Wounded Knee Occupation

Wounded Knee Occupation
Part of the Red Power movement and political violence in the United States during the Cold War
DateFebruary 27 – May 8, 1973
(2 months, 1 week and 4 days)
Location
Result
  • American government victory
Belligerents
Commanders and leaders
Strength
200 (some armed) Up to a thousand federal agents, national guard maintenance personnel (from 5 states). Also helicopters and APCs
Casualties and losses
  • 2 killed (Frank Clearwater and Buddy Lamont)
  • 1 missing (Ray Robinson)
  • 14 wounded

The Wounded Knee Occupation, also known as Second Wounded Knee, began on February 27, 1973, when approximately 200 Oglala Lakota (sometimes referred to as Oglala Sioux) and followers of the American Indian Movement (AIM) seized and occupied the town of Wounded Knee, South Dakota, United States, on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation. The protest followed the failure of an effort of the Oglala Sioux Civil Rights Organization (OSCRO) to use impeachment to remove tribal president Richard Wilson, whom they accused of corruption and abuse of opponents. Protesters also criticized the United States government's failure to fulfill treaties with Native American people, and demanded the reopening of treaty negotiations with the goal of fair and equitable treatment of Native Americans.

Oglala and AIM activists controlled the town for 71 days while the United States Marshals Service, FBI agents, and other law enforcement agencies cordoned off the area. The activists chose the site of the 1890 Wounded Knee Massacre for its symbolic value. In March, a U.S. Marshal was shot by gunfire coming from the town, which ultimately resulted in paralysis.[2] Frank Clearwater (of Cherokee and Apache nations) was shot and wounded on April 17, dying 8 days later on April 25, 1973, and Lawrence "Buddy" Lamont (Oglala) was shot and killed on April 26, 1973. Ray Robinson, a civil rights activist who joined the protesters, disappeared during the events. It was later determined that he had been buried on the reservation after allegedly being killed during a confrontation with AIM members.

Following Lamont's death the two sides agreed to a truce, which led to the end of the occupation. Remedial steps were part of the negotiated resolution.

The occupation attracted wide media coverage, especially after the press accompanied two U.S. Senators from South Dakota to Wounded Knee. The events electrified Native Americans, and many Native American supporters traveled to Wounded Knee to join the protest. At the time there was widespread public sympathy for the goals of the occupation, as Americans were becoming more aware of longstanding issues of injustice related to Natives. Afterward AIM leaders Dennis Banks and Russell Means were indicted on charges related to the events, but their 1974 case was dismissed by the federal court for prosecutorial misconduct,[3] a decision upheld on appeal.

Wilson stayed in office and in 1974 was re-elected amid charges of intimidation, voter fraud, and other abuses. The rate of violence climbed on the reservation as conflict opened between political factions in the following three years; residents accused Wilson's private militia, Guardians of the Oglala Nation (GOONs), of much of it. According to AIM, there were 64 unsolved murders during these years, including opponents of the tribal government, such as Pedro Bissonette, director of the Oglala Sioux Civil Rights Organization (OSCRO),[4] but this is disputed, with an FBI report in 2000 concluding that there were only four unsolved murders and that many of the deaths listed were not homicides or political.[5][6]

Wounded Knee church building
The Archway leading to the Wounded Knee cemetery
Stairs leading to Wounded Knee church building
  1. ^ Witness: The Standoff at Wounded Knee (Podcast). UK: BBC World Service. February 27, 2013. 5 minutes in. Retrieved June 1, 2022.
  2. ^ "Marshal Wounded". Spokane Daily Chronicle. March 27, 1973. Retrieved January 3, 2016.
  3. ^ News transcript. (September 16, 1974). "Dennis Banks and Russell Means Cleared of Charges". NBCLearn K-12. NBC. Retrieved January 3, 2016. Judge Nichol, citing misconduct, negligence and even deceit by federal prosecutors and the FBI, dismissed the charges after the eight-month-long case when it was clear his only other choice was to declare a mistrial because the jury couldn't resume deliberations.
  4. ^ Ward Churchill, From a Native Son: Selected Essays on Indigenism, 1985–1995, South End Press, Cambridge, Massachusetts, pp. 256–260.
  5. ^ Cite error: The named reference FBIDeathsReportAnnounce was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  6. ^ Cite error: The named reference Matthiessen was invoked but never defined (see the help page).