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Brando supported AIM activists
Argus Leader (Sioux Falls, SD) - July 3, 2004
Author: Staff, Peter Harriman, Staff
BY PETER HARRIMAN pharrima@argusleader.com The most famous line from Marlon Brando 's 1953 film, "The Wild One," has him responding to the inquiry "What are you rebelling against, Johnny?" with the flippant reply "What've you got?" But Brando , who died Friday at age 80, was a sincere and steadfast supporter of Native American activism during its troubled era of the 1970s, say early American Indian Movement leaders Russell Means and Clyde Bellecourt. "He probably, as a single individual, did more than any other individual in the 20th century in terms of assisting American Indian people," Means said. Brando 's connection to the struggle in Indian Country probably reached its apex March 27, 1973. That is when he had a young actress, Sacheen Littlefeather, walk onstage for him and refuse the Academy Award he won for his role in "The Godfather" because of the AIM occupation of Wounded Knee. In South Dakota that evening, the store at Wounded Knee was packed with Native Americans gathered around the lone television that was usually tuned to news broadcasts. "It was Oscar night," Means recalled. "Those of us not on duty were in the room watching. There must have been dozens of us." No one knew what was coming. When Littlefeather announced that Brando was declining the honor, "we drowned out the second half of what she said," Means said. "When he refused the Oscar, that was a huge morale boost for us." Bellecourt and Means said Brando was drawn to Native American causes by efforts of Northwest tribes to gain treaty rights to fish salmon and steelhead runs. "He took an early stand and studied things like that," Bellecourt said. "He was well-versed on the issues." Means first met Brando in 1974 when Brando flew him and AIM co-founder Dennis Banks to Los Angeles to discuss making a movie about the Wounded Knee occupation. In August 1978, Brando and fellow actor Harry Belafonte came to Sioux Falls to take part in a rally supporting Means, who was serving a sentence in the South Dakota Penitentiary. The day of that event, Means said, he was stabbed by another inmate. The attention that attack and the rally brought to Means and AIM helped set the direction for the Indian rights movement. "I was having press conferences in prison," Means said. "When you are in the struggle, any news is good news. Brando brought coverage, and everything else was also covered. That is why we embarked on the strategy we were a part of, and Marlon enjoyed helping us." Means said Brando 's upbringing in Nebraska was central to his concern for Native Americans. "He knew of the Indian people there, and his sense of history was such that he wondered why there wasn't mention of Indians in his school history books," Means said. "That piqued his interest, which continued throughout his adult life." Bellecourt was convinced that Brando , who attended a sweat lodge ceremony with him on a reservation in Minnesota in 1975, was sincerely interested in Native American causes. "He was very cordial, friendly and humble," Bellecourt said. In November 1975, Brando gave Banks, who was on the run from the law, his motor home and $10,000, Banks wrote in his autobiography, "Ojibwa Warrior." Brando drifted away from the Indian movement in the mid-1980s, Means said. "He called Dennis Banks and me to his home and announced that he was getting out of Indian affairs because every Indian Tom, Dick and Harry and Jo Ann and Mary were nickel and diming him, and he just couldn't concentrate on the major issues," Means said. "That was about the time the American Indian Movement began to wither and die, so it was very apt." Friday morning, a daughter told Means that Brando had died. "What crossed my mind is, I wish I could have seen him one more time before he died," Means said. "He was certainly a friend of Indian people." Reach reporter Peter Harriman at 575-3615.

