American Indian Movement

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The American Indian Movement (AIM), is a Native American activist organization in the United States. AIM came onto the international scene with its seizure of the Bureau of Indian Affairs headquarters in Washington, D.C., in 1972 and the 1973 standoff at Wounded Knee, South Dakota, on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation. AIM was co-founded in 1968 by Dennis Banks, George Mitchell, Herb Powless, Clyde Bellecourt, Eddie Benton-Banai, and many others in the Native American community, almost 200 total. Russell Means was another early leader. The party was involved in the Rainbow Coalition (Fred Hampton).

In the decades since AIM's founding, the group has led protests advocating Indigenous American interests, inspired cultural renewal, monitored police activities and coordinated employment programs in cities and in rural reservation communities across the United States. AIM has often supported other indigenous interests outside the United States as well.

Contents 1 Early AIM protest tactics 2 The Longest Walk and The Longest Walk 2 3 Connection to Other Minorities 4 Other activities 5 Ideological differences within AIM 6 Notes, References 7 External links

[edit] Early AIM protest tactics

The tactics AIM adopted were premised on the fact that Indian activists failed to achieve results at the time of its founding. AIM believed that advocates for Indian interests who had worked within the American political system had not been effective. The political system simply ignored Indian interests. The AIM leadership decided at its founding that a more aggressive approach had to be adopted in order for their voices to be heard. Up to this time, Indian advocacy had been passive and consisted of the typical lobbying effort with the Congress and the state legislatures.^[1]

AIM used the American press and media to present its own unvarnished message to the American public. It did so by ensuring that the members of the press would have an event they wanted to cover for their respective newspaper or television/radio station. If successful, news outlets would seek out AIM spokespersons for interviews and receive its message. Instead of relying on traditional lobbying efforts with the Congress or state legislature, AIM directly sought out the American public to ensure it would get AIM’s message. AIM was always on the look out for an event that would result in publicity. Sound bites such as the AIM Song were often caught on camera and quickly became associated with the movement.

The seizure of the Mayflower replica on Thanksgiving Day in 1970 during ceremonies commemorating the 350th anniversary of the Pilgrim’s landing at Plymouth Rock, the occupation of Mount Rushmore in 1971, the Trail of Broken Treaties march and takeover of the Bureau of Indian Affairs headquarters in Washington, D.C. in 1972, AIM’s occupation of Wounded Knee on the Pine Ridge reservation in 1973, and other events during the 1970s were designed to achieve this effect. All of these events were undertaken to ensure AIM would be noticed in order to highlight its belief that the rights of Indian people had eroded. ^[2]

[edit] The Longest Walk and The Longest Walk 2

The Longest Walk, one of the American Indian Movement's famous marches, took place during the year of 1978. This 3,600 mile walk's initiate purpose was to gather enough aid and support to stop the proposed legislation and abolish Native American treaties with the United States government after eleven new legislative bills were introduced by the 95th United States Congress. These treaties were supposed to protect the remaining pieces of Native sovereignty.

On July 15, 1978, The Longest Walk marched into Washington D.C. with several hundreds of supporters marching alongside them, including American boxer Muhammed Ali, American Senator Ted Kennedy and actor Marlon Brando. The Longest Walk of 1978 led to the defeat of the eleven legislative bills, hence, protecting the remaining Treaty rights that the Native American people possessed. Out of this defeat came the passing of the American Indian Religious Freedom Act. ^[3]

On February 11, 2008, a 8,000 mile walk starting from the San Francisco Bay area for Native American Rights, Environment Protection, and to Stop Global Warming reached Washington D.C after approximately 175 days, crossing 26 states on two different routes. The Longest Walk 2, as it was referred to by the walkers, consisted of over 100 Native American nations and an international group that walked and picked up over 8,000 bags of garbage on their way to Washington D.C. In Washington, the walkers delivered a thirty page manifesto, The Manifesto of Change, and a list of demands that included mitigation for climate change, environmental sustainability plans, the call for the protection of sacred sites and items that called for a response to Native American sovereignty and health. This walk also commemorated the thirtieth anniversary of the original Longest Walk. ^[4]

[edit] Connection to Other Minorities

In view of the nature of its more provocative advocacy for Indian rights and the experience of other minority groups during the civil rights era, AIM encountered a similar reaction from the government.^[5] The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) used paid informants to report on AIM’s activities and its members. ^[6]

[edit] Other activities

AIM has been active in opposing the use of indigenous caricatures as mascots for sports teams such as the Cleveland Indians, the Atlanta Braves, the Chicago Blackhawks and the Washington Redskins. AIM has organized protests at World Series and Super Bowl games involving those teams. Protesters at these games hold signs with slogans saying "Indians are people not mascots," or "Being Indian is not a character you can play ^[7]." Although these requests were ignored for years, AIM is finally receiving attention in the mascot debate. NCAA schools such as Florida State University,University of Utah, and Central Michigan University have recently approached the tribes they are representing and have requested permission to portray their mascot in a way that honors Native Americans, rather than degrades them. So far these schools have had a positive response, and have been able to keep their former mascots while satisfying the requests of Native Americans and the AIM to properly portray Indian mascots in a positive light.

