Interview With John Trudell | October, 1979

KATHY (BHA): Why did you decide to request political asylum in Canada instead of somewhere else?

JOHN TRUDELL: We came to Canada because Leonard Peltier came to Canada in 1976 asking for political asylum. Members of the Canadian Justice Department, in collusion with members of the FBI and United States Justice Department, illegally extradited Leonard Peltier back to the U.S.

They were able to do this because they could hide behind the criminal charges that Leonard had filed against him. Now, in order to extradite Leonard back to the U.S., in violation of extradition law, the FBI committed perjury within the Canadian Court System. And this was done with the knowledge of some Crown attorneys. Extradition attorneys. When we come to Canada ourselves, we want to bring this issue back up. That not only has Peltier been illegally convicted in the U.S., he was illegally sent back to the U.S. by the Canadian Government that was in power at that time. We wish to bring this issue back up in front of the Canadian people on the whole Peltier case, Daryl and myself. 

Continue reading “Interview With John Trudell | October, 1979”

American Indian Activists Afraid to Go Home | September 5, 1979

“They said we are a revolutionary movement dedicated to the overthrow of the U.S. government. We are activists concerned with conditions on our reservations. We are advocating the establishment of law and order…The conditions are getting worse and worse for our people in the ‘States…The violence is worse, the jailings are worse, the poverty is worse. Our land base is dwindling. The political attacks are worse.”

“If any people are going to be skeptical about what is happening, let them ask what they would do in my shoes. We understand that the odds are against us, that people don’t want to believe they are coexisting with a country like that.” 

SOURCE: The Province

Indian Activist Accuses U.S. of ‘Kill the Indian’ Mentality | September 5, 1979

“Kill the wild Indians. It is the way they wage war on us now.” 

“We are not a threat. We are not the enemy of the Canadian people. We just want our rights, our natural rights.”

“They lie about everything. They lied about Cambodia, Watergate and pay-offs to corporations. They also lie about us, saying we are radical and militant.” ~

SOURCE: Nanaimo Daily News

Land Rights, Not Uranium Mines | Summer, 1979

American Indian Movement (AIM) leader John Trudell warned the [New Mexico anti-nuclear movement] gathering that just because they knew their cause was righteous did not mean that they would overcome the oppressor.

“We are worried that if the people do not come together in a conscientious and purposeful way in this movement, there may not be another time. If you are going to fight the enemy through the anti-nuclear movement, let’s fight them that way, because if we don’t we may have lost touch with our future. This is not just an anti-nuclear movement, this is a movement to free ourselves from the enemy. It is necessary that we have an understanding of our spiritual identity, but this is not a religious crusade. Religion will not free us. It has been the ruling class way to separate you from your true spiritual identity.” ~

SOURCE: Akwesasne Notes Vol. 11 No. 3

Conference Brings Out Pros, Cons On N-Energy. | April 25, 1979

Regarding uranium mining and energy development in South Dakota. John Trudell addressed the issue as seen by Indians on South Dakota reservations. His remarks pinpointed the emotional side of the issue. 

The government is allowing the beginning of the death cycle. They are tampering with human life when they want to bring that stuff out of the ground. And the phrase ‘maximize profits’ is the culprit. The people of South Dakota should have a hard talk with their governor. While he was telling you he was protecting you from the Indians, he was receiving letters of intent from TVA and Union Carbide to start mining here. [Bill] Janklow is going to make South Dakota a graveyard. The governor and the legislature will blame each other while they sell you down the river. [Mining plans] are an attack against the earth. South Dakota is being termed a National Sacrifice Area and they are telling you it’s in the name of progress. Beware of this thing called the Department of Energy and beware of this, it has its own police force. In the final analysis radiation is not bigoted, it will rub us all out. It will rub out everything. Women will especially have to make a hard commitment. And it would be in your best interest to get politicians to make a public commitment. ~

SOURCE: Lead Daily Call

The Black Panther Intercommunal News Service | 1979

John Trudell, gave a rousing speech about the use of racism by the corporations and the press to keep people divided. He said to non-Native supporters in the audience: ‘‘We want you to understand, we are not your enemy, we never have been. We have been made to not respect each other.’’ ~

SOURCE: Black Panther Intercommunal News Service, Vol. XIX No.9

John Trudell: Excerpts from an Interview | 1978

We are still going to them and asking them to recognize our sovereignty, like we go to them and ask them for program money. Like we go to them and ask them for everything it is that we need. We still do that too much.

