RENEGADES The Second Battle Of Wounded Knee

Susan L.M. Huck is a graduate of Syra­ and a few lesser pranks. But Justice cuse University , with advanced degrees Department lawyers are not likely to from the University of Michigan and prosecute "vigorously" any of the official Clark University. _ _ ....._ --_ charges. Dr. Huck has taught You see, Russell Means is different. He as a university pro­ is a radical leader, one of those who fessor of both geog­ declared themselves an independent na­ raphy and sociol­ tion at Wounded Knee. He is one of those ogy, lectured before Establishment-supported, Establishment­ academic audiences protected, plastic revolutionaries who can on four contin ents, get away with anything. acted asadvisor to one of the world's lead­ The organization he belongs to, the ing encyclopedias, and is a Contributing so-called "American Indian Movement" Editor to The Review Of The News. hereinafter known as A.LM., has received at least $400,000 in grants from the • SAY , all you citizens out there, federal Office of Economic Opportunity, wouldn't you like a free trip to Washing­ and at least $300,000 from the churches ton to meet with White House officials of the United States, as well as from the and tell them what's bothering you? World Council of Churches. And when Wouldn't you like to be invited into the A.LM. whistles for the press, the press White House to discuss, let us say, the moves in its heavy artillery and proceeds way the federal government has increas­ to make Means and his Hollywooden ingly distorted and ignored the clear Indians with warpaint by Avon into meaning of the Constitution of the Noble Savagesand martyrs to a Cause. United States? Using the methods of "confrontation Pick a topic - any topic. This country politics" as taught by the late Saul is full of citizens who wouldn't mind Alinsky and assorted Communists, and registering some grievances with the Presi­ working in the fruitful vineyards of legal dent's staff. But we never get the oppor­ confusion resulting from generations of tunity; we are never invited. messy legislation and politics which sur­ Perhaps we are just going about it the round the status of the American Indian, wrong way. A.I.M. has been able to fulfill its assigned What you have to do is get yourself role in America's larger Phony Revolu­ charged with larceny, civil disorder, ob­ tion. structing federal officers, burglary, as­ Phony, you say? It looks real enough! sault, arson, unlawful possession of fire­ The results are a revolution, an overturn­ arms, and conspiracy. That's how Russell ing of our entire social system - revolu­ Means got his invitation to the White tionary "justice," revolutionary educa­ House. And, had the Justice Department tion , revolutionary economics, you name tried, it could have added insurrection, it. How can we call it phony? kidnapping , cattle-rustling, auto theft, A genuine revolution is not govern- MAY, 1973 ment-sponsored; George Washington was are being massively deceived, the Indians not on King George's payroll. But A.I.M. are being sold out, which is a lot more received a continuous stream of federal uncomfortable . During the past year, the handouts from its founding in 1968 to Phony Revolution has caused more tribal Wounded Knee II in 1973, and A.I.M. is and family dissension than many thought only one of the smaller terrorist outfits possible. It has disrupted or paralyzed which our federal government has been tribal government. Residents of Pine pleased to subsidize over the years. Ridge have been subjected to renewed Also, a genuine revolution is not gov­ heavy-handedness from those Great White ernment-protected; British authorities Fathers in Washington, in the form of used to award American patriots the "occupation" by three hundred federal Order of the Hempen Necktie , not invita­ marshals and agents and swarms of addi­ tions to Buckingham Palace. By contrast, tional bureaucrats. They have seen A.I.M.'s leaders have been permitted, for A.I.M.'s thugs disrupt their schools, and years on end , to get away with crimes harass and int imidate any Indian who large and small because they are revolu­ speaks against A.I.M. tionaries. "Equal protection of the laws" The Phony Revoluti on came to Pine has been consistently denied to their Ridge in the form of beatings, arson, victims , as we shall see. cattle-rustling, vandalism, burglary, kid­ Similarly, the troops at Valley Forge napping, and plenty of other crimes. did not have the Archbishop of Canter­ What the government-sponsored revolu­ bury running errands and playin g quarter­ tiona ries want is control of the Oglala master for them. On the other hand, Sioux tribe and the tribe 's sizable reser­ A.I.M.'s rabble at Wounded Knee found vation in southwestern South Dakota. the National Council of Churches very The bosses of A.I.M. demand the scrap­ useful that way. Then too, in a genuine ping of the tribal Constitution and the revolution, the Establishment propaganda removal of elected trib al officials; A.I.M. apparatus is mobilized against the rebels. wants