AIM Support Group of Ohio & N. KentuckyUpdates and Announcements
Sunday, March 02, 2003Subject: Indian Movement faces dissidents Indian Movement faces dissidents by Peter Harriman Argus Leader published: 3/1/2003 Splinter groups of original group exist KYLE - Thirty-five years after its founding, and 30 years after occupying Wounded Knee in its most famous event, the American Indian Movement is still tending a spiritual and cultural rebirth among Native Americans. But now it is also fending off dissidents. The AIM Grand Governing Council of the National Board used its quarterly meeting Friday to separate itself from disaffected activists using portions of the AIM icon and identity, specifically a splinter group founded in 1993, Autonomous AIM. "Don't be fooled by these people who say 'we are part of Autonomous AIM.' Most of them are non-Indians. We suspect they are agents still trying to destroy AIM," International Representative Vernon Bellecourt told the council and about 200 Indians from AIM chapters around the country who packed the Pejuta Haka Center to attend the quarterly meeting. Sandra Matchen, president of Friends for Native American Communities Inc., in Grand Junction, Colo. said in that state there is great friction between AIM and splinter groups. "There is bullying, lying. It is us against Autonomous AIM. What are we to do?" she asked. "The people who raise the issue of Autonomous AIM are a small handful trying to promote that split in the movement," Bellecourt answered. "There is no Autonomous AIM." Bellecourt said AIM, which is incorporated as a nonprofit Minnesota corporation, is investigating legal options to protect its identity. The council has been publicly distancing itself from Autonomous AIM since 1999. Dennis Banks, council chairman and AIM co-founder, reminded those in attendance that AIM activities such as the Wounded Knee takeover got the group branded as a terrorist organization decades ago, and there may be repercussions. "As your children want to become doctors and lawyers, they may find it difficult. They may hear 'well, your parents were in a terrorist group,'" Banks said. "We tell you that now, so you understand it. Tell your children to tell their children this was a very proud moment," he said of Wounded Knee. "Wear that history like a badge of honor. We will never, ever say we were sorry we did it." AIM activism continues, Bellecourt said. Today, he and other AIM members plan to march on the governor's mansion in Lincoln, Neb. and call for an end to the sale of liquor in White Clay, Neb., across the border from South Dakota and near the Pine Ridge Reservation, where the sale of alcohol is banned. Alcohol, he said "eats at the spiritual and cultural core of our people. Somewhere, there has to be a generation that says 'no more. We're going to go forward with sobriety.'" Bellecourt also reported on efforts to create a National Review Commission on Hate Crimes and Violence Against Indigenous People. He said a study by the U.S. Department of Justice study shows Indian people are victims of violent crime perpetrated on them by other minorities, by "everybody who has come through the sacred lands," Bellecourt said. AIM remains a leader in efforts to restore Indian remains and cultural items collected by anthropologists to their native tribes, Bellecourt said. Many of these have been dispersed to museums around the world. He called on members to "put pressure on these international institutions, and put pressure on your tribal governments to make sure they have a proper way of dealing with funeral objects and proper procedures for re-interring bodies." Len Foster, who is director and spiritual advisor of the Navajo Nation Correctional Project and an AIM Grand Governing Council member, reported that AIM seeks to expand the goals of the Navajo program nationwide. It is trying to get prisons to allow inmates to have unlimited access to traditional cultural and spiritual practices. "As recently as 1977, there was no sweat lodge in a prison in this country," he said. Connecting Indian inmates with their culture is an effective way to deal with the "anger, rage and pain" inmates feel. Ceremonies such as sweat lodges and talking circles "need to be available every week. This is difficult. Prison officials don't see our traditions and culture as valid." Foster said efforts to include Indian spiritual and cultural practices in prison programs are particularly compelling in South Dakota, where he said "30 percent of the prison population is Indian." He requested Lakota AIM members to recruit prison chaplains from among their spiritual leaders. "It is one way to have input into the system," he said. --- Reach Peter Harriman at 575-3615 or pharrima@argusleader.com. posted by Webmaster@ AIM Support 9:42 AM Last updated:
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