Traditional English holiday extends Christmas giving
by David Johnson
Despite its name, Boxing Day, which is celebrated on December 26 in Great Britain, has nothing to do with pugilistic competition. Nor is it a day for people to return unwanted Christmas presents. While the exact origins of the holiday are obscure, it is likely that Boxing Day began in England during the Middle Ages.
Some historians say the holiday developed because servants were required to work on Christmas Day, but took the following day off. As servants prepared to leave to visit their families, their employers would present them with gift boxes.
Church Alms Boxes
Another theory is that the boxes placed in churches where parishioners deposited coins for the poor were opened and the contents distributed on December 26, which is also the Feast of St. Stephen.
As time went by, Boxing Day gift giving expanded to include those who had rendered a service during the previous year. This tradition survives today as people give presents to tradesmen, mail carriers, doormen, porters, and others who have helped them.
The Day after Christmas
Boxing Day is December 26, the day after Christmas, and is celebrated in Great Britain and in most areas settled by the English (the U.S. is the major exception), including Canada, Australia, and New Zealand.
Bank Holidays
Boxing Day is just one of the British bank holidays recognized since 1871 that are observed by banks, government offices, and the post office. The others include Christmas, Good Friday, Easter, Whitmonday (the day after Pentecost), and the banking holiday on the last Monday in August.
St. Stephen's Martyrdom
The Feast of St. Stephen also takes place on December 26. St. Stephen was one of the seven original deacons of the Christian Church who were ordained by the Apostles to care for widows and the poor. For the success of his preaching and his devotion to Christ, St. Stephen was stoned to death by a mob. As he died, he begged God not to punish his killers.
Normally any congressperson can call for a vote on any bill at any time. But just before the shutdown happened, the GOP quietly passed a measure that said only House Majority Leader Eric Cantor can call for the shutdown to end (unless he gives a designee permission). Not even the most senior GOP congressperson, Speaker of the House John Boehner, is allowed to do it, without permission from his own guy.
Here's the thing. Democrats are not always right. Neither are Republicans. The political system is messed up from top to bottom. But this is just crazy. The guy in charge of the GOP can't end the shutdown.
Late on the night of Sept. 30, with the federal government just hours away from shutting down, House Republicans quietly made a small change to the House rules that blocked a potential avenue for ending the shutdown.
It went largely unnoticed at the time. But with the shutdown more than a week old and House Democrats searching for any legislative wiggle room to end it, the move looms large in retrospect in the minds of the minority party.
"What people don't know is that they rigged the rules of the House to keep the government shut down," Rep. Chris Van Hollen (D-MD), ranking member of the House Budget Committee, told TPM in an interview. "This is a blatant effort to make sure that the Senate bill did not come up for a vote."
Here's what happened.
The House and Senate were at an impasse on the night of Sept. 30. The House's then-most-recent ploy for extracting Obamacare concessions from Senate Democrats and the White House -- by eliminating health insurance subsidies for Congress members and their staffs -- had been rejected by the Senate. The 'clean' Senate spending bill was back in the House's court.
When the stage of disagreement has been reached on a bill or resolution with House or Senate amendments, a motion to dispose of any amendment shall be privileged.
With less than two hours to midnight and shutdown, Speaker John Boehner's latest plan emerged. House Republicans would "insist" on their latest spending bill, including the anti-Obamacare provision, and request a conference with the Senate to resolve the two chambers' differences.
Under normal House rules, according to House Democrats, once that bill had been rejected again by the Senate, then any member of the House could have made a motion to vote on the Senate's bill. Such a motion would have been what is called "privileged" and entitled to a vote of the full House. At that point, Democrats say, they could have joined with moderate Republicans in approving the motion and then in passing the clean Senate bill, averting a shutdown.
But previously, House Republicans had made a small but hugely consequential move to block them from doing it.
Here's the rule in question:
In other words, if the House and Senate are gridlocked as they were on the eve of the shutdown, any motion from any member to end that gridlock should be allowed to proceed. Like, for example, a motion to vote on the Senate bill. That's how House Democrats read it.
But the House Rules Committee voted the night of Sept. 30 to change that rule for this specific bill. They added language dictating that any motion "may be offered only by the majority Leader or his designee."
So unless House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-VA) wanted the Senate spending bill to come to the floor, it wasn't going to happen. And it didn't.
"I've never seen this rule used. I'm not even sure they were certain we would have found it," a House Democratic aide told TPM. "This was an overabundance of caution on their part. 'We've got to find every single crack in the dam that water can get through and plug it.'"
Congressional historians agreed that it was highly unusual for the House to reserve such power solely for the leadership.
"I've never heard of anything like that before," Norm Ornstein, resident scholar at the American Enterprise Institute, told TPM.
"It is absolutely true that House rules tend to not have any explicit parliamentary rights guaranteed and narrowed to explicit party leaders," Sarah Binder, a congressional expert at the Brookings Institution, told TPM. "That's not typically how the rules are written."
Republican staff on the House Rules Committee did not respond to multiple requests for comment. But here's what House Rules Chairman Pete Sessions (R-TX) told Rep. Louise Slaughter (D-NY) when she raised those concerns before the rule change was approved.
"What we're attempting to do is to actually get our people together rather than trying to make a decision," Sessions said. "We're trying to actually have a conference and the gentlewoman knows that there are rules related to privileged motions that could take place almost effective immediately, and we're trying to go to conference."
"You know that there could be a privileged motion at any time...," Sessions continued as Slaughter continued to press the issue.
"To call for the vote on the Senate resolution," Slaughter interjected. "I think you've taken that away."
"I said you were correct. We took it away," Sessions said, "and the reason why is because we want to go to conference."
Dylan Scott is a reporter for Talking Points Memo. He previously reported for Governing magazine in Washington, D.C., and the Las Vegas Sun. His work has been recognized with a 2013 American Society of Business Publication Editors award for Best Feature Series and a 2010 Associated Press Society of Ohio award for Best Investigative Reporting. He can be reached at dylan@talkingpointsmemo.com.
Editor's Note: Gordon K. Hirabayashi was a student at University of Washington when the U.S. ordered the removal of Japanese-Americans in the Pacific Northwest. Hirabayashi refused curfew orders, prompting a legal battle. He lost. It wasn't until the 1980s that Hirabayshi's convictions were overturned, putting him firmly in the right on his initial refusal.
After his death in 2012, Hirabayashi’s brother, James Hirabayashi and nephew, Lane Hirabyashi, compiled his diaries and correspondence which follow his experiences as a student through time served in jail for defying U.S. orders. The book gives insight into Hayabayashi's motivations and faith during his time in jail.
“A Principled Stand: The Story of Hirabayashi v. United States" chronicling the life Gordon K. Hirabayashi was released by the University of Washington Press this month. Below is an excerpt which contains Hirabayashi’s formal refusal to comply with orders. He disseminated the refusal to chairmen of the YMCA board where he was a dorm resident:
When my family was eventually moved from Pinedaleto the more permanent War Relocation Authority [WRA] camp known as Tule Lake in Northern California, two women who had been uprooted from the Los Angeles area trudged the dusty road from the opposite end of the camp looking for my mother. When they finally located her, they said they had heard that the mother of the fellow in jail fighting for their rights was housed in that block. They had come to greet her and to say “Thank you!”
In recounting this episode, my mother wrote about what a great lift she had received from that visit. When I read her letter, I experienced a sudden removal of weight from my shoulders, which I hadn’t realized I was carrying. I knew then that nothing I could have said or done could have given her more satisfaction.
In any case, as I prepared to take my stand in Seattle, I heard about Min [Minoru] Yasui in Portland and his refusal to obey the curfew because his case was already going on. As far as the Japanese American community was concerned, in terms of the norms of the 1940s, protesting was not a frontline activity, not even a backline option. The Japanese American Citizens League (JACL) was the big thing in the Japanese community. I knew the leaders, men like Jimmy Sakamoto and Bill Hosokawa. They were working on opposite things from what I was doing, so I never consulted them.
Had Japanese American leaders known of my position while they were still in Seattle, they would have confronted me and said, “You are not even dry behind the ears. How can you take such a step that will create difficulties for the whole group? How do you know there won’t be a backlash? How do you know you are right and the rest of us are wrong?” I would have had difficulty answering their questions.
But I would have had questions for them also. How could they defend America and the Constitution by acceding to a decision made by military authorities to suspend constitutional guarantees, especially when there had been no suspension of the Constitution via martial law? In the end, I would not have changed their views, and they would not have changed mine. By personality, though, while I had independent positions on various things, I was never what you might call the kind of person who habitually protested.
