The right to manage our health as we see fit is more basic than free speech. Medicinal herbs are our heritage, yet the EU intends to steal our access to most of them, handing it over to corporations.
by Heidi Stevenson
30 December 2010
Chamomile Flowers Used in Herbal Tea and Medicine
(from MorgueFile.com)In the European Union, the new year dawns with the impending loss of access to most medicinal herbs. The mildly named Traditional Herbal Medicinal Products Directive (THMPD) effectively bans the use of most herbal medicines and all non-EU based herbal traditions, such as Traditional Chinese Medicine and Ayurvedic Medicine.
The Independent offers the usual claim that the "directive was introduced in response to rising concern over adverse effects caused by herbal medicines." Of course, that claim is never investigated or supported. It's trotted out as if it were axiomatic, so obvious that it can't be questioned. But herbal medicines are safer by degrees of magnitude than mainstream medicine and its pharmaceutical drugs. The truth in this matter is that there's been a rising concern over the business lost to Big Pharma when people choose herbs over modern medicine. The THMPD is part of a worldwide move to take control of health from people and hand it to the rapacious hands of Big Pharma, Agribusiness, and Big Medicine.
Sign the Stop the Traditional Herbal Medicinal Products Directive Petition!
False Arguments
Arguments in favor of such a ban include the outlandish concept that they're dangerous, requiring the public's protection from them. Also frequent are the claims that "It isn't so bad," or "They're only trying to protect us," or "They're merely trying to simplify the registration process." None of these arguments holds up to inspection.
Let's look at each argument:
"They're dangerous and need to be regulated."
Danger is a relative thing. The fact is that harm from herbal medicines is fadingly rare. When compared with modern medicine's drugs and surgeries, this claim is simply laughable."The efficacy of herbs needs to be proven."
Why? Herbs have been used since before written history history. The remains of a prehistoric man found in a glacier prove that herbs were in use. Free access to herbs has been an unwritten right. By what right does anyone demand that they meet new standards?"It isn't so bad."
Since when did a coercive law become acceptable because it doesn't do too much harm? Aside from that point, many people will lose access to herbal products that they've come to depend upon for their health. How can anyone say that's not so bad?"They're only trying to protect us."
The simplest response is that I don't want to be protected from herbs, and neither do others who use them. Anyone who tries to "protect" me from herbs is interfering with my right to use them. By what right does anyone presume to steal our right to manage our health as we wish?"They're merely trying to simplify the registration process."
This argument comes from the wording of THMPD, which states that its purpose is to simplify the registration process. However, there was no registration process until THMPD, so how could a nonexistent process by simplified? By any rational view, adding a registration process is more complex than no registration process.Sign the Stop the Traditional Herbal Medicinal Products Directive Petition! Our Herbal Heritage Is Being Handed to Corporations.
In the guise of safety and efficacy, our herbal heritage is being handed over to corporate interests for their profits. The entire industry is being uprooted and destroyed. Small producers—the ones who grow true organic herbs and put their hearts into it—will be unable to produce and sell them. Anything considered foreign to the EU, such as Ayurvedic and Traditional Chinese Medicine traditions, will be banned.
Herbs and herbal products will be required to go through a process similar to that imposed on pharmaceutical drugs. They are, in effect, being treated as if they were drugs.
A common claim is that, once a particular herb is approved, it will then be possible for any company to sell it. This is absolutely untrue. Licensing is done by brand. The fact that a particular herbal product has been approved, such as echinacea, has no bearing on other products. They must go through the same extremely expensive process, and even that may not assure success.
Of those herbal products that are approved, as we're now seeing in the UK, the vast majority have been adulterated. They are far from pure. The worst fears of those who oppose THMPD are being demonstrated: Medicinal herbal products are being coopted by large corporations. They are becoming nothing but commodities that exist for profits. In the name of safety and efficacy, our herbal heritage is being wrenched from us.
For those who don't believe just how serious this is, read the next section to see how the UK is implementing the THMPD.
Sign the Stop the Traditional Herbal Medicinal Products Directive Petition! Licensing by Brand
Each European country is required to implement the THMPD. The Medicines and Healthcare Regulatory Agency (MHRA) holds the authority to implement it in the UK. Thus far, they've approved fewer than a hundred products. Each approval given is for only a single product. When one company gains approval, it does not transfer to any other company. As might be expected, only those companies with deep pockets are able to meet the requirements, and they are willing to do so only for products they believe are big sellers.
Here are some of the products that have been approved. Take note, in particular, of the last item in the list. It's peppermint. Yes, peppermint will become a controllable herb.
- PhytoCon SABAL Capsules (Saw palmetto fruit), made by PhytoCon GmbH & Co KG, an international corporation. The capsules contain gelatin polysuccinate (from pigs), glycerol 85%, water, titanium dioxide, and ferric oxide. If you don't want to take saw palmetto with an animal product, you'd better hope that another company pays to get it approved.
- Cystipret Coated Tablets (Centaury herb, Lovage root and Rosemary leaf), made by Bionorica SE, an international corporation. Each tablet contains lactose monohydrate, magnesium stearate, maize starch, povidone K25, colloidal anhydrous silica, calcium carbonate, virgin castor oil, glucose syrup, iron oxide red, montan glycol wax, povidone K30, riboflavin, shellac, sucrose, talc, and titanium oxide. If you would prefer to take the herbs individually and in their natural form, rather than adultered in tablets, you'd better hope that another manufacturer does so.
- Sainsbury's Echinacea Skin Care Tablets, Tesco Echinacea Skin Care Tablets, Superdrug Echinacea Skin Care Tablets, Gerard House Echinacea Skin Care Tablets and Herbalstore Echinacea Skin Tablets (Echinacea root). These are identical products produced by a single manufacturer. If you would prefer echinacea prepared on a smaller scale than that made for multiple supermarkets...well, you'd better hope that someone who produces smaller products will manage to jump through, and pay for, the hoops that approval requires. Lest you think it's a pure herbal product, each tablet includes anydrous silica, magnesium stearate, hypromellose, purified talc, mastercote green (which consists of vegetable carbon black, copper chlorophylin, and titanium dioxide).
- Sinueeze Coated Tablets and Sinuherb Coated Tablets (Gentian, Verbena, Sorrel, Elder, Primula), made by PlantaPhine Ltd. The tablets also contain colloidal anhydrous silica, cellulose powder, maltodextrin, corscarmellose sodium, magnesium stearate, hypromellose, sucrose, talc, calcium carbonate, tragancanth, acacia, titanium dioxide, anhydrous glucose, shellac, white beeswax, and carnauba wax. Last I knew, carnauba wax was used to make cars shiny. And what about the sugars, sucrose and maltodextrin, they've sneaked in? Titanium dioxide may be carcinogenic when inhaled.
- Holland & Barrett Valerian Capsules, GNC Live Well Valerian Capsules, Lifecycle Valerian Capsules and Nature’s Garden Valerian Capsules (Valeriana officinalis). Capsules contain magnesium stearate, maltodextrin, silica colloidal anydrous, and hypromellose. Holland and Barrett is part of GNC, a large international corporation.
- Atrogel Arnica Gel, made by Bioforce Limited. Thus far, this is the only Arnica that the UK has approved—and no Calendula is listed so far. It's no wonder that A. Vogel, the brand name that Bioforce makes, has taken a stand in favor of the THMPD. They're a particularly large herbal product manufacturer in the UK, and it appears that they see the directive as a chance to corner the market on some products. At this point, they are the only Calendula maker that has received approval. It must be nice to have the government step in and produce a directive that could guarantee a corner on the market. Maybe they'll make it to Big Pharma status?
- Peppermint Water BP 1973, made by Viridian Pharma Ltd. The ingredients include glycerol, nipasept sodium (which consists of sodium methyl, ethyl, and propyl parahydroxybenzoates), carbomer, and anhydrous citric acid. This is the only peppermint approved so far—and it comes with an ingredient that includes benzene, a known carcinogen.
Yes, as reported here in Gaia Health, peppermint is a controllable herb in the EU under THMPD.
The THMP Directive is set to go into full force on 30 April. This is a usurpation of our right to manage our health ourselves. There's no time to lose. Please, get involved. Sign the petition to Stop the Traditional Herbal Medicinal Directive, and then tell everyone you know. This travesty needs to be stopped—and the only the people themselves can do it. Our politicians have turned on us. They're about to hand over our control over our health to Big Pharma and Agribusiness. Let's stop them!
Sign the Stop the Traditional Herbal Medicinal Products Directive Petition!
Monday, 28 February 2011
New Year to Bring Ban of Most Medicinal Herbs in Europe
warriors - http://www.oglalacommemoration.com/warriors.html
HONORING OUR WARRIORS in loving memory: Frank Clearwater
Buddy Lamont
Clarence Cross
Priscilla White Plume
Julius Bad Heart Bull
Melvin Spider
Philip Black Elk
Aloysius Long Soldier
Phillip Little Crow
Allison Fast Horse
Edward Means Jr.
Edward Standing Soldier
Roxeine Roark
Dennis Lecompte
Jackson Washington Cutt
Robert Reddy
Delphiene Crow Dog
Elaine Wagner
Floyd Bianas
Yvette Loraine Lone Hill
Leon L. Swift Bird
Martin Montileaux
Stacy Cortier
Edith Eagle Hawk
Jeanette Bissonette
Richard Eagle
Hilda R. Good Buffalo
Jancita Eagle Deer
Ben Sitting Up
Kenneth Little
Leah Spotted Elk
Joseph Stuntz
James Brings Yellow
Andrew Paul Stewart
Randy Hunter
Howard Blue Bird
Jim Little
Olivia Bianas
Janice Black Bear
Michelle Tobacco
Carl Plenty Arrows
Fank LaPointe
Anne Mae Pictou Aquash
Lydia Cut Grass
Byrib Desersa
Lena R. Slow Bear
Hobart Horse
Cleveland Reddest
Betty Jo Dubray
Marvin Two Two
Julia Pretty Hips
Sam Afraid of Bear
Kevin Hill
Betty Means
Sandra Wounded Foot
Leo Wilcox
Wallace Black Elk
Ron Hard Heart
Webster Poor Bear
Calvin Jumping Bull
Vernon Bellecourt
Mike Haney
Floyd "Red Crow" Westerman
Robert Robideau
Geraldine Janis
Nilak Butler
Steve Robideau
Diane Crow Dog
Clyde Red Shirt
Leonard Peltier Defense Committee
In The Spirit of Leonard Peltier Visions of US Prisoner #89637-132
IN THE SPIRIT OF LEONARD PELTIER VISIONS OF US PRISONER #89637-132
Date: Thursday January 31st, 7:00 pm
Location: El Museo Cultural de Santa Fe,
1615 B Paseo de Peralta,
Santa Fe, New Mexico
phone: 505-992-0591
info@ElMuseoCultural.orgDirections and info for El Museo: http://elmuseocultural.org/
Date: Saturday February 2nd, 7:00 pm
Location:Railyard Performance Center
1611 B Paseo de Peralta,
Santa Fe, New Mexico
Phone: 505-982-8309Author/Editor/Spoken-Word Performer Harvey Arden along with guest performers.
Mark Holtzman [ aka. Silent Bear ] will honor the gathering with his music on the Jan 31 venue only.
These and other dedicated and talented people will offer their personal thoughts of Leonard Peltier. Harvey Arden with the passion and spirit in the words of Leonard Peltier will make the event something not to be missed.
This passionate spoken word performance is based on the Leonard Peltier book-Prison Writings: My Life Is My Sun Dance.
Prison Writings was written in 1999 by the Native American political prisoner, Leonard Peltier, whose words were adapted into a powerful stage-play by his editor, Harvey Arden. Leonard's words are just as poignant today as when the book first appeared and deserves the attention of the entire nation.
Prison Writings is a collection of Peltier's essays and poems, reflecting his life and his work from within the prison walls. Defending his People and being Indian is his only crime. The cultural traditions of his people connect Leonard and each of us to the Great Mystery [ Wakan Tanka ]. This spirit connection and his personal sacrifice to the Creator keeps him strong and unbroken. His life is connected to each of us. Each day this innocent man suffers for his people; in fact ,now that you know his truth, he also suffers for you.
What will you do now?
During the horrific early 1970's Reign of Terror on the Lakota (Sioux)reservation at Pine Ridge South Dakota, an infamous time of violence and corruption existed. Complicit tribal officials hired local thugs known as ' GOONS --'Guardians of the Oglala Nation', who--with the blessing of the U.S. Government--carried out an unprovoked series of assaults on the traditional people on the Pine Ridge reservation. SD. Behind these attacks was Big Energy's desire for uranium under Sioux lands, then being secretly negotiated between the U.S. government and compliant Tribal officials.
Two FBI agents were killed on June 26, 1975 during a gun battle on The Jumping Bull Property. Leonard Peltier was falsely framed for the murder of the two FBI agents. The other defendants charged with the same crime had been acquitted by a jury. They were defending their people from an unprovoked attack. Self defense a basic right was denied Leonard Peltier and his legal team.
Following the discovery of new evidence obtained through a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit. Mr. Peltier demanded a new trial. The Eighth Circuit court ruled, "There is a possibility that the jury would have acquitted Leonard Peltier had the records and data improperly withheld from the defense been made available to him." Yet, the court denied Mr.Peltier a new trial. The jury sentenced Mr. Peltier to two consecutive life terms.
Judge Heaney, who authored the decision denying a new trial, has since voiced firm support for Mr. Peltier's release, stating that:
" The FBI used improper tactics to convict Mr. Peltier".
Judge Heaney also stated that:" The FBI was equally responsible for the shoot-out, and that Mr. Peltier's release would promote healing with Native Americans ".
So why is this story of Judicial Racism hidden from the public eye ?
The late Pope John Paul II, the Dalai Lama, Amnesty International,International Indian Treaty Council, the UN High Commissioner on Human Rights, Archbishop Desmond Tutu, Coretta Scott King, Mikhail Gorbachev, Gloria Steinem, Wilma Mankiller, Robert Redford, the European Parliament, and a host of other notables all have worked, petitioned,and pleaded for his release.
For the American Indian Nations as well as the world at large, the continued imprisonment of Leonard Peltier is Americas Judicial embarrassment.
The spirit of the Sun- dancer who is Leonard Peltier confronted with the treachery and ugliness of life has transcended and Has become the message, of hope, courage, and integrity for his People for his family and each of us.
Peltier has been behind prison bars for more than half of his life (he turned 63 this past September). He remains a model prisoner,establishing numerous humanitarian projects within the prison system as well as back on the Pine Ridge Reservation.
Petitions will be available at both performances appealing for Leonard's release in his upcoming parole hearing. If Mr. Peltier is denied release at this hearing -he will not receive another
opportunity for freedom until the 2017 parole hearing. His official release date is 2041.
Leonards voice from inside the cage asks you,
" What will you do now ."Be the change, question everything, its your duty as a citizen.
Be one voice if in your heart you can stand in support.
Join your voice with our's and together we can create change.
For further information or to become part of the healing....
Please contact:
Leonard Peltier Defense Committee (LPDC)- http://www.leonardpeltier.net/
The Oglala Commemoration can be reached at http://www.oglalacommemoration.com/
holding events each June 26th and following Leonards requests to implement many projects on the Rez.Information about Harvey Arden or to order his books-
http://www.haveyouthought.com/.
Locally, Prison Writings may be found at Hotel Santa Fe's Picuris Art Shop- 505-982-1200
(and will be available along with other titles by Mr. Arden at the above events).http://www.mylifeismysundance.com/
to learn more about these and other upcoming Peltier events-including the screen play being produced in Santa Fe this Summer, " My Life is My Sun dance" or contact Keith Rabin at keith@mylifeismysundance.com
Respectfully,Leonard Peltier Defense Committee
Note:
Some excerpts were furnished by: Stephanie M. Schwartz (SilvrDrach@Gmail.com) from the article,"Transcendent Magic," March 2007 issue of Namaste Magazine. Please read the entire article compiled by Stephanie M Schwartz. See the hand outs at the event.
We thank her greatly.
In Peace
posted by Leonard @ 9:06 PM
AIM - American Indian Movement - Leonard Peltier
Statement from Leonard PeltierJanuary 31, 2009
A Hero's Welcome, By: Leonard Peltier
I want to thank each and everyone of you for your efforts in my urgent time of need, you cannot imagine how much my spirit has been lifted from the cards and letters, the phone calls and how everyone kept up the pressure. My gratitude is really more than I can express. My return to Lewisburg was met like a hero’s welcome, and many people came to assure me of my safety there. It is so ironic that the prisoners in a federal maximum-security prison can guarantee my safety, but the Bureau of Prisons will not. I did not say, “cannot”, but “will not” do so. You have to remember the BOP is a little brother to the FBI and they came from an illegitimate mother called the JUST-US (Justice) Department.
Do I sound a little angry? Well, I am angry that many of my friends have died in assuring my survival while I’ve been in prison. All the men who were involved in my escape at Lompoc, all died mysteriously soon after: Dallas Thundershield at Lompoc, Bobby Garcia at Terre Haute, and Rocky Duenas, whose body was never recovered. And Standing Deer, he gave away his life when he revealed the assassination plot against me. He lived under the shadow of death for years, waiting to be killed for defying the government, until he was eventually paroled to Texas. He was murdered soon after the same person who contracted him to have me assassinated warned him about his involvement with my campaign. Surviving this attack brought back memories of those losses, and it is with tears of more gratitude in my eyes and in my heart that no one died this time. I don’t ever want to lose another brother in protecting me; a human life is precious and important.
I know in other countries, prisoners who have been held by their government have been placed in house arrest after they have attained international support as I have. If the BOP cannot guarantee my safety to the extent the prisoners here can, then I demand to be returned to my nation, Turtle Mountain, where I can be assured of my safety!
Turtle Mountain has issued a resolution to transfer me into their custody, and they have asked to meet with Obama on a nation-to-nation basis. This has to happen and it will when a lot of energy is placed behind it. In the past 18 days your efforts brought me out of the hole and to where there is a measure of safety.
The FBI has said that I will never leave prison alive, and we should not accept that as an idle threat. There have been a few times that my life was targeted by the FBI in the 33 years since my capture, and each of those who have helped me to survive are now dead. The transfer and attack at Canaan is just a warning to me of what is to come. The warden’s know of the psychological make-up of their inmate population in their prison, and they clearly knew that placing someone who is well known, as I am, with connections to many famous people and at my age, I would be subject to predatory attacks. This was deliberate by the BOP, and as far as the motivation for the attack, it could have been ordered by any prison official at the request of the FBI, or someone trying to curry favor from the feds. It could have also been a tactic to beat me into submission for purposes of extortion or something as stupid as trying to make a reputation.
We know they are afraid and Trimbach’s smear letter support that. They see pressure, in the form of your letters and calls, growing and they know that my committee has been tirelessly developing plans to set up a wave of activity. The FBI is now afraid that they will fail to keep me falsely imprisoned. We are becoming stronger and we must keep building our network to succeed.