If the movement continues to grow we can work on defining our values and our philosophies so that we can understand them more specifically than just in the terms that our ancestors were very spiritual people and were good people. We cannot live in the glory of our ancestors. We must create our own way to go.

Continue reading “John Trudell: Excerpts from an Interview | 1978”

Indians Making ‘Longest Walk’ for Grievances of U.S. | May 16, 1978

“We’re walking around now…to go to Washington, D.C., to talk to…the people who will listen and express to them (that) we don’t want any trouble. We’re not out to make any trouble, but we do want to be able to speak what’s in our minds…and we want to tell these people…you ‘ve bothered us long enough. Why don’t you just, please, leave us alone. Honor the laws that have been agreed upon between our people and let us live.”

“It’s hard, sometimes, to get people to listen to what we’re saying because when we say what we say, we have to criticize the government.” ~

SOURCE: The Decatur Herald

The Emergence of the American Indian Movement: Resisting the Government | November 10, 1977

“What the government did to Peltier is the way that an oppressor must work, because Leonard represents the sovereignty that Indians speak of, sovereignty in the sense that we don’t have to be oppressed anymore, by any man or government, sovereignty in the sense that we understand that we are a natural part of the creation and that no man or government have a right to change that natural order. Sovereignty in a sense that we understand that all struggles of liberation will not be successful until the people control the land.” ~

SOURCE: The Daily Princetonian

White Jury Convicts Aim Leader | May 5, 1977

 “Peltier wasn’t tried by his peers. The judge played the role of prosecutor and found Peltier guilty before the jury did.”

“In the last century stories of cowboys and Indians were a popular theme for those who wanted to take our land. In our generation there is now the FBI and the Indian, because today technology needs the resources that are on our limited land base. So the FBI is now the 7th Cavalry for the corporate interests of America.”

 “This accounts for the drive of the FBI against AIM because we stand in the way of their objectives.” ~

SOURCE: California Aggie, Vol. 95, No. 24.

Highlights of the Minnesota Citizens’ Review Commission on the FBI Hearings:  Part 3 – John Trudell Testimony | March 3, 1977.

ABOUT

John Trudell testimony from recent hearings held by the Minnesota Citizens’ Review Commission on the FBI. The commission, a coalition of some 20 Minnesota organizations put together an independent hearing panel including DFL chairpersons Rick Scott and Ruth Caine. Union leaders, representatives of church and community groups as well as private citizens also participated. The panel took testimony on alleged FBI abuses in the area supervised by the Minneapolis office – Minnesota and the Dakotas. Much of the testimony centered around alleged FBI violations on South Dakota Indian reservations. One whole day was devoted to testimony concerning the Pine Ridge shootout in June 1975. The shootings resulted in the deaths of two FBI agents and one Indian, Joe Stuntz. No one has yet been charged with Stuntz’s death. Two Indians, Dino Butler and Robert Robideau, were charged with the murder of the FBI agents, but they were acquitted last fall. One other man charged was never indicted for lack of evidence, and another, Leonard Peltier, will go on trial in Fargo, North Dakota this month.

Continue reading “Highlights of the Minnesota Citizens’ Review Commission on the FBI Hearings:  Part 3 – John Trudell Testimony | March 3, 1977.”

Why Peltier is on Trial | Mid-Winter, 1976-77

[NOTES: Rallies in support of Leonard Peltier’s campaign against extradition from Canada were held all over North America. At one of them, in California, John Trudell, national chairman of the American Indian Movement, spoke. These are excerpts from his speech, explaining the background of Peltier’s case.]

