HONOUR THE SPIRIT OF ANNA MAE AQUASH!
Monica
HONOUR THE SPIRIT OF ANNA MAE AQUASH!
Stop the Extradition of John Graham! Free Leonard Peltier!
By Gord Hill, Kwakwaka'wakw Nation
[Excerpt from article that appeared in Redwire magazine, March 2004]
The Case of Anna Mae Aquash
"We do not know for certain who pulled the trigger on Anna Mae Aquash. But
we are horrified by the way her spirit is being defamed and used against the
people she fought so hard for. We sympathize with the desire of Anna Mae's
family to achieve closure on this matter. And so, we urge them to look
towards the ones most strongly pointing the finger at John Graham. We
believe the real killer is hidden among them." - The Friends of John Graham,
February 2004.
Anna Mae has long been a symbol of Indigenous resistance and the ideals of
the American Indian Movement, to which she belonged. She was a Mik'maq from
Nova Scotia, Canada, and one of the most prominent women members of AIM. She
had participated in the occupation of the BIA offices in Washington, DC, in
1972, and the siege of Wounded Knee, 1973. On Feb. 24, 1976, her frozen body
was found near Wanblee, on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in S. Dakota.
At first, the FBI and its official coroner, WO Brown, attempted to pass the
death off as a "Jane Doe" who had died of exposure. Brown's coroner reports
were routinely used to minimize or conceal the cause of deaths resulting
from police/paramilitary attacks during this period (some 67 members or
associates of AIM were killed on Pine Ridge between 1973-76, many by BIA
cops & GOONs -Guardians of the Oglala Nation- a paramilitary force employed
by corrupt tribal president Dick Wilson). Claiming they were unable to
identify the body, her hands were cut off & sent to an FBI lab in
Washington, DC, for fingerprint analysis. Still unidentified, her body was
buried in Pine Ridge on March 2, 1976. The next day, the FBI Identification
Division revealed the body to be that of Anna Mae Aquash. On March 5, her
family in Nova Scotia was notified, and they demanded a second autopsy. This
was performed by an independent coroner who immediately found a .32 cal.
bullet in the back of her head. She had been shot execution-style.
For over 20 years, it was generally believed that Anna Mae had been killed
either by paramilitary death squads then active on Pine Ridge (GOONs),
and/or the FBI. Shortly after Aquash had been identified, the FBI denied any
involvement in her killing (despite the attempted cover-up), and speculated
that perhaps she had been killed by AIM as a suspected informant. These
allegations were not considered credible, as it was well known that the FBI
was still then engaging in counter-insurgency operations against AIM. Nor is
the Aquash case the only one in which the FBI & media have accused AIM of
killing as a 'suspected informant' (i.e., Ray Robinson, a black civil rights
worker, along with Jeanette Bissonette, both believed to have been killed by
GOONs).
In the early 1990s, police re-newed their investigation into Aquash's death.
One of the main investigators was Robert Ecoffey, a BIA police officer in
Pine Ridge during the '70s period, and one of the first Natives to become a
US Marshall. Ecoffey has been described as an "Oglala GOON" (p. 236 Agents
of Repression), who also testified in Peltier's 1977 trial.
FBI Smear & Dis-Information
"It is obvious to anyone who looks at the past few years with an open mind
and a remembrance of COINTEL-PRO, that the FBI's program of misinformation &
discrediting of activists is alive and well. I encourage all who come into
contact with this finger-pointing behavior to also look at the person
pointing." Leonard Peltier (Dec. 5/03 Statement)
The FBI case is based largely on the confessions of ArloLooking Cloud,
allegedly told to others over the years, & in a video-taped confession to
police in April, 2003. The FBI's version is that Aquash was taken from a
house in Denver, Colorado, by Graham, Looking Cloud, and Thelda Clarke. She
was then driven to various offices & apartments in Rapid City, S. Dakota.
One of these included the legal offices of the Wounded Knee defense
committee. From there, she was taken to houses on Pine Ridge, then executed
on a desolate road near Wanblee, on or around Dec. 12, 1975 (where her body
was found two months later).
According to the FBI, Aquash was suspected of being an informant and had
sensitive info related to the Oglala shoot-out. Because of this, she had to
be killed. Looking Cloud's video-taped statement reflects the FBI's version
of events, except in one important detail: according to Looking Cloud, he
did not know what was occurring until moments before John Graham took her
out of the car and shot her.