I am proud of the brother’s & sisters, the Elder’s and my family who make up the committee; they have all personally sacrificed more than many people may ever know. It is humbling when I hear about the difficulties they have had due to being associated with me, but they do not quit. They are putting in many hours of their lives that they could be spending with their own families, but I hear they are on the phones talking to people, writing letters, and networking through the computers. They have been criticized by a few people and have attempted to create divisions within the committee through spreading accusations about them. So let me say this, I know the people I have invited to serve on my committee, and I’ve known most of them for years. A couple of them are my Sun Dance brothers and I have entrusted my life in their abilities and their commitment to bring about my freedom. The decision I have made to place them in their positions of responsibility is mine, not the critics. I ask all my supporters to ignore those who would have you waste your time listening to or reading petty gossip based upon jealousy or personal dislike. These are activities that the FBI uses to destroy a movement, and they are not the Indian way of doing things. So we need to be aware that those who are bad-mouthing my committee, and talking behind their backs to smear them, may be infiltrators sent by the feds to tear down the committee. Watch out for those people and make some distance from them.
I am also asking all of my supporters and allies to follow the directions of the committee when the plans and strategies are presented at the Feb. 6th event in Boulder, CO. It had begun as an educational event and now it will be a very important event because of everything that has happened recently. We had wanted to release it when Obama was sworn in, but my transfer placed it on hold. I am a believer that nothing happens by accident or coincidence. It all happens for a reason, and it feels as if things are coming together the way they should. It is significant that an intense campaign will be begin after 33 years in captivity and with a newly elected President who could be receptive to my clemency appeal in office. We will be making our message stronger in what we do and in how we will do it. I cannot stress how important it will be to increase our numbers after this event because the committee members, spokespersons, and their families will be making more personal sacrifices to help increase awareness. They’ll need your support in organizing other events and networking in your area.
Again, I want to thank everyone who wrote, called and emailed. My hand in appreciation is extended to those who have held rallies and protests on my behalf to call attention to the attack on me. I also extend my gratitude to Cynthia McKinney, former congresswoman for her recent letter to President Obama urging him to free other political prisoners and myself. In all these years, there have been so many people who have prayed for my safety and freedom from all faiths. There is power in those prayers and that is what I know will bring about my freedom. I can feel something different this time, and many others have expressed the same thought to me. So when you pray, don’t pray only for me, but the warriors of AIM who have died for our people, the victims of the “Reign of Terror” on Pine Ridge, and other victims who has suffered as we have. Pray for their families as well. They must not be forgotten and they must have justice!
In the Spirit of Crazy Horse, Dallas Thundershield, Bobby Garcia, Rocky Duenas, Standing Deer, and in The Spirit of Total Resistance,
Leonard Peltier
AIM - American Indian Movement - Leonard Peltier
Write to Leonard at:
Leonard Peltier
#89637-132
USP Lewisburg
US Penitentary
P.O. Box 1000
Lewisburg, PA 17837
Leonard can only receive letters, cards, postcards, photos, (not polaroid), and postal money orders
for his commissary account. He responds to all his mail.
To House Government Reform
Committee asking them to
include the Reign of Terror
and the Case of Leonard Peltier
in their investigation of the FBI
Statement from Leonard PeltierJanuary 31, 2009
A Hero's Welcome, By: Leonard Peltier
I want to thank each and everyone of you for your efforts in my urgent time of need, you cannot imagine how much my spirit has been lifted from the cards and letters, the phone calls and how everyone kept up the pressure. My gratitude is really more than I can express. My return to Lewisburg was met like a hero’s welcome, and many people came to assure me of my safety there. It is so ironic that the prisoners in a federal maximum-security prison can guarantee my safety, but the Bureau of Prisons will not. I did not say, “cannot”, but “will not” do so. You have to remember the BOP is a little brother to the FBI and they came from an illegitimate mother called the JUST-US (Justice) Department.
Do I sound a little angry? Well, I am angry that many of my friends have died in assuring my survival while I’ve been in prison. All the men who were involved in my escape at Lompoc, all died mysteriously soon after: Dallas Thundershield at Lompoc, Bobby Garcia at Terre Haute, and Rocky Duenas, whose body was never recovered. And Standing Deer, he gave away his life when he revealed the assassination plot against me. He lived under the shadow of death for years, waiting to be killed for defying the government, until he was eventually paroled to Texas. He was murdered soon after the same person who contracted him to have me assassinated warned him about his involvement with my campaign. Surviving this attack brought back memories of those losses, and it is with tears of more gratitude in my eyes and in my heart that no one died this time. I don’t ever want to lose another brother in protecting me; a human life is precious and important.
I know in other countries, prisoners who have been held by their government have been placed in house arrest after they have attained international support as I have. If the BOP cannot guarantee my safety to the extent the prisoners here can, then I demand to be returned to my nation, Turtle Mountain, where I can be assured of my safety!
Turtle Mountain has issued a resolution to transfer me into their custody, and they have asked to meet with Obama on a nation-to-nation basis. This has to happen and it will when a lot of energy is placed behind it. In the past 18 days your efforts brought me out of the hole and to where there is a measure of safety.
The FBI has said that I will never leave prison alive, and we should not accept that as an idle threat. There have been a few times that my life was targeted by the FBI in the 33 years since my capture, and each of those who have helped me to survive are now dead. The transfer and attack at Canaan is just a warning to me of what is to come. The warden’s know of the psychological make-up of their inmate population in their prison, and they clearly knew that placing someone who is well known, as I am, with connections to many famous people and at my age, I would be subject to predatory attacks. This was deliberate by the BOP, and as far as the motivation for the attack, it could have been ordered by any prison official at the request of the FBI, or someone trying to curry favor from the feds. It could have also been a tactic to beat me into submission for purposes of extortion or something as stupid as trying to make a reputation.
We know they are afraid and Trimbach’s smear letter support that. They see pressure, in the form of your letters and calls, growing and they know that my committee has been tirelessly developing plans to set up a wave of activity. The FBI is now afraid that they will fail to keep me falsely imprisoned. We are becoming stronger and we must keep building our network to succeed.
I am proud of the brother’s & sisters, the Elder’s and my family who make up the committee; they have all personally sacrificed more than many people may ever know. It is humbling when I hear about the difficulties they have had due to being associated with me, but they do not quit. They are putting in many hours of their lives that they could be spending with their own families, but I hear they are on the phones talking to people, writing letters, and networking through the computers. They have been criticized by a few people and have attempted to create divisions within the committee through spreading accusations about them. So let me say this, I know the people I have invited to serve on my committee, and I’ve known most of them for years. A couple of them are my Sun Dance brothers and I have entrusted my life in their abilities and their commitment to bring about my freedom. The decision I have made to place them in their positions of responsibility is mine, not the critics. I ask all my supporters to ignore those who would have you waste your time listening to or reading petty gossip based upon jealousy or personal dislike. These are activities that the FBI uses to destroy a movement, and they are not the Indian way of doing things. So we need to be aware that those who are bad-mouthing my committee, and talking behind their backs to smear them, may be infiltrators sent by the feds to tear down the committee. Watch out for those people and make some distance from them.
I am also asking all of my supporters and allies to follow the directions of the committee when the plans and strategies are presented at the Feb. 6th event in Boulder, CO. It had begun as an educational event and now it will be a very important event because of everything that has happened recently. We had wanted to release it when Obama was sworn in, but my transfer placed it on hold. I am a believer that nothing happens by accident or coincidence. It all happens for a reason, and it feels as if things are coming together the way they should. It is significant that an intense campaign will be begin after 33 years in captivity and with a newly elected President who could be receptive to my clemency appeal in office. We will be making our message stronger in what we do and in how we will do it. I cannot stress how important it will be to increase our numbers after this event because the committee members, spokespersons, and their families will be making more personal sacrifices to help increase awareness. They’ll need your support in organizing other events and networking in your area.
Again, I want to thank everyone who wrote, called and emailed. My hand in appreciation is extended to those who have held rallies and protests on my behalf to call attention to the attack on me. I also extend my gratitude to Cynthia McKinney, former congresswoman for her recent letter to President Obama urging him to free other political prisoners and myself. In all these years, there have been so many people who have prayed for my safety and freedom from all faiths. There is power in those prayers and that is what I know will bring about my freedom. I can feel something different this time, and many others have expressed the same thought to me. So when you pray, don’t pray only for me, but the warriors of AIM who have died for our people, the victims of the “Reign of Terror” on Pine Ridge, and other victims who has suffered as we have. Pray for their families as well. They must not be forgotten and they must have justice!
In the Spirit of Crazy Horse, Dallas Thundershield, Bobby Garcia, Rocky Duenas, Standing Deer, and in The Spirit of Total Resistance,
Leonard Peltier
URGENT ALERT! Leonard Peltier's Safety in Jeopardy!January 20, 2009
To LP Supporters,
I am so OUTRAGED! My brother Leonard was severely beaten upon his arrival at the Canaan Federal Penitentiary. When he went into population after his transfer, some inmates assaulted him. The severity of his injuries is that he suffered numerous blows to his head and body, receiving a large bump on his head, possibly a concussion, and numerous bruises. Also, one of his fingers is swollen and discolored and he has pain in his chest and ribcage. There was blood everywhere from his injuries.
We feel that prison authorities at the prompting of the FBI orchestrated this attack and thus, we are greatly concerned about his safety. It may be that the attackers, whom Leonard did not even know, were offered reduced sentences for carrying out this heinous assault. Since Leonard is up for parole soon, this could be a conspiracy to discredit a model prisoner.
He was placed in solitary confinement and only given one meal, this is generally done when you won’t name your attackers; incidentally being only given one meal seriously jeopardizes his health because of his diabetes. Prison officials refuse to release any info to the family, but they need to hear from his supporters to protect his safety, as does President Obama. His attorneys are trying to get calls into him now.
This attack on LP comes on the heels of the FBI’s recent letter, prompting this attack by FBI supporters as an attempt to discredit LP as a model prisoner. Anyone who has been in the prison system knows well that if you refuse to name your attackers or file charges against them, then you lose your status as a victim and/or given points against your possible parole and labeled as a perpetrator.
It is not uncommon, in fact is quite common for the government to use Indian against Indian and they still operate under the old adage “it takes an Indian to catch an Indian”. In 1978, they made an attempt to assassinate him through another Indian man who was also at Marion prison with LP. But Standing Deer chose to reveal the plot to him instead of taking his life in exchange FOR A CHANCE AT FREEDOM. When Standing Deer was released in 2001, he joined the former Leonard Peltier Defense Committee as a board member. He also began to speak on Leonard’s behalf until his murder six years ago today. Prior to his murder, Standing Deer confided with close friends and associates that the same man who visited him in Marion to assassinate Peltier, had came to Houston, TX and told him that he had better stay away from Peltier and anything to do with him.
We are aware that currently, the FBI is actively seeking support for his continued imprisonment of Leonard Peltier and also also seeking support from Native People. So please be aware, and keep Leonard in your prayers. The FBI is apparently afraid of the impact we are having. If they will set him up to blemish his record just before a parole hearing, what will they do when it looks like his freedom will become a reality? We need to make sure that nothing happens to him again!
Please write the President, send it priority or registered mail. Email to Change.gov or email President Obama. Call your congressional representatives and write letters, not email, to them. Do what you can to get the word out to insure that LP is receiving adequate medical attention for his injuries.
I am asking you, supporters of Leonard and advocates of justice at this time to help. I don’t know what else to do. Please Help!
Thank you.
Betty Ann Peltier-Solano
Executive Coordinator
Leonard Peltier Defense Offense Committee
DEMAND that Leonard Peltier #89637-132 be treated with dignity and respect.
Let the Bureau of Prisons know that the public will hold them accountable for the safety and wellbeing of Leonard Peltier #89637-132.
Warden Ronnie R. Holt, Warden
USP-Canaan
U.S. Penitentiary
3057 Easton Turnpike
Waymart, PA 18472
Phone: 570-488-8000
Fax: 570-488-8130
E-mail address: U.S. PenitentiaryD. Scott Dodrill, Director
Northeast Regional Office
Federal Bureau of Prisons
2nd & Chesnut Streets, 7th Floor
Philadelphia, PA 19106
Phone: 215-521-7301
E-mail: NERO/EXECASSISTANT BOPHarley G. Lappin, Director
Bureau of Prisons
U.S. Department of Justice
320 First Street, NW, Room 654
Washington, DC 20534
Phone: 202-307-3250
Fax: 202-514-6878Ask President Obama to investigate this incident:
The Honorable Barack H. Obama
President, United States of America
The White House
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW
Washington, DC 20500
Comments: 202-456-1111
Switchboard: 202-456-1414
Fax: 202-456-2461
E-mail: http.www.whitehouse.gov/contact/
LEONARD'S REACTION TO KAMOOK AND THE ARLO LOOKING CLOUD TRIALFirst of all, I want to thank all those who have been standing up for the American Indian Movement and myself. The Arlo Looking
Cloud trial was nothing more than an indirect presentation of another Myrtle Poorbear to discredit AIM and myself, and to
extradite John Graham. I am an innocent man. The government knows that, and Kamook knows I am innocent as well.On a personal note, Kamook's testimony was like being stabbed in the heart while simultaneously being told your sister just
died. I cannot convey enough, the shock and hurt that I felt. Of all the fabrications that the government has used to keep me
imprisoned, this one hurt so deeply. I would have laid down my life to defend Kamook and her people and I did risk it several
times. If there has ever been a time during my 28 years in this hole that I have felt disheartened, it is now. I loved Kamook as
my own family. I can't believe the $43,000 the FBI gave her was a determining factor for her to perjure herself on the witness
stand. There must have been some extreme threat the FBI or their cronies put upon her.If you want to know who is responsible for Anna Mae's death, just look around and see who else has been irresponsibly
pointing fingers at proven warriors. This kind of behavior is doing the dirty work of the F.B.I. and the corporate entities that
seek to control or own Native lands and resources. All of those who took part in this abortion of justice in Rapid City should
be ashamed. I would say more, but my emotions are overwhelming at the moment.We as a people and a nation need to honor those who sacrificed for the people and not forget them as they become elders.
In every generation we must stand strong. The enemy has many masks and the ideologies that drive it are centuries old now,
the gluttonous appetite for money and power of those addicted. I will not give up and it's not over until it's over. Speak,
organize, demonstrate, pray, help the poor and oppressed, be a good example, and most of all "don't ever give up!"In The Spirit Of Crazy Horse,
Leonard Peltier
Mitakuye Oyasin
PRESS RELEASE FOR RELEASE June 8, 2001 BY:
MINISTRY FOR INFORMATION AMERICAN INDIAN MOVEMENT GRAND GOVERNING COUNCIL
PRESS RELEASE
June 26, 2001
________________________________________________________________________________________________________RE: Initiative to Free Leonard Peltier
________________________________________________________________________________________________________BY: AMERICAN INDIAN MOVEMENT GRAND GOVERNING COUNCIL
Contact:
American Indian Movement Grand Governing Council
Phone: (612) 721-3914
Fax: (612) 721-7826
Email: aimggc@worldnet.att.net________________________________________________________________________________________________________
June 8, 2001
The Honorable Senator Patrick Leahy
Chairman Senate Judiciary Committee
433 Russell Senate Building
Washington, D.C. 20510-4502The Honorable Congressman F. James Sensenbrenner, Jr.
Chairman House Judiciary Committee
2332 Rayburn House Building
Washington, D.C. 20515-4909The Honorable Senator Daniel Inouye
Chairman, Senate Indian Affairs Committee
722 Hart Senate Building
Washington, D.C. 20510-1102Dear Honorable Senators:
On behalf of the Leonard Peltier family, we are appealing to President George Bush, Attorney General John Ashcroft, the United
States Congress and the American people, and people worldwide to respond to our appeal in a just and equitable manner.June 26, 2001 will mark twenty-seven years since the F.B.I., utilizing agent/operatives and recruited extremist informants,
initiated a fire fight at the Jumping Bull residence on the Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota that resulted in the death of a
young Oglala man, Mr. Joseph Stuntz, and two federal agents, Mr. Ron Williams and Mr. Jack Coler. They and their loved ones
as well the loved ones of dozens of other Indian people murdered and Leonard Peltier are the principal victims of the reign of
terror conducted by the F.B.I. and other government agencies. Subsequently, this year will also mark the twenty-fifth year of
imprisonment for Mr. Leonard Peltier.In light of the recent denial by the Clinton Administration of Mr. Peltier's petition for Executive Clemency, the American Indian
Movement in collaboration with the Leonard Peltier Defense Committee is launching a national and international effort requesting
congressional intervention and remedies to the clearly documented F.B.I., United States Attorneys and other related government
agent's misconduct and collusion in the trial and conviction of Mr. Leonard Peltier.At this time we are requesting the Honorable Members of the Senate and House Judiciary Committees of the United States
Congress to fully and vigorously open a Congressional Investigation regarding the following documented evidence of F.B.I. ethical
and professional misconduct as sighted below that resulted in obtaining a guilty verdict twenty-five years ago against Leonard Peltier.1. Coercion and intimidation of Ms. Myrtle Poor Bear by F.B.I. agents that resulted in her signing false affidavits that were used in
the extradition hearing of Mr. Peltier.2. The intentional presentation of a false affidavit to the courts of law in the United States and Canada in order to procure Mr.
Peltier's extradition.3. The F.B.I. presented false and distorted testimonies obtained through improper methods of three adolescents who were forced
to testify at Mr. Peltier's trial4. The concealment of a firing pin test performed by F.B.I. ballistics expert, Mr. Evan Hodge.
5. The abrupt and substantive changes in the F.B.I. description of the vehicle pursued into the Jumping Bull residence prior to
the firefight.6. F.B.I. actions that created an improper atmosphere of fear and distrust of American Indians, especially American Indian
Movement members, amongst the general population and jury pool during Mr. Pelitier's trial. Such intentional actions deprived
Mr. Peltier of a fair trial.At this time we are also requesting the Honorable Members of the Senate and House Judiciary Committees of the United States Congress to investigate the blatant attempts by the Federal Bureau of Investigation Agents Association to intentionally create public confusion and fear in order to deprive Mr. Peltier a fair consideration of his request for parole and clemency. The advertisement and Web site paid for by the Federal Bureau of Investigation Agents Association is a matter of public record and can be furnished upon request by Mr. Peltier's legal team.
At this time we are also requesting the Honorable Members of the Senate and House Judiciary Committees of the United States Congress to pass an act to declassify over 6,000 documents pertaining to the case of Mr. Peltier, currently being withheld by the F.B.I. in part for reasons of "national security" and "ongoing" police investigations. With Mr. Peltier imprisoned for the past twenty-five years what possible issues of investigation and security exist today in the year 2001? Attached is a small sampling of the 17,722 documents thus far released under the Freedom of Information Act, which we have reviewed. These documents which were withheld from defense attorneys during Mr. Peltier's trial clearly show that a covert, illegal counter-intelligence program targeting the American Indian Movement leaders and members was first hatched by the Nixon White House. The conspiracy included President Nixon, Special Counsel, John Dean III, F.B.I. directors J. Edgar Hoover and Mark Felt, the Justice Department, and the Central Intelligence Agency. Their action places them in violation of their own charter prohibiting spying and targeting United States citizens. In this case members and leaders of the American Indian Movement.
