Popular Categories

Is AIM being pushed over a cliff?




This
writer now accepts what Gerry Spence wrote me while in law school. Just finishing his book With Justice for Non: Destroying an American Myth and writing him to say thanks for sharing his thoughts on our system of injustice in this country. Receiving a letter from him in reply, he said “Our system of Justice is not about justice at all. It is about keeping the rich and powerful in power.” At the time in 1993, this writer was not willing to accept that as fact but now realize that people of influence and affluence are in total control of our system of injustice. Only rarely does justice happen in our courts.

Such a moment of justice was the acquittal of Richard Marshall in Federal Court this past week. The federal government spent more than a quarter million dollars for paid informants and government witnesses during the recent trial of Marshall. Add to that the cost of keeping Marshall in jail for nearly 19 months.

The government does not care how much it spends, and this writer wishes it was for real justice, not to push AIM over a cliff. Richard Marshall was found not guilty by the all white jury in Federal Court on April 22. Manual Davila was released from jury duty as an alternate and did not participate in jury deliberations. He was the only minority seated on the jury, heard all the evidence but did not deliberate with them. Thelma Rios used to work under him at the Civic Center.

Kamook (Banks) Ecoffey and Serle Chapman were paid informants and their star witness was Fritz Arlo Looking Cloud. He has not been in Federal prison since he came forward in 2008. Convicted of the crime for which Marshall was charged, he told an absolutely unbelievable story about Marshall’s involvement. The jury didn’t buy it.

Thus a new script will have to be written for him for the coming trials of Rios and John Boy (Patton) Graham in state court in July. The death of Annie Mae (Pictou) Aquash was tragic. But taking away a man’s freedom for so long and not being able to prove to an all white jury his role in the death, is just a small part of the injustice in our system. No solution on the death of Annie Mae was accomplished by all of the Feds and Rod Oswald’s pushing in federal court for two weeks.

Who in AIM actually ordered her execution, if that is what happened. Did the order come from Vern Bellecourt at the Bill Means place in Rosebud? Who wrote that note, if there was one and did anyone sign it? Did someone in Rapid City order the execution? All questions left unanswered. The initial botched autopsy which did not even find a bullet lodged in her head is still questionable. Both hands were severed and sent to the FBI Lab. Severing one hand was common practice back in the days, but not both. Who had access to the body after the first autopsy? These questions remain unanswered. But Marshall is fi- nally out of jail. A death from 35 years ago was not solved by prosecuting Marshall.

In the taped interview with Serle Chapman Marshall talked about why AIM was on the Pine Ridge Reservation, to protect the elders. That is honorable. AIM operates freedom schools in Minneapolis and on Pine Ridge. Being there for their children and their education is also honorable.

The federal government finally started keeping track of Indians and crime and not calling them other in 1999 when they started publishing a series called American Indians and Crime with the last in that series this writer could locate issued in December, 2004.

That government report from the Bureau of Justice statistics showed some amazing data for crimes by and against American Indians from 1992-2002 including:

American Indians (AI) experience violence at a rate of 101 violent crimes per 1000 AI, more than twice the rate for the nation at 41 per 1,000 persons. (That means one in 10 AI experience victimization!)

American Indians represented 0.9 percent of the population in 2000. South Dakota (SD) was not one of the top 10 states in American Indian population. SD however ranked second in prosecution of AI for crimes in Indian Country at 751 with Arizona ranking first.

Alaska had highest percent of AI population at 15.6 percent. AI violent crime victims showed that 47% of perpetrators were white, 34 percent other races and 9 percent black. Thus crimes against AI were distinctive in being intraracial, rather than interracial. (Most violent crimes are white/white; black/black etc).

There were 3,738 murders of American Indians from 1976 – 2001. Only 1 percent were murdered by American Indians; and 52 percent by whites. The murders occurred in states containing 61 percent of the AI population not including SD whose data is shown with other states.

Nearly 35 percent of persons in adult South Dakota prisons are Native American while a majority of our AI population are actual residents of a reservation. At least 60 percent of juveniles in Department of Corrections’ facilities are American Indians. Up to one-third of persons in these facilities are factually innocent. Botched investigations abound in our injustice system.

Is the federal government going after AIM because they really care about justice? This writer thinks they are not. Why are they trying to push AIM over a cliff? American Indians are much more likely to be the victim of crimes by whites, with those crimes rarely solved. Few prosecutors really care when an Indian is murdered on a reservation.

Pictou-Aquash was a Canadian Indian and AIM supporter. So many questions still remain about her death. My concern for her daughters is great. They wanted answers but did not receive them during Marshall’s trial. With Rod Oswald prosecuting Patton and Rios in state court, the answers may not come then. Perhaps AG Marty Jackley will assist.

Bonner is a freelance writer who writes from
her home. She may be reached electronically
at bonpidge@gwtc.net; by snail mail at PO
Box 3712, Rapid city, SD 57709-3712; or by
phone at 605.342.5834 ext. 120 – 5-9 only
please.



Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.