white Washington officials to go With A.I.M., as we shall see, television back to the days of the " paper chiefs" by and the press have willingly prostituted clearing the way for Russell Means and themselves on behalf of A.I.M. A.I.M. to grab control. This is what the Finally, government forces are not "negotiations" have been about. This is norm ally employed to protect anti-gov­ why federal officials have been protecting ernment revolutionaries from duly­ A.I.M.sters from tribal authorities for constituted local authorities. Yet the over a month ... at a cost to taxp ayers of function of the federal marshals and several million dollars. F.B.I. agents at Wounded Knee was to The duly-elected Tribal Council has prevent the elected tribal government of repeatedly - by a vote of fourteen to two the Oglala Sioux from dealing with an - asked the federal government to evict invading horde ofcriminal outsiders! the A.I.M. invaders from its reservation. As we examine in greater detail the It even offered to do the job itself, noting relations between the federal government, that only about twenty of the Indians the religious bureaucracies, the mass holding Wounded Knee were Oglala Sioux media, and A.I.M., the Phony Revoluti on - and that half of the invaders were will look as ugly and false as a painted social welfare workers financed by federal hag in the cruel light of day. funds. The government cowered behind The leading victims of the A.I.M. caper its barricades. Tribal leaders, naturally at Wounded Knee are the Oglala Sioux of opposed to A.I.M., can see the sellout the Pine Ridge reservation in South coming. If you were an unsophisticated Dakota. While other Americans elsewhere reservation Indian , whom might y ou vote 2 AMERICAN OPINION Communist agent lona Andronov of New Times of Moscow (right) was for several days the guest at Wound­ ed Knee of A.LM. terrorist Dennis Banks. The New Times quotes Banks NEW as sending greetings back to Moscow "to those whose sympathy we so greatly prize." The official Moscow journal explained that Senator TIMES TOWARDSTHEWORLD CONGRESS OF PEACE FORCES George McGovern had not been per­ 1~ So vi e t-Ira nian C o-o p er o Ho n _ O utlow U se of For ce and Nuc lear We a po ns .The Blo c k Le d g er sonally more helpful to the A.I.M. MARCH I n ) terrorists because he "will soon be seeking Senate re-election." But the SOUTH DAKOTA, Senator had his man there, working for the revolutionaries. He was Bish­ U.S.A. op James Armstrong (below right), " ~~ '~~~?,' .: :. . ~..,,, a radical who headed the National Committee of Religious Leaders for McGovern. With Armstrong (L to R) are top A.I.M. toughs Russell Means, Dennis Banks, and Carter Camp. To­ gether with A.I.M.'s Clyde Belle­ court, these men share a total of 42 criminal convictions. Means has a long string of arrests dating back to 1957, including theft and mugging. Those not loyal to him at Wounded Knee (spies, he called them) would be "shot be­ fore a firing squad." Banks is a paroled burglar with fift een criminal convictions. Camp has a record similar to Means. Bellecourt is a much-convicted burglar and armed robber.

MA Y, 1973 3 for? The old familiar faces of your Scenic at eight p.m., headed for Rapid elected leaders who have been ignored, City. At 8:15, eight miles west of Scenic, brushed aside, and stepped on by every­ a car was reported ablaze at the side of one from federal officials and bishops on the road. Leo Wilcox, an Oglala Sioux down to hippies, common burglars, and who dared to fight for his people, had lying newsmen? Or the bold con men been burned alive! invoking the name of Crazy Horse, pre­ When we spoke to his widow, a deter­ tending to hold the feds at bay, and mined woman who shares Leo's views on "winning" an open door at the White A.I.M., she showed us a plastic sandwich House? bag which contained his recoverable per­ Nevertheless, thoughtful and intelli­ sonal effects - only soot-blackened met­ gent Oglala Sioux such as Eugene Rooks, al, a ring, a car key, and a watch stopped Johnson Holy Rock, and many others, at 8:25. have been able to see through A.I.M.'s The cause of the fire is not known, but game and to fight for the best interests of it was definitely not the result of an auto their people. One of their number who accident. No authority claims that it was. most strongly opposed A.I.M. was Leo Leo's car had no sign of collision damage, Wilcox. He was a former Marine judo and was very neatly parked on the paved instructor who was well able to take care shoulder of the road when it was found. of himself when set upon by A.I.M. Leo Wilcox was unconscious but alive thugs. He was also a straight speaker and during the fire; the cause of the crack in a fair writer who refused to be intimi­ his skull is undetermined. And nobody dated by streams of abusive and threaten­ has any rational explanation of how such ing telephone calls. His life was threat­ an extremely hot fire could develop so ened repeatedly. Yet on Saturday, March fast by "accident." twenty-fourth, he spoke out as strongly Without explanation, newspaper