More outrageous is the following documented fact. On the date of April 6, 1976 Senator James O. Eastland, Chairman of, and Presiding convened a session of the Senate Judiciary Sub-Committee To Investigate The Administration Of The Internal Security Act. Sub-Committee members present were Senators John MCLlellan of Arkansas, Birch Bayh of Indiana, Strom Thurmond of South Carolina, and William F. Scott of Virgina. Senator Eastland called one witness. That witness was Douglas Durham who was exposed by the American Indian Movement as an F.B.I. Agent/Operative and held no position in the American Indian Movement. This individual was proven to be a pathological liar under oath, and with direction of the F.B.I. blatantly perjured himself before the Senate Judiciary Committee of the United States Senate.
The misinformation campaign of the F.B.I. continues at the present time against efforts to correct this injustice by freeing Mr. Peltier. Could it be that opponents to freeing Mr. Peltier such as Majority Leader Senator Tom Dashle of South Dakota, Congressman Henry Hyde of Illinois, William J. Clinton, and others are again being deceived? We must ask that question. (See http://www.aimovement.org/csi/index.html Council on Security and Intelligence, to review a sampling of the 17,722 pages of declassified documents that were released upon our request under the Freedom of Information Act which were withheld from defense attorneys by the F.B.I. during Mr. Peltier's trial).
At this time we are requesting the Honorable Members of the Senate and House Judiciary Committees of the United States Congress to implement Congressional oversight of the Parole Commission. In 1984 the Comprehensive Crime Control Act was passed, the act set forth the total abolition of the U.S. Parole Commission, and made mandatory minimum sentencing on a federal level.
Mr. Leonard Peltier is not only eligible for parole, but is long over due. In 1994 the U.S. Parole Commission examined Mr. Peltier's conduct since his imprisonment, factored severity rate of the crime he was convicted of, and determined to be eligible for release after 188 months (16 years) of imprisonment under Parole Commission guidelines. Since then Mr. Peltier has undergone one full parole hearing and three interim parole hearings and has been arbitrarily denied. Mr. Peltier's next full hearing is scheduled for 2008. According to law, the Parole Commission is required to justify their reasons for denying a prisoner parole beyond what the guidelines set forth. However, the commission has failed to articulate any rational reasoning for doing so, and have demonstrated bias and discrimination towards Mr. Peltier. For the above-sited reasons it is imperative that Congress follows and implements its own legislative enactment and abolish the U.S. Parole Commission and release Mr. Peltier.
At this time we are requesting that the Honorable members of the United States Congress set forth a new chapter in United States history with American Indian people, and uphold an exemplary standard of morale, and professional ethics for its government agencies and agents as it pertains to constitutional law, protection, due process, rights to a fair trial, and the twenty-five year legal battle of Mr. Peltier and his fight for truth and freedom.
Thank you for your consideration in this matter.
Respectfully,
Vernon Bellecourt
National Representative
American Indian Movement
Grand Governing CouncilFloyd Red Crow Westerman
Actor, Activist and Goodwill Ambassador
For the International Indian Treaty Council and
American Indian Movement Grand Governing CouncilStephanie Autumn
Coordinator of American Indian Movement
Task Force to Free Leonard PeltierATTACHMENTS:
1. Sample Letter from the Leonard Peltier Committee to Senator Patrick Leahy
2. Letter to Senator Orin Hatch, Chairman Judiciary Committee from the American Indian Movement, 12/6/99
3. Letters between W. Mark Felt, Acting Director of FBI and John Wesley Dean III, Counsel to President Nixon
4. FBI teletype, "Lock Peltier into this case," (The Resmurs) the code name for reservation murders
5. File #1 Exemption Explanations: Reason for the censorship of documents-typical field report on AIM activities, 8/24/73
6. File #100-462483, Volume #1, Memorandum to E.S. Miller from G.C. Moore, re: Recruitment of Extremist Informants-Memo from FBI Director W. Mark Felt asking, "Are you sure we should go this far?"
7. File 21, Chicago Public Broadcasting Station News Program, WTTW, manuscript of program aired 3/12/75, televising Douglas Durham's confession
8. Committee on the Judiciary United States Senate, Ninety Fourth Congress, Second Session, April 6, 1976
9. File #11, CIA requested to furnish information, and complying with request, 12/5/73
10. File #22, the use of Special Agents of the FBI in paramilitary law enforcement operation in Indian country in lieu of the use of troops________________________________________________________________________________________________________
ATTACHMENT #1
________________________________________________________________________________________________________The Honorable Patrick Leahy
Chairman, Senate Judiciary Committee
United States Senate
Washington, DC 20510Dear Senator Leahy,
I want to begin this letter by thanking you for all of your fine work in support of civil rights and justice. Your courage and integrity are admired by many. I also want to congratulate you on your new position in the Judiciary Committee. I am very encouraged to see that you will be overseeing such an important government duty.
I am writing today to express my firm support for top to bottom investigations of the FBI as called for by both Senator Schumer and Senator Grassley. There is an obvious pattern of FBI misconduct involving the withholding of evidence and obstruction of justice which must be examined and halted. Such conduct puts in jeopardy our nation’s concepts of democracy, open government, and equal justice.
I am especially concerned with the FBI’s treatment of Leonard Peltier, the Native American rights activist who Amnesty International calls a “political prisoner” who should be “immediately and unconditionally released.” Mr. Peltier has been imprisoned for over twenty-five years, following his highly controversial conviction of the 1975 murders of two FBI agents. During Mr. Peltier’s trial, the FBI and U.S. Prosecutors emphatically swore that every FBI document had been handed over to the defense. Yet, years later a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit would force the release of over 17,000 FBI documents which had in fact been withheld. Had the jury been able to consider this evidence at trial, I have no doubt that Mr. Peltier would be free today.
Among the documents was a formerly concealed ballistic test, which proved that the fatal bullets could not have come from the gun tied to Mr. Peltier at trial. The exposure of the test prompted the U.S. Prosecutor to admit during subsequent oral arguments, “we can’t prove who shot those agents”. Yet, a new trial was denied on technical grounds, even though the court found that, “There is a possibility that the jury would have acquitted Leonard Peltier had the records and data improperly withheld from the defense been available to him in order to better exploit and reinforce the inconsistencies casting strong doubts upon the government's case.” The judge who authored the denial now supports Mr. Peltier’s release.
To make matters worse, the FBI continues to withhold over 6000 documents pertaining to the Peltier case today, come twenty- six years after the incident. We are convinced that these files contain even more critical information.
We also note that Mr. Peltier’s conviction is deeply rooted in the Pine Ridge “Reign of Terror.” During this period, the FBI cooperated with vigilantes who killed over 60 members and supporters of the American Indian Movement and terrorized, assaulted and battered scores of others.
Given all of the above, I am asking you to initiate a Senate investigation of the FBI, which will include a comprehensive examination of the Peltier case, including the subpoena of 6,000 FBI documents still withheld today.
Thank you for your time and consideration to this matter.
Sincerely,
(name)
cc. Senator Grassly
Senator Schumer________________________________________________________________________________________________________
ATTACHMENT #2
________________________________________________________________________________________________________
December 6, 1999Senator Orrin Hatch
United States Senate
Washington, D.C. 20510Dear Senator Hatch,
In the interest of justice, human rights, and fairness, we respectfully request that you and your office support our request that the Committee on the Judiciary of the United States Senate hold hearings on the Oglala Lakota Nation's Reservation at Pine Ridge, South Dakota. We request the appointment of a Special Investigator to investigate, not only the recent deaths of Indian people in Rapid City and Mobridge, South Dakota, and in White Clay, Nebraska, but the many unsolved deaths that occurred on the Pine Ridge Reservation during the violent and turbulent 1970's that took place during and after the armed confrontation between Indian people and U.S. Government forces at Wounded Knee in 1973.
Attached to this letter is a sampling of the first of 17,722 pages of FBI, CIA, White House, and other U.S. Government documents declassified under the Freedom of Information Act. Another 6,000-plus pages have been withdrawn from various U.S. Government files and placed under a National Security cover following hearings before the Subcommittee to Investigate the Administration of the Internal Security Act, and other Internal Security Laws of the Committee on the Judiciary United States Senate Ninety Fourth Congress, Second Session, April 6, 1976.
Only one witness was called. That witness was Douglas Durham, an exposed FBI agent operative, one of several uncovered by the American Indian Movement Council on Security and Intelligence. Many others are yet to be exposed, some, no doubt, are still operating undercover.
This Committee on the Judiciary of the United States now must investigate what role the FBI and their extremist agent/informants, and other U.S. Government agencies played during the reign of terror in 1973 and thereafter in South Dakota. The families of the victims have waited long enough, such as the families of Anita Wilcox, Jeanette Bissonette, Pedro Bissonette, Byron DeSersa, Anna Mae Aquash, Jancita Eagle Deer, Frank Clearwater, and Buddy LaMont who was a Vietnam Veteran murdered by FBI snipers at Wounded Knee, 1973. There are dozens of other uninvestigated and unsolved murders of Indian people that took place during this time that need to be investigated as well.
Moreover, the Committee on Judiciary must include in its investigation the shoot out on June 26, 1975 at the Jumping Bull residence on the Pine Ridge Reservation which claimed the lives of Joseph Stuntz, and FBI agents, Ronald Williams, and Jack Coler in what appears to have been a botched FBI operation due to the actions of their extremist agent informants. Additionally, the Committee must review the Justice Department's prosecution of Leonard Peltier who is still in federal prison after 23 years.
Sincerely,
Vernon Bellecourt
National Representative of the
American Indian Movement Grand Govering Councilcc:
- President William J. Clinton
- Senator Ben Night Horse Campbell, Chairman of Senate Indian Affairs
- Senator Paul Wellstone
- Senator Orrin Hatch
- The Honorable Elsie Meeks, Commission Member, U.S. Commission on Human Rights
- President Harold D. Salway, Oglala Lakota Nation
- The Honorable Mary Francis Berry, Chairperson U.S. Commission on Civil Rights
- The Honorable Janet Reno, Attorney General of the United States
- Senator Patrick J. Leahy
- Senator Tom Daschle
- Senator Tim Johnson
________________________________________________________________________________________________________
ATTACHMENT #3
________________________________________________________________________________________________________
REPRODUCED AT THE NATIONAL ARCHIVESUNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE
FEDERAL BUREAU OF INVESTIGATION
WASHINGTON. D.C. 20535December 4, 1972
BY LIAISON
Honorable John Wesley Dean, III
Counsel to the President
The White House
Washington, D. C.Dear Mr. Dean:
Reference is made to your name check request concerning Hank Adams and some other individuals. Attached are separate memoranda concerning the following individuals:
Hank Adams
Clyde Bellecourt
Vernon Bellecourt
Russell C. Means
Sidney MillsSincerely yours,
For the Acting DirectorW.Mark Felt
Acting Associate Director
Enclosures (9)CONFIDENTIAL MATERIAL ATTACHED
REPRODUCED AT THE NATIONAL ARCHIVES
UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE
FEDERAL BUREAU OF INVESTIGATION
WASHINGTON, D.C. 20535December 1, 1972
BY LIAISON
Honorable John Wesley Dean, III
Counsel to the President
The White House
Washington, D. C.Dear Mr. Dean:
Reference is made to your name check request concerning Dennis Banks and some other individuals. Attached are separate memoranda concerning the following individuals:
Dennis Banks
Robert R. Burnett
Andy Callone
Carter CampSincerely yours,
For the Acting DirectorW. Mark Felt
Acting Associate DirectorEnclosures (4)
CONFIDENTIAL
705 PM 11-04-72 MRF
PRIORITY
TO: WHITE HOUSE SITUATION ROOM 0 10
ATT.: JOHN W. DEAN III
U. S. SECRET SERVICE (PID) 015
ATTORNEY GENERAL (BY MESSENGER)
DEPUTY ATTORNEY GENERAL (BY MESSENGER)
FROM: ACTING DIRECTOR FBICONFIDENTIAL
AMERICAN INDIAN DEMONSTRATION, WASHINGTON D.C.
ON NOV. FOUR, SEVENTY TWO, SOURCE WHO HAS FURNISHED RELIABLE INFORMATION IN THE PAST, ADVISED THAT AT APPROXIMATLY SIX THIRTY AM, TODAY, HE RECEIVED A CALL FROM ANDY CALLONE (PHONETIC) END PAGE ONE
PAGE TWO CONFIDENTIAL
WHO ADVISED HE WAS IN BUREAU OF INDIAN AFFAIRS, WASHINGTON D. C. AS A REPRESENTATIVE OF THE AMERICAN INDEPENDENCE MOVEMENT PRESS (AIMP). AIMP IS A LIBERAL POLITICAL SPLINTER GROUP OF DEMOCRATIC PARTY. CALLONE HAD MET SOURCE DURING ANTI-WAR DEMONSTRATION IN NEW HAVEN APRIL, SEVENTYTWO AND GAVE CURRENT ADDRESS AS COLORADO SPRINGS, COLORAD0 TELEPHONE NUMBER, THREE ZERO THREE -SIX EIGHT FIVE - ONE ONE TWO NINE.
CALLONE STATED THAT INDIANS HAD BARRICADED THEMSELVES IN BUILDING HOUSING BUREAU OF INDIAN AFFAIRS AND WERE PREPARING FOR A CONFRONTATIOI WITH POLICE IF FORCEFULLY REMOVED. CALLONE'S PURPOSE IN CALLING WAS TO HAVE SOURCE CONTACT MEMBERS OF VIET NAM VETERANS AGAINST THE WAR (VVAW) AND MEMBERS OF ANTI WAR AND REVOLUTIONARY GROUPS TO HAVE THEM CARAVAN TO WASHINGTON AND JOIN IN INDIAN PROTEST. ONCE IN WASHINGTON ARRIVING GROUPS ARE TO CONTACT THE FOLLOWING INDIVIDUALS INSIDE BUREAU OF INDIAN AFFAIRS WHO WILL LET THEM IN:
VERNON BELLECOURT, CLYDE BELLECOURT, SIDNEY MILLS, OR ANDY CALLONE. CALLONE ADVISED THAT WASHINGTON D. C. VVAW IS NOT JOINING PROTEST FOR FEAR OF REPERCUSSIONS. SOURCE ADVISED THAT CALLONE END PAGE TWO
DECLASSIFIED
E.O. 12958, Sect. 3.6
By SRG NARA, Date 9/9/97
PAGE THREE
INTENDS TO CALL CONTACTS IN SURROUNDING STATES FOR SUPPORT.
SOURCE EXPECTS NO SUPPORT FROM STATE OF CONQECTICUT.
WASHINGTON METROPOLITAN POLICE DEPARTMENT AND GENERAL SERVICES
ADMINISTRATION ADVISED.________________________________________________________________________________________________________
ATTACHMENT #4
________________________________________________________________________________________________________An FBI teletype three weeks after the shootout which indicates that
in the absense of any real knowledge of who may have killed the two agents,
the FBI was to develop information to lock Peltier into the case
RESMURS
DAILY SUMMARY TELETYPE
RE RAPID CITY DAILY SUMMARY TELETYPE TO BUREAU AND OTHER OFFICES DATED JULY 16, 1975.
OSCAR BEAR RUNNERBEAR RUNNER APPEARED AT THE FEDERAL BUILDING IN RAPID CITY ON JULY 16 1975, AND PUBLICLY TORE UP THE COPY OF THE SUBPEONA WHICH HAD BEEN ISSUED FOR HIM. HE STATED THE SUBPOENA WAS NOT VALID AS IT HAD BEEN SERVED ON HIS FATHER. HE WAS SERVED WITH ANOTHER SUBPOENA BUT MADE THE STATEMENT THAT HE WOULD NOT HONOR IT AS HE HAD NOT APPEARED AT THAT LOCATION VOLUNTARILY.
1) COMPLETELY IDENTIFING ALL OF THE SUSPECTS, ADDING NEW CASES OR ELIMINATING THEM AS APPROPRIATE;2) ESTABLISHING THE WHEREABOUTS OF THE SUSPECTS DURING THE PERTINENT PERIOD;
3) IDENTIFY AND LOCATE ALL OF THE RESIDENTS OF "TENT CITY" WHO WERE THERE DURING ANY PERIOD OF IT'S EXSISTENCE AND/OR WHOSE FINGER PRINTS HAVE BEEN FOUND ON MATERIAL TAKEN FROM "TENT CITY;"
4) EXAMINING THE EVIDENCE AND CONNECTING IT TO THE SUSPECTS;
5) DEVELOP INFORMATION TO LOCK PELTIER AND BLACK HORSE INTO THIS CASE
6) DEVELOP ADDITIONAL CONFIDENTIAL INFORMANTS AND SOURCES
7) COORDINATE WITH AUXILIARY OFFICES IN ORDER TO FULLY DEVELOP BACKGROUND AND ACTIVITIES OF SUSPECTS WHO EITHER LIVE IN THEIR AREA OR HAVE ASSOCIATES THERE;
8) ATTEMPTING TO DEVELOP WITNESSES AND SOURCES WHO CAN AND WILL TESTIFY AS TO THE ACTUAL EVENTS OF THE AFTENOON OF JUNE 26, 1975. AS THE BUREAU IS AWARE, THE GRAND JURY IS BEING USED IN AN EFFORT TO FACILITATE THIS LATTER ASPECT WHERE WITTNESSES ARE RELUCTANT TO FURNISH INFORMATION.
An FBI teletype three weeks after the shootout which indicates that in the absence of any real knowledge of who may have killed the two agents, the FBI was to "develop information to lock Peltier into the case.RESMURS-Daily Summary FBI Teletype 7/16/75.
________________________________________________________________________________________________________
ATTACHMENT #5
_________________________________________________________________________________
#1
EXEMPTION EXPLANATIONS: REASONING FOR THE CENSORSHIP
TYPICAL FIELD REPORT ON AIM ACTIVITIES
8/24/73FEDERAL BUREAU OF INVESTIGATION
FREEDOM OF INFORMATION-PRIVACY ACTS SECTION
READING ROOM LIST
COMPILED AS OF 10/31/94The following material is available for review in the freedom of Information-Privacy Acts (FOIPA) Reading Room at FBI Headquarters. Appointments should be made no later than 48 hours in advance by calling (202) 324-3477.
