Vernon Bellecourt
| Vernon Bellecourt | |
|---|---|
 Bellecourt ca. 1970s |
|
| Born | October 17, 1931 White Earth Indian Reservation |
| Died | October 13, 2007 (aged 75) Minneapolis, Minnesota |
| Nationality | White Earth Band of Ojibwe |
| Other names | WaBun-Inini |
| Known for | American Indian Movement leader |
Vernon Bellecourt, Indian name WaBun-Inini, (October 17, 1931 – October 13, 2007)[1] was a member of the White Earth Band of Ojibwe (located in Minnesota), and a Native American rights activist, one of the highest leaders in the American Indian Movement (AIM). In the Ojibwe language, his name meant "Man of Dawn."[1] [2]
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[edit] Biography
[edit] Early years
One of 12 children in his family, Bellecourt was born on the White Earth Indian Reservation, where he lived until he was sixteen years old. In 1947 his family moved to the city of Minneapolis, where his parents sought better opportunities for themselves and their children. When Bellecourt was nineteen, he was convicted of robbing a Saint Paul, Minneapolis tavern and sentenced to time in St. Cloud prison.[3]
At his release, he started working as a hairdresser and opened a series of beauty salons in Saint Paul.[3][4] He married and had children with his wife. In the mid 1960s, he sold his business and moved his family near Aspen, Colorado.[4]
[edit] American Indian Movement
Bellecourt was a long-time leader in the American Indian Movement, which his younger brother, Clyde Bellecourt, helped found in 1968. Vernon soon became involved as well. He co-founded the AIM chapter in Denver, and was its first Executive Director. It worked in urban areas to ensure civil rights for American Indians, as well as to educate people about their cultural and spiritual heritage.[5]
Bellecourt took part in the 1972 Trail of Broken Treaties caravan to Washington, DC. He served as a negotiator during AIM's occupation of the Bureau of Indian Affairs headquarters building at the Department of Interior. Bellecourt was present briefly during the 1973 Wounded Knee occupation at Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in South Dakota. He acted as an AIM spokesman and fundraiser during the 71-day standoff with federal agents.
After Wounded Knee, Bellecourt worked with the International Indian Treaty Council, which advocates on behalf of Indigenous rights throughout the Western Hemisphere. He became a leader of AIM’s work abroad, meeting with foreign leaders such as Daniel Ortega of Nicaragua, Muammar al-Gaddafi of Libya, and Palestine Liberation Organization chairman Yasser Arafat.[3]
Bellecourt was active for many years in the campaign to free AIM activist Leonard Peltier, who was convicted in 1977 of killing two FBI agents during a 1975 shootout on the Pine Ridge Reservation. He was sentenced to two consecutive life sentences.
In 2002 Paul DeMain, editor of the independent News from Indian Country, published an editorial saying that he had been told by confidential sources that Peltier had bragged in 1975 to other AIM members about killing at least one of the agents. He also wrote that AIM leaders had feared Anna Mae Aquash, the highest ranking woman in AIM, may have been an informant and ordered her execution. She was found dead on the Pine Ridge Reservation on February 1976 and was found to have been shot in the back of the head in late December 1975. In 2003 a federal grand jury indicted Arlo Looking Cloud and John Graham in the murder of Aquash. Looking Cloud was convicted in 1974, at a trial in which witnesses testified about Peltier's bragging. Graham was extradited from Canada in 2007 and indicted by the state of South Dakota in 2009. He was convicted of felony murder of Aquash in 2010. Both men are serving life sentences. Authorities are continuing to investigate the murder. The two daughters of Aquash believe that only high-ranking leader(s) of AIM could have ordered her execution.
[edit] Sports mascots and nicknames
As president of the National Coalition on Racism in Sports and Media, Bellecourt worked to end the unauthorized use of American Indian tribal land nicknames in American sports. Bellecourt fought against nicknames such as the Washington Redskins, Atlanta Braves or Kansas City Chiefs. He was arrested twice in Cleveland in protest of the Cleveland Indians' mascot, Chief Wahoo. During the 1997 World Series Bellecourt was arrested for setting fire to a stuffed doll of Chief Wahoo while protesting outside of Jacobs Field. Charges against him were dropped.[6] Bellecourt was arrested in 1998 but was not charged.
[edit] Final days
In August 2007, Bellecourt accepted an invitation from the Venezuelan government to attend the First International Congress of Anti-imperialist Indigenous Peoples of America. He met with President Hugo Chavez in Venezuela. The two discussed the possibility of Chavez' providing aid to Native American groups.[2]
According to his brother Clyde, Bellecourt fell ill soon after the trip and was hospitalized. He died of pneumonia at age 75, in Minneapolis where he lived.[2]
[edit] References
- ^ a b "AIM Leader Vernon Bellecourt Dies at 75". AP. http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5iJxB-9AliRGcw5gKuYnJiiIhWWqAD8S8Q4R80. Retrieved 2007-10-13.
- ^ a b c "Native Amer. Activist Bellecourt Dies, 75". CBS News. 2007-10-14. http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2007/10/14/national/main3365284.shtml. Retrieved 2007-10-14.
- ^ a b c Rosenblum, Gail; Levy, Paul (2007-10-15). "Vernon Bellecourt: A lifetime of protest". Star Tribune: pp. A1. ISSN 0895-2825. http://www.startribune.com/462/story/1484502.html. Retrieved 2007-10-16
- ^ a b De Leon, David (1994). Leaders from the 1960s: A Biographical Sourcebook of American Activism. Greenwood Press. pp. 29. ISBN 0313274142. http://books.google.com/?id=M5O66-pLg_MC&pg=PA29&dq=%22vernon+bellecourt%22.
- ^ http://www.nativeamericanchurch.com/InRembrance/VernonBellecourt.html "In Remembrance: Vernon Bellecourt"], Native American Church
- ^ "Ohio v. Vernon Bellecourt, et al.". Court TV. http://www.courttv.com/archive/verdicts/bellecourt.html. Retrieved 2007-10-15.
[edit] External links
- De Leon, David (1994). Leaders from the 1960s: A Biographical Sourcebook of American Activism. Greenwood Press. pp. 29. ISBN 0313274142. http://books.google.com/?id=M5O66-pLg_MC&pg=PA29&dq=%22vernon+bellecourt%22.