To understand the Leonard Peltier case, we have to understand what was going on at Pine Ridge long before any FBI were shot. For two years, Indians were being killed, Indian after Indian after Indian. Indians were being wiped out on the Pine Ridge Reservation, but no one cared enough to stop it. We looked at the list of dead people and we saw the Indian names. We saw the FBI’s failure to solve these crimes. We saw that prior to the arrival of the FBI on the reservation, that kind of violence did not exist. So we understood we were involved in an organized campaign of violence against us. A decision was made at Oglala that if people had to shoot back at law enforcement officials in order to save the lives of innocent people, then they would shoot back.

Continue reading “Why Peltier is on Trial | Mid-Winter, 1976-77”

Open Fire: Or The FBI’s History Lesson | November, 1976

“We’re as natural to the land as the trees that stand outside your window.”

“Three hundred and eighty-four treaties have been signed and 384 were broken. No one ever stood trial for breaking those laws. When a person is charged with committing a crime in your society he is not brought to our society to be tried.”

“Our culture has been changed in such a way that it can never go back to what it was.”

Continue reading “Open Fire: Or The FBI’s History Lesson | November, 1976”

Who Are the Real Terrorists? | Late Autumn, 1976

“Racism and double standards of justice are the real threat to the Internal Security of this nation-state. AIM people are just trying to survive as human beings. As for these senators calling us violent, that is an unfunny joke. These representatives of a social system that produces napalm, tactical squads, M-16s, racism, class exploitation, etc., calling us violent is the rhetoric of liars and hypocrites.” ~

SOURCE: Akwesasne Notes, Vol. 8 No. 4

Interview with John Trudell: A.I.M. Leader Details F.B.I Repression | July 17, 1976

In the aftermath of last week’s successful July 4th Coalition rally in San Francisco, THE BLACK PANTHER conducted an exclusive interview with John Trudell, the national director of the American Indian Movement (AIM). In the interview, Trudell talked at length about the current trial of AIM activist Bob Robideau and  Dino Butler in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, and the savage FBI repression AIM has had to endure since its inception. The following are excerpts from that interview. 

BLACK PANTHER: John, what are the latest developments in the trial of Bob Robideau and Dino Butler?

JOHN TRUDELL: The defense has subpoenaed FBI head Clarence Kelley, Senator Frank Church, Representative Otis Pike and a man whose name I can’t remember…He’s the head of public relations for the FBI. I’m very surprised about this because it is the first time where we are going to get the head pig, Kelley, down to where we can at least ask him some questions. It’s an indication that serious question are beginning to be raised about the whole issue of the FBI’s involvement in the suppression of people’s movements in this American state. The FBI has been operating outside of the law from the beginning of the Indian movement and now it is accelerating its tactics.

Continue reading “Interview with John Trudell: A.I.M. Leader Details F.B.I Repression | July 17, 1976”

7,000 Rally at S.F. People’s Bicentennial. Trudell Reading Message from Dennis Banks Who Was Being Held in San Francisco Jail. | July 10, 1976 

Banks July 4th message: “I do not celebrate today, instead I mourn for all my brothers and sisters whose lives have been lost fighting for our freedom. On this so-called day of independence I ask you America, what does the concept of freedom mean to Anna Mae Aquash, and to Buddy La Mont, to Frank Crow Dog, and to Little Joseph Stuntz, all of whom were killed by the federal gun…”

John Trudell reemphasizing Banks’ message: Our enemy is the FBI. They no longer wear the uniform of the Seventh Calvary, but their actions are the same. All that has changed is technology. We must not talk to the FBI. They are the enemies of the people. They are the murderers. The thieves. We want to be liberated from their corrupt value system. Today, July 4, is just one more day of oppression. Free the People! ~

SOURCE: The Black Panther. Vol 15, No.13.

Trudell Demands Explanation | March 20, 1976

“When the tribal chairman and tribal judge in Owyhee attempted to legally exercise jurisdiction for their community, they were attacked by the Bureau of Indian Affairs[BIA], they were lied about and called names by the BIA and its employees. Through high pressure tactics: promises of jobs and pay-offs (grants and loans to individuals), the bureau and its agents had these two men illegally removed from office. Jurisdiction to Indian people is the right to shape and mold one’s own destiny; the future for the children of tomorrow. The cities of Reno, Carson City, or any other town or city government exercise that right, why can’t tribal governments?”