AIM has been committed to improving the conditions that Native peoples face. They have founded institutions to address those needs including the Heart of The Earth School, Little Earth Housing, International Indian Treaty Council, AIM StreetMedics, American Indian Opportunities and Industrialization Center (one of the largest Indian job training programs), KILI radio, and Indian Legal Rights Centers. ^[8]

During the Sandinista/Indian conflict in Nicaragua of the mid-1980s, Russell Means sided with Miskito Indians opposing the Sandinista government due to allegations of forced relocations of as many as 8,500 Miskito. Predictably, this stance damaged some of AIM's support from many White dominated left wing organizations in the U.S., who opposed Contra activities and supported the Sandinista movement. Contra activities included insurgent recruitment among Nicaraguan Indian groups including some Miskitos. Means' position recognized the difference between opposition to the Sandinista government by the Miskito, Sumo, and Rama on one hand, and the Reagan administration's support of the Contras, who were dedicated to the overthrow of the Sandinista regime. ^[9]

More recently, Banks and the Bellecourts have rallied in support of John Graham and Arlo Looking Cloud, who were indicted in 2003 for the 1976 murder of Anna Mae Pictou-Aquash. Means and other AIM affiliates believe that those who ordered Aquash's murder, even if they are AIM leaders, should be held accountable. Means argues that Looking Cloud's conviction has made Looking Cloud a scapegoat for those who actually ordered Aquash's murder. Each of the current AIM factions accuses the other of complicity in Aquash's murder.^[10]

Many AIM chapters remain committed to confronting the government and corporate forces that allegedly seek to marginalize indigenous peoples.^[11] Some of these activities include challenging the ideological foundations of anti-indigenous policies which they believe are exemplified in national holidays such as Columbus Day ^[12] and Thanksgiving. AIM argues that Thanksgiving should be a National Day of Mourning, and protests the continuing theft of indigenous peoples' territories and natural resources. ^{[13][Need quotation on talk to verify][14][Need quotation on talk to verify][15][Need quotation on talk to verify]}

AIM has awakened the national moral conscience about historical symbols. It has sought to revise historical symbols that denigrated and demeaned Indian peoples. By challenging the national conceptualization of historic events that are understandably controversial for Native Americans, such as the Thanksgiving story and the Columbus story, AIM has helped the fully encapsulate the collective memory of U.S. founding and assert the Native American perspective in U.S. history. Its efforts are recognized and supported by countless institutional leaders in politics, education, arts, religion, and media ^[16].

In April 2003, AIM chapters met at a conference with the founder of the Center for the SPIRIT (Support and Protection of Indian Religions and Indigenous Traditions) in order to discuss plans to protect and maintain Native American religious rights ^[17] In June of that year, American and Canadian tribes joined together internationally to pass the "Declaration of War Against Exploiters of Lakota Spirituality." SPIRIT teamed up with the American Indian Movement in order to declare war against all "plastic Indians." They felt they were being mocked and exploited by those who were marketing the sales of replicated Native American spiritual objects and impersonating their sacred religious ceremonies as a tourist attraction for the purpose of entertainment. AIM delegates are currently in the process of trying to adopt a policy requiring a tribal identification card for anyone claiming to represent the Native American people in any sort of public forum or venue. They are also trying to pass legislature making it illegal to falsely portray the image of a medicine man or woman as well as the sales of replicated sacred ceremonial objects.

In February of 2004, AIM gained a great deal more media attention for their cause by marching from Washington D.C. to Alcatraz island. This was one of many times Indian activists have used the island, in part memorializing the occupation of Alcatraz. Their 2004 march was in support of Leonard Peltier who they felt was wrongly imprisoned and became a symbol of spiritual and political resistance for Native Americans ^[18]. They also held protests against the Lewis and Clark Bicentennial, and even threatened to blow up the keel boat of the nationally recognized re-enactment group^{[citation needed]}.

In December 2008, a delegation of Lakota Sioux, including Russell Means, delivered to the U.S. State Department a declaration of secession from the United States to the U.S. State Department. Citing many broken treaties by the U.S. government in the past, and the loss of vast amounts of territory originally awarded in those treaties, the group announced its intentions to form a separate nation within the U.S. known as the Republic of Lakotah. ^[19]

From these initiatives, many other Native American rights activists have created groups such as WARN (Women of All Red Nations), NATIVE (Native American Traditions, Ideals, Values Educational Society), LISN (League of Indigenous Sovereign Nations), and the IPC (Indigenous Peoples Caucus)^[20]. Although each group may have its own specific goals or focus, they are all fighting for the same principles of respect and equality for Native Americans.

[edit] Ideological differences within AIM

In 1993, AIM split into two main factions, each claiming that it was the authentic inheritor of the AIM tradition, and that the other had betrayed the original principles of the movement. One group, based in Minneapolis, Minnesota and associated with the Bellecourts, is known as the AIM-Grand Governing Council, while the other segment of the movement, led by, among others, Russell Means, was named AIM-International Confederation of Autonomous Chapters.

The split was formalized when the latter group issued its "Edgewood Declaration" in 1993, citing organizational grievances and authoritarian leadership by the Bellecourts. However, ideological differences seem to have simmered for a long time, with the Grand Governing Council (GGC) presenting a spiritual, albeit more mainstream, approach to activism. The GGC tends toward a more centralized, controlled political philosophy. The autonomous chapters argue that AIM has always been organized as a series of decentralized, autonomous chapters, with local leadership that is accountable to local constituencies. The autonomous chapters reject the assertions of central control by the Minneapolis group as contrary both to indigenous political traditions, and to the original philosophy of AIM.

[edit] Notes, References

Weyler, Rex (1982). Blood of the Land. The Government and Corporate War Against the American Indian Movement. Random House. ISBN 0394717325. 

[edit] External links

• AIM Grand Governing Council homepage
• American Indian Movement of Colorado
• International Confederation of Autonomous chapters of AIM
• Encyclopedia of North American Indians: American Indian Movement (requires registration)
• AIM's "Background on US Government War Against AIM"
• Articlesabout A.I.M. by Ward Churchill and others.
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