[NYTr] More on the Late Vernon Bellecourt AIM & Indigenous Activist Date: Tue, 16 Oct 2007 18:29:13 -0500 (CDT) Via NY Transfer News Collective * All the News that Doesn't Fit Previous obit: Native American Rights Activist Vernon Bellecourt Dead at 75 10/15/07 http://blythe-systems.com/pipermail/nytr/Week-of-Mon-20071015/070214.html For more articles about the work he did during his life, and the controversies he became involved in, see this link: http://tinyurl.com/24bc2z The AP/CNN obit headline is idiotic, but the obit goes into some of his activism. Please see the appeal at the very end from Emily Kunstler. sent by Ed Pearl - Oct 16, 2007 Evan Davis comments on Bellecourt: I knew and really liked this man and, although I had no specific plans to see him or interview him again I guess I unconsciously thought such an encounter was inevitable and was looking forward to it. Now I am recalling so many of the things he said in my presence and un-finished stories he began that I hoped to hear him conclude - like the massive demonstration he attended in Mexico City as part of a Native American delegation where all the streets leading to the Zocalo were filled with demonstrators calling for socialism or at least progressive reform. He had very recently broken his leg and speakers placed him in the from tow of the seated section but even at that close distance the cheering of the crowds prevented him from clearly hearing the speeches. He told me of how in that moment he could feel the world beginning to awaken and change like a sudden warm Spring breeze. Vernon spoke at Kent State one year for the May 4 memorial and shared the stage with Julia Butterfly Hill, Ramona Africa and Noam Chomsky. Vernon's speech was impassioned and indignant as he compared the assault on the students to repression of protesters of all stripes including the Native Americans who occupied Alcatraz, and how the shootings on that campus had a parallel to those at Pine Ridge and at Wounded Knee. He said that the treaties the American government offered Native Americans with no intention of ever honoring them were broken again in spirit when the civil rights of the students at Kent and Jackson were shattered with bullets. Vernon spoke in Winona LaDuke's stead at a conference I helped organize after Winona canceled on less than 24 hour notice. I had VErnon's number and called him at about 10:30 the night before the conference. He was on a plane the following afternoon and arrived in time to attend the weekly Women in Black vigil with Amy Goodman. He spoke that night for nearly 3 hours. Ryme Khatkouda and Errol Maitland ere there to record it and web-cast it. At another conference on the same campus where Vernon spoke on the plight of occupied Palestine I recall how furious he got when some rabid Zionist hecklers tried to shout down another Native American friend who was speaking in his capacity as an army veteran. Vernon raised his walking cane and bellowed at them that they had no right to be in America and that they were guests who were behaving discourteously toward their hosts. He actually shut them up, at least until their bussed-in reinforcements arrived. I also regret all the more the several times when I urged Vernon to wrap up one of his lengthy speeches. I always found his orations very engaging, but, like Castro his concept of time related only to how much he had to say and how long he felt like taking to say it. One of the things that upset me about the popularity of Ward Churchill, a man who Bellecourt insisted was a fraud, when Vernon was easily as articulate and insightfull, and, in my opinion far more astute.Vernon had an optimism about him that glimmered through his deep abiding frustration and disappointment with America in twilight of empire. -Evan *** AP via CNN - Oct 14, 2007 http://www.cnn.com/2007/US/10/14/bellecourt.obit.ap/index.html#cnnSTCText Activist who opposed Indian sports nicknames dies at 75 INNEAPOLIS, Minnesota (AP) -- Vernon Bellecourt, who fought against the use of Indian nicknames for sports teams as a longtime leader of the American Indian Movement, has died at age 75. Bellecourt died Saturday at Abbott Northwestern Hospital of complications from pneumonia, said his brother, Clyde Bellecourt, a founding member of the militant American Indian rights group. Just before he was put on a respirator, Vernon Bellecourt joked that the CIA had finally gotten him, his brother said. "He was willing to put his butt on the line to draw attention to racism in sports," his brother said. Vernon Bellecourt -- whose Objibwe name WaBun-Inini means Man of Dawn -- was a member of Minnesota's White Earth band and was an international spokesman for the AIM Grand Governing Council based in Minneapolis. Clyde Bellecourt helped found AIM as a militant group in 1968, and Vernon Bellecourt soon became involved, taking part in the 1973 occupation of the town of Wounded Knee on the Pine Ridge reservation in South Dakota. He was present only briefly during the 71-day standoff with federal agents, serving mostly as a spokesman and fundraiser, Clyde Bellecourt said. He was active in the campaign to free AIