1 00:00:01,312 --> 00:00:03,354 Viewers like you make this program possible. 2 00:00:03,396 --> 00:00:05,438 Support your local PBS station. 3 00:00:07,271 --> 00:00:10,271 (man speaking Native American language) 4 00:00:28,563 --> 00:00:31,688 It is a story at the heart of America... 5 00:00:34,730 --> 00:00:41,396 one richer and more surprising than we've been told. 6 00:00:42,980 --> 00:00:48,146 (tribal drumming) 7 00:00:50,354 --> 00:00:54,271 Tonight American Experience presents a story 8 00:00:54,354 --> 00:00:59,021 that spans 300 years and a vast continent. 9 00:00:59,146 --> 00:01:04,896 WOMAN: The greatest thing a person can have is the power. 10 00:01:06,563 --> 00:01:10,312 Benegotsi. It's scary. 11 00:01:10,396 --> 00:01:12,062 It is a story of hope... 12 00:01:13,438 --> 00:01:15,062 courage... 13 00:01:15,146 --> 00:01:17,688 and survival. 14 00:01:17,813 --> 00:01:20,771 We were about to be obliterated culturally. 15 00:01:20,813 --> 00:01:22,146 Our spiritual way of life, 16 00:01:22,187 --> 00:01:25,271 our entire way of life, was about to be stamped out. 17 00:01:25,312 --> 00:01:27,312 (roaring) 18 00:01:30,187 --> 00:01:33,396 MAN: Every tribe in this country has a time of horror-- 19 00:01:33,438 --> 00:01:38,688 absolute horror-- when they were confronted by this invader. 20 00:01:38,771 --> 00:01:45,938 MAN: What we did to the Southeastern Indians, it's ethnic cleansing. 21 00:01:46,062 --> 00:01:48,187 MAN: It was done to them, 22 00:01:48,312 --> 00:01:50,062 so they did it back. 23 00:01:54,187 --> 00:01:55,938 But better. 24 00:01:56,021 --> 00:01:58,062 MAN: Whatever means and manner we could, 25 00:01:58,146 --> 00:02:00,771 since the Europeans arrived here, 26 00:02:00,813 --> 00:02:02,688 we've had to fight for our survival. 27 00:02:04,563 --> 00:02:07,187 Tonight an epic history of America... 28 00:02:07,312 --> 00:02:10,521 (whooping) 29 00:02:11,896 --> 00:02:13,896 seen through Native eyes... 30 00:02:15,771 --> 00:02:16,771 too remarkable... 31 00:02:19,021 --> 00:02:20,896 too inspiring... 32 00:02:22,021 --> 00:02:24,146 to ever forget. 33 00:02:25,271 --> 00:02:30,396 The master of life has appointed this place 34 00:02:30,479 --> 00:02:32,730 for us to light our fires... 35 00:02:35,104 --> 00:02:38,271 And here we shall remain. 36 00:03:11,021 --> 00:03:14,021 NARRATOR: On a cold night in February 1973, 37 00:03:14,146 --> 00:03:17,479 a caravan rolled through the Pine Ridge Reservation 38 00:03:17,521 --> 00:03:19,396 in South Dakota. 39 00:03:19,521 --> 00:03:23,479 The cars were packed with 200 Indians-- 40 00:03:23,521 --> 00:03:26,896 men and women, local Oglala Lakota 41 00:03:26,980 --> 00:03:29,146 and members of the urban militant group 42 00:03:29,229 --> 00:03:31,354 the American Indian Movement. 43 00:03:31,396 --> 00:03:34,646 They headed toward the hallowed ground of Wounded Knee, 44 00:03:34,730 --> 00:03:38,479 the site of the last massacre of the Indian Wars. 45 00:03:40,146 --> 00:03:41,646 CARTER CAMP: Going into Wounded Knee that night, 46 00:03:41,771 --> 00:03:45,021 when it was dark and scary, 47 00:03:45,104 --> 00:03:50,229 we were clinging to our weapons tightly. 48 00:03:50,271 --> 00:03:52,021 There was a full moon and we knew 49 00:03:52,146 --> 00:03:55,146 that a battle was going to come. 50 00:03:55,271 --> 00:03:57,146 I was sitting there thinking 51 00:03:57,229 --> 00:03:59,396 of some of these young men that are around me, 52 00:03:59,521 --> 00:04:02,396 am I committing them to... to die? 53 00:04:05,146 --> 00:04:07,146 MADONNA THUNDER HAWK: I was ready to do whatever it takes for change. 54 00:04:07,229 --> 00:04:09,771 I didn't care. 55 00:04:09,855 --> 00:04:11,271 I had children, 56 00:04:11,396 --> 00:04:14,021 and for them I figured I could make a stand here. 57 00:04:16,896 --> 00:04:18,187 JOSEPH TRIMBACH: They were up to no good. 58 00:04:18,271 --> 00:04:20,812 I mean, why would they be traveling in a caravan 59 00:04:20,896 --> 00:04:23,062 with all these weapons and all these Molotov cocktails 60 00:04:23,187 --> 00:04:24,896 if they weren't going to engage 61 00:04:24,938 --> 00:04:26,771 in some kind of destructive activity? 62 00:04:28,521 --> 00:04:33,312 NARRATOR: By the 1970s, Native people, once masters of the continent, 63 00:04:33,396 --> 00:04:38,187 had become invisible, consigned to the margins of American life. 64 00:04:38,271 --> 00:04:42,187 Their anger and frustration would explode in Wounded Knee. 65 00:04:44,146 --> 00:04:48,146 We were about to be obliterated culturally. 66 00:04:48,187 --> 00:04:51,438 Our spiritual way of life-- our entire way of life-- 67 00:04:51,521 --> 00:04:52,813 was about to be stamped out, 68 00:04:52,938 --> 00:04:57,187 and this was a rebirth of our dignity and self-pride. 69 00:04:59,312 --> 00:05:02,938 NARRATOR: For the next 71 days, Indian protesters at Wounded Knee 70 00:05:03,021 --> 00:05:05,896 would hold off the federal government at gunpoint. 71 00:05:05,938 --> 00:05:08,312 (gunshots) 72 00:05:08,396 --> 00:05:10,438 Media from around the world would give the siege 73 00:05:10,521 --> 00:05:12,646 day-by-day coverage. 74 00:05:12,688 --> 00:05:14,813 And Native Americans from across the nation 75 00:05:14,938 --> 00:05:17,938 would come to Wounded Knee to be part of what they hoped 76 00:05:18,021 --> 00:05:19,938 would be a new beginning. 77 00:05:24,563 --> 00:05:26,938 The message that went out 78 00:05:27,062 --> 00:05:32,062 is that a band of Indians could take on this government. 79 00:05:32,187 --> 00:05:37,813 Tecumseh had his day, Geronimo, Sitting Bull, Crazy Horse... 80 00:05:40,021 --> 00:05:41,688 And we had ours. 81 00:05:46,688 --> 00:05:48,146 NEWS ANNOUNCER: We have tonight 82 00:05:48,187 --> 00:05:51,438 one of the strangest stories to come along in a long time. 83 00:05:51,563 --> 00:05:54,187 A group of American Indians has taken over the town 84 00:05:54,271 --> 00:05:56,312 of Wounded Knee in South Dakota 85 00:05:56,438 --> 00:05:59,021 and they have been holding it for nearly a whole day. 86 00:05:59,062 --> 00:06:01,688 This afternoon the FBI said 87 00:06:01,771 --> 00:06:04,521 the Indians are in charge of the town. 88 00:06:09,771 --> 00:06:11,938 We had just finished eating our dinner 89 00:06:12,021 --> 00:06:16,771 and so I looked out the window and I said, 90 00:06:16,813 --> 00:06:18,896 "Well, for heaven's sake, who opened the store?" 91 00:06:18,938 --> 00:06:21,813 And they're carrying things out, 92 00:06:21,938 --> 00:06:23,396 bringing things out by the carload. 93 00:06:23,438 --> 00:06:27,688 And I was floored, just floored. 94 00:06:29,771 --> 00:06:33,062 NARRATOR: After stripping bare the Wounded Knee Trading Post, 95 00:06:33,187 --> 00:06:34,938 the village's only store, 96 00:06:35,021 --> 00:06:37,312 the protesters took over a local church, 97 00:06:37,396 --> 00:06:41,563 holding the minister and other white residents hostage. 98 00:06:43,438 --> 00:06:46,062 They quickly blocked all roads leading into town. 99 00:06:49,521 --> 00:06:51,062 TRIMBACH: On Tuesday, February 27, 100 00:06:51,187 --> 00:06:54,312 I received a telephone call from some news outlet. 101 00:06:54,396 --> 00:06:58,438 I was told that the caravan forcibly took over the village, 102 00:06:58,563 --> 00:07:02,521 were holding hostages and causing destruction there. 103 00:07:02,563 --> 00:07:05,563 So I immediately got my agents together 104 00:07:05,646 --> 00:07:07,771 and I proceeded to the main entrance to Wounded Knee. 105 00:07:09,396 --> 00:07:11,563 JIM ROBIDEAU: We saw a Fed car coming. 106 00:07:11,646 --> 00:07:15,396 And then it... then it was a... it kind of came... 107 00:07:15,438 --> 00:07:18,187 drove just right up not too far off. 108 00:07:18,312 --> 00:07:20,771 So when they come on, they got out of their car, 109 00:07:20,813 --> 00:07:23,646 they went looking around. 110 00:07:23,688 --> 00:07:26,062 And as soon as they put their glasses up, we opened up on 'em. 111 00:07:26,187 --> 00:07:28,062 (gunshots) 112 00:07:28,146 --> 00:07:31,438 We let them know, "We are here, and that's far enough." 113 00:07:31,521 --> 00:07:33,771 (gunshot) 114 00:07:33,813 --> 00:07:36,813 TRIMBACH: I called inside Wounded Knee 115 00:07:36,896 --> 00:07:39,938 and I said, "Look, let's get together and have a meeting 116 00:07:40,062 --> 00:07:44,896 "so we can stop the potential for bloodshed here. 117 00:07:44,938 --> 00:07:46,813 Let's talk about this." 118 00:07:48,938 --> 00:07:51,938 As I walked up to them, I see all these rifles pointed at me 119 00:07:52,021 --> 00:07:54,938 and it gives you an uneasy feeling. 120 00:07:55,021 --> 00:07:58,187 Yes, sir, Joseph Trimbach with the FBI. 121 00:07:58,271 --> 00:08:00,938 Trimbach came to that roadblock. 122 00:08:01,062 --> 00:08:02,521 And you could tell he'd been up all night 123 00:08:02,563 --> 00:08:04,771 and he's very irritable. 124 00:08:04,813 --> 00:08:07,062 We have law enforcement back here that's armed, 125 00:08:07,187 --> 00:08:09,271 and we have hostages here... 126 00:08:09,312 --> 00:08:12,813 TRIMBACH: I had no idea what's going to happen next. 127 00:08:12,896 --> 00:08:14,771 They came out and gave me this list of demands. 128 00:08:16,813 --> 00:08:20,062 NARRATOR: The protesters called for a federal investigation 129 00:08:20,146 --> 00:08:22,896 of corruption on reservations in South Dakota, 130 00:08:22,938 --> 00:08:25,187 and immediate Senate hearings on broken treaties 131 00:08:25,271 --> 00:08:27,312 with Indian nations. 132 00:08:27,396 --> 00:08:29,271 The headquarters of the... 133 00:08:29,312 --> 00:08:32,771 CAMP: We were angry about losing our land, 134 00:08:32,896 --> 00:08:35,271 losing our language, 135 00:08:35,396 --> 00:08:42,021 being ripped off of our ability to live as Indian people. 136 00:08:42,103 --> 00:08:45,521 Our parents was telling us, "You have to walk the white man road. 137 00:08:45,646 --> 00:08:47,479 "The Indian ways are going to be gone. 138 00:08:47,521 --> 00:08:49,771 Be a Christian," you know? 139 00:08:49,855 --> 00:08:51,396 "Go to school and learn that English 140 00:08:51,479 --> 00:08:52,604 but don't learn your own language." 141 00:08:53,896 --> 00:08:57,354 We wanted to give our lives in such a way 142 00:08:57,396 --> 00:09:00,521 that would bring attention to what was happening 143 00:09:00,646 --> 00:09:01,771 in Indian country 144 00:09:01,855 --> 00:09:02,980 and we were pretty sure 145 00:09:03,021 --> 00:09:05,146 that we were going to have to give our lives. 146 00:09:05,271 --> 00:09:06,646 (speaking Lakota) 147 00:09:06,730 --> 00:09:09,479 NARRATOR: The protesters demanded one change close to home. 148 00:09:09,521 --> 00:09:11,646 (speaking Lakota) 149 00:09:11,730 --> 00:09:14,730 Through a translator, the Lakota chief Fools Crow 150 00:09:14,771 --> 00:09:17,396 called for the immediate ouster of Dick Wilson, 151 00:09:17,521 --> 00:09:22,146 the elected head of the tribal government there on Pine Ridge. 152 00:09:22,271 --> 00:09:25,146 Wilson molest the Indians, 153 00:09:25,271 --> 00:09:27,271 sometimes threatening them and so forth. 154 00:09:28,521 --> 00:09:30,896 Before the sunset, we want him out of office 155 00:09:30,980 --> 00:09:32,521 and there will be no trouble. 156 00:09:34,396 --> 00:09:37,646 TRIMBACH: My initial reaction was, 157 00:09:37,730 --> 00:09:40,354 "This is something way beyond my pay grade. 158 00:09:40,396 --> 00:09:43,271 Someone in Washington's going to have to handle this." 159 00:09:44,396 --> 00:09:45,896 (laughter) 160 00:09:50,771 --> 00:09:54,146 NARRATOR: The standoff was unfolding on the Pine Ridge Reservation, 161 00:09:54,271 --> 00:09:56,771 home to the Oglala Lakota, 162 00:09:56,896 --> 00:10:00,730 not far from where chiefs like Red Cloud, Sitting Bull 163 00:10:00,771 --> 00:10:04,229 and Crazy Horse had once led their people into battle. 164 00:10:08,604 --> 00:10:11,229 ROBERT WARRIOR: The Lakota, who Americans call the Sioux, 165 00:10:11,271 --> 00:10:16,271 are iconic in American history, in the American imagination. 166 00:10:18,521 --> 00:10:21,479 These are buffalo hunters who lived in teepees, 167 00:10:21,521 --> 00:10:25,521 who were at the battle with General Custer. 168 00:10:27,646 --> 00:10:31,896 Nearly everything about the Lakota life is firmly implanted 169 00:10:31,980 --> 00:10:35,021 in the way that Americans think about Indians. 