Talk:Dick Wilson (tribal chairman)

Leonard Peltier

I deleted a sentence regarding Peltier. It might be good just to link back to his article. For the meantime, though, the statement was an example of creeping bias as it essentially said "Leonard was convicted but Amnesty said he was innocent." Amnesty International considered him - at least at one time - to be a political prisoner (I'm not sure it's been verified they still do). That is not an assessment of his role in the murders.

Yes, you're right on both counts. Thanks for catching these goofs. --Dansato 13:37, 7 May 2007 (UTC)Dan Sato

General

This is to nice to dick wilson where is the info about the goons killing and shooting people and where are the talks about the attempts to impeach him.

NO WAY IS THIS ARTICLE NEUTRAL.

Not sure why 2/3 of this article is about 'excusing' the murder of the two FBI guys. (what does that have to do with Dick Wilson?)

How about sticking to the verifiable facts about Dick Wilson "good or bad" rather than quoting 'slanted sources'. Maybe we can learn something about him. --Oysterstew (talk) 22:03, 24 September 2008 (UTC)

Yeah we can learn that he is a pig and a murderer chicken. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 195.23.133.163 (talk) 17:08, 13 May 2009 (UTC)

I agree with Oysterstew here. I don't no the first thing about Dick Wilson, AIM, or Peltier. But no way this article meets NPOV, not even a bit. The unsigned comment above simply reinforces that this article is completely agenda-driven. I have thus nominated it for a NPOV check. Biasedbulldog (talk) 04:57, 19 July 2009 (UTC)

The stuff about the Peltier case is relevant to Dick Wilson because Wilson's "reign of terror" (see Gordon affidavit) created the atmosphere of fear in which the murders took place. Wilson is historically important mainly because he is connected to this crime. And do not be surprised by highly emotional comments like those above, any more than you would by comments about Stalin or Pinochet. Wilson did some pretty bad things, things that I think are well documented. --Dansato —Preceding undated comment added 05:49, 12 July 2010 (UTC).

The Gordon affidavit is considered a primary source. Editors on Wikipedia are required to use secondary published sources, preferably from peer-reviewed journals, academic presses, or otherwise reliable sources - we are using what historians and mainstream writers have documented, based on their review of much evidence. There has been plenty written about this which is available for study.Parkwells (talk) 14:05, 7 June 2011 (UTC)

Name and status

The NY Times in his obituary identifies him as Richard Wilson, elected president of the tribe, and that is what the later elected officers are also called, such as Cecilia Fire Thunder. Why is Wilson referred to here as "Dick", which was a nickname used by family and friends, and tribal chairman? The tribe's constitution of 1936 called for an elected president and vp, and that is the government described in the Wikipedia article on the Pine Ridge Reservation.Parkwells (talk) 15:13, 6 June 2011 (UTC)

Found that the title of Chairman and President were used interchangeably since the 1936 Indian Reorganization Act and the tribe's constitution. Editors may want to make a choice here, or show that both are applicable.Parkwells (talk) 18:24, 6 June 2011 (UTC)

Focus of article

Agree it needs to focus on facts about Wilson, rather than so much on Wounded Knee Incident, although his abuses so aroused opponents as to directly contribute to that. More has been added since earlier comments on the Talk page about the GOONs and violent suppression of political opponents. Editors need to consult academic histories as well as newspaper accounts of the time; this has been studied since the events took place.Parkwells (talk) 15:16, 6 June 2011 (UTC)