GUNFIGHT AT OGLALA
Argus Leader (Sioux Falls, SD) - June 25, 2000
Author: Local Staff, Lee Williams, Local Staff
In 1975, two FBI agents were gunned down on the Pine Ridge reservation. Amid growing scrutiny of the case ... FBI opens Peltier files Convicted killer regrets violence but denies guilt By LEE WILLIAMS Argus Leader LEAVENWORTH, Kan. - Leonard Peltier says he regrets the bloody shootout near Oglala 25 years ago that left two FBI agents and an American Indian Movement member dead. But, in an interview last week at the federal penitentiary in Leavenworth, Kan., the 55-year-old Peltier carefully added that he did not kill Special Agents Jack R. Coler and Ronald A. Williams. "I have so much remorse. I think about it a lot," said Peltier, streaks of gray showing in his jet-black hair. "I wish I could have prevented it. But I didn't kill those people, and I'm very sorry lives were lost that day." Peltier is serving two life sentences for the shootings in a case which has been examined, dissected and critiqued almost since the day of his arrest in 1976. According to trial testimony, on the morning of June 26, 1975, the FBI agents were following a red-and-white Chevrolet Suburban on a gravel road about 3-1/2 miles southeast of Oglala on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation. Suddenly, at least seven rifles opened fire on them from three elevated positions 180 to 220 yards away. The poorly armed agents were pinned in a deadly cross-fire at the bottom of a shallow depression. Coler, 28, and Williams, 27, were wounded in the gunfight. But they died after being shot with a high-velocity rifle at close range. During the next year, four men were arrested in connection with the shootings. Charges against one were dropped two others were acquitted. On April 18, 1977, a Fargo jury convicted Peltier of two counts of first-degree murder. Celebrities including Robert Redford, Whoopi Goldberg, Nelson Mandela and Mother Teresa have called for clemency for Peltier. And in light of what some see as mounting public support for a presidential pardon for Peltier, the FBI on Monday will take the unusual measure of placing photographs, documents and other evidence in the murder case on its Web site for public perusal. "We have been bad in the past about getting our message out," said Chip Burrus, the FBI's assistant special agent in charge of Indian Country. "We need to stay away from all the bad things that have happened to Native Americans and concentrate on those 20 minutes on the Jumping Bull compound." The FBI opened the files for the Argus Leader on Friday. Pictures of bullet-riddled vehicles and an arsenal of weapons - from AR-15s and M-1 carbines to grenades - are among evidence to be included on the agency's Web site. And opening up the files to the public is sure to ignite the always-smoldering debate over what really happened on that hot June day on the Jumping Bull ranch. "This is one of the worst shoot-outs in FBI history," Burrus said. "Two young FBI agents with service revolvers ... the terror going through their minds we can never imagine." Among the issues that have kept the Peltier case a matter of public debate for decades: FBI officials say Peltier has changed his story several times since his arrest. For instance, he first said he didn't know who killed the agents. He later changed his statement, saying someone he calls Mr. X shot Williams and Coler. AIM leaders have said the shooting was not an ambush, as painted by prosecutors, but rather an act of self-defense. They say the FBI had trained and equipped a vigilante group on the Pine Ridge reservation. That day, AIM leaders say, the FBI agents were mistaken for the armed vigilantes who had terrorized the area. FBI officials call that theory preposterous. Peltier alleges that prosecutors coerced false testimony from a woman who said she was an eyewitness to the shooting. Officials used that testimony to get him extradited from Canada. The ballistics evidence introduced in the trial also has been questioned. And Peltier said he discovered other ballistics evidence that was withheld from the jury. The government is withholding more than 6,000 pages of documents about the case, Peltier said. FBI officials acknowledge that the documents were withheld but add that they did so because Peltier didn't pay a bill for thousands of pages of documents received earlier. Pine Ridge unrest Both sides agree the Pine Ridge reservation was in turmoil in 1975. Burrus said there were 12 agents working out of the Rapid City FBI office alone, many on temporary duty from other field offices. The violence had escalated in the early 1970s, in part because of the convergence of two events: the election of Dick Wilson as tribal chairman and the growing activism of AIM. Wilson created a vigilante force known as Guardians of the Oglala Nation. The men were derisively referred to by tribal members as goons. AIM became allied with a group opposed politically to the Wilson administration and in favor of