Wounded Knee incident 4592363 222898364 2008-07-01T17:25:36Z Epbr123 1395162 Reverted edits by [[Special:Contributions/204.169.235.150|204.169.235.150]] to last version by 76.21.133.0 (using [[WP:HG|Huggle]]) {{POV|date=December 2007}} :''For the 1890 massacre, see [[Wounded Knee Massacre]].'' The '''Wounded Knee incident''' began [[February 27]], [[1973]] when the town of [[Wounded Knee, South Dakota]] was seized by followers of AIM (the [[American Indian Movement]]). The occupiers controlled the town for 71 days while the [[U.S. Marshals Service]] and other law enforcement agencies cordoned off the town. ==Background== Wounded Knee is a town on the [[Pine Ridge Reservation]] and home to the Oglala Sioux Indians.<ref name=Abourezk>Abourezk, James G. [http://www.usd.edu/library/special/wk73hist.htm ''Wounded Knee, 1973 Series'']. - [[University of South Dakota]], Special Collections Website. Retrieved May 10, 2007</ref> The area is historically significant as in 1890 it was the setting for a [[Wounded Knee Massacre| U.S. military massacre]] of approximately 146 Native Americans (the number of people killed is imprecise because the military at the time did not count the exact number of deaths).<ref name=Abourezk /> The 1973 incident erupted for many reasons but mainly due to the opposition to the reservation’s president, [[Dick Wilson (tribal chairman)|Dick Wilson]]. Opponents of Wilson accused him of: * "Mishandling tribal funds"<ref name=Abourezk /> * Abuse of his authority; AIM cites the U.S. Commission of Civil Rights alleging that Wilson’s election had been "permeated with fraud"<ref name=AICS-WKSC-2007-05-10>[http://www.aics.org/WK/index.html Wounded Knee Support Committee]. ''WKSC News'', 1-4. - Retrieved on May 10, 2007</ref> * Using "brute force" for political means such as his private army the GOONs (Guardians of the Oglala Nation) that AIM labeled as Wilson’s "official terrorist 'goon squad'"<ref name=AIM>[http://www.aics.org/WK/index.html ''Wounded Knee Information Booklet'']. American Indian Movement. pp 10-18. Retrieved May 10, 2007</ref> His opponents had unsuccessfully attempted to impeach him in 1973.<ref name=Abourezk /> In fact, over 150 civil rights complaints had been issued against the reservation government in the years prior to the incident.<ref name=MSS>Morris, R., Sanchez, J., & Stuckey, M. (1999). Rhetorical Exclusion: The Government's Case Against American Indian Activists, AIM, and Leonard Peltier [Electronic version]. ''American Indian Culture and Research Journal, 23''(2), 27-55.</ref> AIM claims they chose Wounded Knee because of its historical significance. They considered the site of the 1890 Wounded Knee massacre "a prime example of the treatment of Indians since the European invasion".<ref name=AIM /> OSCRO (the Oglala Sioux Civil Rights Organization) was an organization on the Pine Ridge Reservation that attempted to change the poor civil conditions. A meeting was held on February 26, 1973 "to openly discuss their grievances concerning the tribal government".<ref name=AIM /> Another meeting was held the next day, February 27 and AIM was summoned "for some assistance," by OSCRO to produce "results".<ref name=AIM /> [[Dennis Banks]] states that it was "the Oglala Sioux Civil Rights Organization which called upon [AIM], and we responded".<ref name=Record-Hocker>Record, I. & Hocker, A. P. (1998). A Fire that Burns: The Legacy of Wounded Knee. ''Native Americas, 15''(1), 14. Retrieved May 10, 2007 from ProQuest</ref> AIM was a national Indian rights organization largely considered an urban, "red power" movement; the group was led by Dennis Banks and, at Wounded Knee, [[Russell Means]].<ref name=Kotlowski>Kotlowski, D. J. (2003). Alcatraz, Wounded Knee, and Beyond: The Nixon and Ford Administrations Respond to Native American Protest [Electronic version]. ''Pacific Historical Review, 72''(2), 201-227.</ref> The government (Nixon administration) was wary of the perceived militant organization. In fact, the Department of Justice requested that the FBI "intensify its efforts in identifying violence-prone individuals" in AIM.<ref name=Kotlowski /> Between 200 and 300 AIM members entered the town on February 26. An official, reliable count of AIM members entering or occupying the town was never recorded and would have been difficult to achieve, but AIM claims that approximately 300 members of their organization entered the village while the government estimates 200.<ref name=AIM /><ref name=USDOofCR>[http://www.dotcr.ost.dot.gov/asp/February.asp#TOC ''This Month in History: February'']. - United States Departmental Office of Civil Rights. - Retrieved May 10, 2007</ref> ==Occupation== On February 27 the AIM and some Oglala Sioux who opposed Wilson seized the town of Wounded Knee; the U.S. military and government surrounded Wounded Knee the same day.