re­ as ever against A.I.M. over a local Black ports have nonetheless termed the death Hills radio station. Here are the words of "accidental." But as far as the Pennington Tribal Council leader Leo Wilcox: County Sheriff is concerned, the case is still open. An F.B.I. investigation is also Why do the A.I.M. leaders want under way. Leo's friends in Pine Ridge to conquer the Oglala Sioux? The have some ideas of their own as to what reason they want our name is be­ happened. cause the Oglala Sioux name is big After all, the so-called "American In­ and strong and it will carry a lot of dian Movement" has a fine collection of weight for all the publicity they ex-convicts as leaders. The Bellecourt seek. Some of you . . . are dancing brothers, Clyde and Vernon, both did to the beat of their tom-tom with time in Minnesota for robbery. And one your eyes closed . . . . Send Means Indian leader is quoted by Senator Jesse and his renegades out of Oglala Helms as reporting that A.I.M. "was Sioux territory. cooked up in the Minnesota penitentia­ Crazy Horse was here and this ry." Dennis Banks was just a paroled land is sacred, and let no renegades burglar when he and Clyde Bellecourt or tokas* contaminate it. started A.I.M. in 1968. While their be­ havior certainly didn't improve after that, Within twenty-four hours, Leo Wilcox their criminal records do not reflect that was killed. At seven p.m. on March *Tokas are Indians not of the Oglala Sioux twenty-fifth he knocked down an A.I.M. tribe. Of the A.I.M. bosses, only Means even supporter who attacked him during an pretends to be an Oglala Sioux - and he is but altercation in the town of Scenic. He left one-fourth Sioux and three-quarters white. 4 AMERICAN OPINION fact. The reason? Since they have an AJ.M. extends even to the wives of approved "Liberal" cause, a retinue of AJ.M. officials, as police records show. Leftist and Red lawyers, mincing clergy­ Mrs. Peggy Bellecourt, wife of A.I.M.'s men, journalists, actors, and politicians jailbird "Executive Director," Clyde Bel­ work day and night to keep them out of lecourt, evidently decided a year ago to jail, and to prevent their arrest by clamor­ teach a lesson to Gilma Larvie, a Minne­ ing that this would constitute harassment apolis woman she disliked for some rea­ and persecution. son. Bellecourt's wife gathered up five As long as they also serve the Revolu­ friends, including the wife of A.I.M. thug tion, these criminals can lead the life of George Whirlwind Soldier, and invaded a Riley. From .1968 onward, all charges private apartment to get at her. Once against them were reduced or dropped. inside, with six-to-one odds going for Clyde Bellecourt was "fined" in 1969, them, these "ladies" cut off Miss Larvie's after a charge of "aggravated robbery" sweater and brassiere, cut off some of her was transformed into "assault." Banks hair with pinking shears, and set fire to was charged with forgery of a government her remaining hair with a cigarette lighter. check in 1968, but by then he was a They then broke a beer bottle over her "civil rights leader," so the charge was head, and slashed her face with it. "dismissed." A year ago, both of these George Whirlwind Soldier is also par­ sterling citizens were caught smashing the tial to slashing faces. He was long one of windows of a restaurant and charged with the especially pampered "students" who criminal damage. Although guilty, they have infested so many American cam­ went unpunished as usual; they waltzed puses, enrolled in academically worthless out with the judge 's praise of their radical "programs." Whirlwind Soldier "cause" ringing in their ears. Three weeks graced the campus of the University of later, our heroes led the first sacking of North Dakota at Grand Forks, and his Wounded Knee. They did $50,000 worth AJ.M. buddies were on hand in January of damage to the Crazy Horse Museum. to help him "graduate." Needless to say, they walked away scot­ There happened to be a King Kold free. Karnival in progress, an innocent student In return for doing some three million activity featuring snow sculpture by vari­ dollars' worth of damage to a federal ous campus groups, especially fraternities. building in Washington, these fellows Since the University teams are called "the were finally arrested - and then handed Sioux," which is meant as a compliment some $66,000 of tax money, in cash, just to the courage and fighting skills of the to go away! (They have received much Sioux people, "Indian figures" appeared more, of course, through federal pro­ in several snow sculptures. There was grams like O.E.O.) Onward, then - to nothing in the least derogatory about riot and firebomb a school in Scottsbluff, them, but the AJ.M.sters decided to feel Nebraska, to riot and firebombing in personally offended and went around Rapid City, to burn down the Chamber wrecking things. Three fraternity boys of Commerce building in Custer, and to tried to stop them, but were chased inside an entire catalogue of crimes on their and there overpowered and severely beat­ second visit to