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Post by pellethie on Oct 23, 2012 2:01:00 GMT -6
I've just found out that Oglala activist Russell Means has passed. Sad news indeed.
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Post by Yan Taylor on Oct 23, 2012 9:00:12 GMT -6
I recall him being in The Last of the Mohicans and Pathfinder, I have both movies in my collection, it must be a sad day not only for his family but for the whole Sioux people, and I hope he is remembered for his bravery and dedication.
Ian.
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Post by pellethie on Oct 23, 2012 18:45:58 GMT -6
Russell Means Oglala Lakota and Indian activist died early Monday, October 22, 2012 at his Porcupine South Dakota home.
Means is best remembered who was one of the American Indian Movement(AIM) leaders who seized the Mayflower II on Thanksgiving Day 1970, the occupation of Mount Rushmore in 1972 along with the takeover of Washington DC’s Bureau of Indian Affairs. In 1973 He and Objibwe Dennis Banks along with a few hundred Indians were responsible for the armed takeover and occupation of Wounded Knee in response to Oglala president Dick Wilson’s heavy handed rule, misappropriation of tribal annuities and mistreatment of fellow tribal members. Surrounded by FBI agents and state police Banks, Means and other AIM members held out for over two months bringing national attention to the conditions at Pine Ridge Reservation.
Up until his death Russell Means has been an advocate for Indian rights as well as all indigenous people even working with the United Nations establishing offices for the International Indian Treaty Council.
In 2007 Means and other Indian activist leaders proclaimed that thousands of square miles in what is now Nebraska, Wyoming, Montana, North and South Dakota, the Republic of Lakotah and declared it as a sovereign nation no longer beholden to the tribal governments set in place by the United States government.
We exchanged letters in the late 70s and I'll always be inspired by his words and shall admire his courage.
Russell Means heart was with the people and he will be missed by many. May he journey well.
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Post by fred on Oct 23, 2012 19:27:19 GMT -6
I liked Means... I admire a man who speaks his mind and stands up for his rights. He may have been more to the extreme than I like, but I still liked him. That would change, of course, if it were ever proved he had something to do with those two murders.
Best wishes, Fred.
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Post by rosebud on Oct 24, 2012 9:02:10 GMT -6
Too bad they didn't shoot the S.O.B in South Dakota in the 70s.
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