I have read my friend Bob Robideau's statement about Anna Mae and his resignation statement as Leonard Peltier's international spokesperson. In contrast I have decided to accept Leonard's invitation to join his Board of Directors at the LPDC. In my judgment Leonard needs the help of his old friends now more than ever. I don't know if I can make a difference but I intend to try help where ever I can. For twenty eight long years some very good and hard working men and women have worked for Leonard's freedom and struggled against the might of the FBI and a justice system that bows to the wishes of special law enforcement interests. They have made his name known to millions of people around the world. My presence on his board is merely to add on to what they have done. Leonard Peltier has been lucky to have each and every one of them in his corner. Leonard and I are old friends and comrades in the movement. Oklahoma ! AIM like most AIM chapters was organized by grass roots community activists who believed in the tenets of AIM and were willing to fight for the survival of our people. In the spring of 1972 we gathered in an encampment on the Pawnee reservation just outside Pawnee Oklahoma. As a series of actions took place around the state the police in Pawnee deputized every store owner in town and vigilantes were arming themselves and patrolling the roads around the AIM encampment. The question of sovereignty was new and threatening to official Oklahoma and they reacted with threats and violence. We reacted with increased demand for justice and as our movement grew the government became more aggressive against us. When we needed help Leonard Peltier and a group of brothers came to stand beside us. Their support meant a lot to us and Oklahoma AIM became the largest AIM chapter. From then on we developed a trust and worked together until he was falsely imprisoned. Recently the LPDC has gone through! a lot of changes and things slowed down at the Committee so Leonard asked three Oklahoma AIM friends to help out with the committee. Along with me he asked that Francis Wise who is an Oklahoma AIM leader from the Caddo Tribe to join the Board. And he asked Dave Hill, a Choctaw from the boonies south of Seminole to join as the new Director. I know both of them very well, I know their families and have worked with them on our peoples issues for decades. As part of the FBI smear campaign against the LPDC, Dave has lately had a strange bunch of people calling him names and trying to "jacket" him like they did Anna Mae. But they are mostly internet voices with no real tie to the Indian community they claim to speak for, I term them "netskins" and I know Dave has a thick enough skin to shed their little barbs and do the work he has been asked to do. Francis Wise is Stan Holder's (Chief of Security in Wounded Knee) sister and a founding member of Oklahoma AIM. They both seemed like great c! hoices to me so I accepted too. We hope to blend in with the existing board members and the support groups around the world to seek justice for Leonard Peltier and to remind America of the Indian wars longest serving political prisoner.
But I'm not writing this about only Leonard Peltier -- we all agree that Leonard Peltier had nothing to do with the death of Anna Mae Aquash. I'm writing about how the FBI is using the investigation of her death as a way to keep Leonard Peltier in prison and to attack AIM as retribution for our struggle for sovereignty. It was an armed struggle and our enemy used deadly tactics against us routinely; many of our people were killed and a few of theirs. When KaMook testified that our brothers had killed those attackers, the Lakota women in the audience should have "lulu'd" loudly in court to show their pride for a warrior's victory coup. As I told Bob when he called me from Europe, we are proud of the stand the warriors made that day! at Jumping Bull's. Three armed fighters died that day--but the elders and kids were protected from an enemy that has a long, long history of killing our helpless ones. The agents who attacked the peaceful encampment had volunteered to trespass on Lakota land bearing arms and like Custer they died fighting. The detailed description of their deaths is unimportant when looked at in the light of FBI/GOON "Reign of Terror" the Oglala people were enduring at that time. The real reason it has been brought up is to give the wasicu an argument to keep Leonard Peltier in a cage. The way the agents died certainly had no bearing on the death of Anna Mae--it was placed on the record for other purposes.
Like Bob, I was in prison when Anna was killed and her body found. The FBI came to Terre Haute Federal pen, where I was being held, and asked to speak to me about her. I told them I would break my long-standing rule of never talking to a cop and tell them who the killer was if they would go bust them, as they leaned forward, pencils in hand, I told them an FBI agent named David Price was responsible for her death. At that time I knew the name of his partner in crime and I named him too. I also requested as a citizen that they go arrest them immediately or that they free me to go make a citizens arrest. Instead they closed their notebooks and left, so those particular killers have been loose all this time. Only an independent U.N. investigation of the "Reign of Terror" will ever see them indicted and that is exactly what I think we need. All of us should join to demand a full investigation of the "Reign of Terror" and the murder of over sixty Indian people by the FBI and their allies. Anna Mae's death would play an important part in that investigation and its findings would be much more credible than what is going on in ndn country right now. I just witnessed a trial of an Lakota man accused of killing Anna Mae Aquash in which the on! ly defense witness called was Anna Mae's nemesis... FBI Agent David Price himself!
When we had the Peltier month demonstration in Washington D.C., I had the occasion to meet with Anna Mae's niece who was very much involved in seeking justice for her relative Anna Mae Aquash. To me it was the most honorable thing to do without helping the Americans in their anti-Peltier witch hunt. Along with me were Edgar Bear Runner and Russell Loudhawk from Pine Ridge who were key players in the fight at Jumping Bull's and friends of Anna Mae's. None of us had any new or pertinent knowledge of what happened to Anna Mae but all three of us wanted to offer our condolences and tell the family what we knew. I told her how, in Wounded Knee Anna's future husband Nogeshick came to me to speak about a marriage ceremony, we had a nice talk and he took tobacco to Wallace Black Elk to request him to marry them. Wallace asked me to assist and he performed a marriage ceremony for them. It was a very big deal in our small community for them to get married in a beautiful ceremony in front of everybody in the Wounded Knee Trading Post. I was proud when the women of Oklahoma AIM stepped forward and gave flesh offerings on their behalf and I remember how good it was to see such a thing at the birth of the Independent Oglala Nation. I also told her niece that Anna Mae worked harmoniously with Theda Clark in the encampment kitchen (and maybe at the office) during our trial at Cedar Rapids, Iowa, where we heard of the Oglala shoot out. At least to me things seemed harmonious between them and everyone else in camp but I was on trial and extremely busy so a dispute between them could have happened and I didn't hear about it. At the time I remained the National Chairman of AIM, Stan Holder was the Security Chief of Wounded Knee and Leonard Crowdog was the principle Spiritual Leader of Wounded Knee and AIM, we were being charged for our part at Wounded Knee as part of the AIM leadership trials. At the time of the shootout we had already been convicted but were still in camp pending sentencing and some legal motions. A large bunch of those from the Lakota Nation were there supporting Chief Crowdog, and a lot of Oklahoma AIM people who came for Stan and me made up the encampment. As long time brothers in the struggle Peltier and I had agreed to be in daily phone contact with each other mainly because we recognized what a precarious position they were in out at Jumping Bull's when a bunch of us were in Iowa. All the big name AIM leaders had fled the rez and Leonard's encampment was a sore in the side of the FBI and their GOONs. Upon hearing the news about the FBI attack everyone broke camp and headed back to the rez and the rest is history. I have no remembrance of John Graham but there were a lot of young men and women in the encampment I don't remember by name. At the news of the shoot-out we turned our defense office into a center to call elected officials, lawyers, and to attempt to have the FBI cordon lifted and to make sure they knew the world was watching. Some cars and groups left quickly and by the next day a caravan headed back to Rosebud. I told her niece that Anna Mae proudly went to South Dakota to stand with her people, we all did. Edgar Bear Runner and Russell Loudhawk both knew Anna Mae and explained to her niece what they could, they also shared fond remembrances they had of her and said how sorry we all were for her passing. I acknowledged to her family that the death of Anna Mae is an ugly blight on the legacy of the American Indian Movement. The meeting was private and I only bring it up now because the pig has said we didn't care about her.
As part of that meeting I also told Anna Mae's niece how Peltier and I, along with many of his supporters think the death of her Auntie was being used by the FBI and others against the very people and ideals! Anna Mae fought for and I said I thought the family was being exploited by our enemies. After seeing the legal lynching of Arlo Looking Cloud I know damn well the powerful allies of the FBI are seeing to it that a book is closed in the Anna Mae case and it is used to its maximum advantage against AIM and Leonard Peltier. The two major trials after the incident at Oglala show what a difference having a strong defense can be. Dino and Bob were acquitted because they were allowed to present a vigorous defense that was denied to Leonard Peltier. The enemy had learned its lesson and fixed the next trial to make sure Leonard was convicted. What they did to convict Peltier is an open part of the legal history of the cointelpro actions the nation's political police, the FBI, took against all warriors who were subject to their attacks. It was an act of revenge not justice according to every national and international investigation that has been made except the one accepted by the court. The ! falsified FBI investigation was given to the jury and they denied Peltier the right to say he fought in self-defense. But that is the crucial point. They caused the deaths of over sixty of us Indians but say the way the two agents were killed is so germane to the case that rumors and hearsay of it are admitted as evidence? How about some evidence about who they were killing and who had been burned out of their homes? When non-evidence that Kamook had heard a warrior brag he had shot those agents, was admitted as real evidence, a hundred Lakota and members of the Independent Oglala Nation should have been called as rebuttal witnesses to show that the Nation was reacting in self-defense when those wasicu soldiers attacked. They were killed in a battle they provoked and they were fought in self-defense. Leonard Peltier was denied the right to show self-defense in Montana 28 years ago and he was denied it again last week in Rapid City, South Dakota.
During that ! same month that we met with Anna Mae's niece Edgar, Russell and I fasted in front of the White House on Thanksgiving Day. Each of us held a poster of one of the sixty ndn victims. I held the poster of my brother Buddy Lamont all that day. He was a vet and an Oglala warrior who was killed by an FBI sniper in Wounded Knee. He was also Kamook's beloved Uncle. On the day the FBI sniper shot him two brothers from the S.L.A. risked their lives running from their bunker to come inform me he had been hit. They guided me back to the place and we tried repeatedly to crawl out to him but the enemy kept up a deadly hail of bullets and we couldn't get to him. Buddy bled to death before we finally reached him, it was my worst day in the Knee and I blame the FBI for deliberately murdering him. Anna Mae's picture was carried that day too as we mourned so many victims of the "Reign of Terror". Each and every one of them deserves a full investigation and the outrage of the people demanding justic! e.
