Justice for Aquash? - by Brenda Norrell
OGLALA, S.D. - On a hill overlooking the valley of Oglala, a red medicine bundle and silver earrings are placed on the grey gravestone of Anna Mae Pictou Aquash. Fading plastic yellow flowers rest in the delicate fresh-fallen snow.
"Let the people know that Anna Mae has been taken care of in a real nice way," said Tobe Big Boy of Pine Ridge, speaking of the late Wallace Little and the family cemetery, south of the Jumping Bull camping, where Aquash is buried. "Wallace Little had a gentle heart."
The night before, a federal jury in U.S. District Court in Rapid City delivered a first-degree murder conviction of Arlo Looking Cloud for the murder of the Micmac mother and member of the American Indian Movement.
After 28 years, Lakotas hoped that justice would finally come for Aquash, whose body was found in the Badlands in February of 1976. They say that is not what happened in federal court.
Lakota on Pine Ridge said this trial was not about Looking Cloud, a Lakota living on the streets of Denver, convicted without physical evidence or eyewitnesses. Looking Cloud’s confession, of being present when Aquash was shot, was made to law enforcement officers when he was drunk and admitted as evidence in the federal court.
On Red Shirt Table in the Badlands, Lakota elders Ed and Lovey Two Bulls were among Lakota on Pine Ridge following the trial closely.
"The American Indian Movement was on trial," said Ed Two Bulls. "And I was never a member of AIM."
Ed Two Bulls said this is what happens in South Dakota. Two Bulls’ own great grandfather survived the massacre of Ghost Dancers on Stronghold Table, after the slaughter of Wounded Knee, and was then imprisoned for Ghost Dancing.
"Rapid City is the Mississippi of the North," Ed said, pointing out that the majority of the jury was white and not a jury of Looking Cloud’s peers.
"Did they ever find a gun? Bullets? Fingerprints?"
The answer to all three questions is no.
"It was a farce," Lovey said. "Just look at the statistics." She pointed out that Indians in South Dakota are imprisoned more often, serve longer prison sentences and are less likely to receive parole than non-Indians.
Like most people here, they question the motives of the prime investigator, a Lakota from Pine Ridge, Bob Ecoffey, now deputy director of the BIA in Albuquerque, and his role with the BIA police and the U.S. Marshal Service.
Lovey said, "Bob Ecoffey was grandstanding. That was backstabbing to his own people. What office is he going to run for now? The people out here are not going to forget it," Lovey said.
The Two Bulls are among Lakota who question why Ecoffey waited nine years to bring this case to trial after Looking Cloud recounted the events of Aquash’s murder in 1995, nine years ago. Looking Cloud did not testify in the trial, and maintained in the video that John Graham Patton was the one who shot her.
Lovey said, "Arlo never hid. He was never a fugitive."
Russell Means, in an interview in the hall of federal court, maintained earlier statements made in a Denver press conference. Means said the person who ordered Aquash’s murder was a federal agent within the American Indian Movement.
The subject was never addressed in federal court.
Prosecutors did allege that a Lakota woman from Pine Ridge, Theda Nelson Clark, who was in her 50s in 1975 when Aquash was killed, was a forceful woman who led the effort to take Aquash from Denver to South Dakota to be interrogated. Clark is now in poor health and living in an assisted living center in Nebraska and has not been charged.
Means said after the trial that one main aspect of Lakota culture was not addressed in the trial. "You can not refuse an elder."
When the trial ended, Means said outside the court, "We’ve just learned that there are four more sealed indictments.
"This points to a leadership trial." Further arrest warrants have not been made public.
"All the Indians here are victims", said Santee poet John Trudell, among Aquash’s friends who testified in the trial. In the hall of federal court, Trudell said it is important to find out who is responsible. "Who gave the orders to do this?"
Trudell said Looking Cloud and Graham, in their 20s at the time, were not decision makers. He said members of the American Indian Movement were not taking orders from 20-year-olds or 50-year-old women.
Further, in an interview, Trudell said Aquash was not a federal agent. He said the government made her appear to be one by repeatedly releasing her and failing to arrest her along with other AIM members.
Trudell said Graham, also charged with first-degree murder in Aquash’s murder, should fight extradition from Canada. "This trial is about more than Graham and Looking Cloud."
Across Indian country, Indian people said it is important to remember that the so-called leaders of the American Indian Movement were media-made, and the true leaders of the movements for Indian rights are still out there, working humbly for the good of the people.
In Seattle, Robert Free, veteran of Alcatraz, Wounded Knee, the Longest Walk and Northwest fishing rights struggles, said the struggle for indigenous rights is not just AIM.
"The American Indian Movement organization is just one part the movement, the Indian movement itself is a lot bigger than AIM. The Indian movement spans several continents, it is a movement of the indigenous peoples of the world who still have a spiritual connection to their territories."
Free said the indigenous struggle will continue to prevent the globalization forces from destroying indigenous territories in the name of consumerism.
In the community of Pine Ridge, Big Boy said the federal government violated its treaty with the Oglala Sioux, which was to protect the Sioux during the 1973 occupation of Wounded Knee.
"They came in and tore us apart. The government came in with tanks and created a war."
It is important, they say not to be crushed, but to continue resisting oppression and struggling for justice in a way that would make Anna Mae proud.
Brenda Norell
http://bsnorrell.tripod.com
other links:
http://www.brendanorrell.blogspot.com
Brenda Norrell is a staff writer for Indian Country Today
http://www.indiancountry.com
and a Contributing Editor for the U.N. OBSERVER & International Report.
