Wemoon's Army: Anna Mae Pictou Aquash Archive

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Anna Mae Aquash
(Archive)

The murder of Anna Mae Aquash remains unsolved, but she continues to be a powerful symbol of Native rights activism.

This site hopes to archive all available material on the Internet concerning Anna Mae Aquash. Because this is an "archive," there will be no attempt to reconcile conflicting information. Chronologically I will move from most recent to least recent...

It is a work in progress and I welcome your contributions

[NOTE: Will anyone familiar with the names Arlo Lookingcloud, John Boy Patten, and Theda Clark contact me privately...]

Introduction

From the era of Native American political activism and militancy during the early 1970s, there is no more haunting figure than Anna Mae Pictou Aquash. An active American Indian Movement (AIM) member, as well as mother, wife, social worker, and day care teacher, her image is powerful as much for her untimely death as for her life's work. Found murdered on the Pine Ridge Reservation during a time of tremendous social and political upheaval, she has become a symbol of the movement for Indian rights.

Childhood on a Micmac Reserve

Anna Mae was born on March 27, 1945 to Mary Ellen Pictou and Francis Thomas Levi, both Micmac Indians. She came into the world in a small Indian village just outside the town of Shubenacadie, Nova Scotia, Canada. Levi left before Anna Mae was born, and Mary Ellen's third grade education didn't provide her the skills required to support her children. Still a young woman herself, Mary Ellen Pictou admitted to being a little too unsettled to offer her girls much in the way of discipline. Aquash spent her early years in an atmosphere of poverty and uncertainty.

Aquash's mother married Noel Sapier, a Micmac traditionalist, in 1949. A strong believer in the preservation of what was left of the Micmac culture and religion, Sapier brought discipline and emotional security to the family. He moved them to Pictou's Landing, another small Micmac reserve, and tried to make a living between seasonal farmhand jobs and traditional craftwork. Although they were still very poor, Aquash learned a great deal about the richness of her people's culture at this time.

Poverty often breeds disease, and conditions were very poor at Pictou's Landing. In 1953, Aquash was plagued with recurrent eye infections. By the time an Indian Department physician recognized the signs of tuberculosis of the eye, Aquash had already developed tuberculosis of the lung. She recovered but was physically weak for some time afterward.

In 1956, Noel Sapier died of cancer, and a new phase of Aquash's childhood began. Until then, she had encountered racism mostly during trips to nearby towns. Now she went to an off-reserve school and was shocked by the way she was treated there. Although reserve schools were notoriously below standards, Aquash maintained an A-average before attending her new school. By the end of her first year, however, she was failing all her subjects. In later years, she would often talk about how the constant jeers, racial slurs, and lewd comments had ruined her school years. Aquash was not alone; most of her Micmac tribespeople followed the same pattern of failure when they enrolled in off-reserve schools.

Aquash's difficulties with verbal and sometimes physical threats from classmates continued in high school. She steadily performed at lower and lower grade levels, but she stayed in school, something that many of her Indian classmates had not done. Her school problems were compounded in 1956, when her mother ran away to another reserve to marry Wilford Barlov. Aquash and her siblings came home to find that they had been abandoned. Because it was common for Micmacs to work as migrant farmhands throughout the Maritime Provinces and New England, and Aquash herself had worked summers as a harvester, she dropped out of school and turned to the only profession she knew, working the potato and berry harvest.

New Life in Boston

At the age of 17, Aquash decided to move to Boston to seek her fortune. Reportedly on something of a dare, she went there with Jake Maloney, a young Micmac she knew but had never dated. They found themselves in Boston in 1962, a strange, noisy, bustling world for people used to reserve life. The presence of many other Micmacs who had also moved there made the transition somewhat easier, though, and the couple soon settled in.

Aquash began working in a factory and set up house with Jake. They considered themselves married and started a family. In 1964 and 1965, Aquash gave birth to daughters Denise and Deborah. Just after Deborah's birth, the couple married in New Brunswick and moved to another Micmac reserve. Although they had enjoyed life in Boston, they had mixed feelings about raising their daughters in such a big city, and they moved back and forth between Boston and the Maritime Provinces in Nova Scotia several times. During their stays in Canada, they immersed themselves in Micmac tradition, learning much from Jake's step-uncle, one of the few remaining Micmacs who kept to the old ways.