Arlo Looking Cloud was lynched in Rapid City last week. His defense lawyer acted on behalf of the FBI cover-up of Anna Mae's murder. This convinced me that once again the enemy is using their old cointelpro tactics against the Movement and have no intention of seeking justice for any of the martyred people who died defending the people of Pine Ridge and the Independent Oglala Nation. But the trial did bring out the false statements that traitors like Paul Demain and the cop Robert Ecoffey have been spreading about the death of Anna Mae. For several years anti-ndn forces have spread lies on the internet beginning with the lie that Arlo had immunity and was a snitch. If that were true it would have been a factor in the trial. They have also spread the lie that she was raped and that DNA would reveal who her rapist was, that too turns out to be false. Or else the FBI withheld information and evidence, it wouldn't be the first time. They have put out ! many false stories in their efforts to smear AIM and keep Peltier in prison, fantastic tales of large meetings of AIM leaders and lawyers who took part in condemning Anna Mae, almost everyone associated with AIM and WKLDOC have been smeared, but according to Arlo's interrogation tape it's all bullshit and police finger-pointing. Either Arlo's taped confession was false or all the people the FBI/Demains have been accusing were not involved, Arlo said he didn't even know them. According to the witnesses at Arlo's sham trial the only people mentioned as participating were the close friends and relatives of Russ Means, his cousins, brothers, sister-in-law and close friends were running the office and owned the house she was alleged to have been taken to, all were accused of being a part of her tribunal on that fateful day. But none of them were even called and asked if it was true! Means is screaming about not being "in the loop" about her murder and he claims to want justice. He wants us to believe his closest associates were involved but kept it all from him for all these years? One has to wonder if he ever asked them if they ordered her killed at one of those meetings brought up at Arlo's trial. If he did ask he should make their answers public, if he did not all his screaming and finger-pointing sounds false like just another in a long line of Means' publicity stunts. It makes it look as if his pardon from the Indian-hating rapist Janklow was a pay-off for his grand jury testimony. All I'm suggesting is that Means go ask his folks what happened that day and respond to what and who Candy Hamilton and the others said ran the WKLDOC offices and houses where she was supposedly held captive. Again I'll repeat they are likely innocent. Before I was imprisoned I help start WKLDOC and it was a very busy and open place with law student volunteers and attorneys galore. People slept on the floor and carried on working most of the night. The diversity and impermanence ! of all of them makes holding a woman there captive seem unlikely, so I'd at least like to hear from the people in charge and everyone around at that time. Records were kept and logs to keep track of the legal deadlines and the comings and goings of personnel. Any decent defense would have subpoenaed the WKLDOC records and questioned all concerned. In addition the office was kept under 24/7 surveillance by several state and local law enforcement departments. Only the prosecution got to examine those records.
Another falsehood at Arlo's trial was the claim that John Trudell was an AIM leader in those days. In activist circles John was respected for being at the Alcatraz take over, which was an inspiration to all of us who were growing to an awareness that Indian people had to take direct action to preserve our sovereignty and Treaty rights. Over the years John would not join AIM and told me many times (down in Oklahoma where we worked together) when I personally asked him to join us, that he didn't want to be a part of AIM. I assumed that was why he was another no-show at Wounded Knee like Vernon Bellecourt. However after the Knee at the AIM national convention at White Oak, Oklahoma when I was elected the National Chairman of AIM several of the west coast AIM chapters said they wouldn't follow the "chickens of the Knee" as the Bellecourts and Means were known then. They asked that someone from the west coast that they trusted could be brought into the leadership as a vice-chair so they would have someone to communicate with, since I had worked with John and liked him we agreed that he would fill that position. The fact that every one of the old leaders had been rejected by the warriors of AIM rankled in their hearts and they developed quite a hatred for all of us who were chosen to be the new leadership of AIM. When the "incident" happened between Clyde and me some months later they somehow convinced John that while I was in jail ! he should name himself Chairman and immediately abolish the office. So he publicly said, "I'm the new AIM Chair and I hereby abolish the office of Chairman"! So he was a "leader" for two minutes? In truth John Trudell never was an AIM leader and back then he never pretended to be, John never participated in any of our fights and he just isn't the type to lead warriors. He's a barefoot poet from Hollywood who makes music, nothing wrong with that I'm a fan of his, but to think he was ever a leader is silly to those who were there. It was sad to see John on the stand working for the pig and testifying about something he knew nothing about, except rumors put out by the same people (the FBI) that John claims burned his wife Tina and their kids to death. How could a man do that? He and Kamook had no evidence to present about Arlo and only talked about rumors they had heard. His assertion, really his speculation, that the three people who are accused of killing Anna Mae were following order! s and not "decision makers" was allowed as evidence. How does he know? The FBI used a black bag full of tactics for getting people to act on false information as a part of their "bad jacketing" program. They were expert at it and there is evidence they employed it against Anna Mae before her death. I believe that may have been what she feared. At the time of Anna Mae's death AIM was already fractured and in fragments but the FBI wants us to believe we were some monolithic hierarchy making collective decisions. Their scenario puts people conspiring together who didn't trust each other. But John and Kamook were not there to convict Arlo, they were there to smear AIM and Leonard Peltier and the men and women who fought at Jumping Bulls. His Hollywood story of Anna's ring sounds more like a script than the truth. Would a person in immediate danger use the mail? Or was it a signal that what HE had ordered had been carried out? Remember he claims to have been an AIM leader at the time. No,! in reality I don't think he ordered her hit but if I were Arlo's lawyer I would have asked, one Hollywood story is as good as the other. No way in hell I would have ever guessed I would see my old friend John, who shared my Sundance camp a few years ago, up on a witness stand throwing out some blanket smear of everyone on behalf of the FBI. Can John Trudell be true to his public persona as an Indian leader and get on the stand for the FBI and give credence to their anti-AIM rumors? It was a sickening performance.
