights which is the subject today but I was trying to clean my kitchen so I didn’t quite get what everybody had to say and who they were.
…the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights concluded its investigation and reported that there had been “massive irregularities” during the election, that nearly all of WKLDOC’s charges could be confirmed, and that in no way could the election be considered valid. USCCR heaped blame on the bureau of Indian affairs, which by law was required to supervise the elections but which steadfastly refused to do so.
…the BIA….said they had read USCCR’s report but declined to make a single counterargument and declared the election would stand.
WKLDOC appealed Bogue’s decision first to an unsympathetic panel of the Eighth circuit and then to the U.S. Supreme Court, which in 1976 declined to hear the case.
That the Oglala people might deserve a judicial accounting for the stolen election, or that those who might deserve a judicial accounting for the stolen election, or that those who stole it and those who let it be stolen should be held answerable for their deeds did not, apparently, impress the justices of America’s highest court.
Funny how our government only upholds laws on reservations when it benefits the governments cause…otherwise the Indians are left to their own devices…which is what Wounded Knee was all about to begin with.
WKLDOC prepared the defense of its clients from and office out of the spare rooms of a fraternity house of the National College of Business in Rapid City.
WKLDOCers noticed that their comings and goings at the frat house were being scrutinized by clean-cut men…Jeanne Davies and Fritz Feiten, spotted one of the unmarked cars. It was empty of occupants but had a two way, police-style radio inside, so Feiten wrote down the car’s license plate number. As he did so, two men stepped out of a car across the street and walked up to him and Davies. they flashed FBI badges. “H-u-g-h-e-s,” Davies copied into a notebook and started to write his badge number, but Agent Hughes detracted the badge, snatched Davies’s paper, and ordered them to put their hands on the car. The WKLDOCkers asked if they were under arrest.
More agents arrived.
When the WKLDOCkers refused to give any information beyond their names, the questions turned to taunts, then to arrests.
WKLDOC had them bailed out soon enough, but on their way out the door the FBI added a federal charge-interfering with witnesses to a judicial proceeding-and the pair were re-arrested. no federal witnesses had been involved in the incident on the street, save the FBI agents themselves,
and they were not the sort of witnesses the law contemplated. But because it was Saturday night and a federal magistrate was unavailable to review the complaint, Davies and Feiten were kept locked up over the weekend, which was the real motive behind the complaint. Come Monday, the magistrate immediately dismissed the federal charge, and the city attorney did the same with the municipal public-nuisance charge. The FBI never received a reprimand for what was clearly harassment of legal workers..
AUTONOMOUS AMERICAN INDIAN MOVEMENT LISTENS TO LEONARD COHEN!!
Since PUDGY INDIAN has been having problems I thought I would do some exploring of current Indian affairs instead of the Anna Mae Aquash story (no I am not abandoning it).
I don’t get the difference between AIM and AUTONOMOUS AMERICAN INDIAN MOVEMENT….But I was just checking out the Autonomous website and the first thing they have are not quotes from John Trudell or Buffy Sainte Marie but Leonard Cohen whom I adore….I listen to him all the time!! They quote Democracy…kick ass song:
I think this one is apropos too..”Everybody knows the fight was fixed, the poor stay poor the rich get rich…
From Wickipedia:
Ideological differences within AIM
In 1993, AIM split into two main factions, each claiming that it was the authentic inheritor of the AIM tradition, and that the other had betrayed the original principles of the movement. One group, based in Minneapolis, Minnesota and associated with the Bellecourts, is known as the AIM-Grand Governing Council, while the other segment of the movement, led by, among others, Russell Means, was named AIM-International Confederation of Autonomous Chapters.
The split was formalized when the latter group issued its “Edgewood Declaration” in 1993, citing organizational grievances and authoritarian leadership by the Bellecourts. However, ideological differences seem to have simmered for a long time, with the Grand Governing Council (GGC) presenting a spiritual, albeit more mainstream, approach to activism. The GGC tends toward a more centralized, controlled political philosophy. The autonomous chapters argue that AIM has always been organized as a series of decentralized, autonomous chapters, with local leadership that is accountable to local constituencies. The autonomous chapters reject the assertions of central control by the Minneapolis group as contrary both to indigenous political traditions, and to the original philosophy of AIM.
Being white I think that I will refrain from saying anything about people uniting….
PUDGY INDIAN UNDER ATTACK
When I am writing my Anna Mae posts I get very emotional…I love AIM….I hate AIM….REALLY PISSED OF AT THE FBI!