170 00:10:37,896 --> 00:10:42,021 NARRATOR: By 1973, the Lakota way of life on the plains 171 00:10:42,104 --> 00:10:45,271 was largely in the past. 172 00:10:45,354 --> 00:10:47,730 The Oglala Sioux tribal government ran things 173 00:10:47,771 --> 00:10:49,896 on Pine Ridge, 174 00:10:49,980 --> 00:10:52,980 and where traditional chiefs had once sought consensus, 175 00:10:53,021 --> 00:10:57,396 elected chairman Dick Wilson ruled with an iron hand. 176 00:11:00,604 --> 00:11:02,396 STEVE HENDRICKS: He was like 177 00:11:02,521 --> 00:11:05,104 a Chicago ward boss from the 1930s, 178 00:11:05,146 --> 00:11:08,855 big flour sack of a guy, wore dark glasses inside and out, 179 00:11:08,896 --> 00:11:10,521 was fond of drinking 180 00:11:10,646 --> 00:11:13,771 and brought all his friends and family and cronies 181 00:11:13,855 --> 00:11:15,896 into office with him, effect. 182 00:11:16,021 --> 00:11:19,021 Gave them jobs on the federal payroll. 183 00:11:20,855 --> 00:11:23,146 JAMES ABOUREZK: On the Pine Ridge Reservation, as with most reservations, 184 00:11:23,229 --> 00:11:26,479 the tribal chairman and the council 185 00:11:26,521 --> 00:11:29,479 have a great deal of power to spread money around, 186 00:11:29,521 --> 00:11:33,521 to spread food around, or to withhold it. 187 00:11:33,604 --> 00:11:36,021 Or to favor one part of the reservation over another, 188 00:11:36,146 --> 00:11:37,521 which is what was happening. 189 00:11:42,771 --> 00:11:45,646 NARRATOR: Wilson favored mixed-race, assimilated Indians 190 00:11:45,771 --> 00:11:48,604 like himself, and slighted the traditional Sioux 191 00:11:48,646 --> 00:11:51,354 who spoke their language, practiced their religion 192 00:11:51,396 --> 00:11:54,896 and remained loyal to the traditional Oglala chiefs. 193 00:11:57,229 --> 00:12:00,229 REPORTER: Do you get any help from the tribal council? 194 00:12:00,271 --> 00:12:03,021 WOMAN: No. 195 00:12:03,146 --> 00:12:04,855 Dick Wilson's the president here. 196 00:12:04,896 --> 00:12:08,521 He's the worst one, I think. 197 00:12:08,646 --> 00:12:13,646 He's the... I don't know, he gets the most of everything. 198 00:12:16,396 --> 00:12:19,771 PAUL CHAAT SMITH: The federal census, I think, every decade 199 00:12:19,896 --> 00:12:21,855 through the mid to end of the 20th century, 200 00:12:21,896 --> 00:12:24,771 show Pine Ridge as the poorest jurisdiction 201 00:12:24,896 --> 00:12:26,771 in the United States. 202 00:12:26,896 --> 00:12:30,104 So there's poverty and then there's reservation poverty. 203 00:12:30,146 --> 00:12:32,604 (dog barking) 204 00:12:32,646 --> 00:12:34,354 NARRATOR: When traditional Oglalas challenged corruption 205 00:12:34,396 --> 00:12:38,771 in tribal government, Dick Wilson responded with force. 206 00:12:41,229 --> 00:12:42,896 REGINA BRAVE: He had his own army, 207 00:12:43,021 --> 00:12:45,354 which intimidated the full-bloods mostly, 208 00:12:45,396 --> 00:12:46,646 the traditional people. 209 00:12:48,521 --> 00:12:50,896 His GOONs started beating up the people 210 00:12:50,980 --> 00:12:53,896 and no charges were ever pressed. 211 00:12:54,021 --> 00:12:55,521 And if they did, it got thrown out of court. 212 00:12:55,646 --> 00:12:57,229 He controlled the whole reservation. 213 00:13:02,479 --> 00:13:06,521 MARVIN STOLDT: Some of the officers hated to arrest any of Dick's people 214 00:13:06,646 --> 00:13:10,021 in spite of the fact that they did break the law. 215 00:13:10,104 --> 00:13:11,646 He helped me a number of times, 216 00:13:11,771 --> 00:13:15,229 so I felt that I owed him a loyalty. 217 00:13:15,271 --> 00:13:20,396 And... and so I didn't support everything he did, 218 00:13:20,479 --> 00:13:24,896 but irregardless of what he did, I still felt that loyalty. 219 00:13:25,021 --> 00:13:29,271 There's been a lot of accusations made here lately, 220 00:13:29,354 --> 00:13:32,980 and one in particular that upsets me 221 00:13:33,021 --> 00:13:35,855 is the fact that I am using a goon squad, so to speak. 222 00:13:35,896 --> 00:13:40,021 They are respectable and honest citizens of Pine Ridge. 223 00:13:40,104 --> 00:13:42,354 We're all sharpshooters. 224 00:13:42,396 --> 00:13:44,146 Tell 'em the GOON squad's comin'. 225 00:13:44,271 --> 00:13:45,396 Let's go and get 'em. 226 00:13:47,021 --> 00:13:51,146 NARRATOR: In late 1972, traditional Oglalas came together 227 00:13:51,271 --> 00:13:54,021 to push for Wilson's removal. 228 00:13:54,104 --> 00:13:57,146 They started a civil rights commission-- 229 00:13:57,229 --> 00:13:59,271 Oglala Sioux Civil Rights Commission-- 230 00:13:59,354 --> 00:14:02,646 and from there they got the documentation of the corruption, 231 00:14:02,771 --> 00:14:04,730 of the misuse of funds. 232 00:14:04,771 --> 00:14:05,855 They got the evidence. 233 00:14:05,896 --> 00:14:08,396 And eventually the civil rights... 234 00:14:08,479 --> 00:14:11,855 they had a stack about an inch-and-a-half thick 235 00:14:11,896 --> 00:14:14,271 of all the testimony and violations, 236 00:14:14,396 --> 00:14:16,021 civil rights violations. 237 00:14:16,146 --> 00:14:17,646 Nobody ever got charged. 238 00:14:19,646 --> 00:14:21,271 NARRATOR: Prompted by the dissidents, 239 00:14:21,396 --> 00:14:23,521 the tribal council held impeachment hearings 240 00:14:23,604 --> 00:14:27,104 in February 1973. 241 00:14:27,146 --> 00:14:29,104 But Wilson intimidated witnesses, 242 00:14:29,146 --> 00:14:32,730 strong-armed council members, and managed to survive. 243 00:14:35,521 --> 00:14:40,646 Many Oglalas felt they had one last, desperate option. 244 00:14:40,730 --> 00:14:42,479 WOMAN: We've always been peaceful 245 00:14:42,521 --> 00:14:46,646 and pretty much mind our own business, 246 00:14:46,771 --> 00:14:51,896 making our living and raising our family, law-abiding. 247 00:14:51,980 --> 00:14:55,896 Well, I believe that the time has come 248 00:14:55,980 --> 00:14:59,896 that we have to commit violence in order to be heard. 249 00:14:59,980 --> 00:15:02,730 I don't want to see anybody killed or anything, 250 00:15:02,771 --> 00:15:04,146 but the time is going to come 251 00:15:04,229 --> 00:15:08,730 when violence might have to be committed 252 00:15:08,771 --> 00:15:11,646 in order to wake the people up. 253 00:15:24,354 --> 00:15:25,896 NARRATOR: By the second day of the siege, 254 00:15:25,980 --> 00:15:30,646 the spectacle of armed Indians holding a town and 11 hostages 255 00:15:30,730 --> 00:15:34,021 had put the U.S. government on full alert. 256 00:15:36,146 --> 00:15:37,229 NEWS REPORTER: By this morning, 257 00:15:37,271 --> 00:15:39,980 the entire area was blocked off by police. 258 00:15:40,021 --> 00:15:42,396 There were roadblocks as far away as the Nebraska state line. 259 00:15:42,479 --> 00:15:45,479 On the far rise is roadblock one. 260 00:15:45,521 --> 00:15:47,980 We have further roadblocks around the perimeter, 261 00:15:48,021 --> 00:15:52,521 which encompasses approximately a 15-mile area. 262 00:15:52,646 --> 00:15:54,354 TRIMBACH: The director said, 263 00:15:54,396 --> 00:15:56,604 "Tell Trimbach he can have anything he wants," 264 00:15:56,646 --> 00:16:00,396 which was pretty neat because that was like a blank check. 265 00:16:00,479 --> 00:16:03,521 So I had agents go up to Rapid City and buy every rifle 266 00:16:03,604 --> 00:16:06,271 that they could find in the city because we needed them, 267 00:16:06,396 --> 00:16:07,980 like, right now. 268 00:16:08,021 --> 00:16:11,771 So they came down, and now we at least had rifles for protection 269 00:16:11,855 --> 00:16:14,771 instead of just side arms. 270 00:16:16,021 --> 00:16:21,604 ROBERT WARRIOR: The military response is overwhelming. 271 00:16:21,646 --> 00:16:29,146 It involves plans using the U.S. army to put down this rebellion. 272 00:16:29,271 --> 00:16:32,646 Clearly there are people within the federal government 273 00:16:32,730 --> 00:16:38,771 who see a need to take it to the limit. 274 00:16:41,771 --> 00:16:43,604 BANKS: I was awakened. 275 00:16:43,646 --> 00:16:47,229 There was a deep rumbling, droning noise. 276 00:16:47,271 --> 00:16:51,771 And we were looking around and we were surrounded 277 00:16:51,896 --> 00:16:58,396 by armored personnel carriers, APCs. 278 00:17:03,521 --> 00:17:06,021 All of a sudden we saw these two fighter jets coming, 279 00:17:06,061 --> 00:17:08,021 and they circled around, 280 00:17:08,061 --> 00:17:10,396 and from the south they just came right at us. 281 00:17:11,687 --> 00:17:14,896 We thought it was over, "That's napalm." 282 00:17:14,937 --> 00:17:17,396 Dennis Banks pulled out his pistol 283 00:17:17,437 --> 00:17:20,061 and he started firing, boom-boom-boom-boom. 284 00:17:20,186 --> 00:17:22,687 Then they were gone. 285 00:17:22,771 --> 00:17:26,396 You know, it was that proverbial, uh, 286 00:17:26,437 --> 00:17:28,688 last act of defiance, you know? 287 00:17:28,771 --> 00:17:32,146 Here's that little mouse and here comes the big, huge eagle, 288 00:17:32,187 --> 00:17:34,396 and the little mouse is standing there like this. 289 00:17:36,896 --> 00:17:38,688 NARRATOR: On the afternoon of the second day, 290 00:17:38,771 --> 00:17:40,563 South Dakota senators George McGovern 291 00:17:40,688 --> 00:17:43,312 and James Abourezk arrived. 292 00:17:45,062 --> 00:17:46,563 They hoped that if they could resolve the issue 293 00:17:46,688 --> 00:17:47,813 of the hostages, 294 00:17:47,938 --> 00:17:52,312 the crisis at Wounded Knee could be ended quickly. 295 00:17:52,438 --> 00:17:53,938 MEANS: When they came in, 296 00:17:54,021 --> 00:17:55,396 it was very newsworthy. 297 00:17:55,438 --> 00:17:57,438 They came in with the news media. 298 00:17:57,563 --> 00:18:00,396 That's how the networks got in. 299 00:18:00,438 --> 00:18:03,312 And they said, "We want to see the hostages." 300 00:18:03,396 --> 00:18:06,146 ABOUREZK: The agreement I'd had with Russell Means 301 00:18:06,187 --> 00:18:08,521 was that if we landed at Pine Ridge, 302 00:18:08,563 --> 00:18:10,563 he would release the hostages. 303 00:18:10,646 --> 00:18:12,688 I have an indication through an intermediary 304 00:18:12,771 --> 00:18:14,062 that they will release part of... 305 00:18:14,146 --> 00:18:16,521 And I said, "Well, where are the hostages? 306 00:18:16,563 --> 00:18:18,187 "You're supposed to release them. 307 00:18:18,271 --> 00:18:19,438 You agreed to release them." 308 00:18:19,563 --> 00:18:21,563 So they're standing over there. 309 00:18:21,688 --> 00:18:25,438 So I went over and I said, "You folks, we've rescued you. 310 00:18:25,521 --> 00:18:27,271 You can leave now." 311 00:18:27,312 --> 00:18:28,563 ...but not anywhere... 312 00:18:28,688 --> 00:18:29,896 ABOUREZK: If you wanted to leave 313 00:18:29,938 --> 00:18:31,187 the Wounded Knee area, could you go? 314 00:18:31,271 --> 00:18:33,438 We're sitting there on pins and needles. 315 00:18:33,563 --> 00:18:34,688 CAMP: Ask Trimbach. 316 00:18:34,813 --> 00:18:36,938 We had people with him and said that they can leave. 317 00:18:37,062 --> 00:18:41,271 MEANS: And Mrs. Gildersleeve, the matriarch... 318 00:18:44,271 --> 00:18:47,312 "We're not hostages, we're going to remain here! 319 00:18:47,396 --> 00:18:49,521 "It's your fault that these Indians are here! 320 00:18:49,563 --> 00:18:51,938 "Have you listened to them? 321 00:18:52,062 --> 00:18:55,438 We're not leaving, because you'll kill them if we leave!" 322 00:18:58,312 --> 00:19:01,438 NARRATOR: Once they realized no one was being held hostage, 323 00:19:01,563 --> 00:19:04,771 the senators hoped to persuade the protesters to stand down 324 00:19:04,813 --> 00:19:08,521 by offering to convene hearings on their concerns-- 325 00:19:08,563 --> 00:19:10,688 sometime in the future. 326 00:19:10,771 --> 00:19:13,771 MEANS: We knew that a put-off, 327 00:19:13,813 --> 00:19:17,521 a stalling tactic, would happen once there was no threat 328 00:19:17,563 --> 00:19:19,813 to any other lives other than Indian lives. 329 00:19:19,896 --> 00:19:22,271 You are going to walk away from here and say, 330 00:19:22,312 --> 00:19:25,771 "After awhile," doksha-lo, you know? 331 00:19:25,813 --> 00:19:28,896 And we're not going for doksha anymore. 332 00:19:28,938 --> 00:19:30,938 We're not going for later anymore, Senator. 333 00:19:31,062 --> 00:19:32,563 Now I told you over the phone that I bet-- 334 00:19:32,688 --> 00:19:34,938 and everybody here and down there-- 335 00:19:35,021 --> 00:19:36,396 have bet with their lives. 