Most people who know anything about AIM know I have no feelings for or connection to the Bellecourt brothers or the stupidity of their claim to own AIM. When they were rejected by the vote of the people of AIM for their continuing cowardice they quickly formed the phony "Grand Governing Council" and made themselves its leaders. I wrote an essay last year called "Warrior Stories" (see below) that explains how they and the other "chickens of the Knee" have falsely lived on the blood, sweat and tears of real warriors while they made themselves rich. You tell me if that's worse than leaving you tribe and going to Hollywood. In fact most warriors see plenty of circumstantial evidence that one or both of them worked directly for the police. Like, why were their Wounded Knee charges dropped and how the hell did they get out of those dope-selling charges when they were caught red-handed dealing drugs? All of a sudden they're treating the leader of the most militant Indian organization in the nation with leniency? So you all know I would in no way try to protect them in the murder of a sister like Anna Mae who worked directly with warriors I know and trust, like Peltier, Dino and Bob. No way. At the same time I will never work with or help the police forces of the invader to convict any Indian, not even if they killed my own relative. Because I know that there is no justice for Indian people in America and India! n people can not receive a fair trial in South Dakota period. I have watched them send too many innocent Indian people to prison because they did the crime of being Indian and if they happened to be proud Indians they were given longer sentences. In America it's well known you get justice only if you have money. How much more true is that for an Indian in South Dakota? And then factor in their painting him as an AIM militant in Rapid City, South Dakota. The prosecution was able to draw on 30 years of FBI and others police actions against AIM and Indians in general. They brought in old retired Agents who are part of the gang of Agents who take out full page advertisements in major newspapers against Leonard Peltier. This is a formal and organized gang of ex-FBI agents dedicated to keeping Leonard Peltier in prison. Wasn't their affiliation and anti-AIM efforts worth some examination? They even have a website. To the FBI this was a major chance to attack AIM and get revenge for their ! failed attack at Jumping Bulls and their 99% loss rate at the Wounded Knee trials. They have been probing for a weakness and found it in our division over Anna Mae so they have poured resources into it. They paid witnesses, paid for three Grand Juries and (are still paying) for over 30 years of investigations costing millions of dollars into their anti-AIM efforts. Because AIM is no longer a factor nationally in Indian affairs they now concentrate mostly on keeping Peltier in prison, they made that evident through Kamooks testimony. I remember in every trial we won we put the FBI and their tactics on trial too, we proved who the aggressor was, I guess they learned from us because they put AIM and the Indian resistance on trial. They used informants to name AIM and WKLDOC committee members but those same witnesses were never called. Cleo, Candy, Kamook, all of them named names. Were the Bellecourts giving orders to Russ Mean's brothers, friends and cousins who were named as being t! here when Anna Mae was taken to South Dakota as he(Means) accuses? They are likely completely innocent all I'm saying is that they have been pointed out because they allegedly ran the office. Are they being smeared in this FBI net too? Unless there is a real trial we'll never know. But I know one thing as I watch Vern and Clyde against Russell Means in their twenty-five year old mudslinging contest... They were comrades for many years and they know all about each other so when Vernon squeals on Russ he is probably telling the truth and when Russ squeals on Vernon and Clyde, he's telling the truth too. So if you want to know the truth about Russ Means read what Vernon says and if you want the truth about the Bellecourts listen to Russ.
