Hunter Gray
2014-04-29 12:33:47 UTC
I am indebted to Reber Boult's thoughtfulness in sending me this link from the most recent of the New York Times Magazine.
Although it isn't always noted as it should be, the Civil Rights Movement of the '50s through the '60s, triggered the development of new efforts and movements involving other oppressed peoples in the United States and Canada. The Civil Rights Movement also rejuvenated much, much older movements that had very deep roots in this land. The classic example of that, of course, are Native Americans. The earlier part of the '60s saw new Native efforts to secure justice -- some from older organizations such as the National Congress of American Indians and some from new groups like the National Indian Youth Council.
In the late '60s, the American Indian Movement burst forth and, into the early '80s, blazed hard and heatedly in the Northern and Central Plains and a number of adjacent locales -- and some in the Far West. (The Navajo Nation saw some AIM involvement.) To many white people, AIM and its collateral high drama, and its top leadership -- Dennis Banks, Russell Means, Carter Camp and others -- constituted the only Native social activism of the time. In reality, there were many other Native groups and efforts that continued their work, steadily and sturdily, at the grassroots level.
But AIM's good work was indeed significant -- for a time. It tackled tough challenges such as the cruel murder of Raymond Yellow Thunder at Gordon, Nebraska; take-over of the BIA and the diffusion of that agency's confidental documents to the four directions; and its most notable campaign, lasting several months -- the war called Wounded Knee 2 -- against the corrupt tribal administration of Dick Wilson at the Oglala reservation (Pine Ridge) in South Dakota -- as well as against the racist elements in that state's government. That was its high point. AIM had about as much structure as a fast flowing mountain stream and it wasn't given to careful community organization. Like any fast moving crusade, it attracted some negative elements: e.g., rip-off artists, Federal informers, classic criminals. But mostly, even though its support from Indian people was far from universal, its motives, and those of virtually all of its followers, were highly altruistic.
It began to splinter as the '80s progressed. General repression and Federal Cointelpro were among the reasons -- but a very basic one was the often virulent personal leadership conflicts among its own principals. By the end of the '80s, it was reduced to splinter groups, several of which exist today.
In its often mode of organized chaos, it left behing some mysteries. A very basic one, not solved today to the satisfaction of many, is the 1975 murder, on the edge of the Pine Ridge reservation, of a young Mi'kmaq woman, Anna Mae Pictou Aquash. She came from Nova Scotia to join AIM and wound up shot to death, buried in a very shallow grave.
And then, of course, there is Leonard Peltier -- blamed for the shooting deaths of two FBI agents. Even though the evidence again him is thin at best, he remains in prison, as he has for decades, at the hands of a vindicitive United States government.
This article, "Who Killed Anna Mae?" -- also provides a reasonably good sketch of some aspects of AIM's sociology. (I don't agree with all its points.) It should be noted, of course, that a great many Native people are wary of Anglo media. Some may talk to it much, many more only very selectively, many not at all. I'm personally aware of some AIM dimensions and situations -- but I consider them privileged and never speak or write of them.
Anyway, here is the link to a fascinating account:
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/04/27/magazine/who-killed-anna-mae.html?_r=1
HUNTER GRAY [HUNTER BEAR/JOHN R SALTER JR] Mi'kmaq /
St. Francis Abenaki / St. Regis Mohawk
Member, National Writers Union AFL-CIO
Check out our massive social justice website
www.hunterbear.org The site is dedicated to our
one-half Bobcat, Cloudy Gray, and to Sky Gray:
http://hunterbear.org/cloudy_gray.htm
See my piece ON BEING A MILITANT AND RADICAL
ORGANIZER -- AND AN EFFECTIVE ONE (Mississippi et al.):
http://crmvet.org/comm/hunter1.htm
See our very full COMMUNITY ORGANIZING
page -- with a great deal of practical material:
http://hunterbear.org/my_combined_community_organizing.htm
See my new expanded/updated "Organizer's Book,"
JACKSON MISSISSIPPI -- with a new 10,000 word
introduction by me. This page lists many reviews.