“It’s too bad taxpayers allow their money to be wasted like this.”

SOURCE: Nevada State Journal

Tim McGovern interview of John Trudell | January 11, 1976

John Trudell is the national chairman of the American Indian Movement, the highest elected official in AIM. In this interview he talks about the Wounded Knee Uprising of 1971, its aftermath, and media coverage of that event and others. In addition, Trudell tells how he thinks institutions in America, like the Catholic Church, the educational system, and the FBI are used as repressive tools. Before the interview I asked Trudell how long he’d been with AIM. His response was, “all my life. We just weren’t organized yet.”

Continue reading “Tim McGovern interview of John Trudell | January 11, 1976”

Interview with John Trudell | Akwesasne Notes, 1975

[NOTE: John Trudell statements compiled from an interview conducted by Runa Simi.]

On the evening of July 17, I had an argument with John Gray, the man who runs the trading post. We argued about his high prices, his credit practices, the way he treats the people, and his racist attitude toward the community of people he’s supposed to be serving. We had an argument and it got out of hand and I fired a pistol through the ceiling and I left.

Continue reading “Interview with John Trudell | Akwesasne Notes, 1975”

Indian Activist Raps Role of Whites in Rights Denial | October 7, 1975

“I don’t believe in civil rights. It’s human rights I am for.” 

“The solution to our country’s problems isn’t jail, or alcohol, or churches, or higher education, but people.” 

“We, the Indians of the nation are tired of being lied about. We’re tired of being portrayed as seen in the John Wayne westerns.” 

“When the Indians stayed on their reservations and got drunk, and fought and shot and killed between themselves, it was ok. Now that we try to organize and call the political system corrupt, they call us militant, radical, Communists, and subversive.”

Continue reading “Indian Activist Raps Role of Whites in Rights Denial | October 7, 1975”

Before We Were Indians | Early Autumn, 1975

This statement is by John Trudell, national chairman of the American Indian Movement, issued in September, 1975.

We are human beings. Alcohol makes us drunks. Pride and history make us “The People.” I wish everyone would think about this. Before we were “Indians”, we were “The People.” For the Europeans to justify with their humanitarian beliefs the oppression that they have put on our people, they had to create a false label for us. They had to call us something that was not human. Something other than what we actually were. When Columbus came here and thought he was in India, he called us ” Indians” and so we have been “Indians” for only a brief period of time in the history of our people. Our people have been on this land for thousands and thousands and thousands of years. Our people are the product of this land. We can refer to ourselves as the indigenous, the sovereign people, the native people, or native Americans, but we are “The People” as we relate to being “The People”, as long as we act accordingly.

Continue reading “Before We Were Indians | Early Autumn, 1975”

A Statement from John Trudell | Early Autumn, 1975

NOTE: This summer, shortly after the shooting of the FBI agents at Pine Ridge, John Trudell was arrested at his home in Nevada. This is a statement of the legal struggle which he is waging and facing. He requires assistance to cover legal fees.

I’m charged with assault with a deadly weapon and commission of a crime on an Indian reservation because of an incident that happened at a trading post in Owyhee, Nevada. But the real issue comes down to a jurisdictional question, because the way the federal law is set up, if an Indian is accused of committing a crime against a white on a reservation, that Indian is taken into federal custody and tried in federal court on felony charges. If a white commits a crime on a reservation, the white is also taken into federal custody and tried in federal court on felony charges. If an Indian commits a crime against an Indian on the reservation, nine times out of ten it is sent back by federal attorneys to tribal court to be dealt with. So we’re talking about racism being perpetuated by federal law. It’s an automatic crime for an Indian to stand up against a white on a reservation, no matter what that white does to you. The laws are set up so that anyone operating a business on a reservation can violate every law on the books and rob the people, but if the people stand up against the non-Indian for his violations, the people face a special federal law automatically guaranteeing a trip to federal court. Whereas if the Indians are fighting against each other, it is resolved in tribal court.

Continue reading “A Statement from John Trudell | Early Autumn, 1975”

The Shooting Of Russell Means | Late Summer, 1975

“The FBI should explain to us the deaths of people who have been killed on the Pine Ridge Reservation. When we start seeing justice delivered in those terms, then maybe our people will lay down their arms. But all these FBI agents who grew up watching John Wayne like to play cowboys and Indians. This time it backfired. They ran into someone who didn’t want to play. We’re tired of being the only ones killed. You can only push so long and when people have nothing to lose, they fight back.” ~

SOURCE: Akwesasne Notes. Vol. 7, No. 3.

AIM Doesn’t Apologize for Two Dead Agents | June 30, 1975

“The American Indian Movement does not apologize for the two dead Federal Bureau of Investigation agents.” 

“We’re tired of being the only ones killed.” 

“We’ve heard accusations, now let’s see the proof. The press should demand to see the evidence.” – On alleged AIM involvement in shooting of agents on Pine Ridge. 

“A fascist tactic. The state has no jurisdiction on the reservation.” – On Bill Janklow bringing state law officers onto the reservation. ~

SOURCE: Rapid City Journal

Trudell Speaks Out | April 28, 1975

“There is nothing respectful about making people be what they don’t want to be. A white political structure is deciding our way of life. Right now, if we don’t go the white man’s way we become a statistic on alcoholism, suicide, or low level education.”

“I don’t want to talk about violence. Ask the people who make the guns and the bombs about violence. If we defend with violent tactics it’s because we are presented with them.”

“We are not troubled with inner tribal differences as other organizations are. We’re just getting by, which is something all Indians are familiar with.” ~

SOURCE: Life (newspaper), University of Utah. Logan. V.72, No.73

AIM Speaker Describes His Struggle | April 28, 1975

“Civil rights are rights men legislate against you after they take away your human rights.” 

“I do not consider AIM to be a militant organization compared to United States arms policy.” 

“They talk about broken laws, we talk abut 389 broken treaties. Either all these laws mean something or all laws must be invalid.” 

“Wars are being fought against a defenseless people every day. White people say these wars ended with their grandfathers.” ~

SOURCE: Student Life (newspaper), University of Utah. Logan. V.72, No. 73

AIM Maturing, Chairman Says, Despite Criticism. | April 21, 1975

John Trudell the 29-year old chairman of the American Indian Movement, describes his organization as “the extension of the old renegade Indian membership.” Trudell, a Sioux living on the Duck Valley Reservation near the Idaho-Nevada border, was interviewed last week by reporter Thomas J. Lewis of The Idaho Statesman.

“AIM is maturing a little bit,” Trundell said. “We’re coming to the point now where we have a fluid membership.”

“The real question and issue is what about the system that uses the illegal tactics when it comes to its not dealing with issues like alcoholism and other problems. Those are the tactics we’re concerned with.”

Continue reading “AIM Maturing, Chairman Says, Despite Criticism. | April 21, 1975”

From AIM Occupation: Audit, Debate Promised | March 5, 1975

“We feel we started with nothing, now we have the tribe willing to negotiate with the company over the dismissal of 140 employees and a federal audit has been promised of on the job training funds paid to the Fairchild Camera and Instruments Co.”

Conference was called to “get the media to get off our case and to start concentrating on Fairchild.”

“I don’t try to see it from the corporate viewpoint. Besides, no job in America is worth costing people their respect.”

“Yes there’ll be some negative reaction on the part of businesses, but it may be good for the reservation in the long run.”

“All the media coverage I see on this thing is that AIM gets amnesty. AIM did not ask for amnesty. That was never one of our issues or demands. The issues are Fairchild and the exploitation of the Navajo Tribe.” ~

SOURCE: Clovis News Journal

We’ve got to have a commitment so strong | Early Summer, (July) 1974

Prior to the International Treaty Conference, the American Indian Movement held a meeting in Cumberland, Wisconsin to work out its directions, internal strengths, and to set priorities. There, John Trudell, national chairman of the American Indian Movement, spoke on changes which must take place within the movement and AIM if change was going to come about in the lives of native peoples. This is an excerpt from his speech.