But there is another reason I hated to see the railroad job they did on Arlo Looking Cloud. By railroading him and not calling the obvious witnesses the true story of Anna Mae's killer will be covered up forever. I am absolutely sure the FBI had a hand in her murder but exactly what they did or how they did it is unclear and will remain unclear if they are allowed to bury these two guys and claim they have done their jobs. If Arlo could have had any kind of real defense the FBI part of the murder could have been explored and if any AIM leader is on their payroll that could have been discovered and who the real killers are would have been known. By denying Arlo and later John Graham justice the FBI was able to turn the trial into a complete whitewash of their roll in the many murders of our people. They got to act as if the FBI/GOON "Reign of Terror" never even happened! They got to pretend the planned attack on the Jumping Bull compound never happen and that the two agents were murdered in cold blood. The whole world knows that's a lie. It should offend even close friends of Anna Mae's to see such a kangaroo court being put out to the public as justice! In all my years as an activist the trial of Arlo Looking Cloud w! as the very worst miscarriage of justice I have seen. Leonard Peltiers trial was bad and even when Stan, Crowdog and I were convicted the evidence was doctored and I became the only AIM leader sent to prison for Wounded Knee 1973, but Arlo was just flat out denied even the appearance of a trial and now the wasicu judge won't let him be represented by competent legal help for his appeal! This may be the only chance anyone has to see justice done for Anna Mae but the FBI is being allowed to cover it all up. I have no sympathy for him if he did kill her but there are way too many questions that need to be answered before some dupe is sent away for life and the FBI gets off scot free! His only defense witness was the cop who cut off her hands for christ's sake! The only evidence was an obviously coerced tape of a drugged up drunk being led into saying whatever some long time police acquaintances of his told him to say. Did it take Abe Alonzo and Robert Eccoffy thirty years of abusing ! him, brainwashing him, or maybe buying him drugs and booze to get him to say what he said? We all know addicts will say most anything for another needle of smack or even for just another bottle of wine. Apparently he had been talking to them for a long time, at least since before the first Grand Jury, where were the tapes of all the other interrogations he endured over the last thirty years? Did he deny it until they got this one? Compare the tremendous governmental resources used against Arlo and what his lawyer did to him. There were no discovery motions made for him, there were no motions made to keep out the prejudicial evidence and there damn sure was no effective cross examination of prosecution witnesses. They were allowed to put AIM on trial and smear Leonard Peltier with impunity. No mention was made of the over sixty traditional Indian people murdered by the FBI/GOONs and the FBI cointelpro war against Indian people was never even mentioned. We know the FBI committed m! any crimes during their "Reign of Terror" and they are directly responsible for many Lakota and AIM deaths. They may have infiltrated AIM at the highest level and caused Anna Mae's murder but we may never know because we allowed Arlo to be shafted by the enemy. Shame on all of us. If our Movement was about anything it was about Justice for our people and AIM from 1968 until 1973 led the way in that fight. But justice for Indians in America is still a long struggle away and to me Arlo Looking Clouds case proves it all the more. If he would have been given an adequate defense I could perhaps understand how some movement people can support bringing John Graham, the other man accused, back to the U.S. But seeing what I saw it doesn't seem right. I thought maybe Canadian courts might be better but friends say Indian get shafted there too. The FBI has convinced some people to regard this as just another murder trial, the jury, defense lawyer and Judge tried to pretend it was but that obviously is not the case. How can there be justice when a Lakota man stands defenseless in front of an all white South Dakota jury, an AIM member painted with death of two FBI agents in this age of terrorism? They allowed Kamook's statement about Peltier go unchallenged. Kamook is only one woman saying she heard something but several hundred have heard him deny it and they were not mad at an ex-husband. Why weren't they, or Leonard himself, given a chance to rebut her? Why not at least play a tape of Leonard defending himself in prison interviews? The FBI version of the fight at Jumping Bulls and its aftermath is not the only version and sure as hell isn't the true one.
Leonard Peltier first called for Indians to seek their own justice in the death of Anna Mae and now I see Robert Robideau also has called for a tribunal of good and true AIM people to be convened. I join my two brothers in that call and I will attend and testify to all I know if it is convened. I admit that Bob, Norman Brown and Dino Butler know more than me about Anna Mae and they were closer friends of hers. I don't argue with their conclusions. I was an Oklahoma leader and we generally kept our distance from the happenings up north, but like them I and my Oklahoma AIM friends would like to know the truth about her death and how the FBI engineered it. The AIM I knew, served, and loved, did not do things like murder, we fought back when attacked and we resisted the oppressors of our people but we did not kill our own. No AIM leader could tell a warrior to go murder another Indian person even a snitch. I know if I had told one of my Oklahoma AIM brothers or sisters to go kill somebody they would have said, "You got a gun, kill them yourself." Oklahoma AIM was a circle of concerned tribal people and our leaders led, not ordered. Always it was the enemy and particularly the FBI who committed mayhem and murder, they did drive-by shootings, set up GOON roadblocks to catch and beat our traditional people and they paid people to do these things. They subverted justice and corrupted the system in order to win false convictions of any Indian who stood against them. Anna Mae stood against them and spit in their face, for that they hated her and wanted her dead. She was AIM and very proud of it. This is why I will have to see real proof before I point my finger at anyone in AIM for the death of Anna Mae, not rumors and accusations by running dogs or finger-pointing by sick little ex-friends of Arlo's trying to make a name for themselves. Therefore I will join Bob Robideau, Leonard Peltier and members of the American Indian Movement whenever a tribunal is convened to seek justice for Anna Mae. I hope Pine Ridge is chosen as the site for the tribunal so all the families who suffered during the FBI "Reign of Terror" can come seek justice for their loved ones.
In the meantime I will continue to work to right the wrongs done to Leonard Peltier and to try to win his freedom. I invite all of you to join us once more and I urge you not to turn your back on our brother, we can not leave him sitting unjustly in a cage any longer, it is time to Free Peltier! Free him NOW!
Carter Camp, Ponca, LPDC
War Stories and Wounded Knee 1973
Many of our people have forgotten the traditional way "War Stories" are used and respected in the sacred ceremonies of the people of the Sundance and Pipe, we who have always lived in the center of our turtle island. Long ago our wise ancestors understood that a powerful moment in time existed when a warrior performed a great deed and tested himself to the ultimate. In english we call them war stories but in our own languages the story and the person chosen to tell it have names with far more meaning. War stories are actually "Warrior Stories" because they are told individually by the warrior who is bringing his actions into the circle. They are told in front of witnesses who can attest to their truth because the story must exemplify the great virtues of a warrior... honor, truth, courage, fortitude, strength and selflessness give the 'war story' a power that can serve the needs of the ceremony. War stories were always brought out during the special dances and ceremoni! es of our Clans, our Societies and our Sundance where they have a special place and use. The leaders of the ceremony took particular care in selecting the warrior chosen to stand up in front of all the Nation and recite the actions he had taken on behalf of his people... a song is made, every step, every gesture, and every word must be given as a sacrament into the circle of the People. In a time without lies, a Nations heart could swell with pride and power as he gifted his words to them and a oneness could encircle them as he spoke. It could be the leader of the battle or it could be a first time coup by a young warrior on his initial experience but each war story was backed by the presence of his comrades-in-arms, verified and strengthened by their assent, their love and their respect.
In modern times where war stories are told they are told by the veterans of service in Americas wars, where our warriors were sent to fight on foreign lands. We can still hear them with pride and in this way the tradition lives on. It has been this way because it has been generations since our warriors rose to fight an enemy while standing on the dust of our ancestors. That last happened at Wounded Knee, in 1890. We lost that day, our children were exposed to the ravening dogs, but even then warriors stood up, men and women became spirits standing back to back in defense of their generations... courage, fortitude, strength, honor blessed the lands, given life as the eternal blood sacrament was given freely to Mother Earth. And in the days that followed warriors fought from a Stronghold to avenge their relatives as a mass grave held the truth. New and glorious war stories were born among the carnage and strongheart songs mingled with the wails of the mourning. A Nation ! lived on with the virtues given her by a hundred generations of warriors and their stories, it took immense fortitude and courage to survive for eighty-three years until warriors rose again, but the ceremonies continued and the songs of those days were sung.
In 1973 another battle happened on sacred lands along the Wounded Knee creek. Once again warriors were forced to rise up in defense of their people and stand on hollowed ground and fight. Once again warriors blood was sacrificed and lives were freely given to revive the heartbeat of a Nation, brave deeds and selfless actions became the measure of a society called the "Independent Oglala Nation". To the people there it was called "the Knee" and two thousand and more, women and men, stood back to back with honor, with courage and fortitude once more in red hearts. Eagle feathers were earned there and an amazing number of worthy actions were taken daily for seventy-three days in 1973. A community was born to live once more a traditional way of the circle of our grandfathers. Powerful medicine men and elders guided our paths as "Warrior Stories" were once again gifted to the circle in the old way as honor and truth were revived to bring power in Inipi, Yuwipi and Ghost Dan! ce.
Led by Viet Nam vets like Stan Holder, Craig Camp, Russ Redner, Buddy Lamont, Luke Tenfingers... Rich,Tiger, Lance, Angel and a hundred others, warriors from sixteen to sixty yrs old formed an encircling wall of protection around our lands and dared any invader to enter. Each of the Oyate inside the circle preformed warrior duties too and each faced the danger as one, cooks were shot by the wasicu as were the veterans in the bunkers, medics were sniped while bandaging wounded and even our mailman was attacked while delivering mail... his war story added to the whole. Wounded Knee was a community of warriors empowered by stories held in the land since 1890, warriors of many Nations united by the selfless actions of their comrades-in-arms fighting by their side.
But traditional, true, honorable "War Stories" are no longer told about the last great battle at Wounded Knee in 1973. For the first time in the history of our Societies honorable and truthful warriors have put away their braveheart stories and the songs of their deeds are silent. This has happened because for the first time in the memory of all the Red generations past, the leaders of the battle ran away and left their community while under attack. Because they were self-chosen leaders they had not been tested. They lacked the virtues of a warrior, their honor was locked in the wasicu cities and jails they came from and they could not rise above it. To the warriors they left inside they were called "the chickens of the knee" in jest and much worse in earnest. We listened to stories of Russ Means enjoying the fruits of his celebrity while drinking and partying down in Oklahoma where I'm from and ending up being busted out in California after one of his notorious mega-s! ized parties out there. Since 1973 he has renewed his betrayals of the principles of AIM each decade without stop. Recently he betrayed every warrior of AIM when he knelt before the subhuman Janklow to beg a pardon! Yes, the same Janklow who brags about personally keeping Leonard Peltier in a cage, Janklow, the rapist of Jancita Eagledeer and the thief of Lakota lands in South Dakota.