Become a Community Organizer

In 1968, Natives were calling for equal rights, cultural recognition, and the fulfillment of promises made in treaties. Aquash worked as a volunteer in the Boston Indian Council's headquarters while holding down her factory job. Her council work centered on helping young, urban Natives develop self-esteem, a technique that seemed to help them avoid alcohol abuse. It was a topic close to Aquash's own life. At this time she and Jake Maloney had broken off their marriage and, for a short period after the breakup, she frequently drank too much. She had also seen the havoc created by heavy drinking in Indian communities.

At the Indian Council Aquash heard about a planned protest by AIM. A number of New England AIM members were joining with national leader Russell Means to protest the "official" version of Thanksgiving by converging on the Mayflower II, a reconstruction of the ship that carried the Pilgrims to America. The traditional story behind Thanksgiving was that the Pilgrims were greeted by- and shared a feast with--welcoming Indians. This version, of course, neglected to mention the legacy of conquest and slaughter that Europeans brought to the New World. Aquash participated in the protest and the event made her even more determined to work for Native rights.

Aquash, along with her daughters, moved to Bar Harbor, Maine, to work in the Teaching and Research in Bicultural Education School Project (TRIBES). The girls attended the school and Pictou taught. The curriculum there consisted of traditional subjects as well as Indian history, values, and beliefs to foster pride in the students. Although the project was successful, it was closed in 1972, when funding was cut. The family returned to Boston, where Aquash enrolled in the New Careers program at Wheelock College. This program included both classroom instruction and community work. Pictou's assignment was teaching at a day care center in Roxbury, a predominately African American section of Boston. She excelled in the program and in her work, and was eventually offered a scholarship to attend Brandeis University in Massachusetts. Aquash declined the offer, preferring to continue her work in the black and Indian communities.

The Trail of Broken Treaties March

Around this time, she met and began a relationship with Nogeeshik Aquash, a Chippewa artist from Ontario. Together, they raised her daughters and became more involved in the growing Indian rights movement. In 1972 the couple participated in the march on Washington, D.C., called Trail of Broken Treaties. Originating with AIM, the march included Indians from all over the country who converged on the capital to draw attention to Indian issues. The group took over and occupied the Bureau of Indian Affairs building and then presented a list of 20 civil rights demands. After a week of occupation, the government promised to review their demands, point by point, a great victory and the first time a national organization of Indians had faced a confrontation as a united people.

Several months later, in April of 1973, a group of 200 Indians, led by AIM, congregated at the site of the 1890 Wounded Knee massacre , in which 500 army soldiers opened fire on a group of Minneconjou Ghost Dancers, killing 300 men, women, and children. Wounded Knee, located near the Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota, was chosen as the place for protest because of its painful historical significance. AIM wished to draw public attention to its efforts against the reputedly corrupt administration of tribal chairman of the Oglala Sioux, Richard "Dick" Wilson, who used beatings and intimidation to rule the reservation.

After hostilities increased, the town was occupied by 2,000 Indians in a siege lasting 70 days. When word of the occupation and resulting siege by federal troops reached Boston, Pictou and Nogeeshik left for South Dakota. Arriving several days later, they immediately busied themselves by sneaking food and medical supplies to the occupiers. Initially, they camped at Crow Dog's Paradise, the home of medicine men Henry Crow Dog and Leonard Crow Dog. Later, inside one of the stores at Wounded Knee, Aquash helped deliver Pedro, the first son of Mary Brave Bird, who would soon marry Leonard Crow Dog. On April 12, 1973, Anna Mae married Nogeeshik Aquash in a traditional Lakota (Sioux) ceremony presided over by Nicholas Black Elk and Wallace Black Elk.

The standoff at Wounded Knee ended with the indictment of AIM leaders Dennis Banks and Russell Means. The Aquashes returned to Boston, where they continued their work for the movement. Aquash was on her way to becoming a national AIM leader. In 1974, she moved to St. Paul, Minnesota, to work in the AIM office there. Within a year, she was involved in the Menominee Indian takeover of an abandoned Alexian Brothers Catholic Monastery in protest of the termination of their federal Indian status. The conflict in Gresham, Wisconsin, ended peacefully, but from that time on, Aquash was constantly under FBI observation.