As I followed the press after the U.S. entered the war, the writing was on the wall. The first part of the evacuation process began with the Bainbridge Islanders, who, because of their proximity to naval installations, were moved in March 1942. The last district in Seattle to be evacuated was the northeast section, including the University District, where I was living. The deadline was May 12, 1942. By the end of March, the Bainbridge Island Japanese Americans were gone. At that point, I knew that I wasn’t going. I sat down and wrote a statement:
Why I Refuse to Register for Evacuation
Over and above any man-made creed or law is the natural law of life — the right of human individuals to live and to creatively express themselves. No man was born with the right to limit that law. Nor, do I believe, can anyone justifiably work himself to such a position.
Down through the ages, we have had various individuals doing their bit to establish more securely these fundamental rights. They have tried to help society see the necessity of understanding those fundamental laws; some have succeeded to the extent of having these natural laws recorded. Many have suffered unnatural deaths as a result of their convictions. Yet, today, because of the efforts of some of these individuals, we have recorded in the laws of our nation certain rights for all men and certain additional rights for citizens. These fundamental moral rights and civil liberties are included in the Bill of Rights, U.S. Constitution and other legal records. They guarantee that these fundamental rights shall not be denied without due process of law.
The principles or the ideals are the things which give value to a person’s life. They are the qualities which give impetus and purpose toward meaningful experiences. The violation of human personality is the violation of the most sacred thing which man owns.
This order for the mass evacuation of all persons of Japanese descent denies them the right to live. It forces thousands of energetic, law-abiding individuals to exist in a miserable psychological and a horrible physical atmosphere. This order limits to almost the full extent the creative expressions of those subjected. It kills the desire for a higher life. Hope for the future is exterminated. Human personalities are poisoned. The very qualities which are essential to a peaceful, creative community are being thrown out and abused. Over 60 percent are American citizens, yet they are denied on a wholesale scale without due process of law the civil liberties which are theirs.
If I were to register and cooperate under those circumstances, I would be giving helpless consent to the denial of practically all of the things which give me incentive to live. I must maintain my Christian principles. I consider it my duty to maintain the democratic standards for which this nation lives. Therefore, I must refuse this order for evacuation.
Let me add, however, that in refusing to register, I am well aware of the excellent qualities of the army and government personnel connected with the prosecution of this exclusion order. They are men of the finest type, and I sincerely appreciate their sympathetic and honest efforts. Nor do I intend to cast any shadow upon the Japanese and the other Nisei who have registered for evacuation. They have faced tragedy admirably. I am objecting to the principle of this order, which denies the rights of human beings, including citizens. [May 13, 1942]
I circulated a half-dozen copies to the chairman of the YMCA board; Colonel Kimmel, director of the University of Washington ROTC; and a few YMCA supporters. Dr. Fred Ring said, “I just heard about your position — that you intend to refuse to go along with this. I admire your position . . . but I’m trying to determine whether this is a courageous act or a foolhardy act.” And he was seriously reviewing for himself whether mine was an intelligent way of expressing my objections. Once I was in jail, however, both he and his wife, Mabel, both of whom were Baptist Church and Fellowship of Reconciliation members, were right there supporting me.
About the Author
Gordon K. Hirabayashi (1918-2012) was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom in May 2012. He was professor emeritus of sociology at the University of Alberta in Edmonton. James A. Hirabayashi (1926-2012) was professor emeritus of Asian American Studies at San Francisco State University. Lane Ryo Hirabayashiis professor of Asian American Studies and the George and Sakaye Aratani Professor of the Japanese Incarceration, Redress and Community at UCLA.
John Steinbeck wrote as part of his Noble Peace Prize speech
in 1962: “The writer is delegated to declare and to celebrate man's proven
capacity for greatness of heart and spirit—for gallantry in defeat, for
courage, compassion and love. In the endless war against weakness and despair,
these are the bright rally flags of hope and of emulation. I hold that a writer
who does not believe in the perfectibility of man has no dedication nor any
membership in literature.” And within
the same context, he also wrote, “I have come to believe that a great teacher
is a great artist and that there are as few as there are any other great
artists. Teaching might even be the greatest of the arts since the medium is
the human mind and spirit.”
How can one not be in awe of his perception? As a writer, even in fiction, Steinbeck broke
boundaries of how to reconcile what is humane.