Subject matter
1. Adamic, Louis - Pages Available 632
2. Addams, Jane - Pages Available 188
3. Algren, Nelson - Pages Available 687
a. Headquarters - Pages Available 325
b. Albany (Duplicates) - 0
c. Chicago - Pages Available 131
d. Indianapolis - Pages Available 178
e. New York - Pages Available 53Ali, Noble Drew
SEE: Moorish Science Temple of America4. Amerasia - Pages Available 12,583
a. Headquarters Pages Available 7,175
b. New York - Pages Available 5,6785. America First Committee - Pages Available 2,939
6. American Friends Service Committee - Pages Available (Main File) - 3,498
7. American Indian Movement - Pages Available 17,722
8. American POWs/MIAs in Southeast Asia - Pages Available 6,944
9. Ananda Marga - Pages Available 1,510
10. Atlanta Child Murders - Pages Available 2,825
11. Ball, Lucille - Pages Available 46
Baker, Norma Jean
SEE: Marilyn Monroe12. Barker, Arthur - Pages Available 252
13. Barker, Fred - Pages Available 16
WHITE HOUSE CENTRAL FILES
SUBJECT FILES
IN
(Indian Affairs)This subject category contains materials pertaining to Indian affairs such as land development and use; guidance and assistance in economic, and social matters; educational and welfare services; resources management in agriculture, forests, irrigation and trust property; law enforcement; and relocation services. Primary correspondents are the President, Vice President Spiro Agnew, Daniel Moynihan, Leonard Garment, Bradley H. Patterson, Jr., Barbara Green Kilberg, John Ehlichman and Tod Hullin. Related subjects may be found in the following categories:
FG 19-9 Bureau of Indian Affairs
FG 39-6 Navajo-Hopi Indian Administration
FG 142 Indian Claims Commission
FG 173 National Council on Indian Opportunity
FG 279 Tahoe Regional Planning Agency
FG 999 Indian Trust Council AuthorityThe Executive file contains materials from Indian tribal officials and organizations such as the National Congress of American Indians and the American Indian Movement, congressmen, governors, charitable organizations, educational institutions and the general public relating to Indian affairs. Included are materials from the Vice President's Council on Indian Opportunity, the Bureau of Indian Affairs, the Office of Economic Opportunity, and the Department of Health, Education, and Welfare. Found in this category are materials concerning Indian legislation, including the Taos Pueblo 'Blue Lake Bill (H.R. 471), the restoration of Yakima Indian land (E.O. 11670), and the Indian Education Act of 1971 (S. 659). There are also materials relating to Indian demonstrations, including the occupations of Alcatraz Island, the Bureau of Indian Affairs, and the Pine Ridge Sioux Reservation at Wounded Knee, South Dakota.
The General file contains materials from school children, the general public, Indians, Indian Tribal officials and organizations, congressmen, governors, educational institutions and charitable organizations concerning Indian affairs. There are many telegrams and group letters relating to the impoundment of Indian Health Service funds by the Department of Health, Education and Welfare, and the occupations of Alcatraz Island, the Bureau of Indian Affairs and Wounded Knee, South Dakota. The materials from Indian tribal officials, organizations and individuals concerns Indian legislation, policy statements, tribal politics, reservation administration and legal matters, including previous treaties with the United States government and the tax and draft status of Indians. Also found in this category are materials relating to reports, meetings, studies and programs of government agencies responsible for Indian affairs.
Original Copy Special Files Materials
ITEM REMOVED FROM THIS FILE FOLDER
Restricted document has been removed. See document entry number I on Document Withdrawal Record (GSA Form 7279) or NARS Withdrawal Sheet (GSA Form 7122), located in the fron of this folder, for a description of the item and an explanation for its removal.
Special Files Materials*
Scope and Content Note
Richard C. Tufaro served as a staff assistant of the White House Domestic Council from April 1972 to July 1973. During those fifteen months, he held two principal and concurrent assignments to other organizations. The initial detail was to the Interagency Classification Review Committee (ICRC), in which he was concerned with the problems of expediting the declassification of security classified documents; and, in the second, the Cabinet Committee to Combat terrorism. Tufaro performed his duties with the ICRC under the supervision of John S. D. Eisenhower; and while engaged with CCCT activities, he represented Kenneth R. Cole, Jr., Executive Director of the Domestic Council.
Tufaro's materials are arranged into two series: Subject Files and Chronological Files. The first series is larger than the second, and covers the period between July 1972 and June 1973. These subject files reflect in some detail Tufaro's active participation in the working sessions of the CCCT. The correspondence, memoranda, notes, telegrams, cables, and reports, of the CCCT in Tufaro's files also indicate the White House's deep concern and determined efforts to combat international terrorism. Significant topics and 'subjects in the series consist of highly classified and sensitive information contributed by the members of the CCCT.
*The White House Special Files Unit maintained files considered sensitive either for reason of political content or security classification. This scope and content note does not describe all the materials of Richard . Tufaro. As other groups of his material are processed and described, the resulting finding aids will be attached.
Original Copy Special Files Materials.
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American Indian Movement's Council on Security and Intelligence
These links take you to scanned images of declassified FBI, CIA, Justice Department and White House documents obtained by AIM under the U.S. Freedom of Information Act._______________________________________________________________________________________________________
Listing of original document images in directory: FBI Images
Info on AIM from the FBI., 1970sORIGINAL FBI DOCUMENTS-THUMBNAIL IMAGES.
See Council on Security and Intelligence for more Information:
Council on Security and Intelligence.4- -694a (Rev. 12-4-86)
EXPLANATION OF EXEMPTIONS
SUBSECTIONS OF TITLE 5, UNITED STATES CODE, SECTION 552
(b)(1) (A)specifically authorized under criteria established by an Executive order to be kept secret in the interest of national defense or foreign policy and (B) are in fact properly classified pursuant to such Executive order;
(b)(2) related solely to the internal personnel rules and practices of an agency;
(b)(3) specifically exempted from disclosure by statute (other than section 552b of this title), provided that such statute
(A)requires that the matters be withheld from the public in such a manner as to leave no discretion on the issue, or
(B) establishes particular criteria for withholding or refers to particular types of matters to be withheld;(b)(4) trade secrets and commercial or financial information obtained from a person and privileged or confidential;
(b)(5)inter-agency or intra-agency memorandums or letters which would not be available by law to a party other than an agency in litigation with the agency;
(b)(6)personnel and medical files and similar files the disclosure of which would constitute a clearly unwarranted invasion of personal privacy;
(b)(7)records or information compiled for law enforcement purposes, but only to the extent that the production of
such law enforcement records or information
(A) could reasonably be expected to interfere with enforcement proceedings,
(B) would deprive a person of a night to a fair trial or an impartial adjudication,
(C) could reasonably be expected to constitute an unwarranted invasion of personal privacy,
(D) could reasonably be expected to disclose the identity of a confidential source, including a State, local, or foreign agency or authority or any private institution which furnished information on a confidential basis, and, in the case of a record or information compiled by a criminal law enforcement
authority in the course of a criminal investigation, or by an agency conducting a lawful national security intelligence investigation, information furnished by a confidential source,
(E) would disclose techniques and procedures for law enforcement investigations or prosecutions, or would disclose guidelines for law enforcement investigations or prosecutions if such disclosure could reasonably be expected to risk circumvention of the law,-or
(F) could reasonably be expected to endanger the life of physical safety of any individual;(b) (8) contained in or related to examination, operating, or condition reports prepared by, on behalf of, or for the use of an agency responsible for the regulation or supervision of financial institutions; or
(b) (9) geological and geophysical information and data, including maps, concerning wells,
SUBSECTIONS OF TITLE 5, UNITED STATES CODE, SECTION 552a
(d) (5) information compiled in reasonable anticipation of a civil action proceeding;
(j) (2) material reporting investigative efforts pertaining to the enforcement of criminal law including efforts to prevent,
control, or reduce crime or apprehend criminals, except records of arrest;(k) (1) information which is currently and properly classified pursuant to Executive Order 12356 in the interest of the
national defense or foreign policy, for example, information involving intelligence sources or methods;(k) (2) investigatory material compiled for law enforcement purposes, other than criminal, which did not result in loss of
a right, benefit or privilege under Federal programs, or which would identify a source who furnished information
pursuant to a promise that his/her identity would be held in confidence;(k) (3) material maintained in connection with providing protective services to the President of the United States
or any other individual pursuant to the authority of Title 18, United States Code, Section 3056;(k) (4) required by statute to be maintained and used solely as statistical records;
(k) (5) investigatory material compiled solely for the purpose of determining suitability eligibility, or qualifications
for Federal civilian employment or for access to classified information, the disclosure of which would reveal the
identity of the person who furnished information pursuant to a promise that his identity would be held in confidence;(k) (6) testing or examination material used to determine individual qualifications for appointment or promotion in
Federal Government service the release of which would compromise the testing or examination process;(k) (7) material used to determine potential for promotion in the armed services, the disclosure of which would reveal the
identity of the person who furnished the material pursuant to a promise that his identity would be held in confidence.SUBJECT FILES, CONFIDENTIAL FILES 1969-74.
White House Container Files (Indian Affairs).
Document Withdrawal Record (Nixon Project).
Document Withdrawal Record (Nixon Project 2).
Document Withdrawal Record (Nixon Project 3).
FILE DESCRIPTION
SUBJECT: American Indian Movement
FILE NO: 100-462483
VOLUME NO: 1
UNITED STATES GOVERNMENTMemorandum
1-Mr. E.S Miller
1-Mr. R.E. Gebhardt
1-Mr. L.M. Walters
1-Mr. G.C.MooreTo: Mr. E.S. Miller
From: G.C. Moore
Subject: American Indian Movement
Extremist Matters
Extremist Informants
all information contained herein is unclassified
Date 12/29/83 By: sp5rig/pmc
The purpose of this memorandum is to secure for the sending of the attached airtel to all offices the implementation
of an intensified effort to identify violence-prone individuals or organizations within the American Indian movement
who may be planning future violent demonstrations or criminal activities.157-27740-1
By memorandum dated November 21, 1972, Mr.Ralph E. Erickson, Deputy Attorney General, made reference
to recent occupation of the Bureau of Indian Affairs building in Washington, D. C. which resulted in
substantial destruction of the interior of the building and the theft of government property and documents.
He indicated that the constitutional rights to assemble and protest peacefully are recognized however, the
recent activities in Washington, D. C. have gone far beyond constitutionally protected activities. It is of
particular concern to the Department that similar circumstances may arise in the future without
sufficient advance information regarding the leadership, numbers to be involved and plans -- whether
violent or nonviolent. In order to lessen the possibility of a recurrence of such activities Mr. Erickson
requested that the Bureau intensify its efforts to identify violent-prone individuals or organizations
within the American Indian movement who may be planning future violent demonstrations or criminal activities.In order to be in a position to keep the Attorney General and Mr. Erickson advised on a current basis in
accordance with the request, the attached airtel is being directed to all offices for the purpose of
implementing an informant development program within the American Indian Movement so that we will be
able to furnish the requested information on a current basis.Mr. Erickson's memorandum has been acknowledged by separate communication.
ACTION:
That the attached airtel be approved and sent.100-462483-73
CONTINUED OVER
DEC 11, 1972
ENCLOSURE DEC 15,1972
Original MEMORANDUM ON EXTREMIST MATTERS.
Original MEMORANDUM TO E.S. MILLER.
Original MEMORANDUM FROM W.M. FELT TO DIRECTOR, FBI.
Original MEMORANDUM FROM W.M. FELT TO DIRECTOR, FBI Pg2.To: SAC, Albany
From: For the Acting Director, FBI
W. Mark Felt
Acting Associate Director
AMERICAN INDIAN MOVEMENT
EXTREMIST MATTERS
EXTREMIST INFORMANTS
DATED 12/15/72
As a result of the recent occupation of the Bureau of Indian Affairs building in Washington, D.C. the Deputy Attorney
General by letter dated November 21, 1972, requested the Bureau intensify its efforts in identifying violence-prone
individuals or organizations within the American Indian Movement who may be planning future violent demonstrations
or criminal activities.Accordingly, each SAC should have a survey conducted and following data should be furnished to Headquarters:
1.) Approximate number of Indians residing within the division;
2.) Number of reservations including the number of Indians residing thereon;
3.) Identity of the tribes within the division2- All Field Offices
ALL INFORMATION CONTAINED HEREIN IS UNCLASSIFIED, DATE, 12/29/83
Original MEMORANDUM FROM W.M. FELT TO SAC, Albany Pg1.
Airtel to Albany Page 2
Re: American Indian Movement
4) Identity of any known extremist organizations or extremist individuals active within
the Indian community including the Bureau file number, if any.In order to obtain the desired information, each division having American Indians located
therein should institute a program to develop informants and sources able 'to furnish
information concerning extremists or extremist organizations operating within the American
Indian Movement as well as advance information concerning any future demonstrations or other
activity on the part of American Indians which could result in violence or criminal activities.Each division should submit to Headquarters the identities of any current sources or informants
which can be utilized in this program as well as specific details of its plan to implement this
informant development program.The Extremist Intelligence Section of the Domestic Intelligence Division has assumed supervision
of the intelligence gathering aspect of this matter. Therefore, investigations instituted with the
aim of developing informants in this field are to be handled under the 170 classification and in
accordance with instructions set forth in Section 130 of the Manual of Instructions. Investigations
instituted on individual extremists or extremist organizations are to be handled under the 157
classification and in accordance with instructions set forth in Section 122 of the Manual of Instruction.All investigations in conjunction with the intelligence gathering aspect of the American Indian Movement
must be most discreet. Nevertheless, it is imperative and essential the Bureau earn of any indications of
advance planning or organized efforts to create disturbances and civil unrest by extremist organizations or
individuals within the American Indian Movement.Original MEMORANDUM FROM W.M. FELT TO SAC, Albany Pg2.
Airtel to Albany
Re: American Indian MovementIn this regard it is pointed out that recent press releases have indicated that only approximately one half
of the American Indians living in this country reside on reservations. It is also alleged that the more will
want Indians giving leadership to the current extremist activities within the American Indian Movement reside
in the urban areas of the country and not on reservations. Therefore, your efforts must be directed toward
developing information of extremist nature on Indian reservations but must, also be directed toward developing
information regarding those Indians living in the urban areas that are promoting extremist activities within
the American Indian Movement.Your attention is also directed to teletype dated November 24, 1972, from "for acting Director, FBI, W.Mark Felt,
Acting Associate Director," to all SAC's except Anchorage, Honolulu, and San Juan captioned "WASHAIRP." You
should coordinate your efforts with the investigations being conducted in accordance with the above-referred-to
teletype with particular emphasis upon developing sources and informants within the American Indian Movement that
may become evident as a result of the investigation currently being conducted in the WASHAIRP case.Results of this survey as well as your plans for the informant program are to be furnished to the Bureau no later
that 12/15/1972. In the future when submitting your Monthly Status Report Extremist Informants- Extremist other
groups (White Black), you should list under the miscellaneous section progress being made in developing informants
in the American Indian Movement. The FD-405a should list the identities of individuals who may have participated
in or are active in planing acts of extremist violence.The Deputy Attorney General has requested that we keep him and the Attorney General advised on a current basis of
our results achieved in this regard.(Why do we have to say this? Will SAC of the FBI not carry out an order from the Acting?)
Original MEMORANDUM FROM W.M. FELT TO SAC, Albany Pg3.
FILE DESCRIPTION
SUBJECT: American Indian Movement
FILE NO. 100-462483
VOLUME NO. 45
FBIDate: 3/13/75
Transmit the following (type in plain text or code)
Via: Airtel (Priority)
To: Director, FBI (100-462483)
From: SAC, CHICAGO (105-34860)
SUBJECT: AMERICAN INDIAN MOVEMENT (AIM)
EM-AIM
(00:MP)
Re CG teletype, 3/12/75
Referenced teletype advised Channel 11, WTTW-TV, Chicago's Public Broadcasting Station news
Program televised at 7:00 p.m., 3/12/75, a discussion of matters relating to allegation
DOUGLAS DURHAM, Chief Security officer for AIM was a paid FBI informer.Attached hereto are two copies of verbatim transcription, consisting of eight pages, for the
Bureau and Recipient offices, of TV news broadcast.Copies being furnished to OM and MI in view of material set forth pertaining to their Division.
ALL INFORMATION CONTAINED
HEREIN IS UNCLASSIFIED
Date 1/27/84 By sp5
2-Bureau (RM)
2-Minneapolis (RM)
2-Omaha (100-8748) (RM)
2-Milwaukee (157-2028) (RM)
2-Chicagosld
(10)
Approved by: Special Agent in Charge
Original MEMORANDUM FROM SAC, Chicago to FBI Director Pg 1.
MP 157-1458
And approximately one-half mile south of a building occupied by Wounded Knee Legal Defense/Offense
Committee workers, as they approached BLACKED OUT residence they noted several new gates in the pasture
leading to the home. A bunker with an American flag flying upside down was noted on the hill behind the
home and at the gate.One of the bunkers was made of Shell gas tanks and tires which were filled with sand and boards.
He heard rifle fire which he considered to be target practice coming from the direction of BLACKED OUT residence
during the past week.Efforts are continuing to locate fugitive PELTIER and other fugitives who are believed located in the area of
Special Agents working Pine Ridge Indian Reservation are fully aware of the potentials for danger which they may
face in connection with their investigations and as in connection with the foregoing , strict precautions are taken.Original MEMORANDUM FROM SAC, Chicago to FBI Director Pg 2.
#21
3/12/73 re: WITW broadcast of Durham's confession
Manuscript of Program
Memo: re: Concern over other informants from Minneapolis.
Suggests pulling other informants out of AIM until trials are finished.
Determination by FBI director not to pull informants, based on determination that Durham and two other informants did
not invade the defense establishment.5/16/75 Information on whereabouts of fugitive Peltier
Public News Center, a television news show on Chicago's WTTW-TV (Channel 11) on their 7:00 p.m. news show,
March 12, 1975, presented the following information relating to the American Indian Movement (AIM).
JOHN CALLAWAY, WTTW-TV News Editor and News Show Moderator, commenced news program, Introducing Joel Wiesman, WTTW-TV Political Editor.Other speakers on news program as indicated below are SCOTT SIMON, WTTW-TV news reporter and Sanford
Unger, Washington Editor of the "Atlantic Monthly".Set forth is a verbatim transcription of WTTW-TV news show relating to AIM.
