Art-ivism In the American Indian Movement

Senior Thesis

May 3rd, 2021

―

“Historically speaking, we went from being Indians to pagans to savages to hostiles to militants to activists to Native Americans. It's five hundred years later and they still can’t see us. We are still invisible.”

— John Trudell

Introduction

Walking the streets of Oakland, California, one will likely come across a mural or memorialization commemorating the birthplace of the Black Panther Party for Self Defense, and in many ways, the Black Power Movement itself. Despite the controversial nature of this particular group, the city responsible for its conception maintains a visible acknowledgement of such influential history. Growing up in South Minneapolis, however, I’ve had a much different experience. Home to a significant American Indian population largely inhabited by those of Ojibwe and Dakota/Lakota heritage, Minneapolis, Minnesota birthed the American Indian Movement in the summer of 1968. Yet, in the land that bore AIM’s major organizers and saw their call for action come to fruition, there is a considerable lack of visibility when it comes to this social movement. To the unknowing individual, it may as well have never even occurred. One could easily spend their entire life in Minneapolis having never heard about the American Indian Movement. Having gone to Minneapolis Public Schools through my entire upbringing, I can also affirm that the American Indian Movement was never explicitly taught to me, and my knowledge of the Movement has been only supplemented by my own research. This seemingly strange void of historical discourse around a highly pivotal but largely forgotten civil rights movement of national outreach and local origins is the basis for my inquiry into the subjects I will be examining: AIM organizers, activists, and artists, Leonard Peltier and John Trudell. 

Historiography

The dominant narrative surrounding Mr. Leonard Peltier is one of immense controversy. A North Dakota native of Lakota heritage, AIM activist, and visual artist, Peltier is currently incarcerated for the alleged killing of two FBI agents during a shootout at the Pine Ridge Reservation in 1975 (ILPDC 2021). Due to the nature of the alleged crime, hegemonic views towards Peltier can be described as anything from unfavorable to outright hostile. To those who take Peltier’s case at face value, he may come across as a cold blooded murderer; a communist cop killer; a criminal. But for those who dig a bit deeper, a different story emerges. In her famous TED talk, author Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie discusses what she calls the “danger of a single story.” This refers to the assertion that assigning a single belief or preconceived notion to a person or to a people is both limiting and dangerous. In reality, we are all much more than a one dimensional perception of who we are and what we are capable of. The danger of this, specifically with regards to those impacted by the prison system such as Peltier, is compounded by the all-too-easy tendency to write off “criminals” as being disposable. Much of the sources that report on the life and experiences of Peltier seem to approach the story from a more sympathetic lens. One of the reasons why I believe that this is the case is because a deeper inquiry typically yields an understanding that there is more to the story. There is always more to the story. 

Of the literature that exists around the case of Leonard Peltier, it is a widely held belief that he is being held as a political prisoner by the United States government, and that he was unjustly convicted. Much of these sources assert that the case proceedings were conducted in a manner that sought to vilify Peltier due to his racial background and political leanings. One source in particular that maintains this position is Jim Messerschmidt’s book The Trial of Leonard Peltier (Messerschmidt 1983). In his account Messerschmidt’s stance is firm in claiming that Peltier is innocent, beginning the first sentence of the book’s introduction with, “Leonard Peltier is a political prisoner.” The force of this claim, however, is supported by extensively documented research which includes court records and transcripts.

Such records seem to be the common basis for other literature on Peltier which also serves to assert his innocence. For instance, the International Leonard Peltier Defense Committee has compiled an entire database of sorts containing information on the case for the purpose of exposing Peltier’s innocence and to advocate for his freedom (ILPDC 2021). Through the website, one can access official court transcripts and declassified FBI documents pertaining to Peltier. Due to the proximity of the Defense Committee to Peltier himself, one possible critique or limitation of the source is that it employs a bias in favor of Peltier’s defense. While this holds a degree of truth, it is worth noting that the Committee’s analysis of Peltier’s guilt or innocence is made independent of the evidence presented, giving individuals the ability to easily access the materials for themselves and thus draw their own conclusions.

In fact, there are a variety of resources regarding Leonard Peltier’s case which are set up in this same manner, allowing individuals to view primary documents and draw their own conclusions. In some ways this approach seems almost more credible, as it offers a level of transparency by presenting the facts, as they are reported in their official form, in an empirical manner. One such resource includes a primary source set compiled by Franky Abbott through the Digital Public Library of America (Abbott 1968-1978). In addition to a variety of primary documents the set also features a news broadcast discussing Peltier’s case from the opposing perspective, asserting his guilt in the crime. 

While much of the content around Peltier follows the narrative that advocates for his innocence, there are of course oppositional viewpoints. Most of these come from those who have some sort of link to the FBI or police, often advocating on behalf of the officers whose lives were lost during the shootout in question. The outreach and widespread acceptance of these claims seems to have been eclipsed by a more recent outcry against Peltier’s incarceration. The FBI, however, has maintained an oppositional position in relation to Peltier even all these years after the alleged crime. Meanwhile, sources continue to report on this relationship. One example of this is a news article by Frank Hopper examining the forced removal of Leonard Peltier’s paintings from a Native American art exhibition (Hopper 2017). The discussion of (or perhaps, rather, the need to discuss) such incidents serves to highlight the case’s continued importance, and the perceived threat posed by the mere idea of Peltier despite his incarceration.

The life and works of John Trudell are documented in a significantly different manner than that of Leonard Peltier. Trudell, an Omaha native of Santee-Dakota and Mexican heritage, got his start as an AIM activist during the Alcatraz Island Occupation of 1969 for which he acted as a national spokesman. He later became the National Chairman of AIM, attracting scrutiny and surveillance from the FBI. Tragedy struck in 1979 following Trudell’s burning of the American flag on the steps of the Federal Bureau of Investigations’ Washington D.C. headquarters. Merely 12 hours after this action, Trudell’s home containing his pregnant wife, their three children, and his mother-in-law was burned down, killing everyone inside (John Trudell Archives Inc. 2017). After the FBI denied to investigate and ruled it an accident, Trudell exited the public forum and withdrew in a period of grief. In this time, he developed a talent for poetry, sparking the onset of his writing and music career. He went on to write a number of books, poems, and songs, star in films, as well as become a recording artist, performing spoken word alongside a band. The resounding theme across his work emphasized ideals of indigenous empowerment, sovereignty, and decolonization, in addition to discussing broader issues such as global struggles, and corporate and governmental corruption. 