Wounded Knee. Onward en; Whirlwind Soldier used his heavy to fame and fortune - because that is belt-buckle to do a thorough job on their exactly what they have received. Crime in faces. the service of the Revolution has paid The students were so insensitive to well in the United States during the past Whirlwind Soldier's feelings as to have decade or two. him charged with assault and battery-and The hoodlumism so characteristic of arrested. That was soon corrected. MAY, 1973 5 Dr. Russell Brown, the University vice has submitted to search and "escort" by president for student affairs, said that hoodl ums brandishing their weapons for "although it is clear that the students the cameras. meant nothing derogatory, there is a need The A.I.M. thugs gladly posed with for greater awareness of the sensitivities Soviet-made AKA7 assault rifles, fully­ involved . .. . Some students are not very automatic weapons which cannot be cooperative. They 'know' they're right owned legally without a $200 federal and that's it. That illustrated the extent license. The source of these weapons is of the educational job that needs to be just another "mystery." done," said Brown, who then "con­ You see, A.I.M.'s leaders love to strike vinced" the battered students that "pros­ "warrior" poses, though most of them (as ecution would be to no avail"! Charges we have seen) are convicted felons who, were dropped! under the "Liberal"-sponsored 1968 gun The A.I.M. game is a familiar one; law, may not legally carry firearms. Nev­ anyone who strongly opposes the revolu­ ertheless, the trigger-happy throng of tionaries is branded a "racist." Taking a criminals at Wounded Knee do not find leaf from the disgraceful Dr. James Per­ themselves denounced by "Liberals." On kins, who left Cornell University a sham­ the contrary, they are the beneficiaries of bles, Dr. Russell Brown sees his mission as " radical chic" patronization. As for the "educating" white students to believe politicking "churchmen" who have emp­ that they must accept disfigurement as tied so many collection-plates into the the penalty for snow-sculpting an Indian! pockets of their pet burglars, they have " Brainwashed Brown" perfectly illus­ smiled upon gun-toting (and gun-using) trates the Establishment's role in these ever since A.I.M. turned the Episcopal affairs. Church camp in Minnesota into a fortress Still, rumors of "fresh graves" at during the uproar in Cass Lake. Wounded Knee, usually numbered at six, The brutal tactics of A.I.M. are, by are not so easy to dismiss as the mutila­ now, very well known. Yet these hypo­ tion of the faces of a couple of college critical church bureaucrats continue to boys. On March eleventh, Russell Means support and defend kidnapping, terrorist told newsmen: "Any spies within our acts against the Indian people, cattle­ borders will be dealt with like spies in any rustling, assaults upon clergymen, dese­ country - they'll be shot before a firing cration of churches, and possibly mur­ squad." Fatalities could also occur as a der. result of reckless shooting and ir­ When fifty carloads of A.I.M. hood­ responsible gun-handling. Even A.I.M. lums took over Wounded Knee on the leaders have complained about looking night of February 27, 1973, the churches down the gun-barrels of their careless were targeted for special attack. A Catho­ "troops"! When A.I.M.'s raiders first as­ lic priest, the Reverend Paul Manhart, was saulted the tiny hamlet, there was abso­ seized, bound, and forced to watch while lutely no resistance by surprised resi­ the altar of his church was desecrated. dents, but a combination of idiotic and Another church has been burne d to the terroristic gunplay went on most of the ground by the A.I.M.sters, while a third night. has been converted into a dormitory and Hostages were taken and held at gun­ washroom. point; residents were robbed at gunpoint. The Reverend Orville Lansberry and A federal marshal and an F.B.I. man were his wife Emma have been missionaries of shot by A.I.M. gunmen. And, for the the Church of God for over forty years. purpose of "negotiating," one ranking In a taped interview, Mrs. Lansberry told Justice Department official after another my colleague, Edith Lee, that they had 6 AMERICAN OPINION The A.I.M. gunman below is holding one of the Soviet AK-47 assault rifles used by the A.I.M. invaders - the kind given by the Communists to their revolutionaries world­ wide. Above are some of the Oglala Sioux refugees driven with Communist guns from Wounded Knee by the A.I.M. tokas and renegades. The A.I.M. leaders are much­ convicted criminals who boasted that they founded A.I.M. on the pattern of the Communist Black Panthers. They pocketed $400,000 in federal grants, $300,000from the usual "liberal" churches, and a fat $66,000 in cash from O.E.O. after they did $3 mil­ lion in damage to a federal building. Even their "office" expenses are paid by the American Lutheran Church, and A.I.M. leader Dennis Banks says he has been offered almost a million dollars for film rights to the story of A.I.M.'s terrorism atWounded Knee.