When we talk about discipline for the American Indian Movement, commitment is just about the number one thing to think about. We’ve got to have commitment so strong that when we get mad at each other, we overlook it. We’ve got to have commitment so strong that we don’t take no for an answer. We’ve got to have commitment so strong that we will not accept their rhetoric and lies for an answer. We’ve got to have commitment so strong we will live and we will die for our people.

Continue reading “We’ve got to have a commitment so strong | Early Summer, (July) 1974”

Akwesasne Notes | Early Spring, 1974

“We have been condemned for being militant and violent, but in the American Indian Movement, we have not killed anyone, yet many of our people have died. We have not taken anyone and locked them up in prisons, but many of our people have been put in jails. We have not sold alcohol to people on reservations. We have not taken the young children away from their parents and put them in mission schools. We have not taken racist education and put it inside of our boarding schools. We have done none of these things, and yet we are the ones condemned for being militant and violent and radical. It was militancy and it was violence, and it was radicalization that forced these things upon us and it did not come from our communities.” ~

SOURCE: Akwesasne Notes Vol. 6 No. 1 p.11

The present state of the American Indian Movement: An interview with John Trudell by Red Sun | September 27, 1973

RED SUN: We’re talking to John Trudell here, co-Chairman of AIM. We’re gonna ask him a few questions about the incident at Rosebud with Carter and Clyde Bellecourt.

JOHN TRUDELL: Well, our official stand on the whole incident is, its a governmental conspiracy. And we’re talking about being a conspiracy from looking at past government actions and treatment toward Indian peoples. We’re talking about it being conspiracy in the sense that American Indian Movement has been talking about Indian peoples treaty rights, and more basic than that, we’ve been talking about Indian People’s human rights. Our human right to dignity, self respect, our right to respect from other people. Talking about our rights to raise our children, our own way.

Continue reading “The present state of the American Indian Movement: An interview with John Trudell by Red Sun | September 27, 1973”

Judge Delays Aim Leaders Hearing | September 5, 1973

“This conspiracy to destroy the Indian people is being conducted through the use of alcohol, drugs, the judicial system and federal bureaucracy. This conspiracy is targeted not only at AIM, we have only to look at the oppressive conditions of our Indian peoples throughout America to recognize the realness of this conspiracy.” ~

SOURCE: Idaho State Journal

AIM Leader Clyde Bellecourt Shot and Critically Wounded at Rosebud Res. | Early Autumn, 1973

AIM supporters were thoroughly confused by the shooting, split in loyalties, and unsure what to do next. Statements by AIM leadership reflected the uncertainty and by September 4, a statement by John Trudell, national co-chairman (with Carter Camp) could say only that “the central leadership committee of AIM, having thoroughly evaluated all aspects of the shooting, has determined that the shooting was conspiratorial in nature.” Trudell described the conspiracy as aimed at the destruction of Indian people “through the use of alcohol, drugs, the judicial system, and the federal bureaucracy.” Trudell said that AIM refused to aid this conspiracy, and that it was asking members to return to their home communities to carry on with the business of program development for the liberation of native peoples in their own home communities. ~

SOURCE: Akwesasne Notes. p. 8.

More Problems Plague Chilocco | Late Winter, 1972

“We want to return Indian education to Indian people. We do not want the usual government solutions of threats to close down the school. We want improvement within the school, or the building of Indian-controlled schools in the Indian communities. We will not be stayed by intimidation. We are tired of waiting and we will wait no more.” ~

SOURCE: Akwesasne Notes. p. 16.

B.I.A. Beaten Badly in “Battle of the Braids” | Late Autumn, 1972

“Police, armed with shotguns, guarded the back door of the BIA office, while some men were placed on the roof of the building. Sheriff’s deputies were marshalled at the courthouse. But police withdrew at the request of George Scott, a member of the task force and deputy director of the BIA’s office of  education in Washington. There was no need to call the police. Between our group and George Scott’s group, the situation was completely under control. We were in our building, doing Indian work.” ~

SOURCE: Akwesasne Notes. P.9