 Unlike Peltier, the focus of the literature surrounding John Trudell focuses largely upon his craft as opposed to his work with AIM. Of course any noteworthy literature around Trudell is incomplete without some sort of record of his activist work and political background, as it intertwines so closely with his music. One particular article written by Cynthia Landrum does this in a way that weaves the unique nature of Trudell’s artistry with the relevance and urgency of his message (Landrum 2012). In her article, Landrum analyzes the intersection between Trudell’s artistic works and his political ideology, examining his propensity to merge tradition with modernity. An additional article that approaches the subject of John Trudell from a similar lens is one by Alexa Woloshin, in which she examines what she calls the decolonization of the music space by indigenous artists such as Trudell (Woloshin 2016). Similar to Landrum, Woloshin’s work also examines the interplay between art and activism amongst contemporary American Indian artists. Uniquely, however, Woloshin explores the lasting impact of John Trudell’s artistic activism upon current Native groups such as A Tribe Called Red, who have sampled Trudell’s words in their own music. 

Although much of the narrative surrounding John Trudell places its emphasis upon his art, many bodies of work also prioritize his activism in the American Indian Movement. A biographical account of Trudell is included in Bruce Johansen’s Encyclopedia of the American Indian Movement, which alphabetically organizes and reports on several key concepts and activists relevant to the American Indian Movement (Johansen 2013). Trudell’s section dives briefly into the details of his activism throughout his life. While Trudell’s music and poetry are mentioned, they undoubtedly take a backseat to his work with AIM and other political involvement within this particular account. 

If there is one thing that can be said about John Trudell, it is that his words—either spoken or written—have left a deep and lasting imprint on the hearts and minds of many, both within and outside of the American Indian community. The depth and power of his poetry continues to captivate those who encounter it. An excerpt of Trudell’s words is included in Say We Are Nations, an anthology of influential American Indian figures who have been committed advocates of indigenous rights (Cobb 2015). One key commonality I have found amongst the works that seek to report on Trudell and his life is the use of and reliance upon Trudell’s own words to tell his story. He left behind an extensive collection of works from poems to books, all containing his own words, thoughts, and ideas. This, in many ways, serves as a sort of reclamation of his own voice, and is made all the more meaningful when we consider the fact that the voices of American Indian folks have been historically marginalized and rendered invisible by the hegemonic narrative. 

These two subjects, Leonard Peltier and John Trudell, although very different in their own right, have far more in common than the current literature may lead one to believe. They worked together in the early days of the American Indian Movement, and Trudell remained an advocate for Peltier following his incarceration. But the two men are bonded by far more than just these overlapping moments in history. They are tied to one another by their artistry; their ability to take insurmountable grief, pain, and loss and turn it into something masterful, capable of instilling hope and empowerment into those who experience it even years later. In much of the literature that exists thus far on Peltier and Trudell, there tends to be a distinction between their creative works and their political ideologies. Of course these are widely understood as informing one another, but they are still largely viewed as being independent identities. It is my assertion that Peltier and Trudell are not activists and then artists, but rather that their art is their activism. It is their testament to a country that has stripped them of so much, and their gift to the marginalized communities that they fought so adamantly to protect. In my own exploration of these two individuals, I seek not to choose one focus over the other—activism vs. art—but to further expound upon the interplay of these two identities. In the case of Leonard Peltier, those who tell his story persistently eclipse his art with discussion of his activism and resulting incarceration. On the contrary, the narrative of Trudell’s activism commonly takes a backseat to his music and poetry. It is my intention to approach both of these subjects from a new perspective, one that places both men within the context of the intersection of art and ideology, for one cannot truly be understood without the other.

A Brief Historical Context

The history of the United States cannot be truthfully told without discussing the atrocities against Native American communities brought on by centuries of colonization by European settlers, and eventually the American government upon its establishment. Since the arrival of Europeans in the Americas, the people indigenous to the region, externally deemed by their colonizers to be “Indians,” were met with brutality in the form of enslavement, disease, literal and cultural genocide, and internment. Treaties between Native American tribes and the American government were broken, and land that was promised to American Indians was stolen. An astounding 90% of the Native American population were killed during colonization, primarily due to disease brought by European settlers, amongst other causes. In addition to the literal genocide that Native Americans faced, the United States government also brought about a cultural genocide in the form of boarding schools. Beginning in the 1860s, the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) forced Native children to attend boarding schools that promoted assimilation with whiteness. The prevailing motto behind these boarding schools coined by army officer Richard H. Pratt was, “kill the Indian, save the man.” Students were forbidden from participating in their own cultural practices, and forced to adhere to the white standard set by the schools and to follow the doctrines of Christianity forced upon them by European settlers. Within these boarding schools, the students were stripped of their tribal language, culture, and spirituality (Schroth 2014, 699). 

Furthermore, since the mid-19th century Native Americans have been forcefully relocated from their ancestral tribal lands onto small, government-created reservations. These reservations were, and continue to be limited in resources such as adequate healthcare and education, forcing the indigenous communities that reside on such reservations to face extreme poverty and unsatisfactory living conditions. In the mid-20th century, many Native Americans moved away from their homes on the reservations to more urban areas in search of better work opportunities and improved education for their children. However, they have continued to be further disadvantaged through deeply embedded systems of institutional racism, such as disenfranchisement and discrimination in the workplace, forcing many Native communities into lives of poverty. The centuries-long oppression of Native Americans has been systematically embedded within the fabric of our social structure, the disadvantages of which remain highly visible to this day, and felt by indigenous communities nationwide. 

What are we AIM-ing for?: The Goals and objectives of the American Indian Movement

The treatment of Native Americans by the United States government throughout the 20th century was fraught with injustice. American Indians, like other communities of color, faced widespread systemic and institutionalized racism within federal policy. Native American families were persuaded to leave their homes on reservations and relocate—yet again—to the cities for the prospect of a better life and greater opportunities. However, this relocation proved ultimately disadvantageous for many, as American Indian folks frequently faced institutional racism in the workplace which kept them at low-paying entry-level jobs due to union discrimination, membership of which was required to obtain higher paying jobs (Bancroft and Wittstock 2013, 2). As a result of these systemic discriminatory limitations, Native folks were pushed into urban ghettos, where their communities suffered from rampant poverty, poor living conditions, low quality health care (or lack thereof), high unemployment, and alcoholism (True 2014, 85). 