MAY, 1973 7 worked for twenty-six years among the but they stuck a gun at her back and told Indians of Chile, for eleven years in a her to get out. She says all the rugs are up Negro section of Louisville, Kentucky, off the floor, she doesn't know.if they're and had been over four years at Wounded cut up or not, and all the papers that we Knee. But never before had they encoun­ had on the desk and all the drawers are tered terrorism of the sort unleashed by looted. AJ.M. over the past year. "They've broken the doors down at The Lansberrys had been forced to the Fellowship Hall and we hear it's a flee their home at two in the morning in terrrible mess. Then they broke into the March of 1972, during A.I.M.'s first raid church, and threw all the benches out in on the village. "During the past year," the yard, and they're using the church to Mrs. Lansberry went on, "we've been sleep and wash up. We had an awful lot of threatened a number of times." Finally, equipment . ... " The Lansberrys don't on February twenty-seventh of this year, know, of course, what happened to their they had to flee once more from their new movie projector for the church, their home, forced out by the guns of church­ Jeep, and so many other things, but there sponsored revolutionaries in the heart of is absolutely no chance that church the United States! equipment will be found intact. After all, Before they managed to escape the A.I.M. is run by robbers and burglars who A.I.M. terrorists, however, the Lansberrys have gone on to larger things - arson, and two Oglala Sioux who had sought kidnapping, insurrection .. .. refuge with them had to take cover in the No chance. cellar for an hour while "a man with a Last year another clergyman, a man of gun, and some others with clubs," threat­ God named McHugh, incurred the wrath ened to riddle the house if they didn't of AJ.M. thugs at Pine Ridge. Therefore, open up. They crept out of the cellar and when he stopped his car at a stop sign hid in a ravine for over an hour, "because one night, he was hauled from the car we feared that they would burn the and beaten to the ground. The Reverend house," but bitter cold drove them back Ray McHugh told Dick Weiss that his at­ inside. The Reverend Lansberry tried tackers forced six raw eggs, shell and all, once more to telephone for police help, down his throat. They broke two of his but he could hear nothing on the line ribs and left him unconscious. When he except Mrs. Gildersleeve, the seventy­ came to , the pastor managed to reach year-old woman whose family had run the hospital before passing out once the trading post for fifty years, pleading more. pathetically for help. Mrs. Gildersleeve Twenty-four clergymen of the Black then became one of A.I.M.'s official Hills Association of Evangelical Ministers, hostages!* repelled by the terrorism, signed a resolu­ The Lansberrys escaped alive, but " we tion stating their belief that, among other weren't able to get one thing out. Wejust things,"violence is not an open option had to run, and get out between shots. among civilized people." But the mass They [A.I.M. people] went in Wednesday media were not listening. Our mass [Febrnary twenty-eighth] and they 're media, brainwashing Americans and living there , using all of our things. A people around the world, prefer to pa­ friend tried to get something of ours out, tronize church-related radicals and their criminal allies, and never manage to dis­ * Most hostages were over sixty years old. One cover those devoted Christian clergymen was only twelve. They were "freed" when who are not going along with the rev­ South Dakota Senators McGovern and Abou­ rezk choppered to Wounded Knee and waved olution game. Sleek, well-paid pro­ magic wands at their fell ow radicals of A.I.M. fessional troublemakers of the Estab- 8 AMERICAN OPINION lishment hierarchy are their kind of heads" during those years - Cass Lake, "Christians. " Wounded Knee, Custer, Scottsbluff, Fort For over fifty years, ever since the Robinson, Gordon, Fort Totten - and Bolshevik Revolution inaugurated system­ Washington, D.C. "Lutherans" such as the atic church burning and persecution of slippery Reverend Paul Boe have managed the clergy and the faithful, Leftist clergy­ to be around for these episodes, checking men have been found applauding and up on how a quarter of a million dollars excusing and defending these procedures. taken out of Lutheran collection-plates So the spectacle presented by "Liberal" has been spent. Would the Reverend Paul clergymen, in the face of the behavior of Boe lie to you? Try him some time! their proteges at Wounded Knee, is sick­ The National Council of Churches ening but hardly unique. It merely proves denied, to the World-Herald, that it gave that there is nothing which a dedicated money to AJ.M., but the World Council "Liberal" churchman cannot condone if of Churches has come across nicely - just it matches his political views. as it did when, personally guided by "Liberal" clergymen just love Indians. Senator George McGovern, it raised For some weeks before Wounded Knee II, money for the Communist terrorists who A.I.M. hoodlums registered at a Rapid have been committing unspeakable atroci­ City motel. They registered, not as AJ.M. ties in southern Africa. Of course, the people, but as representatives of the fact is that the denial by the National National Indian Lutheran Board. They Council of Churches is as big a lie as the engaged in assault and vandalism and left assurances of the "Lutheran" hierarchs behind a $2,500 unpaid bill.