The United States Government War Against the American Indian Movement

November 3, 1999

On December 17-18, 1993 a group of suspected government agents, co-conspirators, collaborators, and a few unsuspecting pawns and dupes convened a meeting at Edgewood, New Mexico under the banner of the so-called "confederation of autonomous AIM" chapters and released the Edgewood declaration in which they launched their attack on the legitimate leadership of the American Indian Movement.

This declaration was signed by Russell Means, Glen Morris, Bob Robideaux and David Hill. In addition to these individuals we find at the heart of this conspiracy Ward Churchill, Bobby Castille, George Martin, Donald Grinde Jr., Paulette d’ Autueil, M. Annette Jaimes, Nantinki Rose and Robert (Bob) Roche. We believe that Joe D. Locust, Sr., Dianne Million, Sharon Venne and Regina Brave Dixon are unsuspecting dupes who have allowed themselves to be used by these conspirators (see Susan Shown Harjo letter). Faith Townsend Attaglia of Dark Night Field Notes), Shelly Davis, and Bill Lawrence, owner and publisher of the so-called Native American Press in Minnesota, along with reporters, Gary Blair and Joe G. Geshick are co-conspirators, and are directly connected to this misinformation campaign. (Joe G. Geshick was in attendance at the mock tribunal).

In addition, Bill Lawrence and his newspaper have aligned themselves with the likes of Bud Grant, Howard Hansen and other individuals and organizations like CERA, Citizens Equal Rights Association, PERM, PARR, etc., which by their words and deeds have proven themselves to be anti-Indian, anti-Indian Nation Sovereignty and anti-Treaty Rights, which includes the spiritual, cultural, social, economic, and political rights of our Indian peoples. (See lawsuit, V. Bellecourt v. Lawrence & Geshick)

On March 25-26, 1994 at San Luis Obispo Community College in California this fraudulent group staged an event that was characterized by Northern California respresentative and founding board member of the American Indian Movement Grand Governing Council, Carol Standing Elk, as a mock tribunal. These two events were the continuation of a covert program which originated during the Nixon White House in 1972, and continues today on the internet (see Council on Security and Intelligence).

These co-conspirators calling themselves the confederation of autonomous AIM chapters have attempted to infiltrate, misdirect, divide, disrupt and cause confusion by claiming to be American Indian Movement on the one hand, and on the other hand they continue their campaign to vilify and discredit the legitimate leadership, and members of the American Indian Movement Grand Governing Council as part of their campaign to destroy the American Indian Movement.

Previous to the March 25-26, 1994 mock tribunal held at San Luis Obispo Community College, a meeting was called in Minneapolis, Minnesota attended by 250 men, women, and children responding to a tobacco invitation. They gathered in spirituality and consultation on Sunday, March 20, 1994 and included elders, spiritual leaders and ten pipe carriers. They spoke of the Movement's history and these attacks against the Movement and leaders, Clyde and Vernon Bellecourt.

Spiritual leaders of the Midewin and Sun Dance ways advised Clyde and Vernon not to respond to the attacks against them, and not to travel to the sham "tribunal" to defend themselves, and to ignore the false charges. In reference to those who are making charges and bringing false "indictments," one elder advised Clyde, "Let them speak, and let them say all they will say, and when they are done, they will have no more to say."

However, on Friday, March 25 and Saturday, March 26, leaders of the national and local American Indian Movement met together in San Francisco to strategize how to deal with Ward Churchill and a self-styled radical faction of his followers. Present at the meeting were AIM National President and co-founder, Clyde Bellecourt; AIM National Board Member and Northern California AIM Director, Carol Standing Elk; Southern California AIM Director, Fern Mathias; California AIM Publicist, Patti Jo King; long-time AIM affiliate, Floyd Red Crow Westerman; International Indian Treaty Council President, William Means; and IITC Information Director, Yvonne Swan. They were accompanied by Anishinabe spiritual leader Ellie Favel who carried with her a sacred medicine bundle, and an urgent message from the gathering of traditional spiritual leaders in Minnesota.

The group gathered to discuss their concerns regarding a defamatory "tribunal" in which distinguished Indian leaders of national and local Indian organizations were "put on trial" and condemned by a radical group of self-styled "Indian activists" falsely claming to be members of the American Indian Movement, and spearheaded by ring leader Ward Churchill.

While it was seen as one last effort to reason with those Indian and non-Indian friends that were being manipulated by these conspirators, we are again reminded of the advice of our elder who said, "Let them speak, let them say all they will say, and when they are done, they will have no more to say."

The American Indian Movement Grand Governing Council has allowed them to have their say going back to September 23, 1986 when Ward Churchill and Glen Morris were expelled from the International Indian Treaty Council (IITC). After seven (7) more years of investigations by our Council on Security, and attempts to reason with Russell Means, who continues to be aligned with them and is a central figure in this conspiracy, Ward Churchill and Glen Morris were expelled from the American Indian Movement on November 24, 1993. Six years later in 1999 they continue their misinformation campaign and attacks against the leadership of the American Indian Movement on the Internet.