FBI
Date: 4/7/75
Transmit the following (type in plain text or code)
Via Airtel Airmail (Priority)
To: Director, FBI (ATTENTION: INTELLIGENCE DIVISION)
From: SAC, MINNEAPOLIS (157-1458)
SUBJECT: AMERICAN INDIAN MOVEMENT (AIM)
DEVELOPMENT OF INFORMANTS
This is to advise FBIHQ that in our view the operation of informants in the American Indian Movement at this time has
more disadvantage than advantages and, therefore, for the time being this practice should be discontinued.Ever since the disclosure of DOUGLAS DURHAM as an FBI source, we have been deluged with motions, hearings, etc., and,
most particularly, with unfavorable comments by the media concerning the issue of an FBI informant penetrating the
defense establishment. Regardless of what we in the FBI may think, we must take cognizance of the generally unfavorable
reaction that this disclosure has precipitated.At the present time, in the area covered by the Minneapolis Division, many AIM leaders are under indictment for Federal
and/ or State offenses. Some of the individuals involved include DENNIS BANKS, RUSSELL MEANS, VERNON BELLECOURT,
CLYDE BELLECOURT, CARTER CAMP, STANLEY HOLDER, AND LEONARD CROW DOG. All of these individuals will be in
court sometime during 1975 to face an assortment of charges, some of which stem from Wounded Knee and some pertain
to other situations. At the present time, a trial is underway in state court involving AIM personnel causing damage at the
Minnehaha Courthouse in Sioux Falls, South Dakota. Trials will be held in state court in Custer, South Dakota, in the
near future for the Custer riots that occurred in early February, 1973. We will have further non-leadership Wounded
Knee trials in Sioux City, Iowa, including the very important case of the individuals charged with shooting an FBI Agent
during the Wounded Knee Occupation. It is expected that soon a new trial date will be set in Federal Court for the
Wounded Knee Leadership Cases.All of the above criminal charges will be unnecessarily placed in jeopardy by operating FBI informants or sources until
all of these trials are complete. It is simply not enough for us to say that we have no way of assuring that the informant
will not in fact, be privy to defense strategy in these cases. Of particular significance is the fact that a low echelon
informant can seldom furnish meaningful information. The higher the informant is in an organization such as AIM, the
more vulnerable we are to having a case dismissed and severe criticism directed at us because of the operation of an
informant who may have been privy to defense strategy.Another aspect of this issue is the fact that the violent activities of the AIM movement appears to be spontaneous; and,
thus far at least, FBI informants have been unable to advise us in advance of these situations; thus we can say that
operating these informants has not so far at least prevented any of their violent activities.I am instructing in this office that all AIM informants be immediately closed, and that we have no further contact with
them until after the trials are completed. Furthermore, we do not want informants coming into this territory from other
Field Offices.At the completion of the trials mentioned above, we will reassess our position in this matter and submit an appropriate
recommendation to FBIHQ.ALL INFORMATION CONTAINED
HEREIN IS UNCLASSIFIED
Date 1/27/84 By sp5
0-Bureau (RM)
1-Minneapolis (RM)
:jwh
Approved by
(Special Agent in Charge)
________________________________________________________________________________________________________
REVOLUTIONARY ACTIVITIES WITHIN THE UNITED STATES-THE AMERICAN INDIAN MOVEMENTHEARING BEFORE THE SUBCOMMITTEE TO INVESTIGATE THE ADMINISTRATION OF THE INTERNAL SECURITY ACT AND OTHER INTERNAL SECURITY LAWS OF THE COMMITTEE ON THE JUDICIARY UNITED STATES SENATE
SECOND SESSIONApril 6, 1976
______________________________________________________________________________________________________
COMMITTEE ON THE JUDICIARY
James O. Eastland, Mississippi, Chairman
John H. McClellan, Arkansas
Roman L. Hruska, Nebraska
Philip A. Hart, Michigan
Hiram L. Fong, Hawaii
Edward M. Kennedy, Massachussetts
Hugh Scott, Pennsylvania
Burch Bayu, Indiana
Strom Thurmond, South Carolina
Quentin N. Burdick, North Dakota
Charles McMathias, Jr., Maryland
Robert C. Byrd, West Virginia
William L. Scott, Virginia
John V. Tunney, California
James Abourezk, South DakotaSubcommittee to Investigate the Administration of the Internal Security Act and Other Internal Security Laws
James O. Eastland, Mississippi, ChairmanJohn L. McClellan, Arkansas
Birch Bayh, Indiana
Strom Thurmond, South Carolina
William L. ScottRichard L. Schultz, Chief Counsel
Alfonso L. Tarabochia, Chief Investigator
Robert J. Short, Senior Investigator
Mary E. Dooley, Research Director
David Martin, Senior AnalystRESOLUTION
Resolved by the Internal Security Subcommittee of the Senate Committee on the Judiciary, That the testimony of
Douglas Frank Durham, taken in executive session on April 6, 1976, be printed and made public.
James C. Eastland, Chairman
Approved, August 9, 1976The subcommittee met, pursuant to notice at 10:10 a.m. in the Russell Senate Office Building, Senator
James O. Eastland, chairman presiding.Also present: Richard L. Schultz, chief counsel; Robert J. Short, senior investigator; David Martin
senior analyst.The CHAIRMAN. The subcommittee will come to order.
We are here today to receive testimony concerning the American Indian Movement. There is no question in the
minds of the great majority of Americans that our Indian citizens have many legitimate grievances and that there
is much that must be done to eliminate the inequities and improve the quality of their lives. Many people an
organizations are working to bring about the needed reforms, including the various tribal councils, the American
Indian Association, church groups which have a strong interest in the problem, and dedicated members of the Bureau
of Indian Affairs who realize that our treatment of our Indian minority over the years leaves much to be desired.Several years ago there appeared on the scene a new organization, the American Indian Movement, which claimed to
speak for the majority of the American Indians. It attracted a lot of public attention, primarily as a result of
its violent occupation of the Bureau of Indian Affairs Building in Washington in the month of November 1972 and
its occupation of the town of Wounded Knee, South Dakota for a period of 11 weeks beginning in February of 1973.
In the case of the occupation of the Bureau of Indian Affairs, the American Indian Movement militants did $2 million
dollars worth of damage and made off with entire file cabinets of records-despite the fact that they had been given
assurance that there would be no prosecution and the participants would be given return fare to their reservations
or home addresses. The occupation of Wounded Knee, similarly, resulted in major damage to buildings in the town as
well as the death of two Indians and the wounding of three Federal agents.As a result of the extensive publicity the American Indian Movement received from these episodes, the public
impression was that the American Indian Movement spoke for the masses of the Indian people. This, of course, is
simply not true. The elected tribal councils speak for the masses of the Indian people - and the record is clear
that the elected tribal councils look upon the American Indian Movement as a radical and subversive organization.The purpose of today's hearing is to try to establish whether there is, in fact, reason for believing that the
American Indian Movement is a radical subversive organization rather than an organization committed to improving
the lot of the American Indians. One of the questions that has to be answered is whether there are any demonstrable
ties between the American Indian Movement and the various Communist movements that exist in our country.SUMMARY OF FINDINGS
The evidence presented to the Subcommittee, which was supported by extensive documentation, established the following basic facts about the movement:
1. THE TRUE DIMENSIONS OF AIM:
The American Indian Movement does not speak for the Americans Indians. It is a minority which, at the most, number several thousand followers. It is noteworthy that its most spectacular and most publicized activities have never involved more than several hundred people.2. AIM IS A REVOLUTIONARY ORGANIZATION:
It is a frankly revolutionary organization which is committed to violence, calls for the arming American Indians, has cached explosives and illegally purchased arms, plans kidnappings, and whose opponents have been eliminated in the manner of the Mafia. Some of AIM's leaders and associated have visited Castro Cuba and/or openly consider themselves Marxist/Leninist.3. FOREIGN TIES:
It has many foreign ties, direct and indirect - with Castro Cuba, with China, with the IRA, with the Palestine Liberation Organization, and with support organizations in various European countries.4. DOMESTIC EXTREMIST TIES:
In the United States, it has maintained contact with and has received propaganda and other support from a large number of left extremist organizations, including the Weather Underground, the Communist Party, the Trotskyists, the Symbionese Liberation Army, the Black Panther Party, Youth Against War and Fascism, the Indo-China Solidarity Committee, the Prisoners Solidarity Committee, etc.5. AIM AND THE MEDIA:
AIM's commitment to spectacular actions has resulted in massive media coverage. This coverage, while not always uncritical, has generally been sympathetic - perhaps because of the widespread tendency to convert sympathy for the plight of Indian people into sympathy for AIM, without asking certain essential questions. The sheer mass of the media coverage, moreover, has served to foster a widespread impression in government circles as well as among the general public - that AIM speaks for the great mass of the Indian people.
Regrettably, with rare exceptions, the media have not sought to moderate this impression by seeking out the views of the tribal leaders and the other legitimate leaders of the American Indian peoples.6. SUPPORT FROM FEDERAL, CHURCH AND OTHER SOURCES:
Taking advantage of the massive public relations build-up they have received from the media, the American Indian Movement has been able to obtain many hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of support from various offices of the Federal government and from a variety of religious organizations, Catholic and Protestant. Threats and the physical occupation of buildings have also been used as instruments of persuasion in promoting Federal and religious funding. AIM has also received substantial sums of money from business, from labor groups, and from private individuals.7. FINANCIAL ABUSES:
The bulk of the money given to AIM by the United States government and by the churches has been used to radicalize the Indians, to stage confrontations like the occupation of Wounded Knee and the occupation of the Bureau of Indian Affairs in Washington, D.C., and to take care of the personal financial needs of the AIM leaders. Contrary to the representations of AIM in soliciting these funds, they have not been used, except to a very minor extent, to improve the lot of the American Indians.In a postscript to his testimony, the witness informed the Subcommittee that, to his knowledge AIM has never published a financial statement.
8. THE UNDERCUTTING OF LEGALLY CONSTITUTED INDIAN AUTHORITY:
The supine attitude of government officials in
dealing with manifestations like the occupation of the Bureau of Indian Affairs, the many hundreds of thousands
of dollars they have lavished on AIM for social programs that were never implemented, and the deferential - indeed,
almost obsequious - manner in which they have conducted their negotiations with representatives of AIM, have not
only strengthened AIM enormously, but have also served to undercut the prestige and authority of the tribal
chairmen and of the National Tribal Chairman's Association. This was thesubject of a bitter complaint to
Secretary of the Interior, Roger Morton, from the National Tribal Chairmen's Association on November 12, 1973.THE CASE OF JUDGE NICHOL:
Important testimony was given concerning the prejudicial attitude of Federal Judge
Fred Nichol, who on September 19, 1974, dismissed the charges against American Indian Movement leaders Dennis
Banks and Russell Means. In March 1975, the U.S. Attorney's office in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, had filed a
strongly worded motion of prejudice against Judge Nichol, asking that he disqualify himself from the remaining
Wounded Knee leadership trials. In the supporting affidavit, the U.S. attorney claimed that Judge Nichol often
expressed respect for the people who were involved in the Wounded Knee takeover, and that during the trial he
had attended a luncheon addressed by defense counsel William Kuntsler and had led a standing ovation for Kunstler
at the conclusion of his speech. The witness testified that in October 1973, Judge Nichol had driven Dennis Banks
and his attorney to his residence, where Judge Nichol and Mrs. Nichol entertained the guests with coffee and
cookies, and Mrs. Nichol was made any honorary member of the American Indian Movement.
THE WITNESSThe witness at this hearing, Mr. Douglas Durham, infiltrated the American Indian Movement under the instructions
of the FBI, won the confidence of Dennis Banks and Russell Means and the other leaders of the movement, and occupied
a series of high level positions in the organization. When Dennis Banks, after being indicted in connection with his
role in the Wounded Knee events, went into hiding in Canada, Mr. Durham was instructed to come to yellow Knife in
the Canadian Northwest Territories, "to get get a small plane and bring a lot of guns ammunition, and money." An
experienced pilot, Durham flew Banks all over the United States in rented plans - that were never paid for,
according to the knowledge of the witness.Describing his relationship with the American Indian Movement, Mr. Durham - a non-Indian who looks remarkably
like an Indian - said the following:"My membership in the American Indian Movement began in March 1973, after visiting Wounded Knee for 1 day as a
photographer for a newspaper, 'Pax Today.' The trip to Wounded Knee was made with the knowledge and assistance
of the Federal Bureau of Investigation agent, Larry Bastocky, asked me to become familiar with the Des Moines,
Iowa chapter; assistant director of the Des Moines, Iowa, chapter of the American Indian Movement, and, if possible,
joint it. I was a member of the American Indian Movement for approximately 2 years and achieved the titles of public
relations director of the Des Moines, Iowa chapter; assistant director of the Des Moines chapter; National AIM pilot;
national security director; administrator of U.S. national offices of the American Indian Movement; personal bodyguard
to Dennis Banks; international charge d'affaires. During my 2 year tenure with the American Indian Movement, I collected
considerable information regarding its revolutionary activities, its financing, its association with other groups, its
plans for the bicentennial, the operational goals of National AIM and the personalities and methods of operation of the
national leaders of AIM. I organized and established the national office in St. Paul, Minnesota and traveled around the
United States with national leaders of the American Indian Movement as a national figure."Mr. Durham testified that, as a paid operative of the FBI, he received approximately $20,000 over a two-year period,
from March 1973 to March 1975 in expense money. The FBI had publicly acknowledged that Durham was a paid operative - and
they have also stated that threats against Durham's life were made in the summer of 1975, based on his involvement with
the American Indian Movement. Mr. Durham has since testified publicly on behalf of the Department of Justice, in a trial
involving the leaders of AIM.Mr. Durham was repeatedly and rigorously instructed by the FBI during the period of his association with AIM to avoid
putting himself in the posture of transmitting an confidential information relating to the legal defense of the AIM
leaders.
THE ORIGINS OF AIMThe American Indian Movement was launched in Minneapolis, Minnesota, in 1968 by Clyde Bellecourt, Dennis Banks, and
George Mitchell, all Chippewa Indians from Minnesota. The witness confirmed AIM's claim that a catalyst to its
formation was the inordinate number of Indian Americans in jail in the Minneapolis area - a number completely out
of proportion to the number of Indian residing in the area. Initially, according to the witness, AIM concerned
themselves primarily with the problem of getting Indians out of jail. As Mr. Durham put the matter: "They established
an AIM patrol that attempted to reach the scenes of disturbances in Indian areas prior to the police, or at least at
the same time the police arrived, to act as a mediator in negotiating the release on the scene of Indians being arrested
by the Minneapolis police."According to Mr. Durham, AIM "was involved in taking over the operation of the CCC program, funded by the OEO, in
Minneapolis, Minnesota. The assistance of the Attorney Douglas Hall and the Reverend Dr. Paul Boe was used to gain the
support within the CCC program (CCC stands for Citizens Community Center, a Minneapolis anti-poverty program set up in
1967) to operate the American Indian Movement..."A fact sheet distributed by AIM in early 1974 claimed that AIM had played a role in more than 150 demonstrations prior
to November 1972. The first demonstration referred to was a "nationwide protest in 7 major cities in early 1970 against
BIA treatment of urban Indian people who leave the reservations under the Relocation Program, secured menial jobs
in the city, and then abandoned them." The final paragraph in this leaflet describes AIM's relationship with other
Indian groups and with the radical left. The paragraph reads:"AIM stands to represent ALL Indians as a fact of Indian life in a free world."
"AIM is regarded as a radical leftist movement; however, AIM's goals are to represent itself as a peaceful movement trying
to get these things which have been promised to them. Historically it has been proven that the American Indian has been
treated inhumanely and now, because of AIM's thrust for equality, the Indian is fighting for honor, ignored until Wounded
Knee. AIM is now looked to for direction by Left and Third World groups. In the words of Russell Means, 'AIM represents
the only true revolutionary group, a sovereign people with a land base backed by treaties with the federal government.
The Indian people have 24,000-40,000 years experience on the Western Hemisphere. We should be able to tell people
with 250 years experience...'"As Mr. Durham pointed out, the short range objectives publicized by AIM sound high-minded and reasonable. They
call for a program to better the Indian housing situation; another program directed toward the Indian youth; a
third program to encourage the employment of Indian Americans; a fourth program to educate industry in the area
of Indian culture and its effect on the Indians; a fifth program to improve the communcations between the Indian
people and the community; and finally, a program to educate the Indian citizen in his responsibility to the community.When he was asked whether in his association with AIM he had seen any of these objective achieved, Mr Durham replied:
"Not that I can recall...I saw quite the contrary. I saw the Indian housing program which was number one, stopped on the
Wounded Knee Reservation when AIM took over Wounded Knee. The Indian youth program could be interpreted two ways. However,
the Indian youth gathered together in a militant manner and talked about passing out rifles and revolution. The positive
program for employment of Indian Americans is a definite farce. I heard Dennis Banks say that if you were striving for
employment, you had no business being in AIM."A confidential programmatic document distributed within AIM spoke more ambitiously about freeing "Indian people
throughout the Americas from white man's oppression and racism, so as to create free Indian states that reflect
self-determination of free peoples..." The document called for:"(a) dissolution of the BIA;
(b) establishment of the free Indian congress;
(c) re-establishment of reservation sovereignty and self-determination;
(d) establish and conduct negotiations with all nations of world for free trade and economic relations;
(e) establish of trade tariffs and interface with surrounding countries in the world."The confidential AIM program also placed its major emphasis on the education of the very young and the establishment of
AIM control over Indian schools. The program said under this heading:"The major objective of the movement is to regain the young. Once the BIA is eliminated and individual tribal states are
created, schools will not be a major problem. However, until such time as this goal is realized, AIM must plan, support
and execute the following school activities:(1) Prepare and release to local AIM chapters a 'how-to-manual' for founding Indian schools;
(2) Since most behavior characteristics are learned from the first 5 years, AIM should begin with pre-school elementary
programs;(f) AIM national center to provide basic teaching aids such as reading, cultural materials and lore."
THE TURN TOWARD MAJOR VIOLENCEAsked about the series of violent actions in which AIM has been involved over the past four years, Mr. Durham replied:
"Most obviously the leadership condones this type of action. During Wounded Knee, as an example of their violence, they
hung a man from a cross to celebrate Easter Sunday.""They had been involved in the destruction of Custer, South Dakota, where the courthouse was fire-bombed and the
chamber of commerce was burned to the ground.""At the Bureau of Indian Affairs, it was an extremely violent situation with clubs and threats."
"At Kenora, Ontario, Canada, there was shooting and threats of extreme violence."
"I recall, in Des Moines, Iowa, they attempted and planned the kidnapping of Iowa Governor Robert Ray, which has to be
a little violent.""There was a murder in Los Angeles, California, in the fall of 1974 where a man was dragged from a cab in an AIM
guerrilla camp in Box Canyon, scalped, dismembered, and stuffed down a drain pipe; and the reaction of AIM was,
'They should have shoved grass down the throat of that body.' There were very grisly and mean events that transpired
since then; the assassination, or execution of the two FBI agents. Of those four indicted (in connection with the
shooting of the FBI agents) I personally knew three to be members of the American Indian Movement."In his testimony Mr.Durham elaborated on the violent actions and occupations in which the American Indian
Movement has been involved.
THE SEIZURE OF THE BUREAU OF INDIAN AFFAIRSMr. Durham said that "a plethora of funds was established for the 'Trail of Broken Treaties' caravans to Washington,
which culminated in the seizure of the Bureau of Indian Affairs in November of 1972. Despite the almost unbelievable
destruction they wrought within the building, (the total cost to the government of this incident, including both the
destruction and the cost of special police personnel and law enforcement officers, was estimated at two million dollars),
Mr. Durham said "the White House gave the occupants a letter recommending no prosecution for the actions and
$66,000 in cash - approximately six times the bus fare home." The Chairman, in his opening remarks, made
reference to "entire file cabinets of records" which AIM removed from the Bureau of Indian Affairs - "despite
the fact that they had been given assurance that there would be no prosecution." File cabinets are highly visible
items. They could not have been removed from the building without having been spotted by one or more of the numerous
law enforcement officers concentrated in the area. The question therefore arises whether someone in authority had
given the instruction that there was to be no police interference with members of AIM leaving the building, no
matter what they carried with them. This is a mystery that can and should be cleaned up.