Sometimes I let the posts sit for a day then I reread it and delete a bunch of stuff that is too negative.
I had to do that last night and this morning. Except on this subject I had to delete the entire post!! TWICE!!!!
But I think that I have sufficiently calmed down did my laundry and even my ironing which I put off for weeks.
Pudgy Indian because of a p0st he put up was threatened. And I think they extended it to his family. Why???
Here is the story:
Kill the Messenger
About 2 years ago, a man came to us at our radio show asking for our help in finding his runaway daughter. We assisted him to the best of our abilities, and when we asked if it would be OK to put the information out on our blogs, we did so.
Then, about 4 months ago, we started receiving e-mails from a former stepdaughter accusing this person, a spiritual leader of some sorts, of abuse. Although the letter below mentions sexual abuse, there was no mention of sexual abuse on my post nor done so by the person who alleged abuse in e-mails or in comments on the post that was made on this blog.
About a week and a half ago, I was called by the person, now the mediator in all of this. I asked if taking the post down would satisfy the person, as it was alleged by the mediator lawyers were talked with about possible litigation, and said person was told that he had a case. He said he believed it would be satisfactory to said person.
Upon taking down the post the next morning, I noticed that there had been a lot of action in the comments section, including the original allegations made by the woman who claims to have been his step daughter. Along with her comments were some rather abusive comments from anonymous folks, and so I have saved those items and took them off my blog knowing that a demand would come forth for an apology.
Two organizations have come forth demanding this apology, one being the Red Brotherhood Warrior Society, whom their representative wrote the letter below, and Oklahoma AIM. None of these folks from these organizations have come forth to tell me who they are and how they are involved in this. What set me over the edge, however, was when I was sent an e-mail from the mediator that Dino Butler wanted a copy of the information contained in the post and the comments that have been removed. I did so, also asking why the hell he is involved in all of this.
This afternoon, the mediator showed up at the radio station to talk with me. He told me that such negativity shouldn’t be addressed in public as people from the outside would use this as a weapon against the Indian community. There were also insinuations of all sorts of little threats, possible that something may happen to me, possible something may happen to others, the community who won’t come down and help with the show will definitely work to get me off of the air, that two lawyers (whose names I am not given and who haven’t talked with me) have been talked to about this issue, and so on. The one clear threat, however, is that I will be banned from all Indian events, and Portland AIM is alleged in helping with that issue. In fact, in a meeting I had no idea was taking place, I believe on Wednesday, Portland AIM had a meeting on this issue, so the mediator informed me.
Now, where is the consideration to the women and children who are victim/survivors of abuse. It is only men’s voices I am hearing. All of these people involved I have no idea who they are. I know the mediator hasn’t read what was written on the blog. I don’t think the lawyers have the information. With this allegation of abuse, I find it interesting that no Indians have complained about me bringing up issues of abuse from the various Christian organizations against Indians.
Where are the women’s voices? Where are the voices of the children? What is getting done about abuse prevention, and help for both victim and victimizer in Indian country?
Instead, what is happening here, is I am being bullied in an attempt to shut me up.
Here is the letter, and I removed the names of the folks involved in the original post, but not the name of the person attempting to force me to write a specific apology on my blog.
May 8th – 2009
FR: American Indian Movement/Red Brotherhood
Oklahoma Southern Chapter
RE: Apology requested for ___________ and family, and all of those effected by
The alleged allegations of abuse, sexual assault, etc,,,..etc, etc.
MR Eugene Johnson,
We the Southern Chapter of the Red Bortherhood request that you issue a public apology to __________ and his daughter _________, publically and on your Radio show. You have not held yourself to the high standards set forth by law, that you present and provide proof, when making public statements about a person. We have been authorized and have received the blessings by our people here in Oklahoma to proced on _______ and his daughter ____ behalf. It is a very sad situation when you start making attacks on the inter-net and giving it a platform to attack our Traditional leaders in public. We at the chapter encourage you MR Johnson to do your own investigation on ______ and discover the truth. All people have some amount of pain in their lives and _______ is not exempt. In our yrs of knowing him we have tolerated the attempts to ridicule, and out right lie about him. It has come time now that he needs our “Protection” from lies and untruths such as you have allowed in your forum, all without a (what you call!!) a thread of proof. In closing if you want to ask any questions please forward any of your concerns to our A.I.M. brother ___________, we have already had conversations with him and he knows our concerns int his regard and anticipated apologies from yourself. And we would hope that this could happen as soon as possible. As of yesterday 5-7-09 _______ has been in contact with his daughter ____, his conversations with her and her counsler from __________ in which ____ affirmed her love for her father, and frustrations about the slander and untruths being spread about her father, we would hope that you and your internet audience allow for these two relatives of ours time to heal and pray instead of continuing and encouraging attacks of this family, or present proof, until then we await your apologies, no negotiaions.