None of the ION warriors really noticed when Clyde Bellecourt slinked out of the Knee, he wouldn't carry a gun and we never saw him outside his warm trailer anyway, but we did notice when he began frantically fundraising in our name while we had no ammo to fight with or tobacco to smoke, or food for the kids. For security purposes Clyde and his crew had not been told we were liberating the Knee that first night, so he was very surprised to end up there in a caravan he thought was going to a powwow! The warriors had a good laugh when we noticed he had his own cameraman in tow. Even the cops knew he was worthless, all his charges were dropped as real warriors went to prison. Vernon Bellecourt refused to even consider sacrificing his luxury and comfort to come fight alongside us, he was "Mr.Vernon" the hairdresser to AIM warriors, he did fundraising for Clyde and hung around the leadership but he was more a joke than a leader. We heard about it when he went to the French ! Riviera during a blizzard in the Knee and we joked about the hash-hish we knew he was enjoying over there on our money. AIM died long before he claimed to be a warrior, after the rest of us were in jail or being chased throughout ndn country he stepped out of his closet into the limelight. Vernon never set foot inside Wounded Knee in 1973 but to his eternal shame in ndn country, he stands-up when ION veterans are honored as if he were a veteran of our Nation. How low will a man crawl for money?
The Independent Oglala Nation didn't miss them when they left, others were already doing the work of the nation, fighting the battles, supplying the needs of the people and protecting our elders and children from the ravening wolves shooting at us from the hills. Each night pack trains of supplies were carried in under fire by dedicated warriors, timed to arrive at daybreak to feed the nation and gift their stories to us, each day the warriors worked hard to strengthen their perimeter and fortify their bunkers in preparation for the coming battles. Each day the community lived the life of freedom they were fighting for and each day we grew closer together in our ceremonies and sharing. Every day was a war story and every warrior had stories to tell of honor, truth and generosity, enough perhaps to help our people survive another eighty-three years in ceremony and song. Despite those who ran, the nation lived and the stories continued until peace was made by the Oglala ! Council of the ION.
AIM as an ndn society may have died there in those sacred ravines when the leaders failed in dishonor, but the pride of a Red Nation was reborn with the "Warrior Stories" we lived there among the spirits of those murdered in 1890. AIM too became a spirit, it's blood drained into the earth at Wounded Knee, but that spirit lives on just as the spirits of Frank Clearwater and Buddy Lamont dwell today with the spirits of Yellowbird, Bigfoot and the others who nourish that sacred ground. Today every aspect of ndn country has been touched by the proud legacy of the American Indian Movement and the warriors stand at Wounded Knee. Sovereignty has a renewed meaning to friend and foe alike and all Indian people are unified in its protection. During the brief life of AIM as a warrior society, we blew on the dying embers of our traditional fires and helped them flare back to life.
I remember well the final week of Wounded Knee 73 after my brother Buddy Lamont had been killed by a wasicu sniper. The Oglala Council had decided to stand-down the armed struggle and to continue the fight for their treaty rights in the wasicu courts. It was a hard decision for them and a blow to the warriors' dreams, but it was their land and their decision to make, so we prepared to obey. I began to have meetings with the bunker leaders and squads, to plan for their evacuation and to send them out with the best weapons. By the last four days, unknown to any but the warriors involved, Wounded Knee lay almost unarmed and unprotected by our veterans. In order to fool the wasicu gunners around us and the government negotiators inside we devised a plan to have the dozen or so warriors (who decided to stay for the funeral) work in the open around the bunkers during daylight hours and we had people carrying fake weapons and supplies from place to place to add to the confusi! on. At night we had four lookouts stationed on the cardinal points and some patrols, but most of the bunkers were empty and the way was open to the invaders. Each minute I lived in fear that I had made a terrible mistake and the ravening dogs would once more consume my helpless ones.
As the night wore on I would make a patrol across ground I now knew like an eagle knows his nest, alone I would creep out into the night and stealthily enter a bunker in secret. Once inside I would light a cigarette(I don't smoke) build a fire and turn on an old radio I had stashed. I would talk and joke inside and walk around the top as if we were reinforcing or changing the guard, after an half hour or so I would sneak out into the night to repeat my performance at another empty bunker on the other side of the Knee an hour later. In between, I would walk around the village and visit the kitchens, laughing with the people in the few places with light, to be seen before I ducked into another ravine to begin my crawl once more. In those final dark and lonely nights I had a lot of time to pray and cry for the end of our Tribe and the final days of the Knee, it was hard because each empty bunker and squad room I visited held reminders of the warrior stories that had been ! born there and the brave comrades who fought there. Sometimes I would stand in a deserted bunker and loudly sing the AIM song or a Ponca He'thuska warrior song and I would face the enemy with pride, anger and defiance, but I knew we had to leave. Wounded Knee was over and all that we had left was our "war stories" to tell in the old way and to give away in the circle of our people. We never imagined that even our traditional "War Stories" would be stolen and dishonored by old, greed-driven AIM leaders, we never thought they would do the unimaginable and claim a warriors honors when they earned none. In the old way of the warrior an Akicita would strike them with their whips and drive them crying from the circle.