He mixed literary prose and realism with such grit and fortitude that
I’m charmed by his depressing and enriching style. The Grapes of Wrath and Of Mice
and Men are still inside my head, and in fact I have made soft suggestions
to both books in my WWII novel, Eyes Behind Belligerence. I named two of my characters Tom and Rose,
(although they are married and not brother and sister,) as a quiet dedication
to The Grapes of Wrath; and even slid in Of Mice and Men as a
favorite book of one of the protagonists in an effort to understand who has the
right to take away someone’s life. It
also plays into effect of bonding between two unlikely friends who only share
the commonality of their environment.
I discovered Steinbeck in high school, as many secondary
students have before me in English classes.
I’m grateful he was included as part of the curriculum. Up to that point in my life I had not read
that many “goddamns” and “bastards” in YA fiction. In fact, that was the first time I learned
how to spell other swear words not often read in bathroom stalls that rhyme
with Nantucket. And
spelled correctly, I might add. I began
counting how many times these “goddamned bastards” appeared in Of Mice and
Men. And yet we weren’t allowed to
say them in the classroom if we weren’t reading the texts out loud. The reason I bring this particular topic up
is to explain how I began to comprehend a coarse, migrant lifestyle from people
who came out of the Dust Bowl. The book
opened up another world and I loved it.
Not only did I want to be a part of that world by continuing to read
John Steinbeck, but I wanted more. I too
wanted to write about the depravity and faith mankind.
Initially I wanted to be an artist- mainly focusing on
drawing and painting, and I do have a graphics art degree in addition to a
history degree. Because I’m dyslexic,
reading and writing came to me slowly as a child, and I somehow compensated by
memorizing the structure of words. Up
until I was a teenager, I didn’t believe I had any other talent. It has taken me some time to find courage to
peruse a writer’s career. I have a
highly creative brain that engages in any creative outlet possible- including
writing, which later has dominated my desire to be creative both visually,
(describing scenes like describing paintings,) and intellectually. And as a
teenager, while investigating American history, I came across the
Japanese-American internment camps. When I learned more about the camps I felt
compelled to then write about these camps. Why?
I don’t have any Japanese ancestry in my family tree. I live in the Midwest
and grew-up in a medium size town where cultural diversity is a bit
underdeveloped. My reason is
simple: I don’t want to continue to live
in a conical world. Consciousness does
not develop and mature by existing in a frozen pond. I wanted to write about issues of camp life
that has never been written about before in fiction. Much like what Steinbeck
did when writing about migrant workers during his time.
I like to believe that after decades worth of introspection
we have learned more wisely than something that happened yesterday. And that’s why I love history: To learn. To
question. To redeem our humanity. My philosophy is this: “Submitting to a
moment in time allows us to remember, or to muse even, over our society’s past.
Although writing can educate as well as entertain, yet what makes art
incredibly amazing, to that of paintings, photographs, and music, it transposes
emotion into another form of humanity, and therefore, it is our humanity which
keeps all of us striving for an improved future.” I think John would agree on some transcending
level.
Reprint from Telelaget of America The Sioux Uprising of 1862 was primarily the result of the government's failure to honor the terms of the Treaty of Traverse de Sioux in 1851. The Indians gave up over 20 million acres of land, preserving for themselves a reservation of the land on each side of the Minnesota river, roughly from the Minnesota border to New Ulm. The government did not honor these terms, and a number of pioneer settlements began to sprang up on what legally was reservation land. The government promised yearly payments to the tribes for the land they gave up; the payments were often late and were gobbled up by the trading post owners who charged outrageous prices but offered credit to Indians during the year. In the summer of 1862, the payments were once again late and the Indians were starving.
On August 4, 1862, representatives of the northern Sissetowan and Wahpeton Dakota bands met at the Upper Sioux Agency in the northwestern part of the reservation and successfully negotiated to obtain food. When two other bands of the Dakota, the southern Mdewakanton and the Wahpekute, turned to the Lower Sioux Agency for supplies on August 15, 1862, they were rejected. Indian Agent (and Minnesota State Senator) Thomas Galbraith managed the area and would not distribute food without payment to these bands.
At a meeting of the Dakota, the U.S. government and local traders, the Dakota representatives asked the representative of the government traders, Andrew Jackson Myrick, to sell them food on credit. His response was said to be, "So far as I am concerned, if they are hungry let them eat grass or their own dung."But the importance of Myrick's comment at the time, early August 1862, is historically unclear. Myrick was later found dead with grass stuffed in his mouth.