Ralph Birdshead JR
Red Brotherhood Southern Chapter
Spokesman. Oklahoma
How crazy is that? This would cost at a minimum of about 15,000 up front to take to trial. And another 15 to 30 grand to actually see it through…Minimum….and that is after any decent lawyer informing you that they would try the case on the basis that you know that you are going to lose. Aside from that here are the comments from the post:
This is keeping me up at nights. What I find most interesting in this whole issue is so much is being done to shut me up by so many Indian organizations. I believe there are no efforts put forth by these organizations to prevent abuse nor create programs for survivors and victimizers. They will, however, put forth great effort in shutting this whole thing up. With the accusations in this case, you know there are more cases out there. What are these organizations and individuals doing about that? With the efforts being put forth by Portland AIM (including a secret meeting about me), the Red Brotherhood Warrior Society and Oklahoma AIM (whom I believe have had meetings about me), and Dino Butler, you’d think that they would put forth as much effort into at least abuse prevention programs.
I’m not exactly sure where the “sexual assault” thing came from in the letter because if any of these folks had read the post and the comments, there was only mention of abuse, not “sexual assault.” This peaks my suspicious nature, but there you go. His accuser, only discussed the fact that she, her mother, her brothers, and others, were abused by this man. She did not mention “sexual assault,” however, and had these folks actually read the information on the post and in the comments, they would know that. I did not ask specifically about the form of abuse that took place because I know how hard that can be on victim/survivors. Abuse can come in many forms, basically: physical (beatings), sexual (rape), verbal (yelling, threats, etc.), emotional (manipulation).
Hi Pudgy Indian!!
I’m still missing something is this the story you are talking about? http://groups.google.com/group/ a…bf4295d92c0b0f#Monica Charles posted this on alt.native and you need to read the comments because some other women came forward with complaints.
You didn’t make up the story you reported it as told to you….if proven wrong you should report on that too. But if its the same story I think that this guy is bad news.
I will put up both posts on my blog if you give your permission.
I am sure that Monica will post it on alt.native. btw she put up your last post about you taking down the post…
Anyway I don’t usually stay up this late and just know that this woman blogger supports you. I have a feeling that being a woman if this is the man you are talking about I will have a lot more to say and maybe they should read all 40 of my Anna Mae posts see what happened when those FBI groupies made the mistake of commenting on my blog.
No negotiations.
Thank you Lizzy. The only reason I am reluctant to put the names back up is the continued threat of litigation. Thank you for taking up this bout, as well. I don’t think these folks know me very well. I think they thought I would just cower at their continued threats to make me apologize. Taking down the post and comments thereon was not enough to these MEN. They, of course, are not coming forth with any proper introductions. They are coming forth with attempts to coerce me into saying things I will not say.
That said, I almost forgot to mention, since I know the names of some of the Portland AIM, and since they are having secret meetings about me, or at least meetings about me that I am not being invited to, I’ll mention the leaders of this organization: James, whose last name I always forget (sorry James), is the Sergeant at Arms; Patrick “Little Buffalo” (whose last name I don’t know), is the Spiritual Leader I’m told appointed by Dennis Banks himself; Robert Van Pelt I believe advises these folks as an elder, I am not clear as to what his role with this organization actually is. I know some of the other members, but I know those are the folks that run it. They are also folks who are concerned about me and want to make sure that things don’t happen to me. Thank you, guys.
Eugene I was surprised yesterday to find an anonymous comment in response to a comment you left on a post I wrote in September 2007!
You may remember I was still in PDX when I wrote a post entitled “Just Do Indians”.
See post and comments here: http://ridwanlaher.blogspot.com/…do- indians.html
The timing of the comment directed at you is curious at the very least.
Eugene you should not treat threats of any kind lightly. I would report any threat of bodily harm, implied or not, to the police.
Be safe brother.
