The last seventy-one days of armed conflict between the government and the Aborigines in US history began on the morning of February 27, 1973. On this day, the village of Wounded Knee on the territory of the Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota was captured by the American Indian Movement, an organization fighting for the rights of the native population of America.
The place of confrontation was not chosen by chance, because it was here in 1890 that the United States army staged a massacre against members of the Lakota tribe. By the end of the 20th century, only forty people lived in Wounded Knee, and 14 thousand Indians on the Pine Ridge reservation. The main problems of the indigenous people were crime, alcoholism, unemployment and high - 5 times higher than the general American - child mortality.
The events began with the fact that the "American Indian Movement" (AIM) decided to remove the thief leader Dick Wilson, who enjoyed the patronage of the federal authorities. The conspiracy was led by Dennis Banks and Russell Means - the latter would later become an actor and play the role of Chingachgook in Michael Mann's The Last of the Mohicans.
However, the AIM failed to remove the corrupt leader, so Banks and Means decided to take drastic measures. They announced that on the territory of the captured Wounded Knee, a tribal government was established, free from the power of the "pale-faced". They also demanded a revision of the treaties between the indigenous peoples and the US government.
Russell Means in his address to the authorities said: “You will have to kill us. Because I'm not going to die … in a car accident somewhere on a deserted road on a reservation or drink myself to escape from the damned society … I'm not going to die like that. I will die fighting for the rights of the Indians."
More than three hundred people took part in the uprising, the headquarters of which was a stone church on the site of the mass grave of the victims of 1890; the Indians painted their faces with paint and put traditional red ribbons on their heads.
By the evening of February 28, the town was blocked by government troops. In their wagon train was Dick Wilson himself, who called the rebels "a tool of the communists" and "mummers clowns." Since neither side wanted to concede, it quickly escalated into a firefight. The authorities even pulled up armored vehicles to the settlement. The rebels were poorly armed, they ran out of food and ammunition. Nevertheless, they held out for several months.
On May 4, the White House proposed negotiations on the condition that the Indians lay down their arms. On May 9, the fighters left the town. But President Nixon almost immediately broke his promises, and the uprising did not lead to any significant results. And on May 31, Nixon's assistant publicly announced that "the days of concluding agreements with the Indians ended in 1871, 102 years ago …".
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Instead of solving problems, the American authorities began trials against Indian activists - 700 charges were brought forward, and Chief Wilson received carte blanche for reprisals against the unwanted: 69 AIM members were killed at the hands of the militia subordinate to him on the reservation over the next three years.
Magazine: Historical Truth No. 5. Author: Evgeny Popov