The story itself raises many obvious questions, inc.:
Why would an AIM "hit squad" take Aquash, in the presence of so many
witnesses, from one city to another, across two states, to several
apartments and a defense office (more than likely under surveillance), then
execute her?
If the FBI seriously considered the death of Aquash to have been carried out
by AIM in 1976, we can be sure vast amounts of resources would have been
devoted to this case at that time. Instead, the FBI attempted to cover it
up!
The FBI's version of events has always been based on rumors within AIM that
Anna Mae was a suspected informant. Candy Hamilton, a friend of Aquash,
reports that it was common for people to be suspected of being an informant
at this time (CBC The Fifth Estate). Over the years, many people had in fact
informed or gave evidence to police. It is a common practice of police and
the FBI to use informants & collaborators.
In 1975, Douglas Durham was exposed as an FBI infiltrator who worked at the
highest levels within AIM. Despite all this, it was never the practice of
AIM to punish, let alone execute, informants or collaborators.
Defend the Spirit of Anna Mae Aquash!
Today, the FBI's version has taken on the appearance of truth, bolstered by
confusing & contradictory statements from former AIM leaders (seemingly
motivated by bitter & hostile divisions, conspiracies, etc.), and testimony
from government witnesses & informers (also former members of AIM). Added to
this are the demands from Anna Mae's two daughters for justice & convictions
of those responsible, one of whom is herself an RCMP officer.
Due to the nature of the charges against her alleged killers (Arlo Looking
Cloud and John Graham), and because of the success of FBI disinformation,
many in our own movement have distanced themselves from this case. They
refuse to take a stand, let alone investigate the matter, and this reveals
the extent to which they've accepted the FBI version of events.
At this time, the strategy of the FBI is to destroy anything positive
associated with AIM (and by extension all Indigenous resistance), to further
undermine the case of Leonard Peltier (falsely convicted in the 1975 killing
of two FBI agents in S. Dakota), and to turn Aquash from a symbol of this
resistance to one of injustice.
Out of this process, the FBI will emerge as heroes who have solved the
murder-mystery of Anna Mae Aquash, while Indigenous resistance will be
smeared as the work of assassins and thugs. Only by erasing the memory of
struggle can this be done, for even a brief glimpse at the 1970's period in
S. Dakota clearly shows who the real assassins & terrorists are: the FBI &
the US federal government.
Sizzle Flambé
> [...] it was never the practice of AIM to punish,
> let alone execute, informants or collaborators.
http://groups.google.com/group/alt.native/msg/c6f65d5fde80f2e0
| Monica Charles [...] writes in December 2003 email
| that she hears "other people were killed because
| they were thought to be [FBI Informants] A and B."
-- <http://tinyurl.com/annie-mae-timeline-iii>
So which time were you LYING, Malica, THEN or NOW ?
Dave
Why don't you deal with the important issues of this post, and
history, instead of indulging constantly in personal attacks? It
diminishes your credibility. I'm getting so I skip over your posts
now.
Flint_...@hotmail.com
> On Jul 27, 8:01 pm, Sizzle Flambé <sizzle.fla...@gmail.com> wrote:
>
>
>
>
>
> > On Jul 27, 1:02 pm, Malica <yanowis @ gmail.com> wrote:
>
> > > [...] it was never the practice of AIM to punish,
> > > let alone execute, informants or collaborators.
>
> >http://groups.google.com/group/alt.native/msg/c6f65d5fde80f2e0
>
> > | Monica Charles [...] writes in December 2003 email
> > | that she hears "other people were killed because
> > | they were thought to be [FBI Informants] A and B."
>
> > -- <http://tinyurl.com/annie-mae-timeline-iii>
>
> > So which time were you LYING, Malica, THEN or NOW ?
>
> > <http://tinyurl.com/malica-charnel-8>
>
> Why don't you deal with the important issues
yeah!...
hear wun ferya davey!...(jumpin up N down wit hand raised)
Hope asked:
"Is David/O'Brien an enrolled Indian? I think I heard he is white
too,
but maybe I'm thinking of someone else."
and, and Me wanna know too...
IZya?