CUSTER, SOUTH DAKOTAA whole series of violent actions followed in the wake of the supine capitulation to AIM in its seizure of the Bureau
of Indian Affairs.The first of these actions was the AIM-organized rioting in Custer, South Dakota, on February 6, 1973. Describing this
event and some of the things that happened inconsequence of it, Mr. Durham said:"The Chamber of Commerce building was burned to the ground; the court house was firebombed and numbers of people
injured in the riot, including police officers.""In the latter part of August 1973, Banks was indicted by the Custer County grand jury for his involvement in the riot
of February 6. (Banks was already a fugitive in connection with his Wounded Knee indictment). He and Ron Petite; Ron's
wife, Cheryl; Dennis' wife, Kamook; Dennis' son by a previous wife, D.J. Junior; Ron Petite's infant child; Ray Slick;
and Linda Thomas drove to Yellowknife in Northwest Territory in Canada. I was contacted by both Ron Petite and Dennis
Banks, asking me to fly up north, provide them with money and a means of communication between their planned hideout
and the officers and attorneys of the American Indian Movement. I was given written communiques by Banks ordering me
to establish an underground railroad, ordering George Roberts in Los Angeles, California, to issue the press
communiques over his signature, and other orders. I assisted in flying Dennis Banks to a remote island where he remained
approximately 1 month. I was told to return to the United States and help in gathering his bond, which I did with the
assistance of Reverend John P. Adams, an important figure in the operation of AIM. In the early part of October 1973,
I was called upon to return Dennis Banks to the United States, after having raised his bond. This was accomplished with
a rented plane for which AIM later refused to pay the rental due.Dennis Banks was convicted in the summer of 1975 and failed to appear for sentencing August 5, 1975, becoming a
fugitive from justice. During the time he was a fugitive, he was indicted by a Federal grand jury for a shootout
allegedly occurring in Ontario, Oregon, where he and Leonard Peltier, another fugitive, was allegedly stopped.
Banks was arrested January 24, 1976, in San Francisco and is there now fighting extradition. He was released on
$100,000 bond. The judge allowed 2 percent cash bond to be posted by actor Marlon Brando."
WOUNDED KNEEHard on the heels of the incident at Custer, South Dakota, there took place what was probably AIM'S most publicized
action, the occupation of the village of Wounded Knee.Mr. Durham was ale to gain access to Wounded Knee as a photographer and correspondent for a small newspaper, 'Pax
Today.' After spending approximately five hours in Wounded Knee taking photographs, Durham returned to Des Moines,
Iowa, submitted the pictures and the report to the FBI. The FBI then asked him to join the local Des Moines chapter
of the American Indian Movement. This he did. Durham pointed out there was, at that time, considerable concern in
the FBI regarding potential violent activities in which the Des Moines chapter of AIM might become engaged. Statements
had reportedly been made regarding bombings, running guns, and other supplies into Wounded Knee by the Des Moines
chapter chairman, Harvey Major.During some of the highlights of the Wounded Knee occupation, Durham testified:
"The village of Wounded Knee on the Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota and the Nation's second largest
reservation was occupied on February 27, 1973, by members of the American Indian Movement - approximately
258 in total. Of the 258 AIM members and sympathizers occupying Wounded Knee, approximately half had been
employees of social welfare programs financed primarily by government grants. Present during the Wounded Knee
occupation were: Dr. Paul Boe and Reverend, John Adams, as well as members of the foreign press, including
Moscow. On Easter Sunday, during the occupation of Wounded Knee, AIM members hung a man from the cross in
full view of marshals and some members of the press. For approximately 6 hours the body was pummeled by
some of the occupants. During this time, churches had been defiled and the Reverend Ray McHue had been
beaten and his ribs broken. The Reverend Lansbury and his wife spent the night in trenches outside of
Wounded Knee with shots being fired over their heads. The Wounded Knee occupation lasted 71 days, after
which Dennis Banks became a fugitive and did not appear publicly until his $105,000 bond was obtained;
$85,000 of this bond came from the Iowa Methodist Conference. As a member of the American Indian Movement,
I was present and somewhat involved in obtaining this bond money."Durham said that of the 258 AIM member and sympathizers participating in the occupation, approximately 75% were
Indian and probably 25% non-Indian. He identified Vietnam Veterans Against the War as one of the non-Indian groups
participating in the occupation. One of the reasons given by the AIM occupiers for seizing the reservation, said
Durham, was they wanted to topple the elected government of tribal chairman, Richard Wilson. They were prepared
to use force to do so. They were will-armed, with M-16's and AK-47's. "They had erected bunkers and were building
Molotov cocktails, and dynamite bombs," said Durham. "They had also constructed what appeared to be a large
anti-aircraft weapon that was really fake...even a child as young as, I was told, 12 years old, was running around
with a rifle taunting members of the press and attempting to intimidate them."Durham identified the leaders of the Wounded Knee action as "Carter Augustus Camp, a Pawnee Indian from Oklahoma;
Russell Charles Means, a part Sioux Indian from the Pine Ridge Reservation; Dennis James Banks, a Chippewa Indian from
'Leech Lake', Minnesota; Clyde Bellecourt, a Chippewa Indian from the White Earth Reservation; Pedro Bissonette, a
Sioux Indian from the Pine Ridge Reservation."As Mr. Durham pointed out, AIM admitted only a limited number of correspondents to Wounded Knee, and he himself
had to pull a few strings in order to get himself admitted as a photographer. One of the correspondents accepted
by the AIM directorate at Wounded Knee was Iona Andronov, of the 'New Times' in Moscow. Andronov wrote several
articles for 'New Times', (One of which is reprinted in the appendix to the record), making it clear that the
Soviet Union sided with the occupiers of Wounded Knee against the United States government. Subsequently, Mr.
Andronov sent a handwritten letter to the American Indian Movement (also reproduced in the appendix). The letter
began with the words: "Dear friends, I hope to see you again and write a few articles for the Soviet press about
your struggle." It concluded, "I believe in your success and victory. With best wishes, Iona Andronov."Far more disturbing than the Soviet propaganda exploitation of the Wounded Knee incident - which was certainly
something to be expected - is the fact that AIM's occupation of Wounded Knee was, for all practical purposes,
financed by a series of grants of federal money. This was the subject of a carefully researched article in the
'Detroit News' of March 25, 1973, which is worth quoting in full:"Indian Revolt Financed by Government Grant"
(By John E. Peterson)
Minneapolis - The Indian occupation of Wounded Knee, S.D., has been financed almost exclusively by federal money."The Indians who took over the small reservation town have depicted themselves as an oppressed minority group seeking
to focus national attention on a long list of grievances.""In point of fact, however, their actions appear to be the latest act in a play staged by a handful of militants and
paid for by public money.""An investigation by the Detroit News shows:
More than half of the 258 American Indian Movement members and sympathizers at Wounded Knee have been
employees of social welfare agencies financed primarily by federal grants.AIM, far from being repressed by the Government, has been granted directly and indirectly more than $400,000
in federal funds since its founding in 1968. The bulk of that money, federal investigators say, has been used
in efforts to radicalize the American Indian, not improve his lot. AIM leaders, federal investigations reveal,
spent huge amounts of federal funds to stage the takeover of the Bureau of Indian Affairs last fall and the
current confrontation at Wounded Knee.Some leaders of AIM have histories of convictions for such crimes as burglary, strong-arm robberies and assaults.
Fewer than 20 of the Indian who took over Wounded Knee are Oglala Sioux, the tribe on whose reservation the
confrontation took place. An the tribal council - by 14-2 votes - repeatedly has asked the Federal Government to evict
the AIM group.
THREAT WORKS
'When AIM took over Wounded Knee, the Justice Department was all set to move in and make arrests, a highly placed
federal official said. But then AIM leaders threatened to call a press conference and disclosed exactly how much
financing they've had from the Government in recent months. That's when the Justice Department backed off and tried
to play for standoff, hoping AIM would tire and leave voluntarily.'What's happened is that AIM leaders have just dusted off and updated the old militant tactic of intimidating
government officials until they come through with grants. So far, it's worked like a charm.'"Last June 21, Government files show, AIM received a $113,000 grant from the Office of Economic Opportunity. Of that
amount, $60,000 was for 'survival' schools in Minneapolis, St. Paul, and Milwaukee to 'instill American Indian culture'
in Indian children of grade school age. The other $53,000 was for an Indian community center in Milwaukee.Early last fall, OEO investigators were sent to investigate numerous complaints from local education officials in all
three cities.
COMPLAINTS FILED
"What was found was 'an almost total absence of any academic standards,' and 'a sustained effort to brainwash the
students into hating all non-Indian Americans, black as well as white,' investigators said.AIM leaders, the report noted, refused to provide any audit information on how the $113,000 has been spent.
AIM leaders also received $66,000 in 'transportation money from the OEO as an inducement to leave the Bureau of Indian
Affairs which their followers systematically pillaged during a six-day takeover last fall in Washington.'That was about six times the amount required to buy them all bus tickets back home,' said an OEO official, who said
he disagreed with the decision. 'They were just handed the money in cash and no accounting was required.'An OEO grant for an additional $67,000 - approved before the BIA takeover - was ordered frozen in a Minneapolis bank
before AIM leaders arrived back from Washington.
LOAN FINAGLED
"AIM leaders Clyde Bellecourt and Dennis J. Banks, both Chippewas, used the announcement of that grant's approval to
persuade the Upper Midwest American Indian Center (UMAIC) in Minneapolis to lend them nearly $30,000.'We lent them the money only because they offered the $67,000 grant as collateral, and we assumed they had it in
their pockets,' said Mrs. Emily Peake, UMAIC'S director, a Chippewa and an spokeswoman for most the 22,000 American
Indians living in the Twin Cities area.'Of all the money AIM has conned out of the Federal Government, I'd be surprised if even a minute fraction ever
trickled down to our people who really need it,' she said.
END OF ARTICLE FROM THE 'DETROIT NEWS'
THE OCCUPATION OF THE FIRST CHURCH OF THE OPEN BIBLE AND OF THE UNITED METHODIST
CHURCH CONFERENCE HEADQUARTERS IN DES MOINESSome of the methods used by AIM to raise money from church organizations were described in detail by Mr. Durham.
One day in March 1973, Durham visited Harvey Major, head of the Des Moines AIM Movement at his home. Major, he said,
was in his garage, painting signs saying, "AIM demands $50,000 reparations from the Church of the Open Bible." He
informed Durham that AIM was going to occupy the First Church of the Open Bible and demand this $50,000 reparation
within 24 hours. The church had been selected, he said, first because it was wealthy, and second, because it had
give no money to AIM. Harvey had attended several church sessions, trying to obtain money from the church - but
without success.Several days prior to Easter Sunday, a small group of AIM members and supporters occupied the lawn of the First
Church of the Open Bible, constructed tents, erected their signs demanding $50,000 reparations, and refused to
leave when asked by the police to do so. The leaders of the demonstration were Harvey Major and Aaron Two Elk.
Durham, who took part in the occupation, estimated that there were no more than about 12 individuals involved,
of whom only 3 or 4 were Indians. He said, however, that the papers were told that there were many more people
inside the tents and that the press dutifully reported it in this manner.Written demands for $50,000 in reparations were then submitted to the officials of the church. The Reverend Frank
Smith, one the church's ministers, issued a statement refusing to meet the demands and saying he would not be
blackmailed. He complained bitterly that officials of the Community Relations Service of the Department of Justice,
who were then in Des Moines, had suggested that he accede to some of the demands.Durham told the Subcommittee that the Community Relations official in question, Mr. Jesse Taylor of Chicago, then went
to other church officials in Des Moines and arranged a meeting between the heads, bishops and ministers of large
churches in Des Moines and the occupants of the American Indian Movement campsite on the Open Bible Church grounds.
This meeting was held several days later at the Young Women's Christian Association in Des Moines. As a result of this
meeting, AIM received an initial grant of $3,000 toward the establishment of an American Indian Development Center in
Des Moines. The $3,000 was to be a down payment on a proposal calling for an annual expenditure of $36,000. In fact,
funding was finally granted for several months.Commenting on the proposals submitted and what was done to implement these proposals, Mr. Durham said:
"The proposals submitted to the various church leaders and authorities indicated a desire to create development centers
for counseling, training Indians to become better able to cope with the non-Indian society in an urban area, when in
fact I know of no one, absolutely no one who was counseled to cope with the non-Indian society in the Des Moines, Iowa
branch, other than to increase their hatred and mistrust on non-Indian people, blacks as well as whites. They were
self-aggrandizing actions. The money was used to maintain the individual leaders in a manner far from that of
the victim."Mr. Durham made the point that as a result of the conference at the YMCA in Des Moines, the local Catholic charities
program provided the office space for the newly established American Indian Development Center, but that most of the
funding was provided by the Iowa Conference of United Methodist Church. He said that it appeared to him at the time
that the Methodist representatives had acceded to this donation voluntarily, because of their desire to identify
with what they apparently considered a civil rights problem.Shortly after this incident, Mr. Ron Petite, a national office of the American Indian Movement, arrived in Des Moines.
Mr. Petite, a long-time friends of Dennis Banks, embarked on a dialogue with the Methodist churches in the Des Moines
area which, according to Durham, "resulted in some very ill feelings." Durham said that on one occasion, Petite had
engaged in "a screaming debate over the phone with a Dr. Baskerville, the assistant to Bishop Thomas. After this debate,
Dr. Baskerville, said that at one point Petite "threatened to come over and work him over because he was not proving
enough money... At subsequent meetings held at Des Moines, Ron Petite issued threats and denouncements to many
of the religious leaders in the Des Moines, Iowa area, and in some instances, one instance in particular, it appeared
almost like a robbery. The door was guarded and the men, the officials representing the churches, were told they were
not going to leave until they had contributed, out of their pockets, directly, to a fund."So there was some coercion."
The goals of the American Indian Movement as a result of this experience became much more ambitious in terms of
wheedling or coercing large sums of money from church organizations. In June of 1973, Durham attended a meeting
in Ron Petite's apartment in Des Moines at which Petite said that the Methodist Church had not provided enough
money for the American Indian Development Center and that AIM should therefore go to the Methodist Church - the
church that is, that had provided the most money to date - and "create a scene." An annual conference was
scheduled to take place at the Methodist Church headquarters. A few days prior to the conference, the American
Indian Movement occupied the lawns around the headquarters, pitched their tents and erected their signs. They
demanded $85,000 in bond money for Dennis Banks, and they said they would not leave until this request was granted.
The initial reaction of the church officials was to lock their doors against the demonstrators. However, after
some militant representations from Harvey Major and Ron Petite, the building was left open for the use of the
washroom facilities. Dr. M. Ellsworth Walker, Treasurer of the Iowa Annual Conference of the Methodist Church,
then sent out the following letter to the members of the encampment:"June 6, 1973
To the members of the Indian Encampment:
Although we did not issue you an engraved invitation, we welcome you to the area surrounding the United Methodist
Headquarters building. Our facilities are your facilities.Blessings to you all.
M. Ellsworth Walker"
This communication, which was delivered to the encampment within 20 minutes of the occupation, moved Ron Petite
to say: "We've got them running, I know we'll get our money from them for Dennis Banks now."The church began then to send out fried chicken and other meals to the demonstrators.
Before the conference was over, the United Methodist Church voted to advance $85,000 in bond money for Dennis Banks.
THE OCCUPATION OF THE GRIMES STATE OFFICE BUILDINGThe occupation of the Grimes State Office building in Des Moines on August 22, 1973, was in reality a compromise,
engineered by Doug Durham, as an alternative to Ron Petite's proposal that they kidnap the Governor of the State
of Iowa, Robert D. Ray. Mr. Durham told the story in these words:"Ron Petite had become increasingly upset due to the lack of funding that was submitted by the churches. He
advocated bombing a church on the south side of Des Moines. He had had some confrontations with the Governor
of the State of Iowa, Robert D. Ray, and had advocated kidnapping the Governor to create sympathy for his
demands. He had had a public confrontation with the Governor at the State fair grounds in Des Moines, Iowa, and
it was carried in the papers, showing the Governor with an excessive number of State highway patrolmen as
bodyguards because of the threats he had received from Mr. Petite."One night Ron Petite called Harvey Major and myself over to his apartment at 253 Franklin and said the next
morning we are going to kidnap the Governor and hold him right in his office at the State capitol."And he said, 'Doug, you are going to lead it,' and he said, 'I'll be in Newton, Iowa, at the River View Prison
Release Center, and after you have the Governor kidnapped you will call me.' I knew that nobody would go along
with this, so, the only other choice I had at the instant was to convince him that it would be counterproductive,
and instead to hold an armed press conference in the Grimes State Office Building, occupying the superintendent
of public instruction's office. He finally relented, and it was agreed the next day that we would seize and empty
the Grimes State Office Building, and hold an armed press conference, and forego the plan for kidnapping the
Governor."Durham explained that by "armed press conference" he meant a conference in which the American Indian Movement
participants would present themselves with loaded weapons and bullets and say they were prepared to die for
the occupation of the building until their demands were met - this, in order to portray to the public an armed
occupation that, by its very nature, would result in more press coverage for AIM.The Grimes State Office Building is a two-story building having two wings, with approximately 15,000 to 20,000
square feet on each floor. It is located in downtown Des Moines, near the Capitol. At approximately 11:00 a.m.
on August 22, 1973, ten AIM members bearing arms, among them Doug Durham, occupied the Grimes State Office
Building and ordered people out of it. A set of 12 demands to Govenor Ray, dealing largely with prison
conditions, were given to the press. The demands were immediately transmitted to Governor Ray, who responded
in a letter stating that "some of them were ridiculous, some of them more reasonable and had been met prior to
demands being made, and that they were working on other programs along these lines."Three hours after the occupation began, it was all over, and the 10 armed occupiers had all submitted peacefully
to the arrest. Mr. Durham told the Subcommittee that the decision to submit to arrest was a collective decision,
made after being approached by Captain E. J. Dickenson, of the Iowa state patrol, who told the demonstrators
that if they would not submit to arrest, the police would come in to get them. As Durham told the story:"I called a rollcall vote, and twice received indications that they would not give up. I went back into
conference with them and expressed the opinion to them that we did not have the operational advantage, and
that we had obtained our goals."I was a little concerned at that point. They finally agreed to submit to arrest, and we all were arrested and
released on bond within hours afterwards."Dennis Banks, who was in South Dakota when the occupation commenced, immediately boarded a plane for Des Moines.
He arrived after the occupation was ended and the 10 arrested AIM members had been bonded out. When met Doug
Durham, he said to him, "Good job, Doug. Great job. You put us on the map here. Your proved you can pick up
a rifle. You are a leader."A few days after his arrival, Dennis Banks had a meeting with Governor Ray, arranged by Ron Petite. Durham,
who was present for part of the meeting, said its true purpose:"was to create the impression that Dennis Banks was the peace-bringing mediator who would solve these types
of problems, if needed, in any future situations. It was a program and plan that I saw used and employed by
Banks throughout the rest of my tenure with the American Indian Movement. The newspapers portrayed Banks then
as the peacemaker, a reasonable, peace-loving man."Banks apparently guaranteed that there would be no violent actions or seizures. The Govenor, for his part,
indicated that he would work with AIM as much as possible. As Mr. Durham put it, "it set Dennis Banks up as
a state recognized mediator in Indian problems, with much adulation by the press."