<ref name=USMS>[http://www.usmarshals.gov/history/wounded-knee/index.html "Wounded Knee Incident".] - United States Marshal Services. - Retrieved May 10, 2007</ref> It is disputed whether the government forces cordoned the town before, as AIM claims, or after the takeover. According to former South Dakota Senator [[James Abourezk]],<ref name=Abourezk /><ref>James G. Abourezk was a Senator at the time of Wounded Knee. He was present at the conflict and even entered the AIM (and Wilson opposition) occupied town. Abourezk is also a chronicler of the 1973 incident and has conducted hearings under the "authority of U.S. Senate Subcommittee of Indian Affairs"</ref> "on 25 February 1973 the U.S. Department of Justice sent out 50 U.S. Marshals to the Pine Ridge Reservation to be available in the case of a civil disturbance".<ref name=Abourezk /> AIM, on the other hand, argues that their organization came to the town for an open meeting and "within hours police had set up roadblocks, cordoned off the area and began arresting people leaving town… the people prepared to defend themselves against the government’s aggressions".<ref name=AIM /> Regardless, by the morning of February 28, both sides were firmly entrenched. Both AIM and government documents show that the two sides traded fire for most of the three months.<ref name=AIM /><ref name=USMS /> John Sayer, a Wounded Knee chronicler claims that:<ref name=Sayer>Sayer, J. (1997). ''Ghost Dancing the law: The Wounded Knee trials.'' Massachusetts: Harvard University Press.</ref> :''"The equipment maintained by the military while in use during the siege included fifteen armored personal carriers, clothing, rifles, grenade launchers, flares, and 133,000 rounds of ammunition, for a total cost, including the use of maintenance personnel from the national guard of five states and pilot and planes for aerial photographs, of over half a million dollars"'' The statistics gathered by Record and Hocker largely concur:<ref name=Record-Hocker /> :''"...barricades of paramilitary personnel armed with automatic weapons, snipers, helicopters, armored personnel carriers equipped with .50-caliber machine guns, and more than 130,000 rounds of ammunition".'' The precise statistics of U.S. government force at Wounded Knee vary, but all accounts agree that it was certainly a significant military force including "federal marshals, FBI agents, and armored vehicles". One eye witness and journalist chronicled, "sniper fire from…federal helicopters," "bullets dancing around in the dirt" and "sounds of shooting all over town" [from both sides].<ref name=McKiernan>McKiernan, K. Barry. [http://www.aics.org/WK/wk068.html "Notes from a Day at Wounded Knee"]. - Retrieved May 10, 2007</ref> AIM claims in its chronology of the occupation that "the government tried starving out the [occupants]" and that they, the occupiers, smuggled food and medical supplies in past roadblocks "set up by Dick Wilson and tacitly supported by the government".<ref name=AIM /> In the course of the conflict, [[Frank Clearwater]], a Wounded Knee occupier, was shot in the head while asleep on April 17 and died on April 25.<ref name=Abourezk /> [[Lawrence Lamont]], also an occupier, received a fatal gunshot wound on April 26, and U.S. Marshal Lloyd Grimm was paralyzed from the waist down again by a gunshot wound.<ref name=Abourezk /> Both sides reached an agreement on May 5 to disarm.<ref name=Abourezk /><ref name=AIM /> By May 8 the siege had ended and the town was evacuated after 71 days of occupation; the government then took control of the village.<ref name=Abourezk /><ref name=AIM /> ==References== {{reflist}} ==Further reading== * Bonney, R. A. (1977). The Role of AIM Leaders in Indian Nationalism [Electronic version]. ''American Indian Quarterly, 3'', 209-224. *A Tattoo on my heart: warriors of Wounded Knee 1973. (2004) Badlands Films. * Reinhardt, Akim D. <i>Ruling Pine Ridge: Oglala Lakota Politics from the Ira to Wounded Knee</i> Texas Tech University Press, 2007. * Trimbach, Joseph H. and John M. Trimbach (2007). <i>American Indian Mafia: An FBI Agent’s True Story About Wounded Knee, Leonard Peltier, and the American Indian Movement (AIM)</i>. Outskirts Press. * [[Mary Crow Dog]] and [[Richard Erdoes]] (1990). [[Lakota Woman]]. Harper Perennial (ISBN 0-06-097389-7). ==External links== *[http://ww3.startribune.com/blogs/oldnews/archives/186 Minneapolis Tribune, March 25, 1973: Inside Wounded Knee] [[Category:American Indian Movement]] [[Category:Native American history]] [[Category:History of South Dakota]] [[Category:Crime in South Dakota]]