a return to traditional ways. In 1973, tension between Wilson supporters and opponents boiled over. AIM led a 71-day takeover of Wounded Knee, site of the 1890 massacre by U.S. Army soldiers of more than 200 followers of Chief Big Foot. "After Wounded Knee, we knew the elders and traditional people were under attack on the reservation from the goons," said Clyde Bellecourt, AIM co-founder and veteran of the Wounded Knee occupation. "We asked young Indian men from across the country to come live there. Wounded Knee was a cry for help." Bellecourt and others have accused the FBI of training Wilson's forces, arming them with intelligence and weapons in retaliation for the occupation of Wounded Knee. Burrus bristles at the allegations. "That the FBI would intentionally supply people with weapons so they could intimidate and harm other people is preposterous." Enter Peltier Peltier is an enrolled member of the Turtle Mountain Chippewa Tribe in North Dakota. As a young man, he became a tribal activist, working to improve conditions for tribal members. Peltier had traveled around the country, working automotive and construction jobs. In the early 1970s, he met Vernon Bellecourt, Clyde's brother, in Denver. Peltier was impressed with the work AIM was doing for Indian people. "Later, I met Dennis Banks and liked what he had to say," Peltier recalls. "He asked me to travel with him, and I agreed." In Flagstaff, Ariz., Peltier sat in on a meeting with a delegation from Pine Ridge that had come to request AIM's assistance. "They made such an emotional request," he said. "We decided to go." Peltier said he didn't consider AIM a paramilitary group. "We didn't have much money for ammunition." Burrus sees it differently. "He was the leader of a group of burglars and thugs." Fateful day On the day of the shootings, Peltier said, he was in an AIM encampment known as Tent City, located in the woods just southeast of Oglala. The camp, a collection of canvas tipis and wall tents, was northeast of the site where the agents' bodies were found. "We had heard rumors of a possible goon assault," Peltier said in the interview room at Leavenworth. "We were aware of other threats. Tensions were high. I heard bullets zinging and hit the ground." Peltier said he ran through several cabins in the area that morning, checking the welfare of those inside. "I heard whimpering in one and found some people hiding under a bed." Taking up a surplus British .303 Lee-Enfield rifle and a 30-30 carbine, Peltier said, he began shooting toward the source of the incoming rounds. "When we first started receiving gunfire, I fired that way, but I didn't see anybody. I never shot those agents," he insisted. "I was never shooting specifically at them." Peltier still believes the gunfire was coming from Bureau of Indian Affairs police. The FBI investigation revealed a different chain of events on June 26, 1975. Williams and Coler were looking for Jimmy Eagle, who was wanted for robbery. The agents followed the Suburban into a shallow depression, radioing to other agents in the vicinity when the vehicle stopped. They immediately reported gunfire. "If you don't get here quickly, we're dead men," Williams screamed into the radio, according to FBI transcripts and records. A total of 125 bullet holes were later found in the two men's cars. The gunshot wounds incapacitated both agents. But the men were alive, Burrus said, before Peltier walked to where they lay and executed them with shots to the head from his AR-15. The AR-15 Peltier denies ever using the AR-15, a semiautomatic version of the military's M-16. Investigators found one shell casing in the trunk of Coler's car that extractor tests later proved came from the AR-15. With its high-velocity ammunition and large-capacity magazines, the AR-15 outclassed all other guns in the fight. Agents recovered 114 spent shells of .223 ammunition from that area. They say the shells came from the same AR-15. "There were a number of ARs there that day," Peltier explained. "After Vietnam, it was a popular gun." Once the shooting stopped, Peltier said, he never approached the wounded agents. Mr. X did. "I know I've said in the past who he is. I said it out of anger. I don't know who it is, either Mr. X, Y or Z," Peltier said over the incessant hum of a soft drink machine. He said he left the area on foot soon after the shooting stopped. "We decided to get the hell out of there," he recalled. "We were going to drive out but later decided to walk. After we crossed a creek, we knelt down with a pipe and prayed. I saw the shadow of an eagle, heard the wings flapping and followed him out of there." The FBI insists Peltier had the only AR-15 that day. He used it, the FBI believes, to execute the wounded agents. "When you see a weapon like that, you don't forget it. It's distinctive," said Special Agent Doug Grell, who was assigned the case and assisted with the prosecutions. Michael Anderson, an AIM member who was at the scene of the shooting, testified in Peltier's