THE SEIZURE OF ANISHINABE PARKIn the early summer of 1974, AIM jumped the American-Canadian border to stage a spectacular seizure of
Anishinabe Park in Kenora, Ontario, and later to occupy a government building and stage a riot on the stairs
of the Canadian parliament in Ottawa, Canada.The trial of Dennis Banks and Russell Means for their involvement in the Wounded Knee occupation began in
January 1974 and dragged on for a number of months. While the trial was still going on, Dennis Banks
traveled to Kenora, Ontario to meet with Louis Cameron, another member of the American Indian Movement in
that area. Two weeks after Banks had traveled to Ontario, Anishinabe Park in Kenora was seized by a group
calling themselves the Ojibway Warriors Society. The Society was, in reality, mostly members of the Amerian
Indian Movement - some, in fact, were Wounded Knee veterans. The Ojibway Warriors Society claimed that the
park should have been returned to them under the benefits of Treaty 3 of 1873, that it was their property
and was taken illegally, any by way of reinforcing their demand, they began to build Molotov cocktails in
a very demonstrative manner.The occupation was attended by members of the Communist Party of Canada, Marxixt-Leninist, including the
leader of the CPC, Vern Harper. The CPC openly boasted in a statement to the "Toronto Globe and Mail" that
they had been involved in the occupation and had helped to fund it. (The Communist Pary to Canada, Marxist-
Leninist is a Maoist organization - one of the stronger Maoist organizations in the Western world - whose
members openly wear Mao buttons. It is not to be confused with the Communist Party of Canada, which follows
the Moscow line. In his testimony, Mr. Durham, on page 65, spoke of the Communist party of Canada,
Marxist-Leninist. However, on page 7 he referred to it simply as the Communist Party of Canada. In the
interest of accuracy, the corrections is made here).As Mr. Durham put the matter, the Anishinabe occupation was another one of those instances where Banks
initiated actions - and then arranged to be called to act as a mediator in achieving a peaceful settlement.Dennis Banks, accompanied by Doug Durham, were summoned to Kenora by the Crown Attorney of Canada, Mr. Ted
Burton, to mediate or negotiate a peacefull settlement with the Ojibway Warriors Society. As Mr. Durham
observed, "in reality, this was AIM negotiating with AIM." Mr. Burton provided transportation from the
international border to Kenora in a government aircraft and paid Banks and Durham $928.00 for their help.
This included food for the warriors in the park.An agreement was reached that the arms would be turned over to responsible government authorities and
that there would be negotiations concerning the problem of the transfer of title. Mr. Durham related that
during the negotiation in Kenora with government officials, he had nudged Banks and whispered to him,
"Dennis, what are you going to do about the guns? You're not going to hand them over?" In reply, Banks
had given Durham a handwritten note reading, "The arms will be hidden and kept inside the park." (This
handwritten note is reproduced in the appendix to the record.) The weapons were, accordingly, buried,
together with the bulk of the Molotov cocktails. "Approximately four old rusty rifles and shotguns were
turned over in front of the press," said Durham, "and I received the honor of throwing in approximately
3 or 4 of at least 30 Molotov cocktails that has been assembled in the park.At a point where negotiations were concluded, the principals in the occupation decided to organize a
caravan and move to Ottawa, the capital city of Canada. There they occupied a government building and
staged a riot on the steps of Parliament. Officials of the Communist Party of Canada, Marxist-Leninist,
were present at both the occupation and the riot. Durham informed the Subcommittee that he was present
during the occupation of the building in Ottawa and that "met with members of the Canadian Mounted
Police and Ottawa Police in an attempt to establish better communications between the occupants of
the government building and law enforcement officials so as to help prevent any recurrence of violence."Apparently some of the members of the Canadian AIM were disturbed by the adverse publicity resulting
from the open identification of the Communist Party of Canada, Marxist-Leninist, with AIM's actions.
Mr. Durham testified:"Mr. Ed Burnstick, the national director of Canadian AIM, issued a statement deploring any
identification of Communist Party causes with the Indian causes. He said, 'We deplore any identification
of Indian causes with the Communists.' This was in the summer of 1974 and in response to some dissension
from the Indian people because of the presence of the Communist Party of Canada. Less than a year later,
as evidence in the May 25 issue of the Berkeley Barb, Ed Burnstick met with the Provisional Revolutionary
Government of Vietnam to celebrate their common victory over imperialism and the United States Government."
AIM AND THE ARMING OF AMERICAN INDIANSAIM members had repeatedly borne arms - and sometimes used them - in their demonstrations and occupations.
In a statement issued in 1973, AIM official Ron Petite urged Indians across the nation to take up arms,
and to carry them at all times. The statement was covered in the following item which appeared in the
"Des Moines Tribune" of August 28, 1973:Petite Urges Indians to Carry Arms
An official of the militant American Indian Movement (AIM) here has urged Indians across the nation to
take up arms.Saying he was instructed to speak on AIM's behalf, Ron Petite of Des Moines called on American Indians
to bear firearms 'at all times to protect ourselves and our families.'Petite, AIM's Midwest national field director, spoke to newsmen only hours after the wounding of AIM
leader Clyde Bellecourt in a shooting on the Rosebud Indian Reservation in South Dakota.Petite disclaimed report that Carter Camp, AIM's president, allegedly shot Bellecourt during a meeting
a meeting on the Sioux reservation.Camp was arrested Monday night in Valentine, Neb., and charged with assault with a deadly weapon on an
Indian reservation. The same charge was filed against Camp's brother, Craig, and Leroy Cassodes. They
were being sought.'Blaming the shooting on Carter Camp is a conspiracy by outside sources to kill two birds with one
stone,' Petite said.
* * *Petite said he received authorization by telephone from Banks to speak for AIM and to urge Indians to
carry weapons. Under questioning, Petite failed to offer specifics about the call to arms."Durham testified that a "social understanding" grant of $6,250 had been used to illegally purchase a
quantity of high-powered semi-automatic rifles, some of them of Czechoslovak manufacture. These weapons,
he said, and been purchased on the West Coast of Canada by AIM member Nogeeghick Aquash, carried across
Canada by sympathetic groups, and them smuggled across the border near Benton Harbor. Durham said that
he had personally seen some 15 of the rifles purchased in Dennis Banks' apartment in Magnolia Court,
East St. Paul, "and later, supposedly, used at the occupation of the Alexian Brothers Novitiate in
Gresham, Wisconsin."Mr. Durham also described in detail, with supporting documents, AIM's plans for an underground railroad
for transporting weapons and supplies across country, into Canada, and various places in the United
States.The confidential AIM programmatic documents Durham submitted for the record carried these suggestions:
RAILROAD OPERATIONSAs AIM matures the need for a realistic 'railroad' system will come more to the fore. Until such time
as the reservations revert to sovereign states, there will be increasing difficulty for Indian warriors
to freely move in the execution of their appointed tasks. To alleviate this problem it is suggested
that each AIM chapter of 20 or more members maintain a 'safe place' (sp).* * *
In order to effect movements of material and peoples at minimum risk, it is suggested that chapters
meet visitors halfway between the nearest chapter that the visitors are coming from. In that way,
'long haul' out-of-state vehicles etc. will not be observed, thus lowering visibility of movement."Mr. Durham also submitted for the record a handwritten instruction from Dennis Banks dealing with the
question of the railroad. The instruction read:"George Roberts, Doug Durham. It will be the combined responsibilities of both of you to maintain the
railroad. You will assume certain risk responsibility that may endanger your life. Under no circumstances
are you allowed to transmit information to uncleared personnel. Clearance will be granted only by D.J.
Banks and Ron Petite. Personnel that you clear must be cleared jointly by Ron and myself. This pertains
to whereabouts. To bring personnel without clearance will constitute a violation of our trust."Durham told the Subcommittee that George Roberts had actually done most of the work in the establishment
of the underground railroad, but that he (Durham) had also participated in this operation in a minor
degree. Later, he said, when the railroad was established, he was provided with names and places to
hide out. He named specifically the Reverend Martin L. Deppe of Chicago, Illinois, who is associated
with the Alliance to End Repression. He said that he had visited Reverend Deppe in his church, and
that Reverend Deppe personally offered to hide him if he was ever running from the government.
PLANS AGAINST THE ALASKA PIPELINEIn December 1973, Dennis Banks prepared and gave to the press a statement attacking the plans for the
Alaska Pipeline and threatening action "that could make Wounded Knee look like a boy scout picnic."
Among other things, the press released said:
"...AIM is considering the adoption of the following plans:A. To physically stop the planned aggression in Indian country.
B. To encourage Indian tribes to resist, by arms if necessary, all attempts to further dispossess them
of sovereign titles.
C. To appeal to the Arab states for financial assistance to aid this defense."The witness said that it is his understanding that Dennis Banks had subsequently denied on several
occasions that he had ever made such statements. However, Mr. Durham testified, he had sat with Dennis
Banks while he wrote the press release, using Durham's pad for the purpose. He submitted for the record
the full text of the original release in Dennis Banks' handwriting.
AIM'S INTERNATIONAL CONTACTSDurham described AIM's extensive international contacts. He said that AIM had funding through groups
in England, France, Germany, Ireland, and South America, and that AIM had held an international treaty
convention in Aberdeen, South Dakota, in the summer of 1974, which was attended by representatives
from many foreign countries. "The idea" said Durham, "was to get all the treaty issues taken out of
the hands of the United States and put here before the World Court or the United Nations.He said that he knew as a fact that representatives of the Irish Republican Army committee had met
with AIM during the trial in St. Paul and that at a later date, Sean O'Connaith, one of the IRA
leaders, had invited the AIM leaders to Dublin.He also testified that Dennis Banks, after his return from a meeting sponsored by the World Council
of Churches in Vienna in the fall of 1974, had reported to him that he had met with officials of the
Palestine Liberation Organization and they had offered their support to him. Durham named a Mr. George
Roberts, owner of the Inca Manufacturing Company in Santa Monica, California, as one of the principal
vehicles for AIM's international contacts. He said that he had first met with Roberts after returning
to the United States from his meeting with Dennis Banks in Yellowknife, Canadian Northwest Territories,
in September of 1973. Roberts, a non-Indian, indicated to Durham that he had traveled to Wounded Knee
during he occupation and had become friendly with Dennis Banks there, and that he had offered to
utilize his contacts with embassies around the world to build the American Indian Movement's
credibility internationally.When he was asked whether he had any reason to believe that Mr. Roberts actually had contacts with
embassies around the world, Durham replied:"I sat in his house while he called Dr. Faustino Perez, in Mexico City and the other embassies, and
spoke in various tongues to these other embassies. He seemed on a first name basis with embassy
personnel, people from the Irish Republican Army, Mexico, Cuba, Germany, East Germany, and various
other parts of the world."He said the purpose of Roberts' call to Dr. Faustino Perez was to explore the possibility of arranging
for Dennis Banks to go into hiding in Cuba.Durham testified that Dennis Banks had advised him, orally and in writing, that there would be a
meeting with representatives of the Peoples Republic of China in Ottawa, Canada, during the last week
of September, and that Banks wanted George Roberts, Durham, Russell Means, and John Trudell to go to
this meeting. Durham said that he personally had not been able to attend the meeting because it had
been postponed, and by the time it took place, Dennis Banks and he were in the southern United States.
It was his understanding that George Roberts and John Trudell had attended it; and he said that he had
heard the conversations had to do with some measure of technical and financial support from the Peoples
Republic of China for AIM.
Mr. Durham summarized in the following words the support which AIM has received from a broad array of
extremist domestic organizations, many of which have international connections:"The Weather Underground published a full page in the back of their Osawatomie fall 1975 issue, stating
'support the Indian resistance.' The Irish Republican Army, as mentioned earlier, met with the leaders
of AIM during the trial in St. Paul. Banks claimed to have met with the Palestine Liberation Organization.
The Iranian Student Association has demonstrated on AIM's behalf and they do have a history of violence.
The Revolutionary Student Brigade had demonstrated on AIM's behalf as have the Puerto Rican Solidarity
Committee and Puerto Rican groups hosted by Fidel Castro in Cuba in 1975. The Militant (The Militant is
the organ of the Socialist Workers' Party, the American Trotskyite organization) has written many articles
supportive of AIM and revolution, and they are a strong defender of AIM's 'rights.' The New World
Liberation Front has bombed some buildings in support of AIM's actions, two houses in Piedmont, Calif.,
were firebombed in this reaction. The Symbionese Liberation Army did name AIM as one of the five groups
to distribute their 'People in Need' program money in 1974. The large amount of support contributed
by the National Lawyers Guild, a group that seems to condone violence, is also indicative of the type
of groups supporting AIM."When he was asked whether AIM readily accepted such support and encouragement, Mr. Durham replied that
in some instances, this support is accepted cheerfully but that AIM was not too happy about SLA name them
in 1974 as one of the five groups to distribute the food contributed to them as part of the Patty Hearst
ransom.AIM also received support from a number of American labor organizations. Durham testified that Ernest
DeMaio, of the United Electrical and Radio and Machine Workers of America, and invited one of the
defendants to address his organization and had pledged funds and support. He said that in a telephone
conversation DeMaio had invited Mark Banks, Dennis' brother, and Durham to address the meeting as
alternate speakers, and they had done so. It is noteworthy that Ernest DeMaio has repeatedly been
identified in sworn testimony before Congressional committees as a member of the Communist Party, U.S.A.,
and that he serves today as representative of the Moscow-dominated World Federation of Trade Unions
at the United Nations.The AFL-CIO in Minnesota, at its 17th Constitutional Convention, passed a resolution on September
25, 1974, which fully supported AIM and criticized the police and the courts. Durham testified that
Paula Giese, non-Indian who worked for the AIM national office, and who openly told him (Durham) that
she was a Trotskyite, claimed that she had authored the main points of this resolution.
AIM'S MYSTERIOUS FINANCESIt was Mr. Durham's estimate that during the two years he was with AIM, AIM received far in excess
of one million dollars from various sources - governmental, church, and private.The Senate Subcommittee on Internal Security is currently attempting to piece together a comprehensive
statement covering all federal funds given to AIM, but because of the complete absence of records, it
is virtually impossible to come up with an accurate aggregate figure for the contributions received
by AIM from all sources, private as well as governmental, or of how these funds were dispersed.The article from the "Detroit News" of March 25, 1973, which was quoted in the section on the Wounded
Knee uprising, reported that as of that date, AIM had received from governmental sources, directly
and indirectly, more than $400,000 in federal funds. This included a single $113,000 grant from the
Office of Economic Opportunity on June 21, 1972, for which AIM leaders had refused to provide any
audit information. It also included the $66,000 in "transportation" from the OEO, as an inducement
to AIM to vacate the premises of the Bureau of Indian Affairs.As for church support for AIM, an article which appeared in the "Omaha World Herald" on March 14,
1973, reported that as of that date, three national church organizations had given a total of
$284,000 to various AIM programs. This article is worth quoting briefly, because it represents one
of the few efforts to date to bring together in one place the facts about religious contributions
to the American Indian Movement:"THREE CHURCHES FURNISH $284,000 FOR AIM
Three national church organizations have given a total of $284,000 to programs involving the
militant American Indian Movement (AIM) in the last two years, a World-Herald check showed.The total doesn't include contributions state or local church groups may have made to AIM.
Nor does it include the $20,000 four denominations gave to last year's 'trail of broken treaties'
caravan, which involved AIM and other Indian groups.None of the money was given for activities promoting violence, church officials said.
Lutherans apparently are the biggest church financial backers of AIM, which led the takeover of
Wounded Knee, S.D., and has been involved in incidents at Fort Robinson, Gordon and Scottsbluff,
Neb., Custer, S.D., Washington, D.C., and elsewhere, the check showed.Lutherans gave about $238,000 to AIM in 1971 and 1972 through the National Indian Lutheran Board,
a national church spokesman said.FOR YOUTH PROGRAM
The money went to Indian self-help programs in different state and included $1,500 to a youth
program in Lincoln, a spokesman said.The U.S. Catholic Conference said in Washington it gave $40,000 last August to an AIM-related
school 'to meet special education needs of disenfranchised native American youth' in Minneapolis.The World Council of Churches recently gave AIM $6,000, a spokesman said in a telephone
interview from New York City.National offices of five other major denominations - United Methodist, Presbyterians,
Episcopalian, Baptist and United Church of Christ - said in New York City that they haven't
helped finance AIM. The National Council of Churches in New York also said it hasn't given
money to AIM.The national office said that local churches and state conferences spend for projects of their
own choosing, and some may have assisted AIM. Reports of such spending aren't given to national
offices, spokesman said."In referring to this article, Mr. Durham made the point that to total of $284,000 did not
include the $85,000 (in bond money) for Dennis Banks put up by the Methodist Church or $500,000
voted by the National Council of Churches in the summer of 1973. (Mr. Durham subsequently
informed the Subcommittee that, to his knowledge, not all of the $500,000 has actually been
turned over to AIM).In August 1973, roughly at the time that Ron Petite issued his call to arms to the Indian people,
he told Doug Durham that he had been asked to submit a request for funds from the Office of
Economic Opportunity to assist in finding employment for Indians in the Des Moines area. The
request was submitted; OEO made a grant in the amount of $4,060; and then, according to Durham's
testimony, Ron Petite and his wife absconded with it. Mr. Durham submitted photostats of 26 checks
for the record, which together completely depleted the grant from the Office of Economic
Opportunity. None of these checks, he said, had to do with the operation of the employment
program. The total of the checks came to $4,058.21 - against the deposit of $4,060.Mr. Durham mentioned several other sources of income. For example, Dennis Banks and Russell Means
received $25,000 from Columbia Studios for their advice on the script of a film about Wounded
Knee. This, testified Durham, had been at the instigation of Marlon Brando. He said that Brando
himself had been a generous contributor to the American Indian Movement, and that he had in
September of 1974, given him a $10,000 check and a handful of money out of his pocket for AIM.
In addition, Brando had provided $25,000 during the Wounded Knee occupation and contributed
substantial property on the West Coast to AIM. He had provided funds for Russell Means and
Dennis Banks.
FOOD STAMPS
Mr. Durham testified that for a long period of time, Dennis Banks was drawing approximately
$300 a month worth of food stamps, despite the fact that he owned approximately $15,000 in trust
property in northern Minnesota, according to a statement he had made to the "Los Angeles Times,"
and despite a fairly substantial income from his participation in the Native American Speakers
Bureau. Durham said that not only did Banks draw the food stamps from the St. Paul offices but
he sometimes sent Durham down to the food stamp office to pick them up for him. He submitted in
evidence a copy of Dennis Banks' food stamp card, bearing the name of Douglas Durham as the
authorized alternative recipient. At one point, he said, "the food stamp office in St. Paul
moved for one week into the national offices of the American Indian Movement, and signed up
everybody they could find for food stamps." Sometimes the food stamps were sold to others at a
discount, and the proceeds were used to purchase arms for members of AIM.
The sworn testimony of Mr. Durham adds important new evidence to the items listed in the
affidavit filed by the U.S. attorney's office in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, in March 1975,
asking federal judge Fred Nichol to disqualify himself from the remaining Wounded Knee
leadership trials. The events leading up to the motion of prejudice and the contents of the
affidavit filed in support were described in the following works in an article which appeared
in the March 4, 1975, issue of the "St. Paul Pioneer Press":"U.S. FIGHTING NICHOL ROLE IN TRIALS
(By Jim George)
The U.S. Attorney's office in Sioux Falls, S.D., has filed a strongly worded motion of
prejudice against Federal Judge Fred Nichol asking the jurist to disqualify himself from the
remaining Wounded Knee leadership trials.Nichol last September dismissed charges here against American Indian Movement (AIM) leaders
Dennis Banks and Russell Means after the government refused to allow a verdict from 11 jurors.