The 1960s and 70s was a time of unrelenting social and political unrest in America, as a number social movements were progressing throughout the country. With the shift from the Civil Rights Movement to the Black Power Movement, anti-Vietnam war protests, student strikes, labor rights efforts, and various other movements at the forefront, a group of midwestern Native American activists decided to join the population of Americans demanding justice and social change. In 1968, Native frustration over the treatment of indigenous people by the government, namely the persistent brutalization of Indians by police, reached a turning point. On July 29th, American Indian community members Dennis Banks and George Mitchell organized a community meeting of nearly two-hundred people in the basement of a Minneapolis church to discuss the common socio-political concerns of the Native community (Bancroft and Wittstock 2013, 3). These meetings later began to gain momentum, and would eventually blossom into what was to be known as the American Indian Movement, or AIM. Other prominent AIM organizers and leaders during the organization’s conception include Clyde Bellecourt, Eddie Benton-Banai,Vernon Bellecourt, Alan Morsette, George Mellessey, Herb Powless, and Harold Goodsky. The initial intent of the meeting was to focus on local issues that plagued the American Indian community in the Twin Cities. The main issue targeted in AIM’s infancy was the issue of police brutality and racism. At this time, local police worked under a quota system, seeking to arrest approximately two-hundred Natives a week. These arrests were most commonly alcohol related, as the police would raid Indian bars on a weekly basis, arresting people for drunken disorderly conduct. Many American Indians who encountered the police suffered brutal beatings as well (True 2014, 85). As a response to this appalling mistreatment of indigenous people by the police, the organizers of AIM put together street patrols made up of volunteers who drove around the community, helping Native people stay safe and avoid police interactions. The patrols provided rides home from bars before police arrived for raids, and was ultimately impactful in decreasing the number of Indian arrests (True 2014, 85). AIM activists also fought police brutality by collecting and documenting evidence of police misconduct and brutality against Native people, bringing the issue to light. AIM was thoroughly committed to serving and protecting their community. AIM built American Indian centers in the heart of the Native community, and implemented programs such as the first Indian Health Board, which provided much needed healthcare to the indigenous community in Minneapolis. AIM also established the first Legal Aid Society, housing programs, and alternative schools for Indian children called survival schools (Wittstock and Salinas). AIM was later contacted by groups in Ireland who wanted to replicate the model AIM had created for these survival schools (Bancroft and Wittstock 2013, xxi). 

As the American Indian Movement grew, so did its goals and ambitions. What began as a local task force quickly evolved into a nationwide movement, engaging American Indians across tribes, and across the country in the pan-indigenous strive for intertribal solidarity. Seventy-one AIM chapters were established in various U.S. cities, along with eight chapters that were adapted in Canada (True 2014, 85-6). The initial objective of AIM focused primarily on local issues, but later expanded to include treaty rights and Indian sovereignty. Members of AIM outlined a list of concerns of the Native American community called the Twenty Points, which served as a call to action for legislators. The Points included demands such as a review of treaty commitments and violations, the abolition of the Bureau of Indian Affairs, and to reclaim and affirm health, housing, employment, economic development, and education for all Indian people (Wittstock and Salinas). 

The Occupations

In addition to taking a legislative approach to seeking justice, AIM also engaged in some initiatives that were deemed to have sought a more militant approach. Several occupations of historical sites and stolen indigenous land took place over the course of AIM’s most active years. Most prominent were the occupation of Alcatraz Island, the Trail of Broken Treaties, and the Wounded Knee occupation.

The Occupation of Alcatraz Island (1969-71)

Beginning in November of 1969, the occupation of Alcatraz Island was an demonstration that lasted eighteen months on the abandoned federal property. The nearly three year-long occupation, led by Mohawk Richard Oakes, sought to, “symbolically claim the island of Alcatraz for ‘Indians of all tribes’” by demanding a deed to the land and creating an Indian cultural center (Batten 2010, 271). The 1868 Fort Laramie treaty, according to its written language, delegates the ownership of unneeded government property to American Indian tribal nations. Because Alcatraz was deemed to be surplus land, the occupation of the island served as a reclamation of the land under the observation of these forgone treaty rights (Rae 2005). The occupation ultimately resulted in the group’s removal from the island on June 11th, 1971, despite promises from the government during negotiation attempts assuring that no action would be taken against the occupying Indians (Rae 2005). The Alcatraz occupation, although unsuccessful in obtaining its desired outcome, promoted the idea of Native Americans reclaiming indigenous land, pushing back upon centuries of colonization and oppression. The action taken at Alcatraz served as an introduction to the American Indian Movement on a national level. The occupation gained publicity and media attention, unlike some of AIM’s more passive actions. In effect, Alcatraz played a significant role in pushing the message of the American Indian Movement to the forefront, and presenting Indian issues to a more mainstream audience. 

The Trail of Broken Treaties (1972)

The Trail of Broken Treaties was unique in its execution due to the fact that it was not a planned occupation. AIM leaders had initially arranged a march and meetings in Washington D.C. to present the presidential candidates with the Twenty Points. Protesters demanded the “restoration, review, and commitment to treaties the U.S. government had made with the tribes,” as well as the abolition of the Bureau of Indian Affairs (Cleary 2013, 198-9). Upon arrival, however, the three hundred attendees were not met with the accommodations promised to them by the U.S. government. They were left with no heat, beds, or food (True 2014, 86). In response to this betrayal, protesters gathered at the Bureau’s headquarters building in D.C., took over the offices, and seized large amounts of BIA files, which revealed records of the Bureau’s abuses of Native people, including widespread involuntary sterilization of Native women (True 2014, 86). After a seven-day occupation, government officials agreed to discuss negotiations. AIM leaders were finally able to present the Twenty Points to President Nixon. Although he refused their demands, his administration finally accommodated the protesters’ return transportation (Batten 2010, 272; Laird 2013). This occupation, similar to Alcatraz, was largely beneficial for establishing widespread consciousness of AIM’s efforts due to the media attention gained during the action. 

The Wounded Knee Occupation (1973)

The Wounded Knee occupation is arguably the most prominent action taken by the American Indian Movement, and is considered the peak of AIM activity by many. Wounded Knee, South Dakota is known to be the site of a massacre of Native Americans by the U.S. Cavalry in 1890 (Batten 2010, 272). Lakota elders at the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation complained of corrupt tribal government, particularly with Tribal Chair Dick Wilson. In response, AIM leaders arrived at Pine Ridge to provide assistance and support in February of 1973. At the historic site of Wounded Knee, they protested the tribal governance on the Pine Ridge Reservation, along with the U.S. government’s failure to acknowledge or comply with treaty negotiations. The protesters were met with resistance from the FBI and United States Marshals, the action ultimately resulting in a seventy-one day standoff between AIM members and the FBI with armed conflict (True 2014, 87). By the end of the occupation, two AIM members and Wounded Knee occupiers had been killed (Laird 2013). Over five-hundred occupiers were arrested for various charges and tried in federal court, a process that lasted eight months. Eventually, all of the defendants were acquitted of the charges due to misconduct within the FBI and their handling of evidence. Following the hostile tensions of Wounded Knee, many AIM members met violent deaths, many of which are confirmed or speculated to have been at the hands of FBI and BIA officers. As one report contends:

 ...between July 1973 and March 1977, forty-five AIM members or supporters met violent deaths, three of them at the hands of FBI agents or BIA officers. Among the remaining forty-two victims, there were seventeen confirmed shootings, seven stabbing victims, six deaths associated with automobiles, and fourteen who suffered a variety of other fates...AIM members refer to this period as the ‘Reign of Terror’ and believe it was orchestrated by the corrupt tribal government of the Pine Ridge Reservation, condoned by the FBI and BIA (Laird 2013). 

The actions and efforts of the American Indian Movement span far above and beyond these occupations, however. While much of the State’s narrative surrounding AIM focused their attention and criticism fairly exclusively upon their most visible and militant demonstrations, AIM members were also committed to the maintenance of mutual aid initiatives within the community, with an emphasis on education, patrolling and protecting community members from police brutality, revival of tradition, job training, access to adequate housing, and more. The development of survival schools for American Indian youth was one major facet of these initiatives, and was rooted in a direct attempt to decolonize indigenous education and push back against the years of abuses and cultural genocide facilitated by Indian boarding schools in the U.S. AIM even established the first adult education program which was implemented at Minnesota’s Stillwater Prison, setting the precedent for other state correctional facilities to develop educational opportunities for incarcerated adults (Wittstock and Salinas). Although AIM activity ultimately petered out of the public consciousness after 1978, their efforts for American Indian rights and sovereignty did not cease. Many surviving AIM activists continue to advocate for these issues to this day. 

Counterintelligence

The power and influence of the American Indian Movement’s message of pan-indigenous liberation and empowerment spread far and wide, generating a fear in white political and social power-holders on a national scale. The deep permeation of this fear is illustrated in records from the Federal Bureau of Investigations, headed at the time by J. Edgar Hoover, which conducted an illegal covert counter intelligence program known as COINTELPRO to dismantle a number of American political entities, including AIM, the Black Panther Party, and others deemed by the bureau to be radically “extreme.” Decades after the collapse of COINTELPRO in 1971, declassified records and memos from the operation are made publicly available. As you will see in the research, such records reflect the obscene degree of surveillance and sabotage executed by the bureau against AIM and its organizers. 

Leonard Peltier

Mr. Leonard Peltier was born in Grand Forks, North Dakota on September 12th, 1944 (Johansen 2013, 211). As a child of Anishinaabe/Ojibwe heritage, Peltier grew up on the Turtle Mountain Chippewa and Fort Totten Sioux reservations in North Dakota, an experience in which he discusses as being pivotal in the development of his passion for activism and advocacy work. The reservations upon which many American Indian communities lived, including that of Leonard Peltier, were often neglected, leaving residents to reckon with extreme poverty. During the late 1950s, the United States Congress passed an initiative that sought to terminate existing Indian Reservations and push the Native Americans living there out of their homes for relocation into urban centers, such as Minneapolis, Milwaukee, and Los Angeles and elsewhere. Those who declined to evacuate the land were under the threat of starvation, as already minimal government-supplied food aid and other resources were to be cut off (ILPDC 2021). Reflecting upon this experience, Peltier discusses the tribal meetings he would attend with his father, along with the ways he was deeply affected and moved by the desperation and anguish of his elders: “Where are our warriors? Why don’t they stand up and fight for their starving people?” This, Peltier notes, was the catalyst that propelled the later years he would spend fighting for and defending the rights and livelihood of all Native people (ILPDC 2021). 

Ultimately, Peltier ended up relocating from the reservation to Portland, Oregon with his mother in 1959. Later efforts to find work brought Leonard to California as a seasonal farm worker, and then to Seattle where he eventually became involved in the struggle for the rights of migrant workers (Johansen 2013, 211). In 1970, Peltier was involved in a peaceful occupation of Fort Lawton, an abandoned plot of surplus land, which American Indians had the legal rights to. The occupation took a turn when the demonstrators were faced with heavy police munitions, resulting in many being arrested and brutalized while in custody (ILPDC 2021). 

Peltier’s involvement with the American Indian Movement began when he travelled to Colorado (ILPDC 2021). At this point, the movement had already gained a foothold on the national stage as its goals and missions extended much further than just Minneapolis. AIM’s dedication and commitment to fighting for the rights of all Native folks across tribal nations was something that Peltier deeply resonated with, and he quickly became a very passionate and active member of the cause. He joined the Trail of Broken Treaties march in Washington D.C. in 1972, an event that caused AIM to be classified by the Federal Bureau of Investigations as an “extremist organization,” placing the movement and its leaders on the radar of COINTELPRO initiatives intended to infiltrate and disrupt further efforts (ILPDC 2021). 

It was shortly after his return from the D.C. march that Peltier was greeted with the first signs of the greater struggle he would come to face. Leonard was accused of the attempted murder of a Milwaukee police officer. Peltier maintained that he was falsely accused of the alleged crime, and this account was ultimately corroborated by witness testimony, including that of the girlfriend of the police officer in question, who is reported to have made comments around “catching” Peltier for the FBI (ILPDC 2021). Peltier was jailed for five months in relation to these accusations, but was released on bail by AIM’s Milwaukee chapter. Despite his own knowledge of his innocence, Peltier knew the stakes against him were high, and that the case pitted his word—that of a notoriously “radical” indigenous freedom fighter—against an agent of the State that relentlessly sought his removal from the public forum. As a result, Peltier made the decision to lay low for a period of time. Due to his failure to appear in court for a pre-trial hearing of the Milwaukee incident, a warrant was issued for his arrest in the Summer of 1974. His movements however, were not quiet for long as Peltier maintained his work with AIM in a number of initiatives. Despite internal documentation by the FBI regarding Peltier’s whereabouts and political activity, no attempts were made for his arrest (ILPDC 2021). 

A shootout at the Jumping Bull Ranch on the Pine Ridge reservation in South Dakota on June 26th, 1975 would come to mark a major turning point in Leornard Peltier’s life and work as an activist. A number of AIM members had gathered at the ranch for a spiritual retreat of sorts following their attendance at an AIM convention in New Mexico (ILPDC 2021). The ranch was also housing and protecting several families during this time. The shootout began when two unmarked vehicles carrying federal agents chased a red truck onto the ranch and proceeded to open fire on its residents, gaining reinforcement from over 150 additional SWAT officers who surrounded the ranch (Johansen 2013, 212). The shootout ultimately resulted in the death of two officers, Ron Williams and Jack Coler, along with Lakota man Joseph Stuntz, whose death went uninvestigated by the FBI. Of the four Native occupiers of the ranch that were later charged for the murder of the two FBI agents, Leonard Peltier was the only one who would be convicted (Messerschmidt 1983, 38). Following the shootout, Peltier fled to Seattle and eventually to Canada from which he was extradited in February of 1976 resulting from a false affidavit constructed by the FBI (Johansen 2013, 213). 

The trial that ensued was determined by an all white jury in Fargo, North Dakota, with a prosecution that was built upon highly questionable evidence. When comparing the trial of Peltier to that of Dino Butler and Rob Robideau, two of the other Native men accused of killing the agents in question at Pine Ridge, one can plainly see the blatant contradictions that ultimately resulted in the conviction of only Peltier. Namely, certain evidence—such as past history of FBI misconduct (including COINTELPRO, tampering with witnesses and evidence, etc.), and key witnesses for the defense—were kept from being presented at Peltier’s trial, but not at that of Butler and Robideau who were found by the jury in their Iowa trial to have acted in self defense. Furthermore, Defense attorneys in Peltier’s trial were limited in the delivery of their full testimony by the presiding judge, and barred from discussing the case with the press or public, meaning the widespread narrative around the case was controlled by the prosecution. Witness testimony of FBI agents were inconsistent between the two cases, for instance: Special Agent Gary Adams affirmed the presence and departure of a red pickup truck at the time of the shooting during the Butler-Robideau trial, but yet denied the existence of the same vehicle during his testimony in Peltier’s trial (Messerschmidt 1983, 40-1). To add insult to injury, the prosecution presented and utilized the accusations against Peltier in the Milwaukee case from which Peltier had fled years earlier in their argument against him. He would however be acquitted of this case in 1978, but the evidence used to convict Peltier in relation to the Pine Ridge case was upheld (ILPDC 2021). The only evidence that linked Peltier to the killing of the officers at Pine Ridge was the testimony of an agent who claimed to see and recognize Peltier through the sight of his rifle from a .5 mile distance. Replication of this claim by Peltier’s defense team revealed the impossible nature of this supposed observation, but a demonstration to the jury was denied by the judge (Johansen 2013, 214-5). The trial ultimately resulted in the conviction of Peltier, who was found guilty of the murder of the two FBI agents and condemned to two consecutive life sentences of incarceration, in which Peltier continues to reside. 

One of the major fallacies surrounding the life of Leonard Peltier—and there are many—is the idea that when he went to prison, Peltier’s activist work had met its end. Only the contrary, it had merely taken a new form: art. Peltier got his introduction to art as a young child, primarily through his uncles whose sketches and carvings inspired his own artistic expression. Art classes were a favorite of Peltier’s throughout his schooling, his artistic talents offering a sense of pride and a means of communication and expression (ILPDC 2021). During his years of incarceration, artistic expression became one of the only available means of communication with the outside world. It was there that he was really able to explore his passion for painting, utilizing art supplies available through the prison commissary, sometimes ordering paints from a catalog when he was able to afford it (ILPDC 2021). The subject of Leonard Peltier’s paintings most often depict images of his people; American Indians represented across a pan-indigenous landscape, evoking power, grace, and resilience. While much of the content of his paintings is not blatantly political, Peltier’s artwork still elicits a sense of threat and unease for the government, even to this day. In 2015, four of Peltier’s paintings were forcibly removed from a state-sponsored Native American art exhibition in Washington at the demand of a group of retired FBI agents who felt that the inclusion of the artwork was too controversial (Hopper 2018). This lingering discomfort with Peltier’s work by the FBI speaks to the power of the message of resistance within his art. Despite the concerted attempts to silence Peltier and strip him of a voice or a presence in the mainstream consciousness through his sustained incarceration, his creative capacity pushes back in resilient defiance.  The empowering imagery of his paintings resist the dehumanizing hegemonic narrative surrounding American Indian communities across the nation, which has long been emphasized by the mainstream media and entertainment, as well as by the traditionally dominant historical accounts. Furthermore, his artwork continues to serve as a beacon of hope, strength, and resilience for both indigenous and non-indigenous communities alike. Following the forced removal of his paintings from the aforementioned exhibition, community members in Olympia came together to turn Peltier’s painting, Black Kettle Still, into a mural on the Eastside Olympia Food Co-op (Hopper 2018). In 2016, Portugese-American artist Rigo 23 unveiled a 12-foot statue of Peltier, the creation of which was based off of one of Peltier’s own self portraits created in prison. The statue has travelled to different art centers, protests, and ceremonial sites across the country, acting as a symbol of resistance and acting in solidarity with Peltier. The statue has also faced continued censorship efforts by the FBI (SFAI 2020). 