* It was and bureaucrats like Paul Boe. through the National Indian Lutheran The N.C.C. is deeply involved in the Board that Lutherans gave about outrage at Wounded Knee. The Reverend $238,000 to A.I.M. in 1971 and 1972, John Adams is an arrogant Washington and this does not include state and local bureaucrat representing the National donations or the $20,000 four denomina­ Council of Churches on the Pine Ridge tions gave to last year's "trail of broken reservation. He tried to pressure Dick treaties" caravan. That's the one which Wilson, the elected President of the Ogla­ wrecked the Bureau of Indian Affairs la Sioux Tribal Council, into stepping building in Washington. In other words, aside for Russell Means, and was ordered "the churches" gave them $20,000 to go off the reservation. But this means noth­ to Washington, and the feds gave them ing. Tribal authorities are brushed aside as $66,000 in cash to leave. That, and all if this affair is none of their business. you can steal besides. Not bad. No Adams is the sort of fellow who wonder criminals flock to the banner. doesn't talk to just anybody, even in the Church officials told the Omaha Justice Department - but he personally World-Herald that "none of the money searched out and took through the lines was given for activities promoting vio­ to Wounded Knee a particular issue of lence." Would a "church official" lie to Newsweek requested by a certain publici­ you? Think about that. ty-starved AJ.M. leader. Of course he Look at AJ.M. 's "trail of broken describes himself as a "neutral intermedi­ ary." You see, Adams doesn't like people *Dr. Melvin Bucka of the American Lutheran with "extreme viewpoints," such as mem­ Church national staff in Minneapolis told the bers of The John Birch Society "who Omaha World-Herald that " t he A.L.C. ha s want the invaders ousted from Wounded supported A.I.M. 's national office operations for about four years." That is, sin ce A.I.M. was Knee." That is a desire by no means founded by paroled jailbirds in 1968, Lutherans confined to "John Birchers," but Adams have been picking up their office expenses. seems to believe it to be an "extreme" MA Y, 19 73 9 viewpoint. "Wounded Knee is making Bishop "McGovern for President" history that will last a hundred years," Armstrong, that enthusiastic partisan pol­ says the N.C.C.'s John Adams, the "neu­ itician, dearly loves to intersperse his tral intermediary" who paraded about remarks with "in the name of Jesus with Communist Angela Davis. Christ," or "the role of the churches of Another fork-tongue representing the Jesus Christ .... " Has Bishop Armstrong National Council of Churches as a "neu­ lifted a finger on behalf of the brutalized tral" is Bishop James Armstrong, head of Christian clergymen and laymen of the United Methodist Church, Dakotas Wounded Knee? Has he condemned the area. He admits that he has been catching looting, desecration, and burning of a lot of flak from local ministers and churches in Wounded Knee? Not in pub­ plain angry citizens. Armstrong blew in lic, he hasn't. Does Bishop Armstrong, after Adams was thrown off the reserva­ "in the name of Jesus Christ," exhort his tion by tribal police. Bishop Armstrong, A.I.M. pals to beat their Soviet assault wrapped in "the cloth" and constantly rifles into plowshares? He has never pub­ pronouncing himself "neutral," is a radi­ licly given the slightest indication that cal who is a partisan McGovern activist. this is his sort of "message." The Church League of America revealed a But, bad as the radical clergymen have year ago that Armstrong was heading the been, the press has been worse. The "National Committee of Religious Lead­ "news media" have served A.I.M. shame­ ers for McGovern," thus serving as an lessly ever since Wounded Knee I, a year important political functionary in the ago. Let's just see how. Vietnik McGovern machine. Armstrong On February eighteenth of this year, has always urged "political involvement" Dennis Banks sent his supporters a taped upon clergymen. He would probably like message from Rapid City. This was before them all to be "neutral" the way he is. Wounded Knee but after Custer. The Incidentally, the N.C.C. (aware of its pretext for Custer, Banks reveals in that increasingly fetid reputation) has adopted tape, was that only four A.I.M. leaders the martyr act and says it is "quite willing were allowed into a courtroom and they to be unpopular" on behalf of "needed wanted fifty, sixty, or seventy. He con­ change." One of the "needed changes" tinues: "So we were in there negotiating N.C.C. flacks were whining about hap­ and of course the police were out there pened to be "stricter firearms control"! pushing and shoving our people, and you Have they noticed all those armed felons seen yourself on national network what at Wounded Knee? Why aren't Armstrong happened. There was a lot of news people and Adams busy talking the A.I.M.sters out there, guys from Albuquerque, Los into beating their Soviet assault rifles into Angeles, San Francisco, Salt Lake City, plowshares? Minneapolis, Chicago, NBC News teams, The Reverend Armstrong also over­ CBS, ABC ...." looks the fact that A.I.M. wants to dump This, of course, is proof positive that the tribal Constitution and leadership and the demonstration was purest "theater." take over control of the Sioux land and Masses of technicians and equipment had people by force of arms. Like Adams, not been sent from all over the country Armstrong prefers to ignore the genuine to cover some obscure court proceeding conflict between the Oglala Sioux and the in Custer, South Dakota. The "news" tokas, or outsiders, of A.I.M. in order to media had sent crews and equipment to concentrate on the hokey "confronta­ cover the pre-planned attack on a town of tion" game being played between the sixteen hundred people which had been approved revolutionaries of A.I.M. and fingered for "the treatment" by A.I.M.'s the federal government. criminal leadership. The town was just a 10 AMERICAN OPINION The A.I.M.sters have burned one Indian church and desecrated two oth­ ers. They beat the Rev­ erend Ray McHugh until he was unconscious and broke his ribs. The Rever­ end Orville Lansberry and his wife Emma were driven from their church by gunfire and A.I.M.sters with clubs, and forced to hide in a ditch until driven out by bitter cold. Their church has been dese­ crated and their home has been looted. The A.I.M.­ sters have also stolen cat­ tle from the Sioux and shot and mutilated them - even cows in calf, one man's $2,000 bull, and sixty head of cattle be­ longing to a single owner. If not stopped, A.I.M. plans to carry its ter­ rorism to Indian reser­ vations nationwide where it will continue its looting and butchery and arson and kidnapping.