336 00:19:36,438 --> 00:19:40,146 ABOUREZK: AIM decided that their strategy would be 337 00:19:40,187 --> 00:19:42,187 to confront the government 338 00:19:42,312 --> 00:19:45,062 and try to win the public relations battle. 339 00:19:45,187 --> 00:19:46,938 Prior to that time, 340 00:19:47,062 --> 00:19:49,563 being a mister nice guy didn't really work with the government; 341 00:19:49,688 --> 00:19:50,813 they didn't give a damn. 342 00:19:50,938 --> 00:19:52,646 So that's the reason 343 00:19:52,688 --> 00:19:55,938 that AIM thought this was the way to do it. 344 00:19:56,062 --> 00:19:59,396 NARRATOR: 250 armed U.S. personnel now surrounded 345 00:19:59,438 --> 00:20:02,438 the village of Wounded Knee. 346 00:20:02,521 --> 00:20:04,187 BANKS: I felt good. 347 00:20:04,312 --> 00:20:06,396 This is why AIM was alive. 348 00:20:06,438 --> 00:20:08,187 This is why we came to be, 349 00:20:08,312 --> 00:20:10,187 to stand up against the FBI, 350 00:20:10,271 --> 00:20:11,938 stand up against the U.S. marshals, 351 00:20:12,062 --> 00:20:15,312 stand up against GOONs, you know, tribal police, 352 00:20:15,396 --> 00:20:19,187 and inside we've got freedom. 353 00:20:19,271 --> 00:20:21,187 Don't let nobody in. 354 00:20:28,312 --> 00:20:30,396 NARRATOR: Since its founding in 1968, 355 00:20:30,438 --> 00:20:33,312 the American Indian Movement had been divisive, 356 00:20:33,396 --> 00:20:35,312 its militant tactics controversial 357 00:20:35,438 --> 00:20:37,021 even among Native people. 358 00:20:39,021 --> 00:20:42,062 Created in Minneapolis by young urban Indians fed up 359 00:20:42,187 --> 00:20:43,813 with police harassment, 360 00:20:43,938 --> 00:20:47,312 the group had shown a knack for generating publicity. 361 00:20:47,396 --> 00:20:50,062 Members had seized high-profile symbols-- 362 00:20:50,187 --> 00:20:54,187 Plymouth Rock, the Mayflower, Mt. Rushmore-- 363 00:20:54,271 --> 00:20:56,062 and in November 1972, 364 00:20:56,187 --> 00:20:59,646 had occupied and vandalized the Washington headquarters 365 00:20:59,688 --> 00:21:01,646 of the Bureau of Indian Affairs. 366 00:21:04,896 --> 00:21:07,688 Weeks later, in early 1973, 367 00:21:07,813 --> 00:21:10,813 AIM took its campaign into the reservation border towns 368 00:21:10,896 --> 00:21:12,187 of South Dakota. 369 00:21:13,813 --> 00:21:15,688 ABOUREZK: In those days there was 370 00:21:15,813 --> 00:21:17,312 a tremendous amount of racism, 371 00:21:17,438 --> 00:21:20,021 especially in the border towns around the reservations. 372 00:21:20,062 --> 00:21:25,938 I mean real racism where Indians are practically invisible. 373 00:21:26,021 --> 00:21:29,187 THUNDER HAWK: There was towns you didn't drive through, 374 00:21:29,271 --> 00:21:31,146 you didn't go through. 375 00:21:31,187 --> 00:21:32,438 Especially women. 376 00:21:32,521 --> 00:21:34,312 You didn't walk down the street of any border town 377 00:21:34,438 --> 00:21:37,813 by yourself because you'd be 378 00:21:37,896 --> 00:21:39,062 accosted by any white man 379 00:21:39,146 --> 00:21:40,563 that felt like it. 380 00:21:40,688 --> 00:21:45,312 NARRATOR: Just weeks before the occupation of Wounded Knee, 381 00:21:45,438 --> 00:21:49,187 a white man killed an Indian near Custer, South Dakota, 382 00:21:49,271 --> 00:21:52,062 50 miles from Pine Ridge. 383 00:21:52,187 --> 00:21:56,688 When local officials charged him with manslaughter, not murder, 384 00:21:56,771 --> 00:22:00,146 200 angry AIM protesters came to town. 385 00:22:00,187 --> 00:22:04,688 You charge a white man, premeditated murder, 386 00:22:04,771 --> 00:22:07,521 you charge him with second-degree manslaughter! 387 00:22:07,563 --> 00:22:09,146 And we ain't going for it anymore. 388 00:22:09,187 --> 00:22:12,938 And I know this whole damn town is an armed camp. 389 00:22:13,062 --> 00:22:17,062 Hey listen, white man! 390 00:22:17,146 --> 00:22:19,312 I have had all the bull (bleep) from your race 391 00:22:19,396 --> 00:22:20,813 as I can take! 392 00:22:20,896 --> 00:22:25,438 NARRATOR: When police barred them from entering the courthouse, 393 00:22:25,521 --> 00:22:28,062 AIM members forced their way in. 394 00:22:28,146 --> 00:22:29,771 Open them doors up. 395 00:22:31,896 --> 00:22:33,271 Just as we walked in through the door, 396 00:22:33,312 --> 00:22:35,938 then we were attacked by law enforcement. 397 00:22:36,062 --> 00:22:41,813 (glass breaking, protesters yelling) 398 00:22:41,938 --> 00:22:44,813 We were fighting and they come at me with a nightstick, 399 00:22:44,938 --> 00:22:49,021 so I blocked it and took it away and started using it on them. 400 00:22:50,813 --> 00:22:51,813 EDGAR BEAR RUNNER: I know I was right on the steps, you know, 401 00:22:51,938 --> 00:22:52,938 and things were happening. 402 00:22:53,062 --> 00:22:55,938 We bloodied the guy; we took the helmet away. 403 00:22:56,062 --> 00:22:57,312 We bloodied him up. 404 00:22:57,438 --> 00:22:58,521 Then I ran across 405 00:22:58,563 --> 00:23:00,563 to help get gas from the filling station. 406 00:23:00,688 --> 00:23:03,062 We were filling up and making Molotov cocktails 407 00:23:03,146 --> 00:23:05,312 and busting the bottles on the building, 408 00:23:05,396 --> 00:23:09,187 and the fire just started on the wall and everything. 409 00:23:09,271 --> 00:23:10,938 (sirens wailing) 410 00:23:11,062 --> 00:23:13,521 NARRATOR: Protesters set the courthouse ablaze, 411 00:23:13,563 --> 00:23:16,062 and left Custer in shambles. 412 00:23:20,396 --> 00:23:21,896 There was absolutely an element in AIM 413 00:23:21,938 --> 00:23:24,396 that considered itself a revolutionary organization 414 00:23:24,438 --> 00:23:27,938 who were comfortable being around guns, 415 00:23:28,062 --> 00:23:31,271 who absolutely loved the idea of AIM being outlaws, 416 00:23:31,312 --> 00:23:32,563 who just wanted to get it on. 417 00:23:35,438 --> 00:23:37,312 NARRATOR: The confrontation in Custer caught the attention 418 00:23:37,438 --> 00:23:40,396 of the Oglala dissidents on Pine Ridge. 419 00:23:43,062 --> 00:23:44,813 Three weeks later, when their campaign 420 00:23:44,938 --> 00:23:49,521 to impeach Dick Wilson failed, they asked AIM for help. 421 00:23:49,563 --> 00:23:51,938 ROBERT WARRIOR: Calling in AIM is attractive, but it's a roll of the dice. 422 00:23:52,062 --> 00:23:56,021 It's a roll of the dice because where AIM goes, 423 00:23:56,062 --> 00:23:57,688 chaos often follows. 424 00:23:57,813 --> 00:24:01,187 So that when those traditional chiefs bring in AIM, 425 00:24:01,312 --> 00:24:04,312 they're doing this in full knowledge 426 00:24:04,396 --> 00:24:06,438 that as they go down the road, 427 00:24:06,521 --> 00:24:09,813 they don't know exactly what's going to happen. 428 00:24:09,938 --> 00:24:13,312 NARRATOR: The Oglalas had exhausted all legal options. 429 00:24:13,396 --> 00:24:15,771 They believed that to put an end to Wilson's harassment 430 00:24:15,813 --> 00:24:19,521 and intimidation, they needed what AIM could offer. 431 00:24:19,563 --> 00:24:21,813 ROBERT WARRIOR: AIM can bring bodies. 432 00:24:21,938 --> 00:24:23,062 They can bring people. 433 00:24:23,187 --> 00:24:26,271 They have the phone numbers of people at TV networks 434 00:24:26,312 --> 00:24:31,938 who can get on airplanes and bring television cameras out. 435 00:24:32,021 --> 00:24:36,062 None of the established national Indian organizations 436 00:24:36,187 --> 00:24:38,938 can do what AIM does. 437 00:24:41,646 --> 00:24:43,813 BANKS: The American Indian Movement's motto was, 438 00:24:43,896 --> 00:24:48,771 "Anytime, anywhere, anyplace." 439 00:24:48,813 --> 00:24:53,062 And that was the most important job that we could do, 440 00:24:53,146 --> 00:24:56,688 is to be where there was injustice and to confront it. 441 00:24:56,771 --> 00:24:59,813 NARRATOR: At a crowded community meeting, 442 00:24:59,896 --> 00:25:01,896 dissident Oglalas, five traditional chiefs, 443 00:25:01,938 --> 00:25:05,563 and AIM representatives finally arrived at a radical plan: 444 00:25:05,688 --> 00:25:11,021 together they would seize the town of Wounded Knee. 445 00:25:11,062 --> 00:25:13,896 They would force Dick Wilson from office, and, 446 00:25:13,938 --> 00:25:16,312 for the first time in nearly a century, 447 00:25:16,438 --> 00:25:19,813 draw national attention to Indian concerns. 448 00:25:19,896 --> 00:25:30,187 The Oglala Nation is at a crossroads that... 449 00:25:30,271 --> 00:25:33,146 that can change the course of history 450 00:25:33,187 --> 00:25:35,563 for Indian people all across the nation. 451 00:25:35,646 --> 00:25:42,062 And I would like to ask that the chiefs listen very closely 452 00:25:42,146 --> 00:25:44,312 to what is being said here. 453 00:25:46,021 --> 00:25:47,187 CAMP: There was this hesitation. 454 00:25:47,271 --> 00:25:48,563 No one could make a decision, 455 00:25:48,688 --> 00:25:53,813 and no one would endorse us and then the women started to talk. 456 00:25:53,896 --> 00:25:56,688 NARRATOR: Ellen Moves Camp, 457 00:25:56,771 --> 00:25:59,813 a founder of the Oglala Sioux Civil Rights Organization, 458 00:25:59,938 --> 00:26:03,021 argued in favor of occupying Wounded Knee. 459 00:26:05,312 --> 00:26:08,646 ELLEN MOVES CAMP: This has been going on for a long time before we invited 460 00:26:08,688 --> 00:26:11,187 the American Indian Movement here. 461 00:26:11,271 --> 00:26:13,438 Because the people were scared and they are scared 462 00:26:13,521 --> 00:26:17,396 of Dick Wilson and all his men. 463 00:26:17,438 --> 00:26:20,771 I don't see why... all these people come from all over. 464 00:26:20,813 --> 00:26:23,396 I don't see why they... they can't take him and throw him out 465 00:26:23,438 --> 00:26:24,938 or throw him in jail or something, 466 00:26:25,021 --> 00:26:28,146 the way he's been terrorizing people here on the reservation. 467 00:26:28,187 --> 00:26:31,146 And I live in Pine Ridge at that gunpoint, 468 00:26:31,187 --> 00:26:33,813 but I'm not scared of them anymore. 469 00:26:33,896 --> 00:26:35,771 She was pushing. 470 00:26:35,813 --> 00:26:39,312 She was pushing to spark something. 471 00:26:39,438 --> 00:26:41,438 And, oh, it did. 472 00:26:43,896 --> 00:26:45,646 NARRATOR: Finally, Fools Crow, 473 00:26:45,688 --> 00:26:50,021 the oldest traditional chief present, spoke. 474 00:26:50,062 --> 00:26:51,938 "Go ahead and do it," he said. 475 00:26:52,021 --> 00:26:53,896 "Take your brothers from the American Indian Movement 476 00:26:53,938 --> 00:26:58,062 and go to Wounded Knee and make your stand there." 477 00:27:06,646 --> 00:27:08,187 REPORTER: Today a teepee was set up 478 00:27:08,271 --> 00:27:10,396 in what is now called the Demilitarized Zone. 479 00:27:10,438 --> 00:27:11,896 Both sides are meeting there 480 00:27:11,938 --> 00:27:14,062 to negotiate an end to the takeover, 481 00:27:14,187 --> 00:27:17,187 but the progress is agonizingly slow. 482 00:27:17,271 --> 00:27:22,146 ROBERT WARRIOR: There were negotiations going on almost always 483 00:27:22,187 --> 00:27:24,271 during the occupation, 484 00:27:24,312 --> 00:27:29,646 attempts on both sides to reach some sort of agreement. 485 00:27:29,688 --> 00:27:34,396 NARRATOR: Government negotiators were uncompromising. 486 00:27:34,438 --> 00:27:37,813 They rejected demands to uphold treaty rights, 487 00:27:37,896 --> 00:27:41,187 and insisted that they were powerless to remove Dick Wilson, 488 00:27:41,312 --> 00:27:43,312 regardless of the charges against him, 489 00:27:43,438 --> 00:27:46,312 as he was chairman of a sovereign Indian nation. 490 00:27:48,813 --> 00:27:51,938 Talks stalled completely when the protesters demanded to deal 491 00:27:52,021 --> 00:27:54,271 with the U.S. secretary of state. 492 00:27:54,312 --> 00:27:55,938 REPORTER: I understand they want Henry Kissinger out here. 493 00:27:56,021 --> 00:27:57,062 Do you think this is realistic? 494 00:27:57,187 --> 00:27:58,312 Do you think he'll come? 495 00:27:58,438 --> 00:27:59,896 Why not? 496 00:27:59,938 --> 00:28:02,938 I don't see why the North Vietnamese should take precedent 497 00:28:03,062 --> 00:28:05,312 over the American Indian people. 498 00:28:05,438 --> 00:28:08,813 You know, we've been fighting this war for 400 years. 499 00:28:08,938 --> 00:28:11,312 And if he can spare the time to go over there, 500 00:28:11,438 --> 00:28:13,771 he should be able to spare the time to come here. 501 00:28:13,813 --> 00:28:15,938 REPORTER: But it would be correct to describe the current situation 502 00:28:16,021 --> 00:28:17,396 as an impasse? 