Ojibwa warrior : Dennis Banks and the rise of the American Indian Movement

Dennis Banks, an American Indian of the Ojibwa Tribe and a founder of the American Indian Movement, is one of the most influential Indian leaders of our time. In Ojibwa Warrior, written with acclaimed writer and photographer Richard Erdoes, Banks tells his own story for the first time and also traces the rise of the American Indian Movement (AIM). The authors present an insider’s understanding of AIM protest events—the Trail of Broken Treaties march to Washington, D.C.; the resulting takeover of the BIA building; the riot at Custer, South Dakota; and the 1973 standoff at Wounded Knee. Enhancing the narrative are dramatic photographs, most taken by Richard Erdoes, depicting key people and events. A compelling account of one of the most influential Indian leaders in the United States, this autobiography describes how Banks was taken from his family as a young child and placed into a government boarding school by the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) in an attempt to "acculturate" him. Nine years later, he returned to the Ojibwa "rez" only to find that he had forgotten his native Anishinabe language and many of his culture’s traditions. "My teachers ... had made me into an ‘apple’—red outside but white inside." Nonetheless, Banks stayed for two years, reconnecting with family and relearning skills like rabbit trapping, before he joined the Air Force in search of "three meals and warm place to sleep." When he returned from his tour in Japan in the late 1950s, he re-experienced the prejudice, brutality and poverty that were preying upon his people in America. Angered by what he saw, Banks founded the American Indian Movement (AIM) with the help of his friends. His retelling of these events reads as seamlessly as a great campfire story (or a well-edited oral transcript). He takes readers deep inside the traditional Sun Dances and Sweat Houses of his Ojibwa Tribe and deep into the action of the Trail of Broken Treaties—a peaceful march on Washington that turned into a historic, six-day takeover of the BIA headquarters. Bank’s 11-year run from the FBI, his many wives and children and the strategies of AIM all find their place in his winding narrative, making this volume an important addition to this history of Native American and civil rights movements in the United States. Banks opens his honest and moving autobiography with the 1973 standoff at Wounded Knee, pondering how he got there, from his 1937 birth in Leech Lake, Minnesota, to a major confrontation with the U.S. government. He recalls being separated from his family, language, and traditions while he lived "a life of innumerable rules" at a Bureau of Indian Affairs boarding school. He escaped at 16, joined the air force, and was later imprisoned for burglary. In prison, Banks studied the history of American Indian civil rights and became committed to the American Indian Movement (AIM), overseen by the spiritual leaders Mary Crow Dog and Leonard Crow Dog, subjects of previous books by coauthor Erdoes. The decision to make AIM confrontational but not violent led to the occupations of Alcatraz and Mt. Rushmore, the 1972 march on Washington, and Wounded Knee, which Banks considers "the greatest event in the history of Native America in the 20th century." For readers who can recall the spotty media coverage of these events, this powerful litany of AIM's accomplishments is especially provocative.

Dennis Banks, an American Indian of the Ojibwa Tribe, is probably the most influential Indian leader of our time. In Ojibwa Warrior, written with acclaimed writer and photographer Richard Erdoes, Banks tells his own story for the very first time and reveals an inside look at the birth of the American Indian Movement.

Born in 1937 and raised by his grandparents on the Leach Lake reservation in Minnesota, Dennis Banks grew up learning traditional Ojibwa lifeways. As a young child he was torn from his home and forced to attend a government boarding school designed to assimilate Indian children into white culture. After years of being white man-ized in these repressive schools, Banks enlisted in the U.S. Air Force, shipping out to Japan when he was only seventeen years old.

After returning to the states, Banks lived in poverty in the Indian slums of Minnesota until he was arrested for stealing groceries to feed his growing family. Although his white accomplice was freed on probation, Banks was sent to prison. There he became determined to educate himself. Hearing about the African American struggle for civil rights, he recognized that American Indians must take up a similar fight. Upon his release, Banks became a founder of AIM, the American Indian Movement, which soon inspired Indians from many tribes to join the fight for American Indian rights. Through AIM, Banks sought to confront racism with activism rooted deeply in Native religion and culture.

Ojibwa Warrior relates Dennis Banks's inspiring life story and the story of the rise of AIM—from the 1972 Trail of Broken Treaties march to Washington, D.C., which ended in the occupation of the Bureau of Indian Affairs building, to the 1973 standoff at Wounded Knee, when Lakota Indians and AIM activists from all over the country occupied the site of the infamous 1890 massacre of three hundred Sioux men, women, and children to protest the bloodshed and corruption at the Pine Ridge Lakota reservation.

Banks tells the inside story of the seventy-one day siege, his unlikely nighttime escape and interstate flight, and his eventual shootout with authorities at an FBI roadblock in Oregon. Pursued and hunted, he managed to reach California. There, authorities refused to extradite him to South Dakota, where the attorney general had declared that the best thing to do with Dennis Banks was to put a bullet through his head.

Years later, after a change in state government, Banks gave himself up to South Dakota authorities. Sentenced to two years in prison, he was paroled after serving one year to teach students Indian history at the Lone Man school at Pine Ridge. Since then, Dennis Banks has organized Sacred Runs for young people, teaching American Indian ways, religion, and philosophy worldwide. Now operating a successful business on the reservation, he continues the fight for Indian rights.