Back to Wounded Knee

During the summer of 1975, Aquash and AIM security chief Leonard Peltier attended an AIM conference in Farmington, New Mexico, to lend support to Navajo protests over mining in the Four Corners area. From there, they were called back to Pine Ridge to help organize security for Lakota traditionalists and AIM supporters who were being attacked by Wilson's provisional police force. They camped on the property of the Jumping Bull family. On June 26, 1975, a fight broke out between two FBI agents and AIM members. Two agents and a young Indian were killed. AIM members scattered as an international manhunt began for the FBI agents' killers. Peltier was later arrested, charged, and convicted of the murders of the two FBI agents.

Three months later, in September 1975, Aquash was arrested with several others during a raid on the Rosebud Reservation in South Dakota. Fearing the worst, she jumped bail and went "underground" (hid from the law). In November, she was leaving the Port Madison Reservation in Washington State when federal agents began watching the two vehicles in the AIM caravan. In Oregon, just one mile short of the Idaho border, state troopers stopped the group and Aquash was again arrested. She was extradited to South Dakota in handcuffs to face charges from the raid at Rosebud, as well as federal charges of transporting and possessing firearms and dangerous weapons, including dynamite. Since she had not been indicted on the earlier charges, the South Dakota judge released her on bail; she fled again on November 24, 1975.

On February 24, 1976, a Lakota rancher found Aquash's dead body while riding the perimeter of his property. Her body's deteriorated condition indicated that she had been dead for some time. The body was initially taken to the Pine Ridge Public Health Service for an autopsy. Her cause of death was listed as exposure, and since no one was able to identify her, she was buried as a "Jane Doe"--an anonymous corpse. Her hands were cut off and sent to FBI headquarters in Washington, D.C., for possible identification, and a week later, Aquash was identified. When her family was informed, they called on AIM to help them secure a second autopsy. On March 11, 1976, another post-mortem revealed a .32 caliber bullet hole at the base of Anna Mae's skull. Her death was then officially designated a homicide. Aquash was reburied with traditional rites, and the investigation of her murder began.

When Leonard Peltier was arrested for the murder of the two FBI agents at Pine Ridge, the FBI based part of their case against him on the account of a witness. A Lakota woman, Myrtle Poor Bear, claimed she'd seen Peltier commit the murders. She later changed her story, saying that she had been coerced into identifying Peltier as the killer by an FBI agent, who had said she might meet the same end as Anna Mae Aquash. Aquash, whose murder had taken place right after Peltier's arrest, had earlier told the FBI she knew nothing about the murders of the agents and would not cooperate with them.

Although two senators brought the matter before Congress and the Department of Justice, and although Canadian authorities demanded full accounting for the murder of one of their citizens on the federal land of a friendly neighboring country, the investigation never went far. The murder of Anna Mae Aquash remains unsolved, but she is remembered as a powerful symbol of an era of Native rights activism.

FURTHER READING

Brand, Johanna, The Life and Death of Anna Mae Aquash, James Lorimer, 1978.
Matthiessen, Peter, In the Spirit of Crazy Horse, Viking Books, 1983.
Native American Women, edited by Gretchen M. Bataille, Garland Publishing, 1993.

courtesy of http://www.thomson.com/gale/whmbios.html

A witness for the defense of Leonard Peltier...June, 1976

Witness- John Trudell

Questions asked by William Kunstler...

Q: Does the American Indian Movement believe in self-defense if native Americans are attacked?

A: Yes

Q: And who was Annie Mae Aquash?

A: She was a 30-year-old woman from Nova Scotia, Canada, and she had been with AIM for quite a while and she was very much respected and she was close to a lot of people that were within the AIM group.

Q: Is she alive or dead?

A: Annie Mae is dead.

Q: When did she die?

A: She died in February [1976] of this year.

Q: And how did she die? [An objection from the prosecution - If it please the Court, I object to this on the grounds it is incompetent, irrelevant, immaterial...

The Court response - Sustained...]

Q: And prior to her death, did you have a conversation about David Price [FBI agent] with Annie Mae Aquash?

A. Yes, we did.

[Another objection from the prosecution, and the testimony was continued out of the hearing of the jury.]