trial. Other AIM members at the scene, according to the FBI, included Robert Robideau, Darrelle Dean "Dino" Butler, Norman Charles and Stuntz. "Michael Anderson saw Peltier, Robideau and Butler walk up to the agents after the shooting stopped. He turned his head and heard several shots," Grell said. Anderson was killed in a car accident several years ago. Gory details Dr. Thomas Noguchi, then Los Angeles County coroner, assisted in reconstructing the crime scene. His testimony addressed the disabling wounds the agents received from a distance and the fatal wounds that were inflicted at close range. Noguchi said the first shots hit Coler in the arm and immediately took him out of the fight. "Anderson saw Coler open his truck and get out the long guns," Grell said. "He was hit by a round passing through the trunk lid." When the soft-nosed bullet hit the hard metal of the trunk, it flattened out like a half-dollar, Grell said. The round tore a gaping hole through Coler's arm. The cold, dispassionate testimony of the medical examiner never mentions the gallantry Williams displayed that day. According to FBI records, Williams had been shot in the foot, side and left arm but still managed to crawl to his partner's aid. While receiving incoming fire, he was able to remove his shirt and tie it around Coler's arm as a tourniquet. The agents managed to squeeze off only five rounds during the entire fight, Grell said. They fired three rounds from their pistols, one from a shotgun and one from a .308 rifle. Burrus and others say that because of the distances involved, the pistols and shotguns were useless. Their attackers, Burrus said, were armed with superior weapons, had the advantage of surprise and occupied higher ground. According to the coroner's report, Williams had a defensive wound to his hand, as if trying to ward off the final shot to his head. The bullet tore a finger off his hand and slammed into his brain, killing him instantly. Coler, Grell said, was shot twice in the head as he lay on the ground unconscious. The first round wasn't fatal. The second was. Burrus said the agents were dead by noon. Their bodies weren't recovered until four hours later. Little is known about Joe Stuntz' death. He was shot by law enforcement officers. Burrus said Stuntz had stayed behind after two groups of AIM members left on foot. He was wearing one of the dead agents' FBI jackets when his body was recovered. There were no bullet holes in the coat, so some have alleged that it was placed on Stuntz' body after he was killed. Burrus said that Stuntz was killed by one round to the forehead, fired from a distance. The AR-15 disappeared until Sept. 10, 1975. The car explosion Robideau, Norman Charles and Anderson were driving a Plymouth station wagon on the Kansas Turnpike near Wichita that day. The old vehicle had been purchased by Peltier in Denver, the FBI said, and was loaded with arms, ammunition and explosives. Some of the explosives, which included sticks of dynamite, detonation cord and hand grenades, rolled too close to a hole in the exhaust pipe, Burrus said. The results were dramatic. Once smoke began filling the interior of the car, the occupants bailed out. The explosion that followed peeled the roof off the wagon like a can of sardines. When the fire died down and agents were able to sift through what was left, they found several charred weapons, including the remains of an AR-15. Though the plastic stock and grips had melted, Burrus said, forensic experts were able to remove the weapons bolt and place it into a functioning rifle for ballistics examination. That testing also would become a source of controversy. When a round is fired, the soft brass cartridge case is marked by the weapon's firing pin and the extractor - the part of the bolt that strips the empty cartridge from the chamber. Each weapon leaves its own unique marks, not unlike a fingerprint. Burrus said the extractor tests determined that the AR-15 recovered from the Wichita Turnpike was the same weapon used to kill Coler and Williams. But the firing pin tests were inconclusive. The pin was too "smooth." Peltier disputes that. "It was negative," he said of the second test. "And the firing pin test never came out at trial." Peltier arrest The day before the Wichita explosion, Peltier had been stopped by Oregon State Police in a recreational vehicle that was registered to Marlon Brando , Burrus said. Peltier fired at the troopers and fled, Burrus said, making his way to Hinton, Alberta. Peltier later abandoned the RV. When investigators searched the vehicle, they found Coler's pistol. Peltier's fingerprint was recovered from the weapon. Peltier was cornered by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police in February 1976 and arrested. U.S. prosecutors started extradition proceedings. They used an affidavit signed by Myrtle Poor Bear to persuade the Canadian authorities to hand over Peltier. In later appeals, Peltier's defense lawyers challenged the validity of that affidavit, which