Russell Means, Oglala/Lakota Sioux actor and activist, has died of cancer at the age of 72. He was born in 1939 on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in South Dakota.
You might recognize him from his film or television roles.
Means’ acting career began in 1992 when he portrayed Chingachgook alongside Daniel Day-Lewis' Hawkeye in "The Last of the Mohicans." He also appeared in the 1994 film "Natural Born Killers," voiced Chief Powhatan in the 1995 animated film "Pocahontas" and guest-starred in 2004 on the HBO series "Curb Your Enthusiasm."
However, Means was in the national spotlight beginning decades earlier for his leadership in the American Indian Movement, although you probably didn't learn about it in school or read about it in much of the semi-romanticized documentation of the cultural upheaval of the 1960s and 70s, even though it existed alongside -- and in several areas, worked closely with or existed because of -- the Civil Rights Movemement.
about 200 Oglala Lakota and followers of the American Indian Movement (AIM) seized and occupied the town of Wounded Knee, South Dakota on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation.
The grassroots protest followed the failure of their effort to impeach the elected tribal president Richard Wilson, whom they accused of corruption and abuse of opponents; they also protested the United States government's failure to fulfill treaties with Indian peoples and demanded the reopening of treaty negotiations.
Oglala and AIM activists controlled the town for 71 days while the United States Marshals Service, Federal Bureau of Investigation agents and other law enforcement agencies cordoned off the area. One of the Marshals involved in the operation was Tommy Robinson, later a United States Representative from Arkansas. The activists chose the site of the 1890 Wounded Knee Massacre for its symbolic value. Both sides were armed and shooting was frequent. An FBI agent was paralyzed from a gunshot wound early during the occupation, and later died from complications; a Cherokee and an Oglala Lakota were killed by shootings in April 1973.
There's a first-hand account of this incident and AIM history in the book Lakota Woman by Mary Brave Bird, who actually gave birth to her son during the occupation.
In 1972, AIM also occupied the Bureau of Indian Affairsin Washington DC for a few days in protest of broken treaties, racial profiling by law enforcement officers, and evidence of police brutality against Native Americans.
You might also know AIM by their continuous push for the removal of Native America figures being used as mascots and team names, and their push for awareness of what holidays like Columbus Day and Thanksgiving mean to Native American people.
A couple Russell Means quotes:
“Governments and corporations have yet to find a way to control this last free market of ideas. And why is the Internet the last free market of ideas? People better start addressing these types of questions, otherwise what has happened to the news media will happen to the computer as an information tool.”
“So I'd much rather get across the concept of freedom. It's what's important to Indian children. The only way you can be free is to know is that you are worthwhile as a distinct human being. Otherwise you become what the colonizers have designed, and that is a lemming. Get in line, punch all the right keys, and die.”
“If I want my people to be free, Americans have to be free.”
He was not a perfect person, and he held some views that were indicative of his times, but the Amerian Indian Movement is a chunk of American history that is often missing from the 1960s-70s cultural storybook.
In order to best understand our present state, it's important to view our history through as many lenses as possible. One of those lenses belonged to Russell Means.
He was one of the first occupiers of Alcatraz, along with his father. Their efforts inspired other natives to return to "The Rock" a few years later in an attempt to reclaim what was then abandoned federal land. They occupied the rock for 18 months which helped legitimize AIM by bringing the movement into the national spotlight (PBS has a really good documentary covering this historic event, which many people have probably never heard of).
Having gone to school in my early years at a mission on a reservation, I had the rare opportunity to be exposed to Native American culture. If not for the efforts of activists like Russell Means who called the tribes together to preserve their roots and freedoms, such culture might not survive. I hope his memory endures with the younger generation continuing his legacy long into the future.
Shal
Los Angeles, CA
October 2002
OCT 22, 2012 01:16 PM