The cries of his community for the return of a warrior to protect and fight for them during his childhood remained with Peltier throughout his adult years. Such memories propelled his work, both prior to and during his incarceration, commemorating the commitment he’d made to himself and to his people. AIM activist, poet, and longtime advocate of Leonard’s, John Trudell, would go on to call Peltier, “...this generation’s Geronimo, this generation’s Crazy Horse” (Messerschmidt 1983, 1). These two warriors, American Indian leaders of great prestige and honor within the Native consciousness, fought nobly against the State sanctioned powers that sought the extermination of Native peoples, culture, and tradition. Peltier represents the continuation of such battles, which have been waged since the onset of settler colonialism upon this land. 

John Trudell

On February 15th, 1946, John Trudell was born in Omaha, Nebraska near the Santee Sioux reservation where he would spend much of his childhood. Trudell was the son of a Santee father and a mother of indigenous Mexican heritage, whose own father had fought alongside Pancho Villa (Johansen 2013, 255). The death of Trudell’s mother when he was only six years of age left his father to provide and care for their family on his own. Surrounded by conditions of poverty and oppression, Trudell dropped out of high school and enlisted in the military in 1963 in the hopes of advancing his economic opportunities. Of this decision, Trudell said, “The only reason I volunteered for the military was I needed to get away from where I was at. It wasn’t about politics, patriotism, or anything else. It was about survival” (Rae 2005). Trudell’s experience with the armed forces brought him into the carnage of the Vietnam war in which he would serve two tours with the U.S. Navy between 1965 and 1969 (Johansen 2013, 255). It was also during this experience that Trudell witnessed and experienced rampant racism and injustice, which only further propelled his disillusionment with the American State (John Trudell Archives Inc. 2017). 

Following Trudell’s departure from the Navy in 1969, a major turning point in the life of Trudell and many other American Indian freedom fighters was taking shape in San Francisco. The occupation of Alcatraz Island was populated by a number of Native activists, predominantly students, advocating for land rights, justice, and indigenous sovereignty in response to broken treaties (Bancroft and Wittstock 2013, 9-10). It was during his time spent at Alcatraz that John Trudell rose to prominence as an American Indian activist, becoming the national spokesperson for the occupation largely through his hosting of Radio Free Alcatraz. The radio show, paired with Trudell’s charisma and electrifying oration, significantly aided in bringing the fight of the American Indian Movement to a national forum (Johansen 2013, 255-6). It was this, too, that would place John on the radar of the FBI. 

The Alcatraz occupation’s end in the Summer of 1971 did not, however, spell out the end of John Trudell’s work as an activist for indigenous rights. In 1973, he went on to become AIM’s chairman, taking part in subsequent AIM actions including the Trail of Broken Treaties and BIA occupation, as well as the occupation of Wounded Knee. His work as chairman also incorporated advocacy for Leonard Peltier’s freedom and innocence in the Pine Ridge case (Johansen 2013, 256). It was Trudell’s exceptional intelligence, masterful speaking abilities, and capacity to mobilize and inspire others that would ultimately instill a sense of fear and anxiety amongst federal intelligence. In a ten year period ranging from 1969 to 1979, the FBI had generated one of the largest dossiers in the history of the agency on John Trudell, culminating in a whopping 17,000 pages (Rae 2005). One particular FBI memo speaking about Trudell is quoted as saying, “He is extremely eloquent, therefore extremely dangerous” (Rae 2005).

It was undeniable that Trudell had a powerful gift, but it wasn’t until tragedy struck in 1979 that he was forced into the discovery of a new talent: poetry. In February of that year, Trudell’s Nevada home on the Shoshone Paiute reservation was set on fire killing his pregnant wife, their two children, and his mother-in-law, who were all in the home at the time (Johansen 2013, 256-7). Trudell, who was not at the home during the time of the fire, was away protesting in Washington D.C. The fire started a mere twelve hours following Trudell’s burning of the American flag in front of FBI headquarters in protest. Of this action, Trudell explained:

“In the military, they said if the flag has been desecrated, the only way to properly dispose of it is to burn it. But they defined desecration of the flag as if it drops on the earth. I say injustice and racism and classism and your whole way of life desecrates whatever you say this thing’s supposed to mean” (John Trudell Archives Inc. 2017). 

It was the belief of Trudell and many others that the fire was started as an act of arson, likely committed by the government in retaliation for his radical political message and activity, along with that of his wife Tina (Johansen 2013, 257). Tina Manning Trudell, whom John met during the early days of the Alcatraz occupation, was an indigenous rights activist from the Paiute-Shoshone Reservation upon which her father served as tribal chairman. Throughout her youth, Tina was an impassioned advocate for her community. Those who remember her recall the care she would take to visit with the elders on the reservation, for whom she held a great deal of respect (Rae 2005). Her passion for the people led to Tina’s fight for water and land rights on the reservation upon which she grew up, as well as her involvement with the larger national struggle for Native rights in the American Indian Movement. Speaking of Tina’s work, John expressed the threat she posed to the federal government as a well-educated and highly intelligent activist pushing for recognition of tribal sovereignty. She was highly effective in organizing within her home community, which aroused government scrutiny and surveillance of her movements (Rae 2005). Discussing the fire that took Tina’s life, John Trudell said, “For anyone to think that what happened to her...as specifically something just related to me, it minimizes who she is” (Rae 2005). While police investigators claimed that the fire was “accidental,” attributing the incident to a faulty fireplace trap, an independent investigation revealed no evidence of such fault. Furthermore, witnesses of the tragedy reported seeing, “a line of fire on the roof of the house that may have resulted from a firebomb” (Johansen 2013, 257). The Federal Bureau of Investigations, however, refused to investigate. 