(The 12th had become ill.)Nichol, in a scathing commentary on the U.S. Justice Department, chastised the government for
exercising this right and for improper government conduct during the lengthy trial.In affidavits accompanying the motion, R.D. Hurd, chief prosecutor here at the trial, and
David Gienapp, his aide, cite a list of incidents to back their claim of prejudice against
the government.The motion asked the judge to remove himself from the coming cases of Stanley Holder, Carter
Camp, Leonard Crow Dog and Clyde Bellecourt because he has 'personal bias or prejudice against
the plaintiff (the government').The motion added that from prior conduct, the judge's impartiality might be questioned.
In their affidavits, Hurd and Gienapp claim Nichol often expressed respect for the people
involved in the 71-day takeover of Wounded Knee, S.D., in February of 1973 and sympathy for
what they were trying to accomplish.They noted that at a luncheon during the trial here, Nichol led a standing ovation for
William Kuntsler and later commented he 'didn't give a damn what people said' about it.Nichol's contempt for the FBI was lightly masked during the trial, and the affidavits
recall out-of-court distaste by the judge.Nichol, according to the affidavits, made no secret he thought the FBI had greatly
deteriorated in recent years and singled out Jospeh Trimbach, head of the FBI's Twin Cities
office, for special contempt.Out of court, the affidavits say, Nichol referred to Trimbach as 'a liar' and 'that goddamned
Trimbach.'And at one point in April 1974, according to Gienapp's affidavit, Nichol said that, if the
government didn't dismiss charges against Banks and Means 'the FBI is going to be bloodied
all over the courtroom.'Gienapp, in his statement, attests that the prosecution considered that a threat by the judge.
The affidavits claim Nichol expressed the opinion out of court that Trimbach had lied before
and would again if it helped the FBI.At another point, the jurist expressed the opinion that the Justice Department was more
interested in convicitons than it was in justice, the affidavits claim.Nichol's dismissal of charges against Means and Banks has been appealed to the 8th U.S.
Circuit Court of Appeals, and arguments on the matter will be heard March 12 in St. Louis."
Durham testified that in October 1973 he was called to a meeting in Minneapolis by Dennis
Banks after a man named Pedro Bissonett, the leader of the Oglala-Sioux Civil Rights
Organization, was killed in the Pine Ridge Reservation.Mr. Bissonett had been a fugitive and was shot allegedly while resisting arrest. Present
at the meeting were Reverend John Adams of the United Methodist Church; Dennis Banks;
and leaders of the American Indian Movement from around the country. Leonard Crow Dog
reported to the meeting that he and Russell Means and Dennis Banks had been restrained
from entering the Pine Ridge Reservation for the funeral by a tribal order signed by
tribal judge Tibbet, of the Pine Ridge Reservation. This order was to be appealed at a
hearing in from of Federal Judge Fred Nichol of Sioux Falls, South Dakota. So Durham and
Banks and the others drove to Sioux Falls for the hearing. The outcome of the hearing was
that Russell Means was allowed to enter the reservation but that Dennis Banks was still
restrained from doing so.Mr. Durham then gave the following eyewitness testimony concerning events involving Judge
Nichol, Mrs. Nichol, Dennis Banks and his attorney, which occurred in October 1973:"Immediately after the hearing Dennis Banks came to me and asked me to go around back to
the car and follow he and Judge Nichol to Judge Nichol's home as he had been invited there
by Judge Nichol to meet his wife. I asked him what the occasion was and he said, 'It's
because Mrs. Nichol is a fan of mine.'I waited in back in the car, and Judge Nichol drove by in his car with Dennis Banks and
his attorney in the front seat, and Dennis Banks' wife Kaamook in the back seat. We went
to Judge Nichol's home, where we were entertained with coffee and cookies, and shown Mrs.
Nichol's artifacts.At this time, after some conversation, Judge Nichol informed us that he had decided to
grant the motion to move the trial for Banks and Means to St. Paul, Minn., the change of
venue motion.* * *
Dennis Banks asked me to get a blank membership card of the American Indian Movement out
of my pocket. I removed one - such as this - from my pocket. I will submit to the
subcommittee a sample of the type of card.Dennis Banks made one out for Mrs. Nichol, and across the upper right-hand corner wrote,
'Honorary Member,' and presented it to her.In fairness, I would like to add that Mrs. Nichol did not ask for the membership card,
but she did not refuse it either. She accepted it and placed her arm around the judge's
waist and said, 'Don't worry, boys, if Fred gets too stuffy in the courtroom, I'll be
there to keep him line.'"
THIS ENDS THE TESTIMONY, TO THE SENATE SUBCOMMITTEE TO INVESTIGATE THE ADMINISTRATION
OF THE INTERNAL SECURITY ACT AND OTHER INTERNAL SECURITY LAWS, OF DOUGLAS DURHAM WHO
INFILTRATED THE AMERICAN INDIAN MOVEMENT UNDER THE INSTRUCTIONS OF THE F.B.I.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
American Indian Movement
Council on Security and IntelligenceThese links take you to scanned images of declassified FBI, CIA, Justice Department and White House documents obtained by AIM
under the U.S. Freedom of Information Act.Listing of original document images in directory: FBI ImagesInfo on AIM from the FBI., 1970s
ORIGINAL FBI DOCUMENTS-THUMBNAIL IMAGES.See Council on Security and Intelligence for more Information:
Council on Security and Intelligence.
Rebuttal statement given Friday, 14 december 2000, at the National Press Club in Washington DC, by former Rep. Don Edwards of California, to the FBI's statements against clemency for Peltier.
Rep. Edwards served 16 terms in the House of Representatives, is a former FBI agent himself, and was the longtime chairman at the House Judiciary Subcommittee on Civil and Constitutional Rights which oversaw the Bureau.
12/14/00
As a former Congressman from California for over thirty years, a former FBI agent and a citizen committed to justice, I wish to speak out strongly against the FBI's efforts in opposing the clemency appeal of Leonard Peltier. I served as Chairman of the Subcommittee on Civil and Constitutional Rights in the U.S. House of Representatives. I took a personal interest in Mr. Peltier's case and became convinced that he never received a fair trial. Even the government now admits that the theory it presented againstMr. Peltier at trial was not true. After 24 years in prison, Leonard Peltier has served an inordinate amount of time and deserves the right to consideration of his clemency request on the facts and the merits. The FBI continues to deny its improper conduct on Pine Ridge during the 1970's anin the trial of Leonard Peltier. The FBI used Mr. Peltier as a scapegoat and they continue to do so today. At every step of the way, FBI agents and leadership have opposed any admission of wrongdoing by the government, and they have sought to misrepresent and politicize the meaning of clemencyfor Leonard Peltier. The killing of FBI agents at Pine Ridge was reprehensible, but the government now admits that it cannot prove that Mr. Peltier killed the agents. Granting clemency to Mr. Peltier should not be viewed as expressing any disrespect for the current agents or leadership of the FBI, nor would it represent any condoning of the killings that took place on Pine Ridge. Instead, clemency for Mr. Peltier would recognize past wrongdoing and the undermining of the government's case since trial. Finally, it would serve as a crucial step in the reconciliation and healing between the U.S. Government and NativeAmericans, on the Pine Ridge Reservation and throughout the country. [signature] Don Edwards (D-CA), ret. Member of Congress, 1963-1995 Hon. Don Edwards PO Box 7151 Carmel CA 93921December 17, 2000
Dear Senators Smith and Gregg, Representatives Sununu and Bass, Governor Shaheen, Executive Council, all members of the New Hampshire House and Senate:Frank Clearwater, Buddy Lamont, Clarence Cross, Priscilla White Plume, Julius Badheart Bull, Melvin Spider, Philip Black Elk, Aloysius Long Soldier, Philip Little Crow, Allison Fast Horse, Edward Means Jr., Edward Standing Soldier, Roxeine Roark, Dennis Lecompte, Jackson Washington Cutt, Robert Reddy, Delpheine Crow Dog, Jack R. Coler, Elaine Wagner, Floyd S. Binais, Yvette Lorraine Lone Hill, Leon L. Swift Bird, Martin Montileaux, Stacy Cotter, Edith Eagle Hawk, Jeannette Bissonette, Richard Eagle, Hilda R. Good Buffalo, Jancita Eagle Deer, Ben Sitting Up, Kenneth Little, Leah Spotted Elk, Joseph Stuntz Killsright, James Briggs Yellow, Andrew Paul Stewart, Randy Hunter, Howard Blue Bird, Jim Little, Olivia Binais, Janice Black Bear, Michelle Tobacco, Carl Plenty, Frank Lapointe, Anna Mae Pictou Aquash, Ronald A. Williams, Lydia Cut Glass, Byron Desersa, Lena R. Slow Bear, Hobart Horse, Cleveland Reddest, Betty Jo Dubray, Marvin Two Two, Julia Pretty Hips, Sam Afraid of Bear, Kevin Hill, Betty Means, Sandra Wounded Foot.
The wounded number many many more. These are the dead ... all murdered. Only two of the above murders were ever seriously investigated ... those of Williams and Coler. The recent articles about this story flooding the national news this week are inaccurate and very incomplete; intended, I fear, to mislead the public.
Some of the missing elements are: intimidation of a targeted population by the use of terrorist tactics, murder by death squads, energy policy/mineral corporation interests, squashing of dissident groups by unlawful means, misuse of police power, corruption of the judicial process including: coercion of witnesses through terrorization, knowing use of fraudulent documents, suppression of evidence, manufacture of evidence and the denial of constitutional rights.
I am a New Hampshire citizen, born and raised here. I come from a large, ordinary middle class family; none of us has ever been in prison, thank God. My Dad, who died this summer, was twice wounded at the Battle of the Bulge. My brother captained river boats in Viet Nam. We are hardworking people; we lead quiet lives; we care about our nation. We are all very concerned about the story I am alluding to above, that of U.S. prisoner, Leonard Peltier--the one Amnesty International calls a political prisoner of the U.S. government.
When the U.S. prosecutor says on the record, and I quote, we do not know who shot those agents, unquote...and a man remains in prison. When the key witness for extradition goes before a Canadian tribunal and recants her affidavit and testifies to being held incommunicado for weeks by the F.B.I. while coached on the testimony to be given and threatened that she will be killed and/or have her children taken away. When teen-age witnesses are tied to chairs and terrorized by grown men in order to gain the desired testimony. When in an earlier, fair trial, two co-defendants are acquitted by an all white jury by reason of self-defense. When exculpatory ballistics evidence is intentionally withheld from the jury. When (evidence of) a red pick-up truck is transformed to an orange and white van from the first trial to the second. When a book exposing the truth of the incident and trials is kept from the public by government officials via frivolous lawsuits for the better part of a decade during (all) subsequent appeals.
When the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights reports findings of: ..."spurious actions by the FBI". " An unprecedented climate of fear and terror gripped the Pine Ridge Reservation for the next three years... " " These tensions were exacerbated during the regime of tribal president Dick Wilson and his vigilante, self-termed "goon squad." "During this period there were over 60 unsolved murders on the reservation for which the investigatory responsibility lay with the FBI."
"In memoranda to the U.S. Justice Department, the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights reported that the FBI was an extraneous force on the reservation whose agents often lacked any comprehensive understanding of Indian culture or traditions. It was noted that the FBI's actions and investigations were seen as biased, and were the source of much tension and controversy. The Commission recommended that the FBI be relieved of its responsibility to investigate felonies on the reservation. This recommendation was never implemented."
(excerpts from: 11/01/99, Statement About FBI Involvements On Pine Ridge Reservation : by William F.Muldrow, Former Director (Retired) Rocky Mountain Regional Office, U.S. Commission on Civil Rights)
When we subsequently see an unprecedented public display by the nation's formerly prestigious national police force in an unethical effort to persuade the president and perpetuate half truths at best.
When I consider these elements, then I conclude that something surely is very wrong. And then I have to wonder, what country is this? Is this my country? And I ask, where are my elected leaders?
There is no question that two young special agents were murdered...and that is very sad and unfortunate. There is no question either that 60+ Lakota people, including women and children, were murdered...and that is also very sad and equally unfortunate. There is a long trail of ruthlessness and blood winding through this nasty story. Many families still anguish and suffer over the violent deaths of loved ones in 1972-75. I have researched the story extensively. There is not much doubt in my mind that Leonard Peltier was vengefully railroaded, his trial not even remotely fair.
What concerns me is that his incarceration still continues.... 25 years later, after ample evidence of misconduct and illegal shennanigans has been pulled from government files through the Freedom of Information Act. After millions of people have signed petitions and contacted their government pleading for intercession. After human rights organizations and church groups all over the world have contacted our government. After political and spiritual leaders both here and abroad have contacted our government. After even a federal judge who sat on one of the appeals has written the government recommending both clemency and acknowledgment of the government's responsibility in this tragedy. Still, it is an ongoing national disgrace, a sad and shameful chapter in modern history.
What also greatly alarms me, though, is the implication for the future of the nation, the precedent that is set by this story. Leonard Peltier was denied by our government the fundamental constitutional rights guaranteed to every citizen. When an agency of the government takes the law into its own hands, and abuses and misuses its powers, an inevitable erosion of public trust ensues. When the government sets aside the Constitution, there is no foundation, there is no democracy, there are no freedoms. When no one speaks up, every citizen is in grave peril, every single one of us is impacted.
This is not the kind of legacy I wish to leave for the children in my family, and for the generations yet unborn.
I am writing to those of you in leadership, because I want you to speak up for me and everyone in this matter. I am willing to send you information about this story and/or to meet with you about it. We do not get much news about it...except when the F.B.I. puts out the very erroneous version they want us to believe. The story is very famous abroad, in Europe and elsewhere...and certainly does not represent our finest hour, nor does it win us many friends among decent people.
I hereby request that you, each of you, contact the president about Mr. Peltier's clemency petition which is now under consideration. Not to speak up about this matter is complicity in a whole collection of horrible crimes--crimes and cover-up at the highest levels of government. Time is of the essence. The time for decency is long over; this man should be immediately freed and returned to his people. Please urge President Clinton to release Leonard Peltier.
Thank you.
Respectfully submitted,
Bonnie Winona WhittemoreWhite House Citizen's Comments Line:
Tel.: 202-456-1111 President's Fax Number: 202-456-2461FREE LEONARD PELTIER !!!!!
Call the white house today 202-456-1111 OR 1-877-561-1364
Ask that the President release Leonard Peltier.
Urge him to do it now.check out the FBI documents about Leonard Peltier at AIM's Council on Security and Intellegence
Hundreds march for Peltier's releaseBY JODI RAVE LEE Lincoln Journal Star
11 december 2000 NEW YORKThe theft of a pair of cowboy boots led two FBI agents to South Dakota's Pine Ridge Indian Reservation - and their death - a quarter century ago. On Sunday, hundreds from across the country rallied here for the release of the Native activist found guilty of those murders.
Last month, President Clinton ignited hope among Leonard Peltier supporters after announcing he would review the American Indian Movement leader's clemency application. Clinton has less than 40 days to make a decision before leaving office.
"This could be a very human act for which he will be remembered," said Heidi Boghosian, executive director of the National Lawyers Guild. "It's a small window of opportunity."
Boghosian united with hundreds in a march from New York's Union Square to the United Nations building as the momentum for clemency swept people of all nations to the city streets, some joining a chorus of: "Freedom is in the air. Clemency for Peltier." Scores more carried signs bearing messages such as, "Begin Native Reconciliation, Free Peltier."
Forty-four New York police officers looked on as a contingent of Pine Ridge, S.D., residents led the march.
The Leonard Peltier Defense Committee organized Sunday's march to coincide with the United Nation's 52nd anniversary of Human Rights Day. Similar marches were held in San Francisco and Minneapolis Sunday in support of Peltier, who has been imprisoned for nearly 24 years. He is serving two consecutive life sentences for the deaths of two FBI agents shot in 1975.
Peltier, 56, is arguably the only person convicted of murder during a "reign of terror" described by residents of the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation. Between 1973 and 1976, more than 60 AIM members and supporters were killed there.
"We want a Congressional committee with subpoena power that can subpoena 1,000 pages of documents that would tell what the FBI was doing on Pine Ridge," said Bruce Ellison, involved with AIM court proceedings since 1975.
On the 25th anniversary of the slaying this summer, FBI Director Louis Freeh praised a recommendation against parole for Peltier, saying: "The FBI cannot forget this cold-blooded crime, nor should the American people. ... The rule of law has continued to prevail over the emotion of the moment."
Freeh said the two agents were shot first from 250 yards away and then through the face at close range as they lay wounded.
Meanwhile, Peltier supporters have said he never received a fair trial. He has since become an international symbol of America's perceived unjust treatment of Native people.
"It's easy to say America slaughtered Native people 200 years ago," said Jennifer Harbury, a Peltier attorney, "but it's very embarrassing to say our generation slaughtered Native people.
" Peltier, a member of North Dakota's Turtle Mountain Chippewa Tribe, has gained the support of world leaders, such as the late Mother Theresa, Nelson Mandela, the Dalai Lama and Archbishop Desmond Tutu. Other supporting organizations include Amnesty International, European, Italian and Belgium parliaments, National Council of Churches, UNITY: Journalists of Color and the National Congress of American Indians.
The turbulent years at Pine Ridge are recounted in Peter Matthiessen's bestseller, "In the Spirit of Crazy Horse." After its publication in 1983, the book was kept off shelves for nine years. The resulting legal case was finally thrown out of court, but not before it became the longest legal battle in publishing history.
Peltier's imprisonment today leads back to a sweltering day, June 26, 1975. Here's a summarized account:
FBI agents Jack Coler and Ronald Williams went to the Pine Ridge Reservation to inquire about the theft of pair of cowboy boots. The men were searching for Jimmy Eagle, who allegedly took them from a "drinking buddy during a brawl.
"Eagle's trail led the agents to the Jumping Bull property at the Oglala community. A shootout erupted upon their arrival, resulting in the deaths of the two agents and one Native man, Joe Kills Right Stuntz.
No one was convicted of Stuntz's death. The deaths of Coler and Williams, however, led to one of the largest manhunts in FBI history.
Consequently, four AIM members - Peltier, Eagle, Dino Butler and Bob Robideau - were charged with murder. Charges against Eagle were dropped. Butler and Robideau were later acquitted by an all-white jury in Iowa.
Peltier, who had fled to Canada after the shootings, was extradited. He went to trial in Fargo, N.D., in March 1977, where he was found guilty.
Between 1982 and 1986, Peltier has requested - and been denied - a retrial based on new evidence received through the Freedom of Information Act. The evidence included formerly withheld ballistics reports that arguably would have led to an acquittal.
In 1985, U.S. Prosecutor Lynn Crooks said no evidence existed against Peltier. That admission led to additional new trial requests between 1991 and 1994, which were also denied.Meanwhile, all Peltier's requests for parole have been denied.
He will not be eligible for parole again until 2008.
In 1991, Judge Gerald Heaney of the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals recommended clemency for Peltier.
Clinton, who early in his first term said he would review Peltier's case, visited Pine Ridge village last summer. He was the first president since Calvin Coolidge to set foot on the reservation.
What is the likelihood he will grant clemency?
"The odds of two long-haired militant Indian men (Robideau and Butler) being tried and found not guilty before an all-white jury in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, were a million to one," said Ellison. "Odds don't mean anything."
