A Little bit more info..
- "The 1960s and 1970s were turbulent times in America. The Vietnam War, the assassinations of President Kennedy, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., and Senator Robert Kennedy, the Civil Rights Movement, Watergate caused Americans to question government as never before in the history of the United States. Everyday Americans discovered what American Indians have known forever, as evidenced by hundreds of broken treaties
- (Levi Rickert, editor in chief in Longest Walk 3)"
- "Roughly two thousand people, evenly split between Native Americans and their supporters, completed a five month march from San Francisco when they entered Washington DC on July 15, 1978. After stopping in Meridian Hill Park for a rally, they ended the 2,700 mile journey at the Washington Monument. Almost two dozen people had walked the entire distance. Although the entire effort was run by a coalition of more than a hundred Native American tribes and groups, it was planned and organized by the American Indian Movement (AIM) because it felt that Native water and land rights were under threat.
The purpose of the march was to protest and lobby against eleven bills before Congress that Indians felt would alter treaties between the US government and various Native tribes. Some of these bills would have restricted tribal government, limited some hunting and fishing rights and closed Native schools and hospitals. Most were introduced by Washington State representatives, in response to several court decisions favoring Native Americans. While they had little chance of passage, their introduction was seen as ominous.
During the week of demonstrations, lobbying, tribal ceremonies and workshops most of the 2,800 participants camped out at a federal park in Maryland. After the first day’s walk to DC, busses brought them in for each day’s events. The busses were paid for by the federal government, as were Army field kitchens, tents, water tanks and other logistical support. Officials estimated that all this cost the taxpayers $250,000. In addition, several church groups contributed money for food and other necessaries. By July 27 everyone had left the park and gone home." (Dennis Banks)
What is "The American Indian Movement" ?
The American Indian Movement (AIM) is a Native American Activist organization in the United States, founded in 1968 in Minneapolis, Minnesota, with an agenda that focuses on spirituality, leadership, and sovereignty. The founders included Dennis Banks, George Mitchell, Herb Powless, Clyde Bellcourt, Harold Goodsky, Eddie Benton-Banai, and a number of others in the Minneapolis Native American community. Russel Means born Oglala Lakota, was an early leader in 1970s protests.
The organization was formed to address various issues concerning the Native American urban community in Minneapolis, including poverty, housing, treaty issues, and police harassment. From its beginnings in Minnesota, AIM soon attracted members from across the United States and Canada. It participated in the Rainbow Coalition organized by the civil rights activist Fred Hampton Charles Deegan Sr. was involved with the AIM Patrol.
In October 1971, AIM gathered members from across the country to a protest in Washington, D.C. known as the "Trail of Broken Treaties". AIM gained national attention when it seized the Bureau of Indian Affairs national headquarters and presented a 20-point list of demands to the federal government. In 1973, it led a 71-day armed standoff with federal forces at Wounded Knee South Dakota, on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation
In the decades since AIM's founding, the group has led protests advocating indigenous American interests, inspired cultural renewal, monitored police activities, and coordinated employment programs in cities and in rural reservation communities across the United States. AIM has often supported indigenous interests outside the United States as well."
(Vine Jr., ed., American Indian Policy in the 20th Century, University of Oklahoma Press)
The organization was formed to address various issues concerning the Native American urban community in Minneapolis, including poverty, housing, treaty issues, and police harassment. From its beginnings in Minnesota, AIM soon attracted members from across the United States and Canada. It participated in the Rainbow Coalition organized by the civil rights activist Fred Hampton Charles Deegan Sr. was involved with the AIM Patrol.
In October 1971, AIM gathered members from across the country to a protest in Washington, D.C. known as the "Trail of Broken Treaties". AIM gained national attention when it seized the Bureau of Indian Affairs national headquarters and presented a 20-point list of demands to the federal government. In 1973, it led a 71-day armed standoff with federal forces at Wounded Knee South Dakota, on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation
In the decades since AIM's founding, the group has led protests advocating indigenous American interests, inspired cultural renewal, monitored police activities, and coordinated employment programs in cities and in rural reservation communities across the United States. AIM has often supported indigenous interests outside the United States as well."
(Vine Jr., ed., American Indian Policy in the 20th Century, University of Oklahoma Press)