This account is enhanced by dramatic photographs, most taken by Richard Erdoes, of key people and events from the narrative.

Edna Boardman - KLIATT

At the time when the push for African American racial justice and the campaign to end American involvement in the war in Vietnam were shaking the nation, American Indians also sought to right grievances that had long haunted them. In this autobiographical account, Dennis Banks, one of the leaders of a group called the American Indian Movement, opened his eyes to the possibility for dignity and freedoms enjoyed by other citizens but, incredibly, denied to America's first residents. This book is both a history of AIM and the story of Banks's personal quest. Banks provides a valuable perspective on the fight for autonomy that took place in the 1960s and 1970s, and into the 1980s. He tells of the lack of spiritual connection among Native Indians and how it led to the revival of the Sweat Lodge, which helped them to reestablish that connection; he gives an account of the Sun Dance, long outlawed, which he describes as a rite of healing and survival, a ceremony that transcends all others. He tells of his own participation in both of these ceremonies. He also informs readers about the Ghost Dance, which came into existence as white settlers and armies increased pressure on the Native American way of life. Using the tools of civil disobedience they had observed in the fight for African American equality, they fought to reclaim ancestral lands and sacred sites such as the Black Hills and fought restrictions on hunting and fishing rights. He and other Indian leaders led the campaign against the lack of power, our inability to run our own lives, and the control the Bureau of Indian Affairs continued to exercise on them. They challenged the disdain for treaties by the government, limitations(some of them social) on where Indians could go, and police brutality very much like that visited on black Americans. Banks gives an interesting description of the 1973 Wounded Knee shootings. He spent time in prison, but has been released. This is an absorbing, well-written book, a useful Indian perspective on the life-changing events of the 20th century. KLIATT Codes: SA--Recommended for senior high school students, advanced students, and adults. 2004, Univ. of Oklahoma Press, 362p. illus., Ages 15 to adult.

Publisher's description: Dennis Banks, an American Indian of the Ojibwa Tribe, is probably the most influential Indian leader of our time. In Ojibwa Warrior, written with acclaimed writer and photographer Richard Erdoes, Banks tells his own story for the very first time and reveals an inside look at the birth of the American Indian Movement. Born in 1937 and raised by his grandparents on the Leach Lake reservation in Minnesota, Dennis Banks grew up learning traditional Ojibwa lifeways. As a young child he was torn from his home and forced to attend a government boarding school designed to assimilate Indian children into white culture. After years of being "white man-ized" in these repressive schools, Banks enlisted in the U.S. Air Force, shipping out to Japan when he was only seventeen years old. After returning to the states, Banks lived in poverty in the Indian slums of Minnesota until he was arrested for stealing groceries to feed his growing family. Although his white accomplice was freed on probation, Banks was sent to prison. There he became determined to educate himself. Hearing about the African American struggle for civil rights, he recognized that American Indians must take up a similar fight. Upon his release, Banks became a founder of AIM, the American Indian Movement, which soon inspired Indians from many tribes to join the fight for American Indian rights. Through AIM, Banks sought to confront racism with activism rooted deeply in Native religion and culture. Ojibwa Warrior relates Dennis Banks b2 ss inspiring life story and the story of the rise of AIM--from the 1972 "Trail of Broken Treaties" march to Washington, D.C., which ended in the occupation of the Bureau of Indian Affairs building, to the 1973 standoff at Wounded Knee, when Lakota Indians and AIM activists from all over the country occupied the site of the infamous 1890 massacre of three hundred Sioux men, women, and children to protest the bloodshed and corruption at the Pine Ridge Lakota reservation. Banks tells the inside story of the seventy-one day siege, his unlikely nighttime escape and interstate flight, and his eventual shootout with authorities at an FBI roadblock in Oregon. Pursued and hunted, he managed to reach California. There, authorities refused to extradite him to South Dakota, where the attorney general had declared that the best thing to do with Dennis Banks was to "put a bullet through his head." Years later, after a change in state government, Banks gave himself up to South Dakota authorities. Sentenced to two years in prison, he was paroled after serving one year to teach students Indian history at the Lone Man school at Pine Ridge. Since then, Dennis Banks has organized "Sacred Runs" for young people, teaching American Indian ways, religion, and philosophy worldwide. Now operating a successful business on the reservation, he continues the fight for Indian rights. This account is enhanced by dramatic photographs, most taken by Richard Erdoes, of key people and events from the narrative Contents 8 Illustrations 10 1. A Night to Remember 16 2. At the Center of the Universe 25 3. The Yellow Bus 37 4. Interlude 45 5. Machiko 56 6. We AIM Not to Please 71 7. Crow Dog 108 8. On the Warpath 118 9. Yellow Thunder 127 10. Fishing in Troubled Waters 134 11. One Hell of a Smoke Signal 139 12. The Town with the Gunsmoke Flavor 158 13. A Place Called Wounded Knee 170 14. The Siege 180 15. A Nation Reborn 194 16. The Stand Down 209 17. The Waters of Justice Have Been Polluted 223 18. The Symbionese Liberation Army 241 19. The Informer 279 20. Fields of Terror 297 21. Outlawed 312 22. Exile 325 23. Onondaga 342 24. Freedom 351 25. Suddenly I Am an "Elder" 361 26. Looking Back 367 Afterword 374 May 8, 1973-Stand down at Wounded Knee.