The Court: Mr. Trudell, Mr. Kunstler asked you about this conversation you had with Annie Mae Aquash and the Government has objected to it on the grounds it is hearsay, and I have sustained the objection. Mr. Kunstler wants to make what is know as an offer of proof here. He wants to offer the Court what your answer would have been if I would have let you testify. You understand?

The Witness: Yes.

Q: Mr. Trudell, did you have a conversation with Annie Mae Aquash with reference to David Price?

A: Yes, I did...

Q: And would you indicate for the record what she said to you and what you said to her?

A: She told me she had been arrested at Crow Dog's and...Price saw her and when he saw her he shined his flashlight on her and when he saw who she was he said, "There you are. We have been looking for you," and that is all the conversation that took place there. They took them all to Pierre and she said during her interrogation by Price and another agent...that Price had told her he knew that she knew who shot those agents, and that she could - should cooperate, and if she would, she would get a new identity, and she would get a new place to live...She cussed at him and he told her that if she wanted to have that attitude he would see her dead within a year...The last time I saw her was the first - very first part of October, I believe - in Los Angeles. She told me at the time that she would go back to court and then the next time I saw anything, I saw her on TV in Oregon, three days before she was going to appear in court, and she had been arrested with Kamook Banks and Russell Redner and Kenneth Loud Hawk in Oregon in Oregon and that was the last time I ever saw her [the results of this arrest are chronicled in Loud Hawk - The United States versus the American Indian Movement, Kenneth S. Stern, University of Oklahoma Press, ISBN 0-8061-2587-X]. She went back...

The Court: South Dakota

The Witness: Yes. And she was still in custody as far as I knew at the time. And I got this message that...Annie Mae was in trouble and could I help her. I couldn't because they had a warrant for my arrest in Nevada on a charge that was later dropped. I could do nothing about it. The nest time I - Dennis told me she had been shot in the back of the head. He told me this in California. This is when he was out on bail there...I know it was within two days or so after they found the body and I knew nothing about that.

Mr. Kunstler: February 24th.

The Witness: I was sitting in the car with Dennis and he said, "You know they found Annie Mae -" No, he said it this way. He said, "You know that body they found? That is Annie Mae." I didn't know about a body. The he said that...

The Court: Getting back to what she said again, about what Price told her. What was it Price told her?

The Witness: He told her if she wanted to have that attitude, that - They had made an offer to her.

The Court: All these promises!

The Witness: ...wanted to have that attitude that he would see her dead within the year. It was not a - He didn't say he would see her charged or anything, because they couldn't charge her because she was here in Cedar Rapids at Crow Dog's trial on the day of that shooting.

At few days later, Kunstler took this matter up with Agent Price, whom some of the Indians, at least, had suspected of involvement in the killing:

Q: Do you know a woman by the name of Annie Mae Aquash?

A: I interviewed a woman who is also know as Anna Mae Pictou [maiden name], Anna Mae Aquash.

Q: That is the same woman, isn't it?

A: To my knowledge it is.

Q: When did you interview her in connection with this case?

A: I never did.

Q: Did you talk to her?

A: I have talked to her.

Q: And when you talked to her was it in an attempt to get information about this case?

A: No.

Q: Did you mention this case to her at all?

A: I would have to review my interview, but I don't remember that I did.

Q: Didn't you tell her that if she didn't cooperate with you she would be dead within a year?

A: No, I did not.

Q: If you did, you would, of course, say so?

A: I did not say those words.

Q: I am not asking those questions. If you had made such an expression to her, a potential witness, you would admit it under oath, wouldn't you?

Prosecution: I object. The question has been asked and answered three times.

Mr. Kunstler: He hasn't answered it.

The Court: Can you answer that question?

The Witness: I am telling the truth, and I did not say those words and if I had said those words I would say I said those words.

At this point, Dino Butler [defendant] leapt to his feet and shouted, "Say them!"

Q: Do you remember when you spoke to Annie Mae Aquash?

A: Yes.

Q: When was that?

A: I talked to the girl who identified herself as Anna Mae Aquash, I believe, on September 5, 1975...

Q: And with reference to Annie Mae Aquash on that day, is it your testimony that you had no discussion with her about the shooting at Oglala?