Peace and struggle,
Ridwan
Monica J Charles
Elwha Klallam Tribal Elder
Wounded Knee 1973 Veteran
I want to thank Eugene and Rhonda for everything they are doing. Thanks to anyone else that has come forward, for standing up to persons not mentioned. I truely appreciate it.
As to those organizations or persons protecting him I’m not hiding, and why would you conceal something so wrong! I’m not afraid. Why don’t you ask me what happened? This issue truely is one sided, you don’t have my side, my mothers, or even truely my little sisters, if in fact she has been contacted. Every thing I have done is out of love even if you don’t see it that way.
It has been many years but I remember and I’m not a liar. We are not the only family.
Eugene is right I never said anything about sexual assault, I don’t know where that is coming from.
I’m here and I’m standing up for what I know is true. You can’t erase what happened to us, or anyone else for that matter. Your big performance isn’t going to hide the truth much longer. It’s all just an act, a show, and you enjoy it. The thrill, power, and attention. This is truely my life, my memories.
I wonder if you protect all corrupt persons in places of leadership or athority to this extent. Does the issue of abuse of children, women, families mean nothing? No matter how long ago it was. Does his position entitle him to hurt people with out any consequences?
Were we not wronged in all of this? Don’t you even consider all the pain this has done to us and then to insult us by calling us liars, to say it never happened would be the lie. I’ve tried to let it go, live my life, but it still affects me to this day. I’ve never even got an apology or a sign of remorse which confirms he has not changed since then, at all.
I’m not going to stay silent any longer. I played that part of obedient daughter. I’m not backing down. I do have a past and I’m not afraid of it.
My motivation in all this is my family and for me. I’m taking back my power that was stolen from me all those years ago. For every thing I heard, saw, experienced, and for the ones that endured it with me. For those who aren’t strong enough yet.
You won’t scare me away, the pain of that life is to strong to let you!
That is more than I can say for the “Braves” of AIM and the Red Brotherhood.
What Eugene does not mention here is an encounter with the so-called “mediator” between him and the party in question, the Red Brotherhood (can you imagine how that would sound if it was the “White Brotherhood???”), and the Southern Oklahoma and Portland AIM chapters.
This so-called mediator is a person I have heard, with my own ears, refer to AIM members from the past as “poverty pimps”. This came up at the Siletz powwow two years ago, when I began to hand out flyers for the Longest Walk II. When I approached this man, who is acting as “mediator”, he got angry about AIM! That is when he called AIMsters “poverty pimps”.
So it’s funny that the very next time I saw him, he was speaking and smiling at an AIM event here in Portland.
Huh.
Anyway, this so-called mediator will NOT read any of the comments from Martha or others, who claim they have been abused by the party in question. He has attempted to serve as the bully mouthpiece for AIM and RedBros. He is not impartial — he is demanding an apology, a public apology, from Eugene.
He informed Eugene yesterday, as he handed him the letter: “You are banned from all Native American events.” It was also suggested that Eugene will be sued, have his radio program canceled, and physical harm was hinted at.
Thugs! Vigilante! Gang!
Yes, I’m looking over my shoulder when Eugene and I meet for coffee or a walk. What next, a drive-by?
These thugs have referred to me as a “captured white wife” (FUCK YOU!), and have attempted to otherwise run down women using this blog. I have read their big, brave “anonymous” comments here, again bullying Martha and others.
I’m sickened by this whole thing. Eugene has been on air for 13 years, doing a damned good job of bringing Native American issues out in the open. It was his voice that deepened my pride in my Native roots.
He, David Liberty, and I, when we interviewed the party in question, were trying to do a good thing. It now appears that we, unfortunately, did not have the whole story.
Apparently the party in question and his gang of thugs prefer it that way and are going to do everything they can to intimidate my husband and these women who gave voice to their concerns.
Well, you don’t know Eugene like I do. Stubborn? That doesn’t even begin to cover it! And I will bet my last dime that he WILL continue to be a voice for Native Americans – especially the ones who have been forced into silence for too long.
Shusli
I happen to love Eugene.
Like I posted before, Shusli, tongue in cheek, of course, stated that “White people aren’t going to kill you. White people Love you. Indians, Indians are gonna kill you.”
And again, none of these brave organizations are coming forward with any manner of dealing with issues of sexism against women WITHIN their organizations, let alone all the abuse issues. Cover it up, that is what they want to do.
Hey, maybe this would make a good story for Willamette Week.
