AIM Occupation of Wounded Knee (1973)
The American Indian Movement (AIM) was founded in Minneapolis in 1968 by urban Native Americans responding to police brutality and discrimination. By the early 1970s, AIM had expanded from urban advocacy to confrontational protest of treaty-rights violations, including the 1972 'Trail of Broken Treaties' march to Washington DC (where protesters occupied the Bureau of Indian Affairs building). On 27 February 1973, approximately 200 AIM members led by Russell Means and Dennis Banks, accompanied by Oglala Lakota residents of Pine Ridge, took over the town of Wounded Knee — the site of the 1890 massacre — as an act of protest against corrupt Pine Ridge tribal chairman Richard Wilson and to demand US government treaty compliance. The occupation lasted 71 days. The FBI and US Marshals established a perimeter and conducted what became known as the longest internal siege in US history since the Civil War. Negotiations proceeded intermittently; the federal government agreed to examine its treaty obligations in exchange for a peaceful surrender. Two occupiers (Frank Clearwater and Lawrence Lamont) were killed by federal fire; 12 were wounded. Approximately 120 arrests were made. The occupation was simultaneous with the Watergate scandal, competing for national media attention. Its timing meant that the Nixon administration — simultaneously embroiled in Watergate — was disinclined to pursue the kind of brutal resolution that might dominate headlines. The political context shaped the federal response toward negotiation rather than assault. The occupation contributed to the Indian Self-Determination and Education Assistance Act (1975), which reversed the termination policy and restored tribal authority over education, health, and social services. AIM and the occupation also influenced the 1975 UN World Conference on Indigenous Peoples and the eventual passage of the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (2007).
- Year: 1973 CE
- Category: Political