Dave
>
> - Show quoted text -
Why don't you deal with the important issues raised here, instead of
these infantile personal attacks?
Flint_...@hotmail.com
>
>
> Why don't you deal with the important issues raised here, instead of
> these infantile personal attacks?
BWAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!
like ya don rememba dem wha U dun?
do WINKTE Ring a Bill ferya?
ya DUMB SHIT!
Sizzle Flambé
Did, or did not, AIM kill informants? -- isn't an important issue?
Is, or is not, MJC a reliable witness? -- isn't an important issue?
Those are issues of *history*, Dave. Tune them out, if you like.
rare breed
>
> like ya don rememba dem wha U dun?
>
> do WINKTE Ring a Bill ferya?
>
> ya DUMB SHIT!
You know, sexual orientation insults are considered the
lowest form of flame.
As for me, I'm just a bit too heterosexual to partake.
Sizzle Flambé
Like, you're the straight man in this joke?
Sizzle Flambé
On Jul 29, 12:58 am, Malica <yanowis @ gmail.com> wrote:
> Witnesses said Looking Cloud, Graham and Theda Clarke, another AIM
> member, drove Aquash from Denver and that Graham shot Aquash on orders
> from AIM leaders who suspected she was a government informant.
http://groups.google.com/group/alt.native/msg/279ce7af4950b5b8
But, but, but -- "it was never the practice of AIM to punish,
let alone execute, informants or collaborators" -- right?
Which is the TRUTH of history, Dave? and which is the LIE?
Dave
>
> - Show quoted text -
Read Russell Means' 'Where Whitemen Fear To Tread', in which he says
HE wants to execute informants, yeah.
Monica
>
> - Show quoted text -
Fizzled Flames is a seashepherd wiccan that has partnered with two
elves to cloud all Indian issues. SS thinks that the enemy of my enemy
is my friend. During Makah Whaling SS partnered with racist anti
Treaty idiots in Washington State. It seems that Fizzled Flames is one
of those idiots. Best to ignore him. He's here because he recognized
my name and is still stinging from the successful Makah Whale Hunt.
They used every trick imaginable including using their covens to try
to stop the whales from going near the Makah. Then they tried to kill
the Whalers and ME! The ss wiccans hate me more than the Makah because
I am smarter and more articulate than they are. LOL! He's trying to
put me back into my place or where he thinks Indians belong. So he and
the tiny dancer are using each other. It's funny. A racist incompetent
wiccan and an fbi informant. It shows the depths to which each will
sink. Fizzled Flames is still trying to fight a war that he already
lost. And well........you know Richard Two Elk.
BTW tiny dancer. David has spent more time on Pine Ridge and in Lakota
ceremonies praying for and working for Lakota Sovereignty than you
have in your whole life. Oops! Are you turning a pale shade of green?
Lol!
Sizzle Flambé
> Fizzled Flames
<http://tinyurl.com/fizzled-flames>
> is a seashepherd wiccan
It *would* explain a lot, wouldn't it?
Why she crossposted to alt.religion.wicca and invited
all the Wiccans over, then said she was turning the
whole alt.native newsgroup over to them?
As a non-Wiccan, from nowhere near there, I don't
understand her reasoning. If she doesn't want to
be here herself, why not let OTHER people discuss
Native issues in peace without her venomous malice?
Sizzle Flambé
> HONOUR THE SPIRIT OF ANNA MAE AQUASH!
Monica J. Charles -- <http://tinyurl.com/fizzled-flames>
Suspected FBI Informant, and Disinformation Specialist,
according to _News_From_Indian_Country_ (links below):
| Monica Charles... admits in an email... that some
| members of AIM later accuse her of being either
| informant A or B. Charles also writes in... email
| that she hears "other people were killed because
| they were thought to be A and B."
-- <http://tinyurl.com/annie-mae-timeline-iii>
| Monica Charles... becomes 'a person of interest'
| and the focus of some investigators because of
| information and statements she posts on the internet
| that appear to be an intentional attempt to create
| confusion in the Aquash and Peltier cases, a commonly
| used tactic by AIM leaders or supporters over the
| years to mislead journalists and the public.
-- <http://tinyurl.com/annie-mae-timeline-iv-2>
See also: <http://tinyurl.com/malica-charnel-thread>