503 00:28:17,438 --> 00:28:20,062 If there's such a thing as an impasse on an impasse, 504 00:28:20,146 --> 00:28:21,813 then that's what we have. 505 00:28:21,938 --> 00:28:25,771 NARRATOR: Officials from the Departments of Justice and the Interior 506 00:28:25,813 --> 00:28:27,563 took the lead in negotiations. 507 00:28:30,771 --> 00:28:33,438 The attention of the White House was elsewhere-- 508 00:28:33,521 --> 00:28:36,187 on the unfolding Watergate scandal. 509 00:28:36,271 --> 00:28:39,146 ABOUREZK: There's no question that the White House was distracted 510 00:28:39,187 --> 00:28:41,521 during this Wounded Knee siege. 511 00:28:44,563 --> 00:28:47,813 Although they sent midlevel officials out 512 00:28:47,938 --> 00:28:50,438 to run this siege operation, 513 00:28:50,521 --> 00:28:51,896 they didn't have their mind on it. 514 00:28:51,938 --> 00:28:56,062 Nixon had his mind on trying to survive the Watergate thing. 515 00:28:56,187 --> 00:28:57,938 Things might have turned out a lot differently 516 00:28:58,062 --> 00:29:00,312 had they not been distracted. 517 00:29:05,438 --> 00:29:07,688 Turn that (bleep) light out! 518 00:29:07,771 --> 00:29:12,438 NARRATOR: Within Wounded Knee, the days were relatively calm, 519 00:29:12,563 --> 00:29:14,563 while the nights exploded with gunfire. 520 00:29:14,646 --> 00:29:16,438 Just take these unarmed men and tell them... 521 00:29:16,563 --> 00:29:19,896 Turn that (bleep) damn light out or I'll shoot the (bleep) out! 522 00:29:19,938 --> 00:29:23,021 (gunfire) 523 00:29:23,062 --> 00:29:25,021 ROBIDEAU: They were shooting machine gun fire at us, 524 00:29:25,062 --> 00:29:29,396 tracers coming at us at nighttime just like a war zone. 525 00:29:29,438 --> 00:29:31,771 We had some Vietnam vets with us, and they said, 526 00:29:31,813 --> 00:29:33,521 "Man, this is just like Vietnam." 527 00:29:38,271 --> 00:29:40,187 BILL ZIMMERMAN: There was actually a third force at Wounded Knee 528 00:29:40,271 --> 00:29:41,813 in addition to the Indian activists 529 00:29:41,896 --> 00:29:45,438 inside of Wounded Knee and the federal marshals and FBI agents 530 00:29:45,563 --> 00:29:46,896 surrounding Wounded Knee, 531 00:29:46,938 --> 00:29:49,813 and that third force was the GOON squad. 532 00:29:49,896 --> 00:29:52,938 What is the mood among your people at this time? 533 00:29:53,021 --> 00:29:56,271 They're very ticked off. 534 00:29:56,312 --> 00:29:58,062 What are they doing right now? 535 00:29:58,146 --> 00:29:59,521 Shining their guns up. 536 00:30:01,146 --> 00:30:04,062 NARRATOR: As tribal chairman, Wilson wielded supreme authority 537 00:30:04,146 --> 00:30:06,396 on Pine Ridge. 538 00:30:06,438 --> 00:30:10,062 He erected his own roadblocks outside the federal perimeter. 539 00:30:10,187 --> 00:30:12,312 Even U.S. officials had to go through him. 540 00:30:12,438 --> 00:30:14,438 This is as far as you're going. 541 00:30:16,813 --> 00:30:18,938 Well, I want him to go in. 542 00:30:19,062 --> 00:30:20,938 Well, you'll have to get Wilson out here. 543 00:30:21,021 --> 00:30:23,021 Well, you'll have to get him, because I'm taking them in. 544 00:30:23,062 --> 00:30:24,521 And you're who? 545 00:30:24,563 --> 00:30:27,187 I'm Wayne Colburn, the director of the U.S. Marshals Service. 546 00:30:28,896 --> 00:30:29,938 Hmm. 547 00:30:35,187 --> 00:30:38,146 Well, what do you think? Should we let him in? 548 00:30:38,187 --> 00:30:39,563 (unintelligible murmurs) 549 00:30:39,688 --> 00:30:42,688 ZIMMERMAN: These GOONs were armed 550 00:30:42,813 --> 00:30:47,688 and they frequently got in between the federal lines 551 00:30:47,813 --> 00:30:51,312 and the Wounded Knee perimeter and shot-- 552 00:30:51,438 --> 00:30:52,938 and in both directions-- 553 00:30:53,062 --> 00:30:55,938 with the intent of provoking firefights 554 00:30:56,062 --> 00:30:58,938 because they were angry that the government didn't go in 555 00:30:59,021 --> 00:31:01,187 and take over Wounded Knee. 556 00:31:01,312 --> 00:31:03,813 NARRATOR: Inside the village, 557 00:31:03,938 --> 00:31:06,813 the protesters had their own military operation, 558 00:31:06,896 --> 00:31:09,312 led by Indians trained by the government 559 00:31:09,438 --> 00:31:11,312 they now took up arms against. 560 00:31:11,438 --> 00:31:15,271 KEN TIGER: There was a lot of people there that had been in Vietnam. 561 00:31:15,312 --> 00:31:17,438 And a lot of people had just been in the military. 562 00:31:17,521 --> 00:31:18,688 Some older people had come in 563 00:31:18,813 --> 00:31:20,187 and they'd actually been in Korea. 564 00:31:20,312 --> 00:31:22,646 They knew how to give orders; they knew how to take orders. 565 00:31:22,688 --> 00:31:24,187 And they knew how to do things 566 00:31:24,271 --> 00:31:26,396 that they didn't have to be told twice. 567 00:31:30,688 --> 00:31:33,021 THUNDER HAWK: I knew we were making history for our people. 568 00:31:33,062 --> 00:31:35,813 It didn't all happen in the 1800s. 569 00:31:35,938 --> 00:31:37,312 We're still fighting in the modern day. 570 00:31:37,396 --> 00:31:39,187 I mean, that's how I felt. 571 00:31:39,312 --> 00:31:43,062 That it was a continuation, and that's why I was not afraid. 572 00:31:43,146 --> 00:31:46,271 I was not afraid. 573 00:31:51,521 --> 00:31:55,312 NARRATOR: In the 19th century, the Lakota fought furiously to defend 574 00:31:55,396 --> 00:31:59,146 their territory against relentless American expansion. 575 00:31:59,187 --> 00:32:05,438 In 1868, embattled Lakota chiefs signed the Fort Laramie Treaty 576 00:32:05,563 --> 00:32:09,813 to protect more than 30 million acres of their land. 577 00:32:09,938 --> 00:32:12,896 But the United States soon reneged 578 00:32:12,938 --> 00:32:16,563 and forced the Lakota onto small, desolate reservations. 579 00:32:20,438 --> 00:32:23,312 CAMP: Americans like to think that American Indian history 580 00:32:23,438 --> 00:32:25,813 is something in the past. 581 00:32:25,938 --> 00:32:32,187 I'm one generation removed from the genocide of my tribe. 582 00:32:32,312 --> 00:32:36,813 And every tribe in this country has a time of horror-- 583 00:32:36,938 --> 00:32:39,521 I mean a time of absolute horror-- 584 00:32:39,563 --> 00:32:42,813 when they were confronted by this invader. 585 00:32:42,938 --> 00:32:45,521 And some of it happened almost 500 years ago. 586 00:32:45,563 --> 00:32:48,062 But as they come across the plains, 587 00:32:48,146 --> 00:32:51,896 our time of horror came in the late 1800s. 588 00:32:51,938 --> 00:32:54,271 And we remember it very well. 589 00:32:56,563 --> 00:33:00,062 NARRATOR: In the frigid winter of 1890, 590 00:33:00,146 --> 00:33:03,271 Chief Big Foot was leading a group of Lakota, 591 00:33:03,312 --> 00:33:05,187 mainly women and children, 592 00:33:05,312 --> 00:33:08,938 to shelter on the Pine Ridge reservation. 593 00:33:09,062 --> 00:33:12,187 On the morning of December 29, they were attacked 594 00:33:12,271 --> 00:33:17,688 by the U.S. Army on the banks of Wounded Knee Creek. 595 00:33:17,813 --> 00:33:20,396 CHARLOTTE BLACK ELK: My great-grandmother is Katy War Bonnet. 596 00:33:20,438 --> 00:33:22,062 She was a survivor at Wounded Knee. 597 00:33:22,187 --> 00:33:27,187 When the shooting broke out, she and her sister, 598 00:33:27,271 --> 00:33:30,438 Ka-keek-sa-we, ran down into the ravine 599 00:33:30,521 --> 00:33:34,187 and made it to some plum bushes. 600 00:33:34,271 --> 00:33:40,271 And she could hear the firing and the firing and hollering 601 00:33:40,312 --> 00:33:41,813 and then finally it was quiet. 602 00:33:45,813 --> 00:33:51,187 NARRATOR: More than 300 Lakota people lay dead. 603 00:33:51,312 --> 00:33:55,938 After remaining untouched in the ice and snow for three days, 604 00:33:56,021 --> 00:33:58,187 they were buried in a mass grave. 605 00:34:01,187 --> 00:34:03,062 The massacre would mark the brutal end 606 00:34:03,187 --> 00:34:06,062 of centuries of armed Indian resistance. 607 00:34:10,646 --> 00:34:13,604 For those who came nearly a hundred years later, 608 00:34:13,646 --> 00:34:16,896 Wounded Knee was sacred land. 609 00:34:20,479 --> 00:34:25,021 CAMP: I walked over to a gully and I picked up some sage 610 00:34:25,146 --> 00:34:30,021 and I went and washed myself and I prayed to those ancestors 611 00:34:30,146 --> 00:34:33,229 that were there in that gully. 612 00:34:36,604 --> 00:34:37,771 And I said, "We're back. 613 00:34:37,854 --> 00:34:42,021 We have returned, my relations. We-bla-huh." 614 00:34:56,146 --> 00:34:57,521 REPORTER: This is where the television crews 615 00:34:57,646 --> 00:34:59,896 await the hour-by-hour events in Wounded Knee. 616 00:34:59,980 --> 00:35:03,980 This privileged position is protected by the Indian chiefs. 617 00:35:04,021 --> 00:35:06,896 Clearly the chiefs are anxious that this rebellion 618 00:35:06,980 --> 00:35:10,229 and its outcome receive as much publicity as possible. 619 00:35:10,271 --> 00:35:13,396 It would have been very simple for the federal forces 620 00:35:13,521 --> 00:35:15,479 to go into Wounded Knee and take over. 621 00:35:15,521 --> 00:35:18,771 There would have been some casualties, but probably 622 00:35:18,855 --> 00:35:22,354 the government would have considered them tolerable. 623 00:35:22,396 --> 00:35:25,980 What made it so interesting was that the Indians existed 624 00:35:26,021 --> 00:35:30,771 underneath a protective bubble of publicity and shame. 625 00:35:30,896 --> 00:35:33,896 Because everybody knew that this was the site 626 00:35:33,980 --> 00:35:36,354 of the last massacre of the Indian Wars 627 00:35:36,396 --> 00:35:38,855 and the last thing the government wanted to see 628 00:35:38,896 --> 00:35:41,271 was a massacre on the same site. 629 00:35:41,354 --> 00:35:45,646 NARRATOR: One week into the siege, all three television networks 630 00:35:45,730 --> 00:35:48,479 had stationed reporters in Wounded Knee. 631 00:35:48,521 --> 00:35:52,479 Polls estimated that more than 90% of Americans 632 00:35:52,521 --> 00:35:55,646 were following the crisis on the nightly news. 633 00:35:55,771 --> 00:35:58,980 CAMP: If they came and killed all of us, 634 00:35:59,021 --> 00:36:01,855 it would be recorded and it would be seen by the world, 635 00:36:01,896 --> 00:36:05,521 where the 1890 massacre wasn't. 636 00:36:05,646 --> 00:36:08,730 And if they didn't-- if they decided, you know, 637 00:36:08,771 --> 00:36:09,980 that that media was there 638 00:36:10,021 --> 00:36:11,479 so they don't want to murder all of us-- 639 00:36:11,521 --> 00:36:14,396 well then the media is there to tell our side of the story. 640 00:36:18,771 --> 00:36:19,896 THUNDER HAWK: They wanted this... 641 00:36:20,021 --> 00:36:24,271 stoic, you know, American Indian man with a gun-- 642 00:36:24,396 --> 00:36:28,771 America's picture of "The Indian." 643 00:36:28,896 --> 00:36:31,104 We didn't care, as long as the word was getting out. 644 00:36:36,229 --> 00:36:41,646 (reporter speaking French) 645 00:36:41,730 --> 00:36:44,855 MIKE HER MANY HORSES: There was a lot of folks here. 646 00:36:44,896 --> 00:36:47,021 A lot of foreign press were here. 647 00:36:47,104 --> 00:36:51,229 And they made it out to be kind of a cowboy-Indian adventure, you know? 648 00:36:51,271 --> 00:36:53,479 More people wanted confrontation. 649 00:36:53,521 --> 00:36:57,396 That seemed to attract the viewers. 650 00:36:57,479 --> 00:36:59,896 (gunfire) 651 00:36:59,980 --> 00:37:01,521 MEANS: You guys get up so tight and start panicking 652 00:37:01,646 --> 00:37:02,855 and you get down on the press. 653 00:37:02,896 --> 00:37:05,271 Hell, we want 'em to film this bull (bleep)! 654 00:37:07,146 --> 00:37:08,521 They all heard them fire first 655 00:37:08,604 --> 00:37:11,229 and open up with automatic weapons. 656 00:37:11,271 --> 00:37:12,771 We gotta get that filmed. 657 00:37:12,896 --> 00:37:16,730 We got .22s in our hand against APCs. 658 00:37:16,771 --> 00:37:19,146 So don't be jumping on the press. 659 00:37:19,229 --> 00:37:22,021 NARRATOR: The news out of South Dakota 660 00:37:22,146 --> 00:37:25,604 held Indians around the country spellbound. 661 00:37:25,646 --> 00:37:29,855 Some were ashamed by AIM's armed display of defiance, 662 00:37:29,896 --> 00:37:32,229 but many were inspired. 663 00:37:35,229 --> 00:37:37,396 I left school and me and another guy left 664 00:37:37,521 --> 00:37:40,146 and we drove in his car from... 665 00:37:40,271 --> 00:37:42,604 we were in central California and we drove up to Oakland 666 00:37:42,646 --> 00:37:45,521 and from Oakland we drove back to South Dakota. 667 00:37:48,354 --> 00:37:50,396 Up until '73, when it started, 668 00:37:50,479 --> 00:37:53,604 I was never involved in anything, politically, 669 00:37:53,646 --> 00:37:55,146 dealing with either Native Americans 670 00:37:55,271 --> 00:37:57,730 or any other organization. 671 00:37:57,771 --> 00:38:02,646 I just felt like I should go up there and I did. 672 00:38:02,730 --> 00:38:04,604 You all are not Oglala Sioux, I take it. 673 00:38:04,646 --> 00:38:06,396 I am. I'm not. I'm Chippewa. 674 00:38:06,479 --> 00:38:08,146 You're Chippewa? Where are you from? 675 00:38:08,229 --> 00:38:09,146 Minnesota. 676 00:38:09,271 --> 00:38:10,271 What about you sir, where are you from? 677 00:38:10,396 --> 00:38:11,271 Winnebago. 678 00:38:11,396 --> 00:38:12,896 Wisconsin. 679 00:38:13,021 --> 00:38:15,354 Cheyenne. Oklahoma. 680 00:38:15,396 --> 00:38:18,396 And you're not necessarily all members of AIM? 681 00:38:18,479 --> 00:38:19,646 We didn't say that. 682 00:38:19,730 --> 00:38:20,896 Are you members or AIM? 683 00:38:21,021 --> 00:38:22,604 We didn't say that either. 684 00:38:22,646 --> 00:38:26,604 We're here to support our Indian people that are in Wounded Knee. 685 00:38:28,146 --> 00:38:30,646 CHAAT SMITH: This generation of Indians 686 00:38:30,771 --> 00:38:34,104 in the late '60s, early '70s, who for the most part, 687 00:38:34,146 --> 00:38:35,479 they had been to boarding school 688 00:38:35,521 --> 00:38:37,646 or their parents had been to boarding school, 689 00:38:37,730 --> 00:38:40,646 which was explicitly about getting Indians 690 00:38:40,730 --> 00:38:43,354 off the reservations, to not be Indian, 691 00:38:43,396 --> 00:38:44,771 to not speak their language. 692 00:38:46,730 --> 00:38:50,104 For those Indian people, it was this moment in which 693 00:38:50,146 --> 00:38:53,646 you could see, on television, there was another way, 694 00:38:53,730 --> 00:38:56,021 there was another possibility. 695 00:38:56,146 --> 00:38:59,479 It was electrifying. 696 00:39:06,604 --> 00:39:11,980 (children singing "Ten Little Indians") 697 00:39:18,271 --> 00:39:20,646 BANKS: There is one dark day 698 00:39:20,771 --> 00:39:22,646 in the lives of Indian children-- 699 00:39:22,771 --> 00:39:24,521 the day when they are forcibly taken away 700 00:39:24,646 --> 00:39:27,730 from those who love and care for them, 701 00:39:27,771 --> 00:39:29,980 from those who speak their language. 702 00:39:30,021 --> 00:39:33,521 They are dragged, some screaming and weeping, 703 00:39:33,646 --> 00:39:35,521 others in silent terror, 704 00:39:35,604 --> 00:39:37,354 to a boarding school 705 00:39:37,396 --> 00:39:40,396 where they are to be remade into white kids. 706 00:39:46,354 --> 00:39:51,021 NARRATOR: By the late 19th century, the Indian Wars were over. 707 00:39:51,104 --> 00:39:53,980 The United States seized on a ruthless strategy 708 00:39:54,021 --> 00:39:56,980 to assimilate Native children to a subordinate place 709 00:39:57,021 --> 00:40:01,730 in white-dominated society: government-run boarding schools. 710 00:40:03,771 --> 00:40:05,521 BANKS: I was five years old. 711 00:40:05,646 --> 00:40:09,271 My mother was crying, and they were taking us off 712 00:40:09,354 --> 00:40:18,521 and my sister, Audrey-- who also was like a second mother to me 713 00:40:18,646 --> 00:40:21,604 and a very close friend as a sister-- 714 00:40:21,646 --> 00:40:24,104 and my brother, Mark, they were very sad. 715 00:40:25,730 --> 00:40:29,396 Within two hours or so after the buses filled up 716 00:40:29,521 --> 00:40:31,521 and we're down the road, 717 00:40:31,646 --> 00:40:35,354 this is the furthest I've ever been from my home in my life. 718 00:40:35,396 --> 00:40:40,354 And then, of course, it turns into evening 719 00:40:40,396 --> 00:40:42,604 and we arrive at this place. 720 00:40:45,896 --> 00:40:50,646 I ended up in a place where nothing... nothing... 721 00:40:50,771 --> 00:40:53,396 nothing made any sense at all. 722 00:40:53,521 --> 00:40:54,730 You know, it wasn't home. 723 00:40:54,771 --> 00:40:56,730 It wasn't... I didn't know anything about school. 724 00:40:56,771 --> 00:41:00,021 Nobody ever told me anything about school. 725 00:41:00,146 --> 00:41:02,521 I didn't know what education was. 726 00:41:05,396 --> 00:41:07,980 I remember that I wanted to go home. 727 00:41:08,021 --> 00:41:09,604 Period. 728 00:41:09,646 --> 00:41:12,771 I didn't want to be there; I just wanted to go home. 729 00:41:17,354 --> 00:41:22,730 We all had to strip down naked, and then they put the DDT on us. 730 00:41:22,771 --> 00:41:27,396 They line us up and they're cutting our hair. 731 00:41:27,479 --> 00:41:30,146 You have long hair, you have braids, 732 00:41:30,271 --> 00:41:34,021 and then that gets cut off. 733 00:41:34,146 --> 00:41:36,771 And I would say within a matter of an hour and a half 734 00:41:36,855 --> 00:41:40,479 we're standing there, all looking alike. 735 00:41:46,146 --> 00:41:51,646 NARRATOR: Between the 1870s and the 1960s, over 100,000 Indian children 736 00:41:51,730 --> 00:41:54,271 were sent to one of the nearly 500 boarding schools 737 00:41:54,354 --> 00:41:57,521 scattered across the United States. 738 00:42:01,104 --> 00:42:03,521 Through the agencies of the government, 739 00:42:03,646 --> 00:42:06,521 they are being rapidly brought from their state 740 00:42:06,604 --> 00:42:08,771 of comparative savagery and barbarism 741 00:42:08,896 --> 00:42:12,021 to one of civilization. 742 00:42:12,146 --> 00:42:22,146 (singing "Ten Little Indians") 743 00:42:22,271 --> 00:42:27,146 BANKS: You couldn't sing any native songs or tribal songs. 744 00:42:27,229 --> 00:42:29,021 They just started using English. 745 00:42:29,104 --> 00:42:31,980 You could only... you could not use any other language. 746 00:42:32,021 --> 00:42:37,521 We'd whisper, "Pass the bkwezhgan, bkwezhgan"-- 747 00:42:37,646 --> 00:42:39,646 pass the bread over. 748 00:42:39,771 --> 00:42:42,521 It's like I had to be two people. 749 00:42:42,604 --> 00:42:46,771 I had to be Nowa Cumig, and I had to be Dennis Banks. 750 00:42:46,855 --> 00:42:51,855 Nowa Cumig is my real name, my Ojibwa name. 751 00:42:51,896 --> 00:42:55,771 Dennis Banks had to be very protective of Nowa Cumig. 752 00:42:55,855 --> 00:43:00,396 And so I learned who the presidents were. 753 00:43:00,521 --> 00:43:03,646 And I learned the math. 754 00:43:03,730 --> 00:43:06,146 I learned the social studies. 755 00:43:06,229 --> 00:43:11,646 I learned the English, and Nowa Cumig was still there. 756 00:43:15,771 --> 00:43:18,896 LITTLE MOON: This is education that was promised us, 757 00:43:19,021 --> 00:43:26,604 that was guaranteed us through the treaties, but it wasn't. 758 00:43:26,646 --> 00:43:29,730 It was torture. Brainwashing. 759 00:43:29,771 --> 00:43:33,646 They called us many different names... 760 00:43:36,271 --> 00:43:38,479 Savage. 761 00:43:38,521 --> 00:43:39,896 Dumb. 762 00:43:42,229 --> 00:43:48,229 I got beat for looking like an Indian, 763 00:43:48,271 --> 00:43:55,521 smelling like an Indian, even speaking Indian. 764 00:43:55,604 --> 00:43:59,271 Everything I did. 765 00:43:59,354 --> 00:44:01,855 (cries) 766 00:44:08,730 --> 00:44:15,896 BANKS: Their de-Indianization program, it failed. 767 00:44:15,980 --> 00:44:20,771 But the toll was devastating. 768 00:44:20,896 --> 00:44:22,646 It destroyed our family. 769 00:44:22,771 --> 00:44:25,896 It destroyed the relationship we had with our mother. 770 00:44:28,646 --> 00:44:33,104 I could never regain that friendship-loveship 771 00:44:33,146 --> 00:44:35,271 relationship that I had with my mother. 772 00:44:35,396 --> 00:44:39,146 It wasn't there anymore, and that's what, to this day, 773 00:44:39,271 --> 00:44:44,354 I keep thinking, that, you know, damn this government, 774 00:44:44,396 --> 00:44:47,646 what it did to me and what it did to thousands 775 00:44:47,730 --> 00:44:50,396 of other children across this country. 776 00:45:10,354 --> 00:45:11,730 MAN: If the leaders at Wounded Knee 777 00:45:11,771 --> 00:45:15,104 are bent on violence, that is their concern, 778 00:45:15,146 --> 00:45:19,271 but I call upon them now to send the women and the children, 779 00:45:19,396 --> 00:45:21,146 both resident and non-resident, 780 00:45:21,271 --> 00:45:23,646 out of Wounded Knee before darkness falls tomorrow. 781 00:45:23,771 --> 00:45:28,021 REGINA BRAVE: The United States government sent an ultimatum 782 00:45:28,104 --> 00:45:29,980 to the people in Wounded Knee 783 00:45:30,021 --> 00:45:34,104 that if they didn't leave on a certain day, 784 00:45:34,146 --> 00:45:38,396 that they were coming in, they would remove us by force. 785 00:45:38,479 --> 00:45:42,396 We are going to reject any kind of condition 786 00:45:42,521 --> 00:45:44,896 that pushes us out of the Wounded Knee area 787 00:45:45,021 --> 00:45:49,021 until all of the issues of the Oglala Sioux are met. 788 00:45:49,146 --> 00:45:50,980 BRAVE: I told Dennis, "Just burn it." 789 00:45:51,021 --> 00:45:53,479 At that time, we all started making preparations 790 00:45:53,521 --> 00:45:55,271 for making our last stand. 791 00:45:55,354 --> 00:45:57,896 (chanting) 792 00:45:58,021 --> 00:46:01,104 BANKS: We smudged everybody as they came up and painted them. 793 00:46:03,396 --> 00:46:08,021 When you go off to war, if you get killed in battle, 794 00:46:08,146 --> 00:46:10,354 then they'll... then that paint will signify 795 00:46:10,396 --> 00:46:13,980 that you went there with the blessings of the pipe 796 00:46:14,021 --> 00:46:19,646 and that you'll go to the spirit world with great honor. 797 00:46:22,396 --> 00:46:26,104 I had this little bitty bag-- little bitty bag-- 798 00:46:26,146 --> 00:46:27,479 with little bitty fringes on it. 799 00:46:27,521 --> 00:46:28,980 I had one bullet in there. 800 00:46:29,021 --> 00:46:32,646 And I had a semi-automatic, and I only put one bullet in there. 801 00:46:32,771 --> 00:46:35,021 Somebody said, "How come one bullet?" 802 00:46:35,104 --> 00:46:38,771 I said, "I'm going to wait, 'cause if I'm going, 803 00:46:38,855 --> 00:46:40,771 I'm going to take somebody with me." 804 00:46:44,896 --> 00:46:47,396 (car tires skid) 805 00:46:47,521 --> 00:46:51,396 The government just backed down on that 6:00 thing. 806 00:46:51,521 --> 00:46:52,771 Beautiful. 807 00:46:52,896 --> 00:46:55,229 NARRATOR: Two days after issuing the ultimatum, 808 00:46:55,271 --> 00:46:57,479 U.S. officials shifted tactics. 809 00:46:57,521 --> 00:46:59,646 (laughter) 810 00:46:59,730 --> 00:47:01,896 Hoping the occupation would simply peter out, 811 00:47:02,021 --> 00:47:04,771 they removed roadblocks around Wounded Knee 812 00:47:04,855 --> 00:47:08,354 and persuaded Dick Wilson to remove his. 813 00:47:08,396 --> 00:47:11,396 Federal officials would keep the inflammatory tribal chairman 814 00:47:11,479 --> 00:47:13,980 on the sidelines for the rest of the occupation. 815 00:47:17,646 --> 00:47:21,271 But when the roadblocks were lifted, 816 00:47:21,354 --> 00:47:24,604 new protesters and fresh supplies flooded in. 817 00:47:26,146 --> 00:47:29,021 On March 11, revitalized occupation leaders 818 00:47:29,104 --> 00:47:31,021 made a startling announcement. 819 00:47:31,104 --> 00:47:35,146 MEANS: The leadership of the Oglala Sioux 820 00:47:35,271 --> 00:47:36,896 here present in Wounded Knee, 821 00:47:36,980 --> 00:47:43,021 have declared Wounded Knee an independent country. 822 00:47:43,146 --> 00:47:45,229 (applause) 823 00:47:45,271 --> 00:47:48,521 From here further, if any spy from the United States of America 824 00:47:48,646 --> 00:47:52,604 is found within our borders, he will be dealt with 825 00:47:52,646 --> 00:47:57,229 as any spy in a time of war and be shot before a firing squad. 826 00:47:57,271 --> 00:48:00,771 (cheers and applause) 827 00:48:00,855 --> 00:48:04,146 NARRATOR: The battered hamlet of Wounded Knee was now 828 00:48:04,229 --> 00:48:07,354 the Independent Oglala Nation. 829 00:48:07,396 --> 00:48:10,771 While U.S. officials hurriedly put roadblocks back in place, 830 00:48:10,896 --> 00:48:13,396 the new nation asserted its sovereignty. 831 00:48:13,479 --> 00:48:16,229 A delegation, led by Chief Fools Crow, 832 00:48:16,271 --> 00:48:18,021 traveled to the United Nations 833 00:48:18,146 --> 00:48:20,771 to put the Oglalas' case before the world. 834 00:48:20,855 --> 00:48:23,521 REPORTER: They arrived almost an hour late. 835 00:48:23,604 --> 00:48:27,896 They said taxi cab drivers just wouldn't stop to pick them up. 836 00:48:28,021 --> 00:48:29,896 Wearing a medal given to the tribe 837 00:48:29,980 --> 00:48:31,521 by the United States government 838 00:48:31,604 --> 00:48:34,521 after the signing of the treaty of 1868, 839 00:48:34,604 --> 00:48:38,021 78-year-old chief Fools Crow, through an interpreter, 840 00:48:38,104 --> 00:48:40,479 explained why the group came to New York. 841 00:48:40,521 --> 00:48:45,146 (speaking Lakota) 842 00:48:45,229 --> 00:48:51,146 "It is our last effort in this trouble. 843 00:48:51,229 --> 00:48:56,021 "I think we have exhausted all other means of a settlement 844 00:48:56,104 --> 00:48:59,146 of the trouble we have at Wounded Knee." 845 00:48:59,271 --> 00:49:03,021 NARRATOR: The delegation failed to get official recognition at the U.N. 846 00:49:03,146 --> 00:49:04,855 and returned to Wounded Knee. 847 00:49:07,354 --> 00:49:11,021 There, inside the borders of the Independent Oglala Nation, 848 00:49:11,104 --> 00:49:14,146 the chiefs and medicine men introduced Lakota culture 849 00:49:14,229 --> 00:49:17,271 to the protesters, many of whom had come from cities 850 00:49:17,354 --> 00:49:19,646 and were disconnected from Indian traditions. 851 00:49:22,521 --> 00:49:24,646 CLYDE BELLECOURT: One of the first things that we did 852 00:49:24,730 --> 00:49:27,021 when we got into Wounded Knee is we built a purification lodge, 853 00:49:27,146 --> 00:49:28,896 an inipi, a sweat lodge. 854 00:49:28,980 --> 00:49:31,021 We were all required, everybody was required, 855 00:49:31,146 --> 00:49:34,396 to go in there and purify themselves 856 00:49:34,521 --> 00:49:36,521 and to pray and ask their creator for help. 857 00:49:40,354 --> 00:49:44,396 Everything that we did was preceded by prayer 858 00:49:44,521 --> 00:49:48,146 and gathering, smoking of the sacred pipe 859 00:49:48,229 --> 00:49:50,104 and tobacco offerings, everything. 860 00:49:50,146 --> 00:49:54,896 (speaking Lakota) 861 00:49:59,771 --> 00:50:01,479 CHAAT SMITH: The Indian movement was different 862 00:50:01,521 --> 00:50:07,021 than other political movements of the time because 863 00:50:07,104 --> 00:50:10,146 it defined itself as a spiritual movement. 864 00:50:10,271 --> 00:50:13,104 (whistle blowing) 865 00:50:17,104 --> 00:50:19,396 Their trajectory, in a way, 866 00:50:19,479 --> 00:50:21,855 mirrors what a lot of the Indian world was about, 867 00:50:21,896 --> 00:50:25,021 which was trying to... 868 00:50:25,146 --> 00:50:30,396 connect with traditional knowledge, culture, religion. 869 00:50:35,980 --> 00:50:39,730 HENDRICKS: One of the things that AIM tried to do 870 00:50:39,771 --> 00:50:42,146 was to return "Indian-ness" to all Indians. 871 00:50:42,229 --> 00:50:45,229 Whether folks lived in the city, on reservations, 872 00:50:45,271 --> 00:50:48,104 whether they spoke the language or didn't speak the language, 873 00:50:48,146 --> 00:50:51,354 if you were Indian, you could return to the tribe. 874 00:51:03,479 --> 00:51:06,396 NARRATOR: Many of the protesters had left reservations behind, 875 00:51:06,479 --> 00:51:08,521 along with thousands of other Indians, 876 00:51:08,646 --> 00:51:14,271 as part of the federal government's Indian relocation program of the 1950s and '60s. 877 00:51:17,146 --> 00:51:20,271 ABOUREZK: The government thought one way to solve the Indian problem 878 00:51:20,354 --> 00:51:22,521 was to relocate Indians from the reservation 879 00:51:22,604 --> 00:51:23,771 to the bigger cities. 880 00:51:23,896 --> 00:51:26,855 They couldn't kill the Indians anymore. 881 00:51:26,896 --> 00:51:30,354 That was out of fashion by the '50s. 882 00:51:30,396 --> 00:51:32,730 So, they decided to experiment. 883 00:51:32,771 --> 00:51:35,855 They did a lot of experimenting with Indians. 884 00:51:35,896 --> 00:51:38,479 Relocation program was one such experiment. 885 00:51:38,521 --> 00:51:41,146 It was exciting, relocation. 886 00:51:41,271 --> 00:51:42,521 You know, you get to go to a big city 887 00:51:42,646 --> 00:51:44,771 and help you find a job 888 00:51:44,896 --> 00:51:50,104 and you get to see the rest of the country. 889 00:51:50,146 --> 00:51:52,021 Of course you weren't forced to go on relocation, 890 00:51:52,146 --> 00:51:55,646 but they made it look good: "Streets paved with gold." 891 00:51:55,730 --> 00:51:58,771 We ended up in Cleveland, Ohio. 892 00:52:00,771 --> 00:52:07,021 NARRATOR: Over 100,000 Indians were relocated in just 15 years. 893 00:52:07,104 --> 00:52:09,896 The government promised to help them find schools, housing, 894 00:52:10,021 --> 00:52:11,271 and employment. 895 00:52:13,354 --> 00:52:16,271 But for many, the promise rang hollow. 896 00:52:19,980 --> 00:52:22,604 THUNDER HAWK: They put us in a real dumpy motel. 897 00:52:22,646 --> 00:52:24,855 And I was just sitting there thinking, 898 00:52:24,896 --> 00:52:26,771 "I wonder what's going on at home?" 899 00:52:26,855 --> 00:52:29,479 I could just see the rolling hills 900 00:52:29,521 --> 00:52:32,271 and the small, small town. 901 00:52:34,521 --> 00:52:37,771 They're all just moving and walking and going real fast. 902 00:52:37,855 --> 00:52:40,021 Nobody's stopping to look around. 903 00:52:40,104 --> 00:52:41,521 That's why we stayed in our apartments 904 00:52:41,646 --> 00:52:42,896 or stayed in our rooms. 905 00:52:42,980 --> 00:52:46,396 BELLECOURT: If you went and applied for a job, 906 00:52:46,479 --> 00:52:48,521 you better not tell them you're Indian. 907 00:52:48,646 --> 00:52:50,521 You better tell them you're French or some... 908 00:52:50,646 --> 00:52:52,646 Italian or some other nationality 909 00:52:52,730 --> 00:52:54,021 or you wouldn't get the job. 910 00:52:58,771 --> 00:53:02,521 NARRATOR: By the 1970s, half of all Indians lived in cities. 911 00:53:04,021 --> 00:53:06,229 But the Relocation Program 912 00:53:06,271 --> 00:53:08,521 produced an unanticipated result. 913 00:53:13,980 --> 00:53:17,146 LANADA WARJACK: It pulled us all closer together. 914 00:53:17,271 --> 00:53:19,771 We could always spot each other in the city. 915 00:53:19,855 --> 00:53:22,146 So if we'd see an Indian on the street 916 00:53:22,229 --> 00:53:25,604 walking down Market Street, we'd look at each other, 917 00:53:25,646 --> 00:53:29,021 and we'd just smile and kind of shake our head, 918 00:53:29,104 --> 00:53:32,479 or, you know, an acknowledgement of each other. 919 00:53:35,271 --> 00:53:37,646 We didn't care what tribe anyone was. 920 00:53:37,730 --> 00:53:40,021 We were Indian people. 921 00:53:40,146 --> 00:53:41,646 We were a race. 922 00:53:41,730 --> 00:53:45,146 (singing) 923 00:53:45,229 --> 00:53:48,896 NARRATOR: The new pan-Indian identity led to the growth of activist groups 924 00:53:48,980 --> 00:53:51,646 around the country. 925 00:53:51,771 --> 00:53:55,021 The American Indian Movement was the most radical. 926 00:53:55,104 --> 00:53:57,354 JOHN TRUDELL: There were a lot of Native people 927 00:53:57,396 --> 00:53:59,771 that were afraid to stand up. 928 00:53:59,896 --> 00:54:01,730 Geronimo demonstrated, man! 929 00:54:01,771 --> 00:54:05,021 Crazy Horse demonstrated! 930 00:54:05,104 --> 00:54:07,396 And for us, the baby boom generation, 931 00:54:07,479 --> 00:54:10,396 circumstances were right; we could raise our voice. 932 00:54:17,730 --> 00:54:21,521 (gunfire) 933 00:54:21,646 --> 00:54:23,271 NARRATOR: Over the course of the siege, 934 00:54:23,354 --> 00:54:25,396 government forces would pound the village 935 00:54:25,479 --> 00:54:28,771 with more than 500,000 rounds of ammunition. 936 00:54:28,855 --> 00:54:30,896 Right there. 937 00:54:31,021 --> 00:54:34,396 NARRATOR: It was inevitable that there would be casualties. 938 00:54:34,521 --> 00:54:37,146 (gunfire) 939 00:54:37,229 --> 00:54:39,271 Where's that car? Where's that car? 940 00:54:39,396 --> 00:54:43,771 MAN: The Wounded Knee apparently has a wounded party. 941 00:54:43,896 --> 00:54:45,479 WEBSTER POOR BEAR (archival): It really don't bug me that much. 942 00:54:45,521 --> 00:54:46,855 I really don't mind getting shot. 943 00:54:46,896 --> 00:54:52,146 We are willing to sacrifice our lives for our children 944 00:54:52,271 --> 00:54:53,771 so they will not have to grow up in the society 945 00:54:53,896 --> 00:54:56,479 we grow up in today. 946 00:54:56,521 --> 00:54:59,646 (current): Milo and myself got hit. 947 00:54:59,771 --> 00:55:05,229 We knew that no one was... 948 00:55:05,271 --> 00:55:11,396 no one was going to go through this completely unscathed. 949 00:55:11,521 --> 00:55:13,396 There was somebody that was going to get it again. 950 00:55:31,104 --> 00:55:32,896 NARRATOR: With the White House increasingly preoccupied 951 00:55:33,021 --> 00:55:36,229 with Watergate, the government had allowed the occupation 952 00:55:36,271 --> 00:55:38,354 of Wounded Knee to drag on. 953 00:55:41,354 --> 00:55:43,271 But at the end of March, 954 00:55:43,354 --> 00:55:46,479 the Justice Department sent a new negotiator 955 00:55:46,521 --> 00:55:48,479 who changed tactics. 956 00:55:48,521 --> 00:55:52,271 KENT FRIZZELL: Shortly after I arrived, 957 00:55:52,354 --> 00:55:54,396 the lifestyle was somewhat changed 958 00:55:54,479 --> 00:55:57,396 of the occupants of Wounded Knee. 959 00:55:57,479 --> 00:56:03,646 The electricity was cut off. 960 00:56:03,771 --> 00:56:07,354 The water line was cut. 961 00:56:09,646 --> 00:56:13,021 NARRATOR: Then Frizzell cut off the protesters' most vital lifeline: 962 00:56:13,146 --> 00:56:16,021 he ordered reporters to leave town. 963 00:56:18,896 --> 00:56:21,021 Y'all get back in your cars, okay? 964 00:56:21,146 --> 00:56:23,730 Just get back in the car till we get the word. 965 00:56:23,771 --> 00:56:27,271 Don't touch my hand, either. 966 00:56:27,354 --> 00:56:29,521 Just get back in the car till we get the word. 967 00:56:29,646 --> 00:56:32,146 FRIZZELL: I frankly think that the barring 968 00:56:32,229 --> 00:56:38,730 of the news media has had an effect on negotiations. 969 00:56:38,771 --> 00:56:40,730 A positive effect from the government's point of view... 970 00:56:40,771 --> 00:56:42,146 FRIZZELL: All of a sudden, 971 00:56:42,229 --> 00:56:46,980 those in Wounded Knee weren't seeing themselves 972 00:56:47,021 --> 00:56:51,229 on top of a pony waving an AK-47 973 00:56:51,271 --> 00:56:55,896 at the American personnel on the ground. 974 00:56:55,980 --> 00:56:58,271 NARRATOR: Just when the siege 975 00:56:58,396 --> 00:57:00,354 was officially kicked off the airwaves, 976 00:57:00,396 --> 00:57:04,146 it got renewed publicity from an unlikely source: 977 00:57:04,271 --> 00:57:05,855 Hollywood. 978 00:57:05,896 --> 00:57:10,646 That he very regretfully cannot accept 979 00:57:10,730 --> 00:57:13,521 this very generous award... 980 00:57:13,646 --> 00:57:17,396 NARRATOR: Marlon Brando refused his Oscar for Best Actor in The Godfather 981 00:57:17,479 --> 00:57:19,855 in protest of the negative portrayal of Indians 982 00:57:19,896 --> 00:57:22,146 in the movies. 983 00:57:22,229 --> 00:57:23,604 Excuse me... 984 00:57:23,646 --> 00:57:25,521 NARRATOR: Brando sent an Apache actress 985 00:57:25,604 --> 00:57:27,771 named Sacheen Littlefeather to represent him 986 00:57:27,896 --> 00:57:31,396 at the awards ceremony watched by millions. 987 00:57:32,896 --> 00:57:36,479 Later, backstage, she explained Brando's absence. 988 00:57:36,521 --> 00:57:40,021 I have indicated in this statement 989 00:57:40,146 --> 00:57:42,896 Marlon Brando is on his way to Wounded Knee. 990 00:57:42,980 --> 00:57:45,521 At that time, you'll have to take me for his word. 991 00:57:47,646 --> 00:57:50,521 NARRATOR: Brando never made it to Wounded Knee, 992 00:57:50,646 --> 00:57:53,146 but a poll taken four days after the Oscars 993 00:57:53,229 --> 00:57:56,771 showed his sympathies were widely shared: 994 00:57:56,855 --> 00:57:59,104 most Americans sided with the protesters. 995 00:57:59,146 --> 00:58:03,730 Within a week, the two sides reached a deal. 996 00:58:05,396 --> 00:58:08,896 NEWS ANCHOR: The siege of Wounded Knee, South Dakota, ended today. 