And this book is also an activist's how-to manual:
http://hunterbear.org/jackson.htm
The Stormy Adoption of an Indian Child [My Father]:
http://hunterbear.org/James%20and%20Salter%20and%20Dad.htm:
(Photos)
Although it isn't always noted as it should be, the Civil Rights Movement of the '50s through the '60s, triggered the development of new efforts and movements involving other oppressed peoples in the United States and Canada. The Civil Rights Movement also rejuvenated much, much older movements that had very deep roots in this land. The classic example of that, of course, are Native Americans. The earlier part of the '60s saw new Native efforts to secure justice -- some from older organizations such as the National Congress of American Indians and some from new groups like the National Indian Youth Council.
In the late '60s, the American Indian Movement burst forth and, into the early '80s, blazed hard and heatedly in the Northern and Central Plains and a number of adjacent locales -- and some in the Far West. (The Navajo Nation saw some AIM involvement.) To many white people, AIM and its collateral high drama, and its top leadership -- Dennis Banks, Russell Means, Carter Camp and others -- constituted the only Native social activism of the time. In reality, there were many other Native groups and efforts that continued their work, steadily and sturdily, at the grassroots level.
But AIM's good work was indeed significant -- for a time. It tackled tough challenges such as the cruel murder of Raymond Yellow Thunder at Gordon, Nebraska; take-over of the BIA and the diffusion of that agency's confidental documents to the four directions; and its most notable campaign, lasting several months -- the war called Wounded Knee 2 -- against the corrupt tribal administration of Dick Wilson at the Oglala reservation (Pine Ridge) in South Dakota -- as well as against the racist elements in that state's government. That was its high point. AIM had about as much structure as a fast flowing mountain stream and it wasn't given to careful community organization. Like any fast moving crusade, it attracted some negative elements: e.g., rip-off artists, Federal informers, classic criminals. But mostly, even though its support from Indian people was far from universal, its motives, and those of virtually all of its followers, were highly altruistic.
It began to splinter as the '80s progressed. General repression and Federal Cointelpro were among the reasons -- but a very basic one was the often virulent personal leadership conflicts among its own principals. By the end of the '80s, it was reduced to splinter groups, several of which exist today.
In its often mode of organized chaos, it left behing some mysteries. A very basic one, not solved today to the satisfaction of many, is the 1975 murder, on the edge of the Pine Ridge reservation, of a young Mi'kmaq woman, Anna Mae Pictou Aquash. She came from Nova Scotia to join AIM and wound up shot to death, buried in a very shallow grave.
And then, of course, there is Leonard Peltier -- blamed for the shooting deaths of two FBI agents. Even though the evidence again him is thin at best, he remains in prison, as he has for decades, at the hands of a vindicitive United States government.
This article, "Who Killed Anna Mae?" -- also provides a reasonably good sketch of some aspects of AIM's sociology. (I don't agree with all its points.) It should be noted, of course, that a great many Native people are wary of Anglo media. Some may talk to it much, many more only very selectively, many not at all. I'm personally aware of some AIM dimensions and situations -- but I consider them privileged and never speak or write of them.
Anyway, here is the link to a fascinating account:
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/04/27/magazine/who-killed-anna-mae.html?_r=1
HUNTER GRAY [HUNTER BEAR/JOHN R SALTER JR] Mi'kmaq /
St. Francis Abenaki / St. Regis Mohawk
Member, National Writers Union AFL-CIO
Check out our massive social justice website
www.hunterbear.org The site is dedicated to our
one-half Bobcat, Cloudy Gray, and to Sky Gray:
http://hunterbear.org/cloudy_gray.htm
See my piece ON BEING A MILITANT AND RADICAL
ORGANIZER -- AND AN EFFECTIVE ONE (Mississippi et al.):
http://crmvet.org/comm/hunter1.htm
See our very full COMMUNITY ORGANIZING
page -- with a great deal of practical material:
http://hunterbear.org/my_combined_community_organizing.htm
See my new expanded/updated "Organizer's Book,"
JACKSON MISSISSIPPI -- with a new 10,000 word
introduction by me. This page lists many reviews.
And this book is also an activist's how-to manual:
http://hunterbear.org/jackson.htm
The Stormy Adoption of an Indian Child [My Father]:
http://hunterbear.org/James%20and%20Salter%20and%20Dad.htm:
(Photos)