Their deceitful method of operation becomes clear and are listed as follows:

1. Their web site is a perfect example. They list issues as their own that the American Indian Movement, International Indian Treaty Council and other organizations have been developing over a thirty-year period of time.

2. They list as related sites various well known organizations and individuals and projects in order to cloak their misinformation campaigns with legitimacy.

3. Specifically, in regards to the revisionist writings of Ward Churchill, Glen Morris and Russell Means, they often use people such as Vine Deloria, LaDonna Harris, Gerry Spence, Noam Chomsky and many other Indian and non-Indian intellectuals and academics, some who naively play into their game plan.

4. Working with willing agents like Santos "Hawks Blood" Suarez, and Lawrence Sampson and others, they are attempting to sell for money chapters of so-called confederation of autonomous AIM and AIM club membership cards.

5. They continue to perpetuate this misinformation campaign in front-operations like Dark Night Field Notes, using well-known persons like Noam Chomsky, Eddie Hatcher, Winona LaDuke, and others on their advisory board. They are now putting out the same misinformation on the Internet (see letterhead and Dark Night Field Notes by Faith Attaglia, and Chomsky, LaDuke letters), also (See Bob Brown, AAPRP letter).

6. They use publications like Houghton-Mifflin, Random House Publishers, South End Press, and Speak Out Speakers Bureau who allow Ward Churchill and others to perpetuate their literary, academic, and Indian fraud on the unknown public.

7. In order to carry out this cruel hoax, they are deceitful and treacherous to the point that they will always surround themselves with innocent and naïve individuals out of the Indian and non-Indian communities, some who are well known who actually have endorsed their revisionist, inaccurate, shoddy, and fraudulent writings. The result of this is that without review of the contents of their publications, Indian and non-Indian educators and educational institutions and libraries are using these books in their curriculum. In doing so, they and our students become victims of this fraud. 8. Using the American Indian Movement to give themselves credibility, cover and access, they have been able to infiltrate other organizations and movements nationally and internationally.

---

What you can do to help:

The American Indian Movement Grand Governing Council urges our friends and supporters worldwide to expose and isolate these conspirators expeditiously.

We request that educators, Indian and non-Indians alike remove from their curriculums and libraries all of their revisionist, inaccurate and shoddy writings, and send them back to their publishers (a clear example of the problem is the Encyclopedia of the North American Indian by Frederick E. Hoxie, published by Houghton Mifflin, a subsidiary of Random House). Mr. Marc Jaffe of Houghton Mifflin first contacted and met with Tim Giago, Oglala Lakota, and award winning publisher of Indian Country Today, and syndicated columnist to do the book, and without notifying Mr. Giago, Mr. Jaffe selected Mr. Hoxie who allowed Indian literary and academic fraud, Churchill to submit the article, "Radicals and Radicalism, 1990 to the Present." Everyone knows that Mr. William A. Means has provided key leadership in the development of the International Indian Treaty Council from its inception in 1974 to the present. IITC is the international political and diplomatic corp of the American Indian Movement, yet, Churchill gives credit to fellow wannabe Jimmy Durham, and Winona LaDuke. No doubt Churchill's motives in his revisionist writings in omitting William A. Means is because of the 1986 letter in which Mr. Means expelled both Churchill and Glen Morris from further association with IITC.

Discontinue utilizing Speak Out Speakers Bureau and publications from South End Press, Zeta Magazine and Common Courage Press until they agree to stop promoting these frauds. Additionally, do now allow Native American Press to be circulated in your place of business or community.

Join with us in demanding that the Senate Judiciary Committee hold Waco and Ruby Ridge-type hearings on the Pine Ridge Oglala Lakota Nation; the site of Wounded Knee 1890-1973, and the botched FBI operation that left FBI agents, Williams and Coler and AIM member, Joe Stuntz dead. An FBI operation that led to the deaths of Anna Mae Aquash, Buddy Lamont, Frank Clearwater, and Pedro Bissonette to name a few of many, and Leonard Peltier remains in prison after twenty-three years.

We request that organizations such as the National Indian Education Association and the American Indian Higher Education Consortium create a watchdog-type agency to review what books are being published by these literary, academic, and Indian frauds so that their revisionist writings are not finding their way into our education curriculum. This problem is of epidemic proportions, and must be stopped.

Join with us in our demands that the 6,000 pages currently under a national security cover be released to Leonard Peltier’s attorneys.

Those persons whose names appear on the Freedom of Information (FOI) declassified documents are all targets of the U.S. government war against the American Indian Movement; you should request your files from the various government agencies.

For information on how to make a Freedom of Information file request, write, fax, or email to the attention of Joslyn Kaye at the Center for Constitutional Rights
666 Broadway, 7th Floor, New York NY 10012. Email is jkaye@ccr-ny.org