With the American army focused on the Civil War, it seemed to be to the Indians' advantage to take military action to redress these grievances. Minnesota's pioneers were largely unaware of the just nature of the Indians' plight, and they suffered prolonged and intense terror in the fall of 1862. Estimates vary but between 450 and 800 settlers were killed. Large areas were depopulated as panic-stricken settlers rushed to Fort Ridgely or to towns like St. Peter. The settlers formed groups of citizen soldiers to protect themselves. They gave themselves names like The Le Sueur Tigers, St. Peter Guards, and the Scandinavian Guards of Nicollet County. Soldiers rushed from St. Paul to defend the counties of southern Minnesota.
The uprising lasted only six weeks. 425 Indians were indicted; 303 were sentenced to hang and 20 to imprisonment. President Lincoln commuted all but 38 of the death sentences. A massive scaffold was built, and on the day after Christmas in 1862, all 38 men and boys were hung simultaneously. It was the largest public execution in American history.
Growing up in Mankato, Minnesota, John Biewen says, nobody ever talked about the most important historical event ever to happen there: in 1862, it was the site of the largest mass execution in U.S. history. Thirty-eight Dakota Indians were hanged after a war with white settlers. John went back to Minnesota to figure out what really happened 150 years ago, and why Minnesotans didn’t talk about it much after.
Russell Means, who walked on early the morning of October 22, is seen here on January 31, 1989 testifying before a special investigative committee of Senate Select Committee.
As news of his walking on spreads across Indian country, we’ve taken the time to look back at Russell Means’ storied life. He passed at 4:44 a.m. on October 22 at his home in Porcupine, South Dakota.
Means laughed in response to being called the most famous American Indian since Sitting Bull and Crazy Horse by the Los Angeles Times. Last year he told the Rapid City Journal: “I thought Jim Thorpe was,” he said with a grin. “Jim Thorpe was my hero.”
November 10, 1939
Born on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in South Dakota.
1942
Family moved to the San Francisco Bay area.
1958
Graduated from San Leandro High School in San Leandro, California.
Participated in a prayer vigil on top of Mount Rushmore to, as the New York Times put it, “dramatize Lakota claims to Black Hills land.”
Helped lead AIM’s Thanksgiving Day demonstration at Plymouth Rock where 200 American Indians seized the Mayflower, painted Plymouth Rock red and observed a day of mourning.
1972
Participated in the Trail of Broken Treaties from California to Washington, D.C. (AIM was one of eight Indian organizations involved). Led the week-long occupation of the Bureau of Indian Affairs to protest broken treaties.
Filed a $9 million lawsuit, as director of the Cleveland AIM chapter, against the Cleveland Indians baseball team for its use of “Chief Wahoo,” its toothy Indian mascot. “It epitomizes the stereotyped images of the American Indian,” Means said. “It attacks the cultural heritage of the American Indian and destroys Indian pride.”
Russell Means, AIM leader on the Pine Ridge Reservation, left, tells villagers on March 7, 1973 in Wounded Knee that they must continue their fight against the government until their demands are met. At right is Dennis Banks another AIM Leader. (AP Photo)
February 27, 1973
Was a leader of the armed 71-day standoff at Wounded Knee against federal agents. Thousands of shots were fired, two Indians were killed and an agent was paralyzed. Means and Dennis Banks, another protest leader, were charged with assault larceny and conspiracy.
1974
Case against Means from the Wounded Knee standoff dismissed for prosecutorial misconduct.
Clash between police and Indian activists outside a Rapid City, South Dakota courthouse.
Republic of Lakotah released its Declaration of Continuing Independence by the Frist International Indian Treaty Council.
Murder charges are filed against Means and Richard Marshall, an AIM member, for the shooting death of Martin Montileaux at the Longbranch Saloon in Scenic, South Dakota. Means was acquitted, but Marshall served 24 years in prison.
Means shot in the abdomen during a tussle with an Indian Affairs officer in North Dakota.
In another incident, a bullet grazed his forehead while he was on the Rosebud Indian Reservation in Mission, South Dakota in what Means called a drive-by assassination attempt. He received 12 stitches to close the wound.
1976
Survived another assassination attempt in South Dakota when he was shot in the chest.
Led a caravan of 500 Sioux and Cheyenne during the centennial of Lieutenant Colonel George Armstrong Custer’s last stand at Little Big Horn in Montana.
Native American leader Russel Means and actor Marlon Brando appear on NBC's Today Show in Washington, D.C. on Tuesday, July 18, 1978. Brando is a supporter of political rights of American Indians. (AP Photo/Charles Tasnadi)
1978
Participated in the “longest walk” when American Indians walked from San Francisco to Washington, D.C., which was the largest, single-day peaceful protest up to that time. The demonstration blocked all anti-Indian legislation in Congress.