A: I remember I was specifically interested if she could help me with the murder of Jeannette Bissonette...[Jeanette Bissonette-AIM supporter killed by sniper at Pine Ridge. There was an unsuccessful attempt to link AIM members to the murder. Beyond this, there was no further investigation]

Q: When you spoke to Annie Maw Aquash about the murder of Jeannette Bissonnette, did you at any time during that discussion, discuss the events of June 26th of 1975?

A: Not that I remember.

Q: Never came up at all? That is your testimony.

A: As far as I can remember it did not come up.

Q: By the way, Jeannette Bissonnette was killed on the Pine Ridge Reservation, wasn't she?

A: Yes. Three months to the day before the agents were killed.

Q: Was anybody indicted for her crime?

A: Not yet.

...In the Spirit of Crazy Horse Peter Matthiessen

Everyone back off...

Tue, 20 Dec 1994 20:14:14 -0800
Subject: john trudell

Original Sender: aimca@igc.apc.org (American Indian Movement)
Mailing List: NATIVE-L (native-l@gnosys.svle.ma.us)

First of all we would like to say to everyone to back off...

Who ever first placed the information concerning Bob Robideaux and John Trudell is way out of line. She said, that he said! Reminds me of children in a playground spreading gossip.

None of the people who are posting this information are members of the American Indian Movement, so I caution you to check sources first. This kind of information can only hurt people and this shouldn't turn into a soup opera for AIM I have spoken with numerous chapters of the American Indian Movement, International Confederation of Autonomous Chapters and as the International Spokesperson for Leonard Peltier I can say that we do not support the theory that John Trudell is in any way responsible for the death of Anna Mae Aquash. We in fact deplore the idea and support John Trudell who has suffered a great deal since the death of his family. Leonard Peltier and the Leonard Peltier Defense Committee would like to apologize to John Trudell if any representative of the Leonard Peltier Defense Committee has made any statements against him.

In the Spirit of Crazy Horse

Bobby Castillo,
International Spokesperson for Leonard Peltier - since this statement was made
Castillo was fired by Leonard and then, recently (1998) rehired.

[ Again, I would remind everyone that the original report of this remark was not an assertion that the claim is true; it was an attempt to get information about that claim, which was apparently made by Bob Robideau, as has been confirmed by an eyewitness. After some soul-searching, the operators of NativeNet have concluded that carrying questions of this sort does not in any way constitute an endorsement of the truth of the statement being investigated, and thus, in the spirit of facilitating open inquiry, we intend to permit such questions to be asked in future. HOWEVER, we also recognize that dangerous and damaging rumors can be spread by means of questions which aren't really questions, so we will evaluate each such posting carefully before approving it in future, and may elect to do some investigation before approval of such an article, or at the very least adding a statement to the article indicating that the matter is not confirmed and should be read with extreme caution. NativeNet cannot expect under present circumstances to hold itself to journalistic standards, confirming information contained in articles prior to passing them on. Rather, we aspire to provide an open forum where (among other things) honest questions can be asked without fear.

Just for the record, I am attaching a copy of the original article below. Anyone who missed this discussion, and wants to read the whole thread can do so by retrieving the articles from the NATIVE-L archives. Send a "get nn-intro archives native-l" article to "listserv@tamvm1 .tamu.edu" for information on using the archives.

--Gary (gst@gnosys.svle.ma.us) ]

Trudell's Response To Accusations

Mon, 12 Dec 1994 14:18:46 -0700
Original Sender: anne jordan dashiell

hello- i understand gary's [Gary Trujillo, Native-L Moderator] not wanting this issue to get out of hand with rumors, but since i WAS at the signing i thought i'd just let you know the facts of what did happen. basically, bob stood up to disagree with john after he said something like "the system is destroying native resistance through carefully planned activities.." bob said something like "its US who are eating our own communities....i have information that implicates you in covering up anna mae's murder" im sorry that i cant remember the exact detail of what he is saying john did, but bob DID say that john was involved in the murder. the crowd was uncomfortable and a few people told bob to leave and shut up etc... john handled it well i think. he was calm, and after bob and two friends stormed out, john said "okay we're going to talk about anna mae." he said how much he loved her and wanted to know who killed her, and that person/persons should be punished for it. then he went on to say that bob's accusations were a perfect example of the system using these methods of neutralization by encouraging division from the inside..that bob was falling for it etc... the crowd was generally receptive and supportive of john. he said a lot of beautiful, articulate things about resistance and control and spirit and freedom and responsibility, and he also said something like "i dont know who is in the room right now, but i am saying right here and now that federal activity was responsible for anna mae's death..and the truth will come out eventually." he didn't seem scared about the accusations, but definitely concerned that the state is behind it.