Following this devastating tragedy Trudell removed himself from the public eye and his position as AIM chairman, consumed with grief. “I died then,” he said of this period of incomprehensible loss, “I had to die in order to get through it” (Rae 2005). Eventually, it was through this grief that his talent would reveal itself: he began writing and soon discovered his gift for poetry. With regards to his captivating written word, Trudell often attributed his development of the talent to his wife Tina who often wrote poetry prior to her death, as John had made no attempt to create in this way preceding this period of grief. Trudell used his poetry to cope with the devastation over the loss of his loved ones, saying, “the lines were my bombs, my explosions, my tears, they were my everything” (John Trudell Archives Inc. 2017). But these lines expanded beyond just a personal testament to Trudell’s loss. His writing conveyed expressions of his spiritual and cultural beliefs, as well as controversial political and social commentary, much of which relates to indigenous rights and the oppression faced by Native peoples on both a national and global scale. Trudell began to publish his poems and essays and incorporate them during his speaking endeavors, which gained him renewed recognition and positive reception for his gift. His oration and intellect have even been compared to that of Socrates and other great philosophical thinkers  (Rae 2005). By 1982 Trudell began to set his poems to music, initially over traditional drums and song, and later recording his pieces in spoken word form alongside a band. His most renowned album to date was released in 1986 called AKA GRAFFITI MAN, which Bob Dylan would call the best album of that year (John Trudell Archives Inc. 2017). Trudell has since released several records, which have gained international recognition and appreciation. In a 2005 interview, musician and activist Bonnie Raitt discussed the significance of John’s work saying, “To have that kind of artistic voice that mixes politics and fantastic poetry makes him very unique and very important, and I think he stands alone as being the most effective Native American activist we have today” (Rae 2005). John Trudell continued to engage in activism and advocacy work up until his death at age 69 in December of 2015 following a long struggle with cancer.  

Discussion: Art as Resistance

Art is heavily immersed within Native culture, which has been upheld over the centuries in spite of colonization, oppression, and cultural genocide. In more recent times, art has acted as a form of resistance to the oppressive forces that plague indigenous peoples within American society. The use of visual, photographic, and musical art within social movements, specifically the American Indian Movement, proved to be an integral element in advancing AIM’s agenda through promoting Native empowerment, spreading awareness of the issues at hand, and providing a voice to those who are too often silenced.

Throughout Native American culture, across tribal nations, art in its many forms has held tremendous significance. As Holm contends, “for most Native American tribes, art was not just a peripheral aesthetic accomplishment of the talented few, but an integral part of the community, shared and produced by many people” (Holm 2005, 87). Art of various mediums, including paintings and painted designs, beadwork, clothing, carvings, baskets, masks, songs, dances, and more, all have a part to play in tribal custom and ceremony. Certain art forms have a religious and spiritual function, and others play a role in describing and validating status within the community. In an overarching sense, these artforms serve a common essential purpose: to tell a story. Across its many various roles, art aids in facilitating the preservation of indigenous knowledge and culture through storytelling. Across the American Indian diaspora, it is believed that we possess a deep spiritual connection to our past, and that we honor this connection when we honor our elders, our stories, and our traditions (Rae 2005). When we learn about Native history or culture in any substantive sense it is often not because we were taught it in schools, but rather due to the commitment of our elders to sustain such knowledge across generations. My own father taught me about John Trudell’s life and work when I was only a child myself, which lends to my ability to share these stories with others. Such intergenerational exchanges reassert the importance of communal and familial tradition, and represent the capacity for indigneous resilience to forgo even the most insidious attempts to mark out a people and render them historically, spiritually, and culturally invisible. Storytelling is but a means of survival. 

When the literal and cultural genocide of Native peoples was first imposed upon this land, it took with it many indigenous lives, livelihoods, and knowledge systems. Through the imposition of complex hegemonic structures and systems of white supremacy upon a population, including—but not limited to—land theft, forced removal, broken treaties, and boarding schools, the capitalist, white settler colonialist State of America has sought to erase and exterminate the very essence of a people. By enforcing a set of hegemonic norms, society has created a system in which there is a unique experience of violence, oppression, and erasure of American Indian people. This system is not unique to the issues of Native civil rights, land rights, and sovereignty in contemporary times, but rather a continuation to the systems of violence established during colonial times. This violence is then reinforced by such systems of cultural imperialism. In his discussion of this phenomenon, John Trudell describes what he calls the “mining of the essence of the human spirit” by “predatory systems” of imperialism, capitalism, and white supremacy (Rae 2005). Trudell goes on to recall this violence undergone by American Indians since the onset of colonization, comparing the experience to that of modern terrorism saying, “I think asking Native peole to celebrate Columbus day is kind of like asking the American people to celebrate Osama bin Laden day...terrorism arrived on this hemisphere with Columbus” (Rae 2005).  

By normalizing and perpetuating the representation of Native people through the lens of derogatory and dehumanizing stereotypes, such as the “savage,” the hypersexualized and exotified image of Native women, or the “drunken Indian,” a climate of violence against American Indians is sustained within the American consciousness. In her book Justice and the Politics of Difference, Marion Young writes that acts of violence against an oppressed people—take for example the disproportionate occurrence of missing and murdered indigenous women in the U.S. today—are maintained and affirmed by the “social context surrounding them, which makes them possible or even acceptable” (Young 2011, 61). “Dominant groups project their own experience as the representative of humanity as such,” which excludes Native Americans from representation by the dominant definition of humanity (Young 2011, 59). Cruel and inhumane treatment is deemed acceptable because members of the oppressed group are seen to be subhuman beings, who deviate from the hegemonic norm. Therefore, when a climate of physical, sexual, spiritual, and/or cultural violence against a people becomes the norm, the humanity of those people is rendered invisible, allowing such treatment to go ignored by society at large (Young 2011, 59). Furthermore, the prospect of relying upon embedded governmental systems to dispense justice for the rights of Native communities (the “justice” system, i.e. the courts, legislation, etc.) is inherently flawed, as it places the fate of the oppressed in the hands of the oppressor. As Young states, these institutions “condition people’s ability to participate in determining their actions and their ability to develop and exercise their capacities” (Young 2011, 22). It is for this reason that Native sovereignty is of such immense importance for the liberation of American Indian people, ideally severing them from continued subjugation to such oppressive systems. 

The historical, cultural, and spiritual erasure of Native people and attempted extermination of indigenous knowledge systems through deeply embedded structures of cultural imperialism contributed directly to the development of contemporary indigenous rights movements, including the American Indian Movement. The work carried out by AIM and its advocates sought to push back against this erasure, reaffirming the importance of indigenous issues, and reclaiming and rewriting the American Indian narrative within the common consciousness. 

The work of John Trudell and Leonard Peltier have been largely influential in their own right. Both of these men are exemplary contributors to a phenomenon I will call “artivism,” which combines the work of activism and creative artistic expression as a means of resistance. Despite having faced unspeakable violence and tragedy, these two figures fought back against their oppressors armed with only their artivism and passion. For these men, it was also the hardship they faced that would ultimately drive them to realize their artistic potential. For Peltier, incarceration; for Trudell, the violent loss of his family. The impenetrable resilience of these two artivists is reflected in the creative fruits born from their individual struggles, both of which consistently conveying a deep wisdom to be observed and shared by others both inside and outside of Native communities. In the spirit of traditional storytelling, the work of Trudell and Peltier effectively transmits a people’s lived experience and collective cultural, spiritual, and political memory into highly accessible and impactful media. Their work serves to combat the master narrative which renders such experiences and knowledge systems invisible. In the case of Trudell, his words provided a bridge between the indigenous diaspora who so deeply felt the weight of their reality, and sympathizers of the struggle on a global scale. And in the case of Leonard Peltier, his captivating paintings use a combination of traditional and contemporary American Indian cultural symbolism and imagery to depict the exquisite beauty—and at times pain—embodied by Native people in their very existence. These messages work to reassert and uphold a sense of cultural pride and respect, while simultaneously dismantling the master narrative which has historically left Native American communities over-marginalized and under-protected. The greater significance of these men’s capacity to deter harmful narratives and reinvoke a sense of empowerment within the indigenous identity is represented in the words of Leonard Peltier in a reflection of his work: 

“Painting is a way to examine the world in ways denied me by the United States justice system, a way to travel beyond the walls and bars of the penitentiary. Through my paints I can be with my People—in touch with my culture, tradition, and spirit. I can watch little children in regalia, dancing and smiling; see my elders in prayer; behold the intense glow in a warrior’s eye. As I work the canvas, I am a free man” (ILPDC 2021). 

It is through art that we are ultimately able to transcend the troubled reality with which we are faced, and to reimagine a world beyond the confines of white supremacy. This is radical artivism at work. 

Works Cited

Abbott, Franky. “The American Indian Movement, 1968-1978: Primary Source Set.” Digital Public Library of America, https://dp.la/primary-source-sets/sets/the-american-indian-movement-1968-1978/

Bancroft, Dick, and Laura Waterman Wittstock. We Are Still Here: A Photographic History of the American Indian Movement. St Paul: Minnesota Historical Society Press, 2013.

Batten, Donna. “American Indian Movement.” Gale Encyclopedia of American Law, 3rd ed., no. 1 (2010): 270-273.

Churchill, Ward, and Jim Vander Wall. Agents of Repression: The FBI’s Secret Wars Against the Black Panther Party and the American Indian Movement. Boston: South End Press, 1990.

Cleary, Delores. “American Indian Movement.” Multicultural America: A Multimedia Encyclopedia. SAGE Publications, Inc. (2013): 198-200.

Cobb, Daniel M. “We have the Power (1974): John Trudell.” In Say We Are Nations, 163-166. Chapel Hill: The University of North Carolina Press, 2015. doi:10.5149/9781469624815_cobb.43.

Holm, Tom. “Symbols of Native American Resiliency: The Indian Art Movement.” In The Great Confusion in Indian Affairs: Native Americans and Whites in the Progressive Era, 85-110. Austin: University of Texas Press, 2005.

Hopper, Frank. “Ex-FBI Force Removal of Leonard Peltier Paintings.” Indian Country Today, September 13, 2018.  https://indiancountrytoday.com/archive/ex-fbi-force-removal-leonard-peltier-paintings 

International Leonard Peltier Defense Committee (ILPDC). “Who Is Leonard Peltier.” Free Leonard Peltier. Last modified 2021. https://www.whoisleonardpeltier.info/ 

Johansen, Bruce E. “Trudell, John.” In Encyclopedia of the American Indian Movement, 255-258. Santa Barbara: ABC-CLIO, 2013.

Johansen, Bruce E. “Peltier, Leonard.” In Encyclopedia of the American Indian Movement, 211-217. Santa Barbara: ABC-CLIO, 2013.

John Trudell Archives Inc. “Biography.” John Trudell. Last modified 2017. https://www.johntrudell.com/biography/ 

Laird, Gwendolyn. "American Indian Movement." In Culture Wars in America: An Encyclopedia of Issues, Viewpoints, and Voices, edited by Roger Chapman, and James Ciment. 2nd ed. Routledge, 2013.

Landrum, Cynthia L. "Kicking Bear, John Trudell, and Anthony Kiedis (of the Red Hot Chili Peppers): ‘Show Indians’ and Pop-Cultural Colonialism." American Indian Quarterly, no. 36 (April 2012): 182-214. doi:10.5250/amerindiquar.36.2.0182.

Langworthy, Lucas, dir. Taking AIM: The Story of the American Indian Movement. 2010; Minneapolis, MN. Accessed via IMDB: https://www.imdb.com/video/vi1939249945?ref_=tt_pv_vi_aiv_1 

Messerschmidt, Jim. The Trial of Leonard Peltier. Boston: South End Press, 1983. 

Rae, Heather, dir. Trudell. 2005; USA: Appaloosa Pictures. Accessed via YouTube:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dlcmTeCcbME 

San Francisco Art Institute (SFAI). “Leonard Peltier Statue.” SFAI. Last modified 2020. https://sfai.edu/exhibitions-public-events/detail/the-leonard-peltier-statue-by-rigo-23 

Schroth, Stephen T., and Diana L. Beck. "Indian Boarding Schools." In Encyclopedia of Human Services and Diversity, edited by Cousins, Linwood H., 699-700. Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE Publications, Inc., 2014. http://dx.doi.org.ezproxy.hamline.edu:2048/10.4135/9781483346663.n296.

True, Paige Mayleen. “American Indian Movement.” Encyclopedia of Human Services and Diversity. SAGE Publications, Inc. (2014): 84-88.

Trudell, John. Lines from a Mined Mind. Golden: Fulcrum Pub, 2008.

Wittstock, Laura Waterman, and Elaine J. Salinas. “A Brief History of the American Indian Movement.” American Indian Movement. http://www.aimovement.org/ggc/history.html 

Woloshyn, Alexa. "A Tribe Called Red’s Halluci Nation: Sonifying Embodied Global Allegiances, Decolonization, and Indigenous Activism." Intersections, no. 36 (2016): 101-109. doi:10.7202/1051602ar.

Young, Iris Marion, and Danielle S. Allen. Justice and the Politics of Difference. Princeton, NJ: Princeton UP, 2011.