Founded in 1968 in Minneapolis, Minnesota, by Clyde and Vernon Bellecourt,
Dennis Banks, and George Mitchell, the American Indian Movement (AIM) became the
most recognizable Native American activist organization of the late 1960s and
1970s. Its original purpose, to help curb racial profiling of Indians by
Minneapolis police officers, soon expanded to that of serving as the mouthpiece
as well as the muscle for Native peoples in need across the United States.
Described as “the shock troops of American Indian sovereignty and the new
warrior class of the century,” AIM gained worldwide notoriety for its takeover
of the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) building in Washington, D.C., in 1972 and
for its standoff with the FBI at Wounded Knee in 1973. Although criticized by
whites and Indians alike for its sometimes confrontational tactics, the
organization brought the corruption and inefficiency of the BIA to the general
public’s attention and worked to protect the rights of Indian people caught up
in Anglo court and criminal justice systems.
In the 1970s several American Indians
from Oklahoma participated in AIM’s leadership, taking part in protest
activities around the nation. These individuals included Carter Camp (Ponca),
David Hill (Choctaw), Stan Holder (Wichita), Paul Chaat Smith (Comanche), and
several others. In Oklahoma as many as a dozen AIM chapters have existed.
AIM’s first years were quiet; however,
the year 1972 marked the height of AIM activity in Oklahoma. In that year,
however, several incidents that involved the group made headlines across the
nation. The first occurred on September 12 when a group of forty to fifty
Indians took over the Oklahoma City office of Overton James, state Indian
education director (James was also governor of the Chickasaw Nation). They
demanded that he resign his position, and they even typed a letter of
resignation for him. They accused his department of not exercising sufficient
control over the ways in which Oklahoma schools spent federal Indian education
monies. Each year, approximately 150 Oklahoma school districts having a 10
percent or greater American Indian enrollment received roughly $2 million in
funds allocated by the 1934 Johnson-O’Malley Act (JOM). JOM funds, intended to
defray the costs of bilingual teacher’s aids, instructor workshops, and
transportation costs of students, was, according to protesters, being spent on
the general student body (non-Indian as well as Indian), to the detriment of
Native pupils. Carter Camp, AIM coordinator for Kansas and Oklahoma and one of
the leaders of the office takeover, telephoned the BIA headquarters in
Washington, D.C., during the occupation to request that all JOM monies be frozen
until an investigation of alleged improprieties could be undertaken. In
response, the bureau agreed to send three representatives to meet with Camp and
others the next day at the BIA office in Pawnee, in Pawnee County.
Afternoon talks on September 13 reached an impasse. Because the BIA building
was closing for the day, AIM leaders John Trudell (Sioux), Camp, and mainly
Oklahoma Indians occupied the facility until a deal with BIA officials could be
negotiated. Eventually, the two sides negotiated a compromise, with the Indians
declaring a “clear-cut victory.” Commissioner of Indian Affairs Louis Bruce
ordered an immediate freeze on spending of JOM funds for the 1972-1973 fiscal
year until an outside audit of expenditures could be conducted. He also agreed
to allow more Native input on how future Indian education monies for the state
were spent.
Dennis Banks, and George Mitchell, the American Indian Movement (AIM) became the
most recognizable Native American activist organization of the late 1960s and
1970s. Its original purpose, to help curb racial profiling of Indians by
Minneapolis police officers, soon expanded to that of serving as the mouthpiece
as well as the muscle for Native peoples in need across the United States.
Described as “the shock troops of American Indian sovereignty and the new
warrior class of the century,” AIM gained worldwide notoriety for its takeover
of the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) building in Washington, D.C., in 1972 and
for its standoff with the FBI at Wounded Knee in 1973. Although criticized by
whites and Indians alike for its sometimes confrontational tactics, the
organization brought the corruption and inefficiency of the BIA to the general
public’s attention and worked to protect the rights of Indian people caught up
in Anglo court and criminal justice systems.
In the 1970s several American Indians
from Oklahoma participated in AIM’s leadership, taking part in protest
activities around the nation. These individuals included Carter Camp (Ponca),
David Hill (Choctaw), Stan Holder (Wichita), Paul Chaat Smith (Comanche), and
several others. In Oklahoma as many as a dozen AIM chapters have existed.
AIM’s first years were quiet; however,
the year 1972 marked the height of AIM activity in Oklahoma. In that year,
however, several incidents that involved the group made headlines across the
nation. The first occurred on September 12 when a group of forty to fifty
Indians took over the Oklahoma City office of Overton James, state Indian
education director (James was also governor of the Chickasaw Nation). They
demanded that he resign his position, and they even typed a letter of
resignation for him. They accused his department of not exercising sufficient
control over the ways in which Oklahoma schools spent federal Indian education
monies. Each year, approximately 150 Oklahoma school districts having a 10
percent or greater American Indian enrollment received roughly $2 million in
funds allocated by the 1934 Johnson-O’Malley Act (JOM). JOM funds, intended to
defray the costs of bilingual teacher’s aids, instructor workshops, and
transportation costs of students, was, according to protesters, being spent on
the general student body (non-Indian as well as Indian), to the detriment of
Native pupils. Carter Camp, AIM coordinator for Kansas and Oklahoma and one of
the leaders of the office takeover, telephoned the BIA headquarters in
Washington, D.C., during the occupation to request that all JOM monies be frozen
until an investigation of alleged improprieties could be undertaken. In
response, the bureau agreed to send three representatives to meet with Camp and
others the next day at the BIA office in Pawnee, in Pawnee County.
Afternoon talks on September 13 reached an impasse. Because the BIA building
was closing for the day, AIM leaders John Trudell (Sioux), Camp, and mainly
Oklahoma Indians occupied the facility until a deal with BIA officials could be
negotiated. Eventually, the two sides negotiated a compromise, with the Indians
declaring a “clear-cut victory.” Commissioner of Indian Affairs Louis Bruce
ordered an immediate freeze on spending of JOM funds for the 1972-1973 fiscal
year until an outside audit of expenditures could be conducted. He also agreed
to allow more Native input on how future Indian education monies for the state
were spent.