Now thirty years later some people are having an "anniversary" celebration
to honor the memory of Wounded Knee 1973 but it has to be a non-ndn celebration
like a rock concert because in another sad first for ndn country the "chickens
of the knee" are being "honored"! Honored? Not really, I guess they are being
"publicized" or something but it's not honor in the way a true "war story" is an
honor. Men without honor will stand up and accept false honors that belong to
others because for thirty years the warriors of the ION have been silent. No
media noticed the warriors turn their backs on the cowards and leave AIM after
the Knee, but that is the traditional way we vote for our leaders, no press
conferences or tribunals just a traditional shunning. After the warriors left
AIM(the organization) it became a wasicu fundraising tool and they used it to
become very rich old men. Now Vernon will waddle out of his mansion, squeeze
into his cadillac with AIM-1 license tags, and ! show up burdened by jewlery to
look down on all us raggedy-ass ndn warriors who fought at the Knee. Go look at
him and see the truth of my words, he has turned white in dishonor. For this
reason, to protect the traditional honor of the the "War Story" of Wounded Knee
1973 and the ION, I rise to denounce those who falsely claim the honors of a
warrior of Wounded Knee and the Independant Oglala Nation.
While this charade of fools goes on for them, this weekend another occasion will happen to mark the founding of the ION and the liberation of Wounded Knee in 1973. All around the Nation, a thousand warriors and more will turn to face "the Knee" with their Pipe in their hands and their traditional "Warrior Stories" held in their hearts, ready to gift them to the sacred circle in the old way when the People call their names. Me, I will take my Pipe down to Frank Clearwater's grave, (we have him close to the Sundance grounds) put out a little tobacco and tell my sons and nephews to sit down while I tell them a true story... it happened back in 1973 my boys, and it was a hellofa fight....
Mitakuye Oyasin, I am Carter Camp, Ponca Nation, Founder Oklahoma AIM,
National Chairman AIM, Warrior Citizen of the Independent Oglala Nation.
For you, the brave warriors I served with in the Knee I offer you another
war story I wrote a few years ago... I hope it brings good memories to you
because it is a true and honorable story from a warrior who lived it.
Remembering Wounded Knee 1973
Ah-ho My Relations,
Today is heavy with prayer and reminisces for me. Not only are those who walk for the Yellowstone Buffalo reaching their destination, today is the anniversary of the night when, at the direction of the Oglala Chiefs, I went with a special squad of warriors to liberate Wounded Knee in advance of the main AIM caravan. For security reasons the people had been told everyone was going to a meeting/wacipi in Porcupine, the road goes through Wounded Knee. When the People arrived at the Trading Post we had already set up a perimeter, taken eleven hostages, run the B.I.A. cops out of town, cut most phone lines, and began 73 days of the best, most free time of my life. The honor of being chosen to go first still lives strong in my heart.
That night we had no idea what fate awaited us. It was a cold night with not much moonlight and I clearly remember the nervous anticipation I felt as we drove the back-way from Oglala into Wounded Knee. The Chiefs had tasked me with a mission and we were sworn to succeed, of that I was sure, but I couldn't help wondering if we were prepared. The FBI, BIA and Marshalls had fortified Pine Ridge with machine gun bunkers and A.P.C.s with M-60's. They had unleashed the goonsquad on the people and a reign of terror had begun, we knew we had to fight but we could not fight on wasicu terms. We were lightly armed and dependent on the weapons and ammo in the WK trading post, I worried that we would not get to them before the shooting started.
As we stared silently into the darkness driving into the hamlet I tried to forsee what opposition we would encounter and how to neutralize it... We were approaching a sacred place and each of us knew it. We could feel it deep inside. As a warrior leading warriors I humbly prayed to Wakonda for the lives of all and the wisdom to do things right. Never before or since have I offered my tobacco with such a plea or put on my feathers with such purpose. It was the birth of the Independent Oglala Nation.
Things went well for us that night, we accomplished our task without loss of life. Then, in the cold darkness as we waited for Dennis and Russ to bring in the caravan (or for the fight to start), I stood on the bank of the shallow ravine where our people had been murdered by Custers' 7th Cavalry. There I prayed for the defenseless ones, torn apart by Hotchkiss cannon and trampled under hooves of steel by drunken wasicu. I could feel the touch of their spirits as I eased quietly into the gully and stood silently... waiting for my future, touching my past.
Finally, I bent over and picked a sprig of sage - whose ancestors in 1890 had been nourished by the blood of Red babies, ripped from their mothers dying grasp and bayonetted by the evil ones - As I washed myself with that sacred herb I became cold in my determination and cleansed of fear. I looked for Big Foot and YellowBird in the darkness and I said aloud ---
"We are back my relations, we are home". Hoka-Hey
Carter Camp- Ponca Nation AIM
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