Also, a lawyer is trying to contact me via e-mail. I should probably attempt to get legal advice before I talk with her. That, or just not talk to her.
Man, we are now all feeling unsafe in the face of these thugs. What have things come to?
Women and children are to continue to remain unsafe in the face of these thugs. That is all they are to me now.
This bothers me because it is about threats over of a bloggers post. It drives me insane because it involves abuse. Being a victim of abuse…it drives me absolutely fucking insane. I am a very strong person and am one of the only people I know that will get involved in abuse that I witness…you had better never let me see you abusing your children. In any manner!!! I WILL ALWAYS DO THE RIGHT THING WHEN IT COMES TO CHILDREN. THE INSANITY STOPS HERE. Call social services on a family member??? Done it. Kids were taken away and after five years of not speaking to me they thanked me! Standing up and to abuse is not a popular thing to do but it is the right thing to do!!!
That being said it is a generational crime. Abuse one generation and the next several suffer. Here is response written by Monica Charles she explains it from the Native American viewpoint…
This is the crux of what is wrong in our communities. Our world is way
out of balance. It started wobbling when we allowed that lost sailor
to land. We can trace the introduction of child sexual abuse right
back into the hands of the white man’s christian churches. It is
generational. It has happened to each generation since it’s
introduction. And don’t think THAT wasn’t intentional either. It was
intended to last forever and to destroy our moral fiber. It did and it
is. When a woman, child or man is raped or sexually abused their life
is ruined. Rape is not sex. It is violence. On another thread we
talked about the wars with the white man. We lost for various reasons.
The white man stole power from our men. We were given two healing
ceremonies for domestic violence here at Elwha. We’re so screwed up
after centuries of living under the white man’s thumb we couldn’t even
get together to perform them. We let our own healing go to continue
our in-fighting. Spirit said that men are given physical strength to
protect and feed The People. When we lost the wars with the white man
we were put on reservations. We weren’t allowed weapons. Our men
couldn’t hunt. They couldn’t protect us from the white man now they
couldn’t feed us. They watched our People starve to death. They
watched their Elders and babies die. There was nothing they could do.
That imprinted on their soul. They could no longer perform their
sacred duties to the Tribe. Child sexual abuse was immediately
introduced by the churches and government. Everything we considered
sacred was violated. Our powerless men then turned and stole power
from those in their care, the women, babies and old people. We were
riding an avalanche and at the bottom of the mountain is extinction.
We were doomed. Spirit says we don’t have to die. We survive by
stopping the avalanche. We stop the avalanche by refusing to
participate in our own destruction. We do that by reclaiming the
sacredness within ourselves and each other. Otherwise we ARE doomed.
Men will have to resume their duty of protecting and feeding The
People. That may mean protecting The People from our own men. Our
children, our future is worth protecting.
If Portland AIM and the Oklahoma Brotherhood are real warriors they
will protect our children and take this man in hand. They will get
help for him. In the old days if this had happened he would have been
marked and banished or killed. Our Ancestors protected our future that
is why we are here. We should do no less.
On May 15, 9:05 am, Monica
then she continues with this….
It looks like there may be no end to the damage done to us. But we can
and have to say that it stops here. We have to or it’s extinction for
us. I sent a letter to my Tribal Council about vandalism. Some kids
knocked down mailboxes in my area. Mine was destroyed. This is a cry
for help and attention. I’m not mad at the kids because their parents
are alcohol and drug addicted and aren’t there for them. Their parents
grew up in alcoholic homes and had no one there for them either. I
told our council that we elected them to take care of all our
business. Realistically many of our children have no parents and they
are being physically and sexually abused at home. We are responsible
for all our children. I asked them what they are doing. They have
opened a new casino that may or may not succeed. We have a councilman
who only wants to travel and party. Our kids are stealing gas and
breaking into cars and stealing purses etc. Where are our Tribal
policemen? They’re patrolling the coffeeshops in Port Angeles. It’s
election time so we are being promised our own slice of the pie. Ha!
It never comes. We have a youth committee, youth program. I asked the
council what all these staff and they the council are doing for our
kids. I may be getting another eviction notice. I’m going to be doing
another article on this so I will be in trouble wiht a lot of people,
my council, Portland and Oklahoma AIM. But it’s time for US to “woman
up” and start straightening out our communities. No one else will or
can do it.
I just love Monica Charles she never wavers or backs down.
I have a feeling I will be posting a lot about this.
NO NEGOTIATING!!
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