MAY, 1973 11 free disposable "stage set." The only paid when Banks, Means, and their fifty-car­ actors were the A.I.M. thugs. load caravan of thugs descended upon To give readers an idea of how much Wounded Knee. Of course, Wounded money can be obtained, thanks to such a Knee is very inaccessible ; the chances of a media buildup, let us quote further from wandering troupe of propagandists turn­ the Banks tape: "Billy Jack Productions ing up at just the right time, accidentally, was here, by the way. They would like to are extraordinarily slim. do a sequel to Billy Jack's other two "When contacted by my office," Con­ movies they've got coming out and it gressman Abdnor continued, "KUTV of­ would be simply titled Custer Died For ficials freely admitted to being in South Your Sins, and so we, right now, we've Dakota at the exact time of the incident been offered almost a million dollars for to do a 'documentary' on A.I.M." Mr. the rights for them to do that story. So I Abdnor observed that KUTV cameras don't know, maybe some day you'll see also just happened to be at Custer when D.J. Banks and A.I.M. present the Twen­ the action started. He draws the obvious tieth Century version of Custer." conclusion: "The station was notified in Imagine being paid a million dollars to advance of the events and provided a stage a "living theater" update of a nationwide audience for the violent per­ massacre - not a massacre of Indians, as formances. " at Wounded Knee (which they were The city-bred Indians of AJ.M. know already planning a "Twentieth Century very well how to handle the press. Aaron version of'), but of whites as at the Little .De Sersa, A.I.M.'s publicity man, simply Big Horn. If you "dig" both massacres tells newsmen that they will need A.I.M. and money, as Banks does, you can see press cards. "These will get you into all why leading A.I.M. is much more reward­ the A.I.M. demonstrations this year. No ing than burglary. one who doesn't have one will be allowed Billy Jack is in the propaganda racket, in," De Sersa told them. Buy your season and expects to make many millions from tickets from us or miss the show. We fools who pay to see his propaganda. approve only our friends! That is how the game has been played for Occasionally, individual members of a long time now. On April fifth, "Billy the press get fed up with their role. James Jack" was still waiting at Rapid City for Parsons once wrote this account from the scheduled end of "negotiations" at Wounded Knee: Wounded Knee, so that he could talk to A.I.M. leaders about more propaganda It was a knee-jerk reaction to a films. problem. Meanwhile, Representative James Abd­ "Get the press in here," yelled nor (R.-South Dakota) reported to his Dennis Banks when he learned that District about the collaboration of the federal officers were sealing offthe news media - and was immediately at­ roads into Wounded Knee. "Get tacked, although the attack hardly re­ ahold ofDe Sersa [A.I.M.'s publici­ futed what the Congressman had to say. ty man]. Tell him to get Jeff A Salt Lake City television team from Williams in here." KUTV "was the major offender among Within hours, Williams and his the media," Abdnor wrote, noting that television crew [rom CBS were in KUTV teams just "happened" to be along Wounded Knee . ... Soon scores of other reporters and photographers *New Times of Moscow sent a reporter to from all over the country plus Wounded Knee, and the leaders of A.I.M . sent fraternal greetings back to their fellow revolu­ Japan, Canada, Sweden, France, tionaries in Moscow. and Russia* were hiking through 12 AMERICAN OPINION the hills or, once the government's No, in fact, the gentlemen of the press restrictions were eased, driving into even helped with the slaughter at Wound­ Wounded Knee. ed Knee! The newsmen were insurance of The city-bred radicals of A.I.M. a sort, becauseany move by federal couldn't tell bulls from steers from cows forces against the Indian activists in calf. They couldn't manage a clean job would be filmed in living color. of killing, and they hadn't the least idea More importantly, Banks main­ what to do afterwards. Reporter Jim tained that they needed the news Wilson wrote: media to spread the message. They flayed white society . . .. One youth selected a large cow and they said repeatedly and loud­ and fired two bullets into the ani­ ly that Wounded Knee was "a good mal's head. The cow blinked twice. place to die. " A newsman took the gun, shot the animal between the eyes and Parsons, who works for the "Liberal" watched it fall to the ground. The Minneapolis Tribune, knows very well young Indians drew their knives to that the "news media" are willingly ex­ skin the animal, but they didn't ploited only to spread certain kinds of know where to begin. messages. Anti-white propaganda is one A newsman took one of the of them. With respect to Wounded Knee knives and showed the Indians how. being "a good place to die," it is probab le that Mr. Parsons was unaware that a Finishing off the cow may have been certain film company is prepared to pay mercy-killing, but showing these incom­ A.I.M. handsomely for fresh, genuine petent young rustlers what to do next bodies to be used in its propaganda film. constitutes voluntary participation in the Not that C.B.S. has any objection to the crime. Incidentally, the AJ.M. criminals manufacture of fresh, genuine