997 00:58:09,021 --> 00:58:10,271 REPORTER: Representatives of the Indians 998 00:58:10,396 --> 00:58:12,604 and U.S. Interior Department officials 999 00:58:12,646 --> 00:58:14,396 formally signed the pact this afternoon 1000 00:58:14,479 --> 00:58:17,855 inside the embattled village. 1001 00:58:17,896 --> 00:58:20,646 NARRATOR: Government officials promised to investigate corruption 1002 00:58:20,730 --> 00:58:22,021 on Pine Ridge, 1003 00:58:22,104 --> 00:58:24,521 and to immediately convene a White House meeting 1004 00:58:24,646 --> 00:58:29,104 and congressional hearings on treaty rights. 1005 00:58:29,146 --> 00:58:34,271 For their part, the protesters agreed to lay down their arms. 1006 00:58:34,354 --> 00:58:37,980 (drumming, singing) 1007 00:58:38,021 --> 00:58:40,604 CAMP: You know, the first thing Indians do is break out a drum. 1008 00:58:40,646 --> 00:58:43,271 You know, so they started banging a drum 1009 00:58:43,354 --> 00:58:45,146 and singing victory songs 1010 00:58:45,229 --> 00:58:47,521 and everybody was whooping and cheering. 1011 00:58:47,604 --> 00:58:51,146 That was a time when we really thought we won, 1012 00:58:51,271 --> 00:58:55,479 and not only that, we thought that, uh, we had survived. 1013 00:58:59,021 --> 00:59:02,521 FRIZZELL: I talked to Chief Fools Crow, an elder and a full blood. 1014 00:59:02,646 --> 00:59:05,646 I offered him a ride on my helicopter 1015 00:59:05,771 --> 00:59:08,229 if he could get this young Indian lad 1016 00:59:08,271 --> 00:59:10,271 to let me ride his pony. 1017 00:59:10,354 --> 00:59:12,646 He thought it was a wonderful gesture 1018 00:59:12,771 --> 00:59:18,354 and I did the same as I galloped off on that pony, bareback. 1019 00:59:20,146 --> 00:59:23,521 NARRATOR: Chief Bad Cob, medicine man Leonard Crow Dog, 1020 00:59:23,604 --> 00:59:26,730 and Russell Means rushed to Washington for a meeting 1021 00:59:26,771 --> 00:59:28,646 at the White House. 1022 00:59:28,730 --> 00:59:32,521 But the deal quickly collapsed over the critical detail 1023 00:59:32,646 --> 00:59:36,229 of what was to happen first-- the White House meeting 1024 00:59:36,271 --> 00:59:38,146 or the disarming of the protesters. 1025 00:59:40,980 --> 00:59:43,604 The White House will not negotiate 1026 00:59:43,646 --> 00:59:45,730 while guns are pointed at federal officials 1027 00:59:45,771 --> 00:59:47,271 in Wounded Knee. 1028 00:59:47,396 --> 00:59:49,646 That is our position. 1029 00:59:49,771 --> 00:59:53,521 I believe it offers the only hope for a peaceful solution. 1030 00:59:53,604 --> 00:59:56,271 And I, for one, am prepared to stand by the agreement 1031 00:59:56,396 --> 00:59:58,521 until hell freezes over. 1032 00:59:58,604 --> 01:00:00,146 Can we give up our arms? 1033 01:00:00,229 --> 01:00:02,855 Hello? 1034 01:00:02,896 --> 01:00:06,896 That is so stupid, it's beyond belief that they would even... 1035 01:00:06,980 --> 01:00:08,271 they would even say that to the press. 1036 01:00:08,354 --> 01:00:10,896 What, these stupid Indians are going to go to negotiate 1037 01:00:11,021 --> 01:00:12,521 after they lay down their arms? 1038 01:00:12,646 --> 01:00:13,896 What? 1039 01:00:14,021 --> 01:00:17,354 Nobody does that in the entire world in history. 1040 01:00:19,104 --> 01:00:23,521 NARRATOR: After the agreement unraveled, Russell Means was arrested. 1041 01:00:23,646 --> 01:00:28,354 He would spend the rest of the occupation in jail. 1042 01:00:33,521 --> 01:00:37,855 The fun and games, so far as I'm concerned, are over. 1043 01:00:37,896 --> 01:00:40,646 A United States marshal has been seriously wounded. 1044 01:00:40,771 --> 01:00:44,104 REPORTER: Many of the some 300 persons in Wounded Knee 1045 01:00:44,146 --> 01:00:46,855 are sick with bad colds. 1046 01:00:46,896 --> 01:00:49,354 Doctors here report at least 15 persons here have pneumonia. 1047 01:00:52,604 --> 01:00:54,271 REPORTER: The garbage is piling up. 1048 01:00:54,354 --> 01:00:57,271 The food is running short. 1049 01:00:57,354 --> 01:01:00,896 One meal a day is now the rule and that's not much of a meal. 1050 01:01:03,730 --> 01:01:05,146 THUNDER HAWK: One time, one of the guys came in 1051 01:01:05,271 --> 01:01:06,896 and he had a sack on his shoulders. 1052 01:01:07,021 --> 01:01:11,396 And it was, I don't know, maybe a 50-pound bag 1053 01:01:11,521 --> 01:01:16,021 of what they fed calves. 1054 01:01:16,146 --> 01:01:18,646 So we just... that's what we ate. 1055 01:01:18,771 --> 01:01:21,146 We made pancakes out of it and whatever. 1056 01:01:21,229 --> 01:01:24,354 We just treated it like flour. 1057 01:01:24,396 --> 01:01:26,771 BANKS: We had been rationing ourselves 1058 01:01:26,855 --> 01:01:29,271 to one meal a day, one full meal a day. 1059 01:01:29,396 --> 01:01:35,479 We are cutting that effective today, to one half meal a day. 1060 01:01:39,146 --> 01:01:42,271 ZIMMERMAN: At the time, I was minding my own business in Boston, 1061 01:01:42,354 --> 01:01:47,229 following the Wounded Knee story in the news like everybody else. 1062 01:01:47,271 --> 01:01:50,771 One day, somebody walked into my office that I knew 1063 01:01:50,896 --> 01:01:54,021 within the Boston anti-war movement. 1064 01:01:54,104 --> 01:01:55,771 They had heard that I was a pilot 1065 01:01:55,896 --> 01:01:59,146 and they needed somebody to go in there 1066 01:01:59,229 --> 01:02:01,896 who could fly over the federal blockade 1067 01:02:02,021 --> 01:02:03,479 and bring them some food. 1068 01:02:03,521 --> 01:02:07,021 BANKS: If there's any plane comes by here today, 1069 01:02:07,104 --> 01:02:10,855 we don't want anybody taking any potshots at them. 1070 01:02:10,896 --> 01:02:13,354 They'll be making a food drop to us today. 1071 01:02:13,396 --> 01:02:15,271 (cheering) 1072 01:02:15,396 --> 01:02:19,146 ZIMMERMAN: We operated out of Rapid City, South Dakota. 1073 01:02:19,229 --> 01:02:20,730 At 3:00 in the morning, 1074 01:02:20,771 --> 01:02:24,021 we were over Wounded Knee about 40 seconds, 1075 01:02:24,104 --> 01:02:27,146 made the drop and we were gone. 1076 01:02:27,229 --> 01:02:30,396 And 2,000 pounds of food landed in the village. 1077 01:02:30,479 --> 01:02:33,104 At first we thought we were being attacked. 1078 01:02:33,146 --> 01:02:34,896 We thought they were gassing us, 1079 01:02:34,980 --> 01:02:39,521 you know, because what it was, was the flour exploding 1080 01:02:39,604 --> 01:02:42,646 and creating a big cloud. 1081 01:02:42,771 --> 01:02:44,521 You know, but then all of a sudden, you know, we said, 1082 01:02:44,646 --> 01:02:46,396 "Oh, hey, this is food," you know? 1083 01:02:46,479 --> 01:02:48,896 So we're all out there gathering the food 1084 01:02:48,980 --> 01:02:52,604 and the FBI opens up on us. 1085 01:02:52,646 --> 01:02:54,479 (gunshots) 1086 01:02:54,521 --> 01:02:57,771 NARRATOR: The night before, a man named Frank Clearwater 1087 01:02:57,855 --> 01:03:01,646 and his pregnant wife had arrived in the village. 1088 01:03:01,771 --> 01:03:03,021 Clearwater said they had hitchhiked 1089 01:03:03,104 --> 01:03:05,730 all the way from North Carolina. 1090 01:03:05,771 --> 01:03:08,146 ROUBIDEAU: When he came in, he had his own gun. 1091 01:03:08,229 --> 01:03:12,396 He had a kind of a big long-barreled shotgun. 1092 01:03:12,521 --> 01:03:14,021 It looked like he came out of the hills, too, you know. 1093 01:03:14,104 --> 01:03:16,354 He said he was Cherokee, you know. 1094 01:03:16,396 --> 01:03:17,855 Yeah, he looked like one of those mountain men. 1095 01:03:17,896 --> 01:03:20,479 KEVIN McKIERNAN: They had ready-made cigarettes, 1096 01:03:20,521 --> 01:03:24,271 which was a very big deal because we were all smoking 1097 01:03:24,396 --> 01:03:27,646 in those days, and we were smoking cherry bark 1098 01:03:27,730 --> 01:03:30,271 and things from... from the ground. 1099 01:03:30,354 --> 01:03:32,104 And here was a ready-made cigarette. 1100 01:03:32,146 --> 01:03:33,646 And so I remember Frank Clearwater lit it up 1101 01:03:33,771 --> 01:03:35,396 and we passed it around in a... 1102 01:03:35,521 --> 01:03:37,479 in a circle like a form of communion. 1103 01:03:37,521 --> 01:03:40,521 (gunshots) 1104 01:03:40,646 --> 01:03:43,229 NARRATOR: When bullets began to fly on the day of the food drop, 1105 01:03:43,271 --> 01:03:45,396 Frank Clearwater took refuge 1106 01:03:45,479 --> 01:03:47,646 with other protesters in a church. 1107 01:03:47,771 --> 01:03:50,646 As they hugged the floor in an effort 1108 01:03:50,730 --> 01:03:52,521 to stay out of harm's way, 1109 01:03:52,646 --> 01:03:55,021 a bullet tore through the plasterboard wall 1110 01:03:55,146 --> 01:03:58,021 and struck Clearwater in the head. 1111 01:04:00,896 --> 01:04:04,021 He had been in Wounded Knee for less than 24 hours. 1112 01:04:07,021 --> 01:04:08,021 CAMP: A brother named Strawberry 1113 01:04:08,146 --> 01:04:12,771 had his hand on the back of his head 1114 01:04:12,855 --> 01:04:15,271 and he was holding his skull... 1115 01:04:23,896 --> 01:04:31,896 and I put my hand on his skull, tried to hold his brains in... 1116 01:04:31,980 --> 01:04:34,021 and we took him... 1117 01:04:34,104 --> 01:04:38,021 took him in the clinic and they couldn't save him. 1118 01:04:48,771 --> 01:04:51,730 NARRATOR: The first death intensified the government's determination 1119 01:04:51,771 --> 01:04:53,771 to bring the siege to an end. 1120 01:04:53,855 --> 01:04:58,021 In mid-April, a unit was put on alert at an Army base 1121 01:04:58,104 --> 01:04:59,521 in Colado. 1122 01:04:59,646 --> 01:05:02,271 According to plans leaked to the press, 1123 01:05:02,396 --> 01:05:05,146 the government was prepared to move into Wounded Knee 1124 01:05:05,271 --> 01:05:08,396 with armored helicopters and tear gas. 1125 01:05:08,521 --> 01:05:11,104 FRIZZELL: The White House, 1126 01:05:11,146 --> 01:05:13,396 the Department of Justice, 1127 01:05:13,521 --> 01:05:19,521 were concerned with the confrontation going on 1128 01:05:19,646 --> 01:05:23,646 all during the month of May, into the summer. 1129 01:05:23,730 --> 01:05:27,396 The college campuses, I was told, would be emptying out 1130 01:05:27,479 --> 01:05:29,271 and all the adventure seekers 1131 01:05:29,354 --> 01:05:32,354 would be infiltrating Wounded Knee. 1132 01:05:32,396 --> 01:05:34,771 I was given a ten-day deadline. 1133 01:05:40,021 --> 01:05:42,396 NARRATOR: Officials were destabilizing the occupation 1134 01:05:42,479 --> 01:05:44,980 using covert tactics. 1135 01:05:45,021 --> 01:05:46,271 FRIZZELL: I have some information I think 1136 01:05:46,396 --> 01:05:47,771 that you'll be interested in. 1137 01:05:47,855 --> 01:05:54,896 And it's based on a source that we have utilized in the past 1138 01:05:55,021 --> 01:05:59,479 and has furnished us information in the past within Wounded Knee. 1139 01:05:59,521 --> 01:06:01,271 Now very frankly, I cannot identify him 1140 01:06:01,396 --> 01:06:02,771 for obvious purposes. 1141 01:06:04,980 --> 01:06:09,396 ROBERT WARRIOR: There were almost surely spies within Wounded Knee. 1142 01:06:09,479 --> 01:06:11,730 The U.S. government 1143 01:06:11,771 --> 01:06:13,521 had infiltrated the American Indian Movement 1144 01:06:13,646 --> 01:06:17,271 like it had infiltrated every political organization 1145 01:06:17,396 --> 01:06:19,104 in the U.S. during that time. 1146 01:06:19,146 --> 01:06:23,271 HENDRICKS: AIM knew that they had spies in their midst 1147 01:06:23,354 --> 01:06:24,980 and that was part of the FBI's game. 1148 01:06:25,021 --> 01:06:27,730 Not just to have the spies to get information 1149 01:06:27,771 --> 01:06:30,021 on what AIM was doing, but to get AIM guessing 1150 01:06:30,104 --> 01:06:32,146 as to who those spies were, 1151 01:06:32,271 --> 01:06:35,479 to get them paranoid and pointing fingers at one another. 1152 01:06:35,521 --> 01:06:37,271 What is that? 1153 01:06:39,521 --> 01:06:41,229 What did you point at me? 1154 01:06:50,271 --> 01:06:53,229 ROBERT WARRIOR: One effect of that paranoia inside Wounded Knee 1155 01:06:53,271 --> 01:06:56,730 is that there are purported cases of people 1156 01:06:56,771 --> 01:07:00,354 who disappeared and who were thought to have been killed 1157 01:07:00,396 --> 01:07:04,896 mainly because people didn't know who they were 1158 01:07:05,021 --> 01:07:09,771 and who assumed that they were spies. 1159 01:07:09,896 --> 01:07:13,104 FRIZZELL: I got daily reports. 1160 01:07:13,146 --> 01:07:16,146 I got informer reports. 1161 01:07:16,271 --> 01:07:22,396 This information came to me through the tribal government 1162 01:07:22,521 --> 01:07:23,980 and through the FBI. 1163 01:07:24,021 --> 01:07:25,980 (gunfire) 1164 01:07:26,021 --> 01:07:30,771 NARRATOR: On April 26, Wounded Knee sustained the heaviest barrage 1165 01:07:30,896 --> 01:07:34,354 of gunfire since the start of the siege. 1166 01:07:34,396 --> 01:07:37,855 When the shooting subsided, Buddy Lamont, 1167 01:07:37,896 --> 01:07:42,646 a 31-year-old Oglala from Pine Ridge, came out to investigate. 1168 01:07:42,771 --> 01:07:45,271 Lamont was a Vietnam veteran who'd been in Wounded Knee 1169 01:07:45,396 --> 01:07:48,396 since the beginning. 1170 01:07:48,521 --> 01:07:50,229 LITTLE SKY: Everybody started getting up and... 1171 01:07:50,271 --> 01:07:53,521 and going back about their normal routines, 1172 01:07:53,646 --> 01:07:57,146 and Buddy came, got up and walked over to the trenches 1173 01:07:57,271 --> 01:07:58,604 where we were at. 1174 01:07:58,646 --> 01:08:03,271 A sniper at a good thousand yards hit him 1175 01:08:03,396 --> 01:08:04,521 squarely in the heart... 1176 01:08:04,646 --> 01:08:05,771 (gunshot) 1177 01:08:05,855 --> 01:08:07,980 and he wasn't even aiming the gun. 1178 01:08:08,021 --> 01:08:11,604 He had his back turned, you know, and his... 1179 01:08:11,646 --> 01:08:14,521 his weapon was on his shoulder, you know. 1180 01:08:14,646 --> 01:08:16,521 To me, that was murder. 1181 01:08:18,938 --> 01:08:21,312 NARRATOR: Negotiators agreed to a ceasefire 1182 01:08:21,396 --> 01:08:25,521 so that Lamont's family could bury him at Wounded Knee. 1183 01:08:25,563 --> 01:08:28,938 On May 6, Buddy Lamont was laid to rest 1184 01:08:29,021 --> 01:08:33,271 next to the victims of the 1890 massacre. 1185 01:08:33,312 --> 01:08:36,312 BANKS: They asked me if I would say a prayer for him, 1186 01:08:36,396 --> 01:08:38,688 which I did. 1187 01:08:38,813 --> 01:08:47,563 It said, "2,000 people came and one remained." 1188 01:08:51,771 --> 01:08:53,062 ROBERT WARRIOR: Buddy Lamont's death 1189 01:08:53,146 --> 01:08:59,271 becomes, really, the final blow to a lot of people 1190 01:08:59,312 --> 01:09:03,271 inside Wounded Knee, especially the Oglalas from Pine Ridge. 1191 01:09:06,938 --> 01:09:10,146 He was somebody that everybody knew. 1192 01:09:10,187 --> 01:09:12,438 Everybody knew his mom. 1193 01:09:12,521 --> 01:09:17,771 And he was there for all the right reasons, 1194 01:09:17,813 --> 01:09:19,813 fighting for something that he cared about. 1195 01:09:19,896 --> 01:09:27,396 And for Buddy Lamont to die was more of a tragedy 1196 01:09:27,438 --> 01:09:29,187 than most people could bear. 1197 01:09:32,688 --> 01:09:37,062 NARRATOR: Fools Crow and the other Oglala leaders had had enough. 1198 01:09:37,146 --> 01:09:38,771 Despite AIM's objections, 1199 01:09:38,813 --> 01:09:41,813 they insisted on bringing the occupation to an end. 1200 01:09:44,187 --> 01:09:48,521 NARRATOR: On May 8, 1973, after 71 days, 1201 01:09:48,563 --> 01:09:51,312 the siege of Wounded Knee was over. 1202 01:09:51,396 --> 01:09:52,688 In final talks with the government, 1203 01:09:52,813 --> 01:09:58,187 AIM leaders agreed to disarm and submit to arrest. 1204 01:09:58,312 --> 01:10:01,396 But many of the protesters were already making other plans. 1205 01:10:01,438 --> 01:10:03,146 (drumbeat) 1206 01:10:03,187 --> 01:10:05,062 ROBIDEAU: We asked the medicine man, 1207 01:10:05,146 --> 01:10:06,396 we said, "We want to get out of here. 1208 01:10:06,438 --> 01:10:07,688 We don't want to leave no weapons here." 1209 01:10:07,813 --> 01:10:10,563 So, he says, "We'll have a ceremony tonight 1210 01:10:10,688 --> 01:10:12,813 and we're going to pray." 1211 01:10:12,896 --> 01:10:14,938 So we prayed all night long. 1212 01:10:15,062 --> 01:10:17,938 RICHARD WHITMAN: We sang the American Indian Movement song. 1213 01:10:18,062 --> 01:10:20,938 An honor song. 1214 01:10:21,062 --> 01:10:22,438 A memorial song. 1215 01:10:22,563 --> 01:10:25,563 (singing) 1216 01:10:28,771 --> 01:10:33,771 (singing) 1217 01:10:33,813 --> 01:10:35,688 (thunderclap) 1218 01:10:35,771 --> 01:10:37,312 ROBIDEAU: So, it started getting cloudy 1219 01:10:37,438 --> 01:10:39,062 and then that evening, it started raining. 1220 01:10:39,187 --> 01:10:40,563 Wind. Rain. 1221 01:10:40,646 --> 01:10:42,312 So they couldn't shoot the flares. 1222 01:10:44,062 --> 01:10:48,187 ARLENE MEANS: Lots of people walked out. 1223 01:10:48,271 --> 01:10:52,438 The spirits had a lot to do with it. 1224 01:10:52,521 --> 01:10:56,688 The one that brought us out was the owl. 1225 01:10:56,771 --> 01:10:58,563 And every time he'd hoot in a direction 1226 01:10:58,646 --> 01:11:00,021 and then we'd go that way 1227 01:11:00,062 --> 01:11:05,312 and they did it right under the marshals' noses. 1228 01:11:05,438 --> 01:11:07,938 (singing continues) 1229 01:11:13,938 --> 01:11:15,646 NARRATOR: As the protesters fled Wounded Knee, 1230 01:11:15,688 --> 01:11:20,062 a triumphant Dick Wilson toured the remains of the town. 1231 01:11:20,146 --> 01:11:22,271 REPORTER: Dick, are you surprised by what you're seeing? 1232 01:11:22,312 --> 01:11:23,771 I expected this. 1233 01:11:23,813 --> 01:11:24,813 Why? 1234 01:11:24,896 --> 01:11:26,312 They're hoodlums. Clowns. 1235 01:11:26,438 --> 01:11:27,771 This is the way they live. 1236 01:11:29,896 --> 01:11:32,688 NARRATOR: Not only was Dick Wilson still firmly in charge, 1237 01:11:32,771 --> 01:11:34,187 he would exact revenge 1238 01:11:34,271 --> 01:11:39,688 on his opponents as the federal government looked the other way. 1239 01:11:39,813 --> 01:11:42,688 WILSON: The Oglalas don't like what happened, 1240 01:11:42,813 --> 01:11:45,187 and if the FBI don't get them, the Oglalas will. 1241 01:11:45,271 --> 01:11:48,271 We have our own way of punishing people that way. 1242 01:11:48,312 --> 01:11:51,396 REPORTER: Shooting on the reservation? 1243 01:11:51,438 --> 01:11:53,312 You said it. 1244 01:11:53,438 --> 01:11:55,771 We'll take care of them. 1245 01:11:55,813 --> 01:11:58,771 HENDRICKS: After Wounded Knee, it was a period of time 1246 01:11:58,813 --> 01:12:00,813 that the dissidents called "The Reign of Terror." 1247 01:12:00,896 --> 01:12:04,646 It was a time when Dick Wilson truly unleashed his forces 1248 01:12:04,688 --> 01:12:07,146 on the folks who had supported Wounded Knee. 1249 01:12:10,938 --> 01:12:13,062 NARRATOR: In the three years following the siege, 1250 01:12:13,187 --> 01:12:18,062 two FBI agents and more than 60 AIM supporters were killed, 1251 01:12:18,146 --> 01:12:20,771 giving Pine Ridge the highest per capita murder rate 1252 01:12:20,813 --> 01:12:23,438 in the country. 1253 01:12:23,521 --> 01:12:26,021 As the reservation spiraled into violence, 1254 01:12:26,062 --> 01:12:29,938 the government went after AIM in the courts. 1255 01:12:30,062 --> 01:12:31,813 HENDRICKS: One thing that Wounded Knee gave 1256 01:12:31,896 --> 01:12:34,312 the federal government an excuse to do 1257 01:12:34,396 --> 01:12:36,646 was to try to litigate the American Indian Movement 1258 01:12:36,688 --> 01:12:38,062 out of existence. 1259 01:12:38,187 --> 01:12:42,062 You and your bunch of hoodlums take over down there, 1260 01:12:42,187 --> 01:12:45,187 you destroy people's property... 1261 01:12:45,312 --> 01:12:47,938 NARRATOR: Within months, more than 500 indictments 1262 01:12:48,062 --> 01:12:49,938 were brought against AIM members, 1263 01:12:50,062 --> 01:12:54,146 most on minor charges that were later dismissed. 1264 01:12:54,187 --> 01:12:56,563 HENDRICKS: They succeeded in tying up AIM in court, 1265 01:12:56,688 --> 01:12:59,187 and AIM, at this point, with all those resources 1266 01:12:59,271 --> 01:13:01,813 going into court, lost its way. 1267 01:13:05,563 --> 01:13:08,688 NARRATOR: AIM fell into disarray and violent infighting, 1268 01:13:08,813 --> 01:13:13,146 and would never again have the impact it had in 1973. 1269 01:13:15,396 --> 01:13:17,813 But the hopes inspired by the siege would echo 1270 01:13:17,938 --> 01:13:20,563 in the decades to come. 1271 01:13:20,646 --> 01:13:24,563 Despite the chaos that followed in its wake, 1272 01:13:24,688 --> 01:13:26,688 Wounded Knee would prove to be a turning point 1273 01:13:26,813 --> 01:13:29,813 in the history of Native people. 1274 01:13:31,896 --> 01:13:35,438 THUNDER HAWK: We needed to let the rest of the world know what was going on. 1275 01:13:35,563 --> 01:13:38,312 Two states over, they had no idea about Indian people. 1276 01:13:38,438 --> 01:13:41,521 We were just invisible. 1277 01:13:41,563 --> 01:13:44,563 We were the ones that kicked the doors open on the Indian issue 1278 01:13:44,646 --> 01:13:46,438 and let the world see. 1279 01:13:51,062 --> 01:13:53,146 ROBERT WARRIOR: The good that came out of Wounded Knee 1280 01:13:53,187 --> 01:13:56,938 was the entry into American Indian political life 1281 01:13:57,021 --> 01:14:00,646 of people who had not been there before, 1282 01:14:00,688 --> 01:14:02,438 who had not had a real voice. 1283 01:14:02,521 --> 01:14:07,438 People learned they could tackle problems, create opportunities. 1284 01:14:07,521 --> 01:14:09,563 And I think that coming out of Wounded Knee, 1285 01:14:09,688 --> 01:14:13,187 people knew they could make a difference. 1286 01:14:13,271 --> 01:14:20,187 (chanting) 1287 01:14:20,271 --> 01:14:22,688 TIGER: There was a lot of sense of, 1288 01:14:22,813 --> 01:14:27,688 "We're important and we can do something 1289 01:14:27,813 --> 01:14:32,062 within our own people, our own tribe, our own homes." 1290 01:14:32,187 --> 01:14:35,938 I didn't go back to what I was doing before. 1291 01:14:36,021 --> 01:14:39,438 I felt maybe I can do something to help, not only my people, 1292 01:14:39,563 --> 01:14:40,938 but other people, too. 1293 01:14:48,021 --> 01:14:50,438 NARRATOR: Native activism would spur the revitalization 1294 01:14:50,563 --> 01:14:53,146 of Native cultures. 1295 01:14:53,187 --> 01:14:56,187 In the years following the siege at Wounded Knee, 1296 01:14:56,271 --> 01:14:58,563 Indians would create tribal schools 1297 01:14:58,688 --> 01:15:00,438 and cultural institutions 1298 01:15:00,563 --> 01:15:06,187 charged with preserving Indian traditions and passing them on. 1299 01:15:06,312 --> 01:15:08,938 CHAAT SMITH: In the late '60s and early '70s, 1300 01:15:09,021 --> 01:15:12,521 these were still emerging ideas about reconnecting 1301 01:15:12,563 --> 01:15:17,312 with traditional culture, language, religion 1302 01:15:17,396 --> 01:15:19,688 that was starting to happen. 1303 01:15:19,771 --> 01:15:23,187 But this became the majority sentiment 1304 01:15:23,271 --> 01:15:25,813 in the space of just a handful of years. 1305 01:15:28,146 --> 01:15:30,438 It was really about identity. 1306 01:15:30,521 --> 01:15:33,563 It was about affirming we're still here, we want to be here, 1307 01:15:33,646 --> 01:15:35,646 and we want to be here on our own terms. 1308 01:15:41,521 --> 01:15:43,438 Whatever went on in the '60s and '70s, 1309 01:15:43,521 --> 01:15:45,896 it's an extension, it's a continuation. 1310 01:15:45,938 --> 01:15:48,646 It's no different than what King Philip was about, 1311 01:15:48,688 --> 01:15:51,396 or Crazy Horse was about. 1312 01:15:51,438 --> 01:15:53,646 And whatever means and manner we could, 1313 01:15:53,688 --> 01:15:55,813 since the Europeans arrived here, 1314 01:15:55,896 --> 01:15:58,312 we've had to fight for our survival. 1315 01:16:03,688 --> 01:16:06,563 BLACK ELK: What the 1973 occupation did 1316 01:16:06,688 --> 01:16:10,563 was people started saying, "Hey, we're Indians. 1317 01:16:10,646 --> 01:16:11,938 "It's okay to be Indian. 1318 01:16:12,021 --> 01:16:14,688 We are Indian, we really should be who we are." 1319 01:16:19,938 --> 01:16:24,187 The struggle that we have in the 21st century 1320 01:16:24,312 --> 01:16:27,438 is to remain ourselves. 1321 01:16:27,563 --> 01:16:30,938 Every one of us has to do our part to remain Lakota, 1322 01:16:31,062 --> 01:16:35,771 to remain Indian, and to teach our children, 1323 01:16:35,813 --> 01:16:37,563 to teach our grandchildren, 1324 01:16:37,688 --> 01:16:44,062 and make sure that there will be children sitting in sweat lodge, 1325 01:16:44,187 --> 01:16:47,938 standing at the sun dance in a thousand years.