Tag: Akwesasne Notes

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.

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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

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

Indians Charge Double-Talk | Early Summer (June) 1971

“The first guarantee they made when the negotiations started was that nobody on the island would be arrested or taken off the island.”

 “Browning wanted to settle the issue some way. He told us they wanted to give us the island and still look good. But word one was that no one – no one – would be arrested or taken off the island while the negotiations were underway.” ~

SOURCE: Akwesasne Notes, Vol. 3 No. 5. P.4

Ousted from Alcatraz and Nike Site, Indians Vow to Keep Plugging | Early Summer, (June) 1971

“But we’re not going to quit. We’ve been moved twice and we’re tired, but we are going to keep on plugging because we want someone to listen to us.”

 “We’re talking about our right to live, our right to be people and this is how they respond. It shows that their attitude toward us has not changed.”

 “We’re not statistics and not that passive Indian who keeps turning the other cheek. We’re not going to be the forgotten Americans any longer, either. We’re going to be Indian-Americans and we’re going to let the whole world know that we’re going to be people.”

 “They’ve responded with shows of force. They’re trying to intimidate us, but we’re not going to be intimidated. They’ve always dealt with us with a show of force. We don’t want to get hurt but we’re not afraid of that. We’ll be back. America hasn’t heard the last of its Indians and that’s definite until some active, positive steps have been taken to relieve the conditions we’re talking about.”

 “We claimed the island as our own, just as they claimed this country.” ~

SOURCE: Akwesasne Notes, Vol. 3 No. 5. P.7

Indians’ Bleak Winter | Early Spring, 1971

 “It has become home. We have lived there and survived, nobody can deny that. If they want to give us the deed fine, but now we will take the initiative to perhaps challenge the legal system or the lack of education that faces the American Indian. You can be certain we will not leave Alcatraz. We have come too far and through too much to start giving land back to the white man.”

“Alcatraz, the idea, is deeply set. And I have found that the idea is not here alone, not on the island, but wherever there is any Indian in this country.” 

 “We will not leave.” ~

SOURCE: Akwesasne Notes, p10

Alcatraz Glows Again: Indians Rekindle the Light  | September, 1970

“For us on the island, and for Indians everywhere, it is a symbol of the rekindled hope that some day the just claims and rightful dignity of the American Indians will be recognized by our fellow citizens.”

“It was in peaceful search of this recognition that we came to the island last November. As long as the light glows, the search will go on.” ~

SOURCE: Raudebaugh, Charles. Akwesasne Notes Vol. 2 No. 5., P. 23.

Alcatraz Becomes a Mecca for Most American Indians | May 12, 1970

“It is the government’s aim to break down our families and break down our resistance. A lot of reservation Indian children spend their young lives separated from their parents in boarding schools. They separate children from parents with schools that do not teach. We have seen them trying to turn us into white people called Indians, stereotype us, suppress the history of our heritage and culture in the books. All this has produced a militancy. A non-violent militancy. But we’re not going to be put down by the Bureau of Indian Affairs anymore.” – John Trudell

SOURCE: Akwesasne Notes, May 1970.