said Peltier had planned to kill federal agents prior to the day of the shooting. Poor Bear's affidavit also states she was Peltier's girlfriend and was present during the gunfight. "I saw Leonard Peltier shoot the FBI agents," the affidavit states. The prosecution never put the woman on the stand during Peltier's trial. "We had never met," Peltier said of Poor Bear. "I was very surprised and shocked by the affidavit. Judge (Paul) Benson ruled her incompetent to testify at trial." Peltier believes Poor Bear was coerced by agents into making a statement. The FBI denies the charge. Said Burrus: "There were 4,000 interviews conducted. She was one of those 4,000." Peltier claimed the false extradition affidavit violated his rights. "If anybody's rights were trampled on, it was Canada's," said Burrus. "They did a top-to-bottom comprehensive review last year and concluded there was no wrongdoing in the extradition process." The findings, he said, were communicated to U.S. Attorney General Janet Reno in a letter from her Canadian counterpart. "And Poor Bear's information was never used in trial," Burrus said. Outcome of charges Robideau and Butler were acquitted of murder charges. Burrus said the judge in that case allowed testimony on the reservationwide climate of fear. Charges against a fourth man were dropped. Peltier has changed his story on several occasions, the FBI said. "He's full of inconsistencies," said Special Agent Grell. "First he said he was never there. Then he said he was there. Then he said he was at Tent City. Then the stuff about Mr. X." Peltier said his story hasn't changed. "I might tell it a little different, but look at it. My story hasn't changed." He points instead to missing documents that he claims are more important. Peltier had filed a Freedom of Information Act request to obtain documents pertaining to the case. He said the government refused to give him many of the records. "There are 6,000 documents that the government is withholding about the case," he said. "They say they're a threat to national security." Burrus said the documents were withheld, but not for security reasons. "He stiffed us on the bill," he said. Burrus said Peltier's defense team was given all the documents it requested for the trial and subsequent appeals. After the trial, he said, Peltier filed the FOIA request for additional documents. "We sent him 18,000 pages, and he filed a second FOIA request for 6,000 more," Burrus said. "But he never paid for the 18,000 pages. We never got the money." Peltier today Serving time in the "Hot House," as inmates in the federal penitentiary call Leavenworth, has taken a toll on Peltier's health. He's become the institution's best-known inmate, granting hundreds of interviews and receiving international notoriety. He occupies his days painting contemporary American Indian art and working in the prison furniture shop. His health doesn't allow much more. Besides his problems hypertension, diabetes, heart problems, kidney stones and high cholesterol, a rusty nail encountered in his childhood has led to a lifelong battle with lockjaw. "My jaw stayed frozen open 13 millimeters," he said. He first underwent surgery for the condition in 1996 and was seen at the Mayo Clinic earlier this year. "It's getting better, but it hurts, and I've got no bite strength, so I can't eat tough meats or vegetables." Effects on victims' families Peltier appears sincere when he says he regrets what happened that day in western South Dakota. "There were a number of lives that were ruined that day," he said. "I'm sure those agents were just following orders. I'm sure their families miss them," he said, pointing out that three lives were lost that day. "I know Joe Stuntz's kids and communicate with them. They miss their dad enormously. Their lives were ruined, too." Family members of the slain agents issued written statements in response to questions from the Argus Leader. "The loss of our son is too personal and painful to discuss," wrote the parents of Ronald Williams. "His death leaves us and a devoted sister." Agent Grell said that Williams was a former sergeant on the Los Angeles Police Department. He had been a special agent for three years. He was single and had just purchased a starter home in Rapid City. Jack Coler's widow, Peggy, wrote that her husband enjoyed hiking, running and skiing. "Keeping in good physical shape was a high priority of Jack's." In addition to his wife, Coler left behind two small sons, his parents, one brother and two sisters. "The family is absolutely opposed to either parole or clemency for Leonard Peltier ... A life sentence is just that - Leonard Peltier should remain in prison for the rest of his life," Peggy Coler wrote. Reach reporter Lee Williams at 331-2318 or lwilliam@argusleader.com
Section: Front page Oglala Page: 1AIndex Terms: Leonard PeltierRecord Number: sio9973767843404Copyright (c) Argus Leader. All rights reserved. Reproduced with the permission of Gannett Co., Inc. by NewsBank, inc.