disturbing the comfortable

One of the loops in my intellectual life contains the fight between members of the American Indian Movement and the Federal bureau of Investigation.

The most famous round in the fight is the one where two FBI agents were killed on the Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota. There are a dozen or so books about it, movies, and on-going reporting. Who killed them? Leonard Peltier is doing life in prison for it. His trial was a farce. It was as lame as the OJ Simpson trial, and if there had been as many Indians on the jury as there were black people on the Simpson jury, Peltier probably would have have walked.

I don’t know if Peltier is “innocent”; two other men charged with the same murders were found not guilty by reason of self-defense. All three were present when the agents were killed. The government’s prosecution, though, was shameful.

There’s more, though. Anna Mae Aquash, a member of the American Indian Movement and a tireless organizer was shot and killed on the Reservation, twenty-some years ago. One man was just found guilty and another man is awaiting trial. The scenario presented to us is that the leadership of the American Indian Movement thought she was a snitch and ordered her killed.

The movement, AIM for short, has hung on over the years. Most of the original members are still around: Russ Means, Dennis Banks, John Trudell, Russ Redner, Dino Butler, Kenny LoudHawk. None of them have been directly implicated in Aquash’s murder. That the movement has endured is a thorn in the government’s paw—particularly the FBI’s paw.

But it seems like the Indians are their own worst enemies. As the 2nd trial in Aquash’s death approaches, snitch labels are flying; the plot is complex and ugly. Old time members are turning on each other. Of course, the only beneficiary from this is the FBI, always eager to settle a cherished grudge. Hell, the Indians shot two agents and only one man went down for it: can’t let them off that easy.

It’s sad. I don’t know who killed the agents and I don’t know who killed Anna Mae Aquash (well, I’m sure that directly or indirectly the FBI killed her). I don’t think we’ll ever know. I know the FBI plays dirty, has played dirty, and will play dirty, the world without end, amen.