Please also see:
American Indian Movement http://www.aimovement.org
OGLALA, S.D. - On a hill overlooking the valley of Oglala, a red medicine bundle and silver earrings are placed on the grey gravestone of Anna Mae Pictou Aquash. Fading plastic yellow flowers rest in the delicate fresh-fallen snow.
"Let the people know that Anna Mae has been taken care of in a real nice way," said Tobe Big Boy of Pine Ridge, speaking of the late Wallace Little and the family cemetery, south of the Jumping Bull camping, where Aquash is buried. "Wallace Little had a gentle heart."
The night before, a federal jury in U.S. District Court in Rapid City delivered a first-degree murder conviction of Arlo Looking Cloud for the murder of the Micmac mother and member of the American Indian Movement.
After 28 years, Lakotas hoped that justice would finally come for Aquash, whose body was found in the Badlands in February of 1976. They say that is not what happened in federal court.
Lakota on Pine Ridge said this trial was not about Looking Cloud, a Lakota living on the streets of Denver, convicted without physical evidence or eyewitnesses. Looking Cloud’s confession, of being present when Aquash was shot, was made to law enforcement officers when he was drunk and admitted as evidence in the federal court.
On Red Shirt Table in the Badlands, Lakota elders Ed and Lovey Two Bulls were among Lakota on Pine Ridge following the trial closely.
"The American Indian Movement was on trial," said Ed Two Bulls. "And I was never a member of AIM."
Ed Two Bulls said this is what happens in South Dakota. Two Bulls’ own great grandfather survived the massacre of Ghost Dancers on Stronghold Table, after the slaughter of Wounded Knee, and was then imprisoned for Ghost Dancing.
"Rapid City is the Mississippi of the North," Ed said, pointing out that the majority of the jury was white and not a jury of Looking Cloud’s peers.
"Did they ever find a gun? Bullets? Fingerprints?"
The answer to all three questions is no.
"It was a farce," Lovey said. "Just look at the statistics." She pointed out that Indians in South Dakota are imprisoned more often, serve longer prison sentences and are less likely to receive parole than non-Indians.
Like most people here, they question the motives of the prime investigator, a Lakota from Pine Ridge, Bob Ecoffey, now deputy director of the BIA in Albuquerque, and his role with the BIA police and the U.S. Marshal Service.
Lovey said, "Bob Ecoffey was grandstanding. That was backstabbing to his own people. What office is he going to run for now? The people out here are not going to forget it," Lovey said.
The Two Bulls are among Lakota who question why Ecoffey waited nine years to bring this case to trial after Looking Cloud recounted the events of Aquash’s murder in 1995, nine years ago. Looking Cloud did not testify in the trial, and maintained in the video that John Graham Patton was the one who shot her.
Lovey said, "Arlo never hid. He was never a fugitive."
Russell Means, in an interview in the hall of federal court, maintained earlier statements made in a Denver press conference. Means said the person who ordered Aquash’s murder was a federal agent within the American Indian Movement.
The subject was never addressed in federal court.
Prosecutors did allege that a Lakota woman from Pine Ridge, Theda Nelson Clark, who was in her 50s in 1975 when Aquash was killed, was a forceful woman who led the effort to take Aquash from Denver to South Dakota to be interrogated. Clark is now in poor health and living in an assisted living center in Nebraska and has not been charged.
Means said after the trial that one main aspect of Lakota culture was not addressed in the trial. "You can not refuse an elder."
When the trial ended, Means said outside the court, "We’ve just learned that there are four more sealed indictments.
"This points to a leadership trial." Further arrest warrants have not been made public.
"All the Indians here are victims", said Santee poet John Trudell, among Aquash’s friends who testified in the trial. In the hall of federal court, Trudell said it is important to find out who is responsible. "Who gave the orders to do this?"
Trudell said Looking Cloud and Graham, in their 20s at the time, were not decision makers. He said members of the American Indian Movement were not taking orders from 20-year-olds or 50-year-old women.
Further, in an interview, Trudell said Aquash was not a federal agent. He said the government made her appear to be one by repeatedly releasing her and failing to arrest her along with other AIM members.
Trudell said Graham, also charged with first-degree murder in Aquash’s murder, should fight extradition from Canada. "This trial is about more than Graham and Looking Cloud."
Across Indian country, Indian people said it is important to remember that the so-called leaders of the American Indian Movement were media-made, and the true leaders of the movements for Indian rights are still out there, working humbly for the good of the people.
In Seattle, Robert Free, veteran of Alcatraz, Wounded Knee, the Longest Walk and Northwest fishing rights struggles, said the struggle for indigenous rights is not just AIM.
"The American Indian Movement organization is just one part the movement, the Indian movement itself is a lot bigger than AIM. The Indian movement spans several continents, it is a movement of the indigenous peoples of the world who still have a spiritual connection to their territories."
Free said the indigenous struggle will continue to prevent the globalization forces from destroying indigenous territories in the name of consumerism.
In the community of Pine Ridge, Big Boy said the federal government violated its treaty with the Oglala Sioux, which was to protect the Sioux during the 1973 occupation of Wounded Knee.
"They came in and tore us apart. The government came in with tanks and created a war."
It is important, they say not to be crushed, but to continue resisting oppression and struggling for justice in a way that would make Anna Mae proud.
Brenda Norell
http://bsnorrell.tripod.com
other links:
http://www.brendanorrell.blogspot.com
Brenda Norrell is a staff writer for Indian Country Today
http://www.indiancountry.com
and a Contributing Editor for the U.N. OBSERVER & International Report.
Please also see:
American Indian Movement http://www.aimovement.org