bodies for who did this thing were astonished to that purpose, either. So flock to AJ.M ., discover that the cow was in calf, and all you aspiring bit players! You may they eventually trudged off grumbling crash TV and the movies yet. about getting "only about 65 pounds of And this show has been a regular meat" out of their ignorant butchery. shoot-'em-up, complete with cattle rus­ As for Russell "Rustler" Means, p b­ tling. When AJ.M. leaders, Russell Means licly stealing cattle from the voters is an among them, invited the world press to unusual way to demonstrate one's fit ess Wounded Knee, cameramen were per­ for office on the Tribal Council. ut mitted to film the large-scale theft - and these are strange times, and Means does badly botched slaughter - of cattle be­ not expect to be voted into office. He longing to Sioux ranchers in the area. expects to take over the Oglala Sioux by Naturally, the ever-cooperative news revolutionary methods - by a combina­ media did not confuse "world opinion" tion of terrorism at the grassroots and by pointing out that these were animals federal pressure from the top. stolen from fellow Indians. Reporters did Consider the role of the Justice De­ not bother to interview one man who lost partment's Community Relations Service sixty head to these marauders, or another (C.R.S.), which is supposed to "help Indian whose $2,000 bull went into communities resolve disputes based on A.I.M.'s stewpot, or others, before and race, color, and national origin." Just since, whose property has been strewn why they are involved is hard to say, with crudely butchered carcasses with the since the "dispute" over the Tribal Coun­ hindquarters missing. cil is among Indians, and only the MA Y. 1973 13 "racist" rhetoric qualifies this show as "a blandly telling reporter Beeder that our dispute based on race." tax-supported Justice Department road­ Reporter Dave Beeder of the Omaha runners "are ready to move to the next World-Herald did a feature story on the AIM demonstration." federal "roadrunners," as the C.R.S. boys "They've said the next confrontations are called, which contains some illumi­ will occur in Pawnee, Oklahoma , and nating points. i.lseeder calls it "an ironic Gallup, New Mexico," Pompa said. And, twist" that the Justice Department has of course, the AI.M. criminals will be "set up a blockade and .returned the there, without concern for ten score, or militants' gunfire while at the same time so, felonies they have committed in Wash­ allowing food and other essential supplies ington, Wounded Knee, and elsewhere. to be shipped into the Indian strong­ Meanwhile, in Washington, U.S. Sena­ hold ." Associate C.R.S. Director Gil tor Jesse Helms was summarizing the Pompa , a lawyer, recounted to Beeder: "I problem. Here are his words in the Senate once tried to describe CRS and its role in on April 2, 1973: Justice to a fellow passenger on a plane. "Mr. President, I want to make it clear He said it sounded like a conflict of that nothing I have said here today interest." reflects upon the Indian people as a It does. But then, it may only seem whole, or minimizes the very real prob­ like a conflict of interest, because we are lems which they have in today's society. not told what the federal government's The Indians are the victims of AIM; they true goal is. Federal officials have, of are the real target. AIM's aim is to course, admitted that the Bureau of polarize the Indian community in order Indian Affairs and the Office of Eco­ to split off the real leaders from as much nomic Opportunity "helped finance of the community as possible .. .. A.I.M.," despite its being run by a bunch "Fortunately, the Indian peoples are of thieves on parole! The federal govern­ not going along; AIM's most important ment's last formal grant to AI.M. was source of support comes from simplistic $113,000 given it by O.E.O. last June. white men. The Indians reject AIM be­ Then the federal government paid off the cause it is totalitarian in its philosophy AJ.M.sters, instead of jailing them, after and techniques. It is unconstitutional in their road show did but three million its demands, and criminal in its ac­ dollars' worth of damage in the Bureau of tivities . . . . The appointment of AIM as Indian Affairs building in Washington. At sole Indian representative would grant Wounded Knee, the federal government enormous power to a group of gangsters has spent millions of dollars to provide a who are grasping for control . ... It is cast of hundreds for AI.M.'s revolution­ up to the freely elected Indian leaders ary theatrics. It has cost the taxpayers to govern the tribes; the United States $50,000 a day simply to keep three should not arbitrarily impose self­ hundred marshals and F.B.I. agents in appointed leaders such as AIM upon the attendance for well over a month. This Indians. " says nothing of the cost of flying proces­ The Oglala Sioux are now all too sions of top Justice Department officials aware that Tribal President Dick Wilson is back and forth from Washington, so that speaking the truth when he says: " Banks they can sit cross-legged in A.I.M.'s and Bellecourt bear about as much re­ phony tepee, week after week. semblance to Sitting Bull as AI Capone Meanwhile, Gil Pompa of C.R.S. is did to George Washington." __

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14 AMERICAN OPINION