another thing that happened was a woman stood up whose name i cant remember who was at oglala the day leonard peltier was arrested. she said that there was a witness to the frame up and that the fbi knew about the witness and they looked for her for a year until they found anna mae. she said that 6 or 7 women who looked like anna mae were "lost" before she was murdered, implying that they fbi was looking for anna mae the whole time. i was a bit confused during this part because of what i have already read about oglala, so im not even sure if she was referring to a woman (the witness) who has not come out yet for some reason.

anyway, if anyone has the scoop on whats happening with the anna mae trials right now could you enlighten the list? hope this gives an idea of what happened at the signing. despite the wierd interrupton and change of discussion, john's words were inspiring and strengthening.

[name withheld]

Trudell/Robideau/Aquash

Original Sender: [posters name withheld]
Thu, 8 Dec 1994 13:51:52 -0500

In response to your recent posting:

INSERTED POSTING

Hi.

"A colleague at KUNM sez John Trudel spoke in ABQ at a local bookstore a weekend or so ago, and this development occurred: Bob Robideau (one of the two men acquited in the Pine Ridge "Incident at Oglala") stood up and, according to my informant, said he (Robideau) holds Trudel personally responsible for the death of Annie Mae Aquash. Something to do with Trudel hiring an investigator who allegedly ended up being the hit man.

"But I wasn't there. Is there anyone on this list who was, who can describe what happened and what was said?"

I do get worn out with AIM members' seemingly endless preoccupation with pointing fingers at each other -- much, it seems, to the detriment of Getting On With Business. But this is pretty heady stuff; especially in light of the recent reopening of the Aquash case.

[posters name withheld]

Have you found anyone else to confirm this incident? Did your colleague at KUNM actually see this happen or did he/she hear it from someone else and whom?

In relaying this message/information across the internet regarding an unsubstantiated rumor BEFORE even having it confirmed, is infact exactly what you get 'worn out' with and does interfere with 'Getting on with Business.' Would it not have been better to put out a general inquiry asking if anyone was at the Trudell booksigning in ABQ and what was said? In effect you have perpetuated a rumor which is very, very dangerous for everyone mentioned and also a cause for libel. Until it is confirmed - it is a rumor, and should not be posted as a tid bit of news for enquiring minds.

I will look for other postings regarding yours and the validity of this claim. From my own personal knowledege of whom you refer to (John), there is absolutely no truth to the rumor that John is remotely resposible for the death of one of his dear friends, Anna Mae. Anyone, including Robideau, who would propogate this claim needs their own motives checked.

What bothers me about this is the way in which it was done ... there is no regard for possible future implications and its effect on the people whom are referred to; that it could be dangerous, and libel, and therefore must enact accountability/responsibility from all sources FIRST!

[name withheld]

Trudell/Robideau/Aquash

From: [name withheld]
Subject: Trudel/Robideau/Aquash
Date: Wed, 7 Dec 1994 03:52:32 GMT

Hi.

A colleague at KUNM sez John Trudel spoke in ABQ at a local bookstore a weekend or so ago, and this development occurred: Bob Robideau (one of the two men acquited in the Pine Ridge "Incident at Oglala") stood up and, according to my informant, said he (Robideau) holds Trudel personally responsible for the death of Annie Mae Aquash. Something to do with Trudel hiring an investigator who allegedly ended up being the hit man.

But I wasn't there. Is there anyone on this list who was, who can describe what happened and what was said?

[name withheld]

Anna Mae Aquash Investigation Reopened

Press Statement November 7, 1994

FEDERAL RE-OPENING OF ANNA MAE AQUASH MURDER APPEARS TO BE AN ATTEMPT TO KEEP LEONARD PELTIER IN PRISON FOR THE REST OF HIS LIFE

For the past several months, the United States government has been engaged in an aggressive re-opening of the investigation of the 1976 murder of American Indian Movement (AIM) member Anna Mae Pictou Aquash. The investigation has taken the form of impa neling a federal grand jury in Pierre, South Dakota, and interrogating dozens of current and former AIM members across the United States, by the FBI and US Marshall Bob Ecoffey, once a member of the violently anti-AIM "GOON Squad" on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation.

Anna Mae, a Micmaq Indian from Canada, was murdered in late 1975 or early 1976, her body discovered on February 25, 1976, about ten miles from the town of Wanblee, on Pine Ridge. Initially, federal contract coroner W.O. Brown, of Scottsbluff, Nebraska, ruled she died of "exposure" to the winter elements. After a demand by her family for an independent autopsy, the cause of her death was found to be a .38 caliber gunshot wound in the base of her skull.

Given the violent political climate on Pine Ridge at that time, centering on a severely hostile relationship between AIM and the FBI, there is substantial reason to believe the FBI was, either directly or indirectly, involved with the murder of Anna Mae Aquash. After all, during the period of her death, more than 60 other AIM members and supporters were murdered on Pine Ridge in what the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights officially described as a "reign of [political] terror."

Considerable evidence exists that the FBI was deeply involved in this ugly pattern of atrocities. The AIM Confederation remains more interested than anyone in seeing justice done to the murderers of our sister, Anna Mae. The current investigation, however, seems especially curious and suspicious. There are many indications that the FBI is more interested in carrying out a vendetta against AIM than in achieving justice in the case.

Why, for instance, is the FBI suddenly so interested in "resolving" the Aquash case and not the scores of other unsolved murders of AIM members dating from the same period? And why, if it is genuinely interested in finding out what happened to Anna Mae, has the FBI never bothered to interview coroner Brown or agents such as David Price, who is known to have threatened her life shortly before she was killed?

The FBI has made it clear that it has never forgotten another infamous date in 1975: June 26, the day two FBI agents and AIM member Joe Stuntz were killed in a firefight on Pine Ridge. As a result of that event, AIM member Leonard Peltier is serving two consecutive life sentences in federal prison.

The AIM Confederation believes that, despite Peltier's unjust imprisonment, the FBI's desire for revenge will remain unsatisfied until AIM is finally and entirely destroyed. Consequently, we believe that the present investigation, rather than seeking to find the killers of Anna Mae, is designed and intended to cast suspicion upon our leadership and to sow distrust and confustion within our movement and among its allies.

In sum, it appears that, far from seeking justice for Anna Mae, the FBI has gone back to its old COINTELPRO tactics of the 1970s, casting its net far and wide in a concerted attempt to disrupt the work of AIM and to keep Leonard Peltier in prison for th e rest of his life by suggesting that he and AIM are nothing more than "a band of thugs and killers." This is indicated by two recent ads in the _Washington Post_ and _Indian Country Today_ placed by current and past FBI agents asking President Clinton to reject a petition for clemency for Leonard Peltier. In the ad, the FBI repeats lie after lie, in an attempt to paint Leonard as a cold-blooded killer from a murderous gang - the American Indian Movement.

[posters name witheld]

J. Brand book available again

[posters name withheld]
Tue, 31 Dec 1991 14:03:50 -0700

A while ago [name withheld] wrote: "The Brand Book is I believe still out of print. It is called The Life and Death of Anna Mae Aquash."

Originally I was gonna try to convince Brand to let me publish a copy under a protective but "Free to copy" copyright. I got so far as to talk with Ms. Brand (long distance to Canada) once and typing in my own personal copy before pooping out on the deal, chiefly because there were too many other things going on at the time, and it looked like the Matthiessen book would be back out soon. I still have my personal unauthorized copy, but it is probably not legal to give it to others. A major University would probably have the book in stock, unless the FBI already took it. Even though the Brand book may not be as nicely written as Peter's, it is much shorter and therefore wouldn't scare as many folks away from reading it.

I'd like to see Brand formally re-publish her book now, as I believe she told me it would be easier to get it back out after Peter's book was re-released. I'll have to give the publisher a call some day soon (can't think of them off the top of my head...Here it is: James Lorimer & Company, Publishers, Toronto 1978

A new edition just came out and I received a copy ordered from Lorimer through my University bookstore. It is somewhat more difficult to get a copy through a library, although interlibrary loan was able to locate a copy for me.