1979
Served one year in prison following the riot at the Rapid City courthouse. He was stabbed by another inmate while serving his time.
1980
Gave “For America to Live, Europe Must Die!” speech at Black Hills International Survival Gathering.
“You cannot judge the real nature of a European revolutionary doctrine on the basis of the changes it proposes to make within the European power structure and society,” he says during the speech. “You can only judge it by the effects it will have on non-European peoples. This is because every revolution in European history has served to reinforce Europe’s tendencies and abilities to export destruction to other peoples, other cultures and the environment itself. I defy anyone to point out an example where this is not true.
1983
The $9 million lawsuit against the Cleveland Indians baseball club for its Chief Wahoo mascot was settled out of court for $35,000 and is later widely criticized.
1984
Served as a vice presidential candidate joining Larry Flynt in his unsuccessful bid for the Republican nomination.
1987
Ran for president. Means campaigned for the Libertarian Party nomination but lost it to Ron Paul, a former and future Congressman from Texas.
With the Colorado chapter of AIM, stopped the Columbus Day parade in Denver, which was meant to celebrate the 500th anniversary of Columbus’ “discovery” of America.
1993
Hosted HBO documentary “Paha Sapa.”
1994
Appeared in “Natural Born Killers” as the “Old Indian.”
1995
His autobiography Where White Men Fear to Tread was released with writing help from Marvin J. Wolf.
Here are a couple of passes from the memoir:
“For millennia, we Indians lived as part of the earth. We were part of the prairies and the forests and the mountains. We knew every blade of grass, every plant, every tree. We knew the winds and the clouds, the rivers and the lakes. We knew every one of the creatures that fly and crawl and burrow and run and swim—all our relatives with whom we share this earth. We are part of the earth, but not the most important part.”
“Sadly, the white man equates happiness with the pleasing of his senses. My Uncle Matthew King used to shake his head and say, ‘The white man is like a little child; you have to be patient with him.’ But Grandmother Earth is running out of patience. What Eurocentric societies have done to indigenous peoples all over the world they are now doing to themselves— poisoning the land and air and water, abusing one another as they abuse our sacred Grandmother. We are approaching the abyss of species suicide.”
Provided voice talent as Powhatan in Disney’s animated film “Pocahontas.”
Starred as Sitting Bull in the CBS mini-series “Buffalo Girls.”
1997
Charged with threatening, and battery against Leon Grant, his Omaha father-in-law, and battery against Jeremiah Bitsui, a Navajo. Means pleads not guilty to these charges.
American Indian activist Russell Means, center, is arrested in Whiteclay, Nebraska, on Saturday, July 3, 1999. Means and eight other American Indians were arrested for crossing the police line after marching from the Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota to Whiteclay. The march was held protesting treaty violations, the unsolved murder of two Sioux men and the sale of alcohol in Whiteclay. (AP Photo/Ed Andrieski)
1999
Held a press conference regarding the murder of Anna Mae Aquash. He says, “The reason I called for this press conference for my participation is to tell the world, about the leadership of the American Indian Movement at that time, was well aware of what happened to Anna Mae, and two of the leaders ordered her death. Vernon Bellecourt made the phone call to the house on Rosebud, which… [Means gets emotional]… is my brother’s house… and Clyde Bellecourt took the call from Vernon and then issued the order for her death, for her murder, in 1974 and 1975.”
“If AIM is the perpetrator of this grisly murder, in collusion with the FBI, then I want it brought out…”
2000
Arrested in Denver, Colorado while protesting the Columbus Day parade.
2002
Campaigned to become governor of New Mexico but was barred from the ballot.
2004
Vernon Bellecourt denies allegations of involvement in Anna Mae Aquash’s murder.
Ran for the office of president of the Oglala Sioux Tribe but was beaten by Cecilia Fire Thunder, the first woman to be elected to that position.
2004
Arlo Looking Cloud is convicted of first-degree murder for his role in the shooting death of Aquash.
2007
Republic of Lakotah withdraws from the United States to become a free and independent country.
2010
John Graham was convicted of felony murder for his role in the shooting death of Aquash.
2011
Means is diagnosed with esophageal, or throat cancer and turns to indigenous medicines and spiritual healing ceremonies.
August 14, 2012
Made his last video post to his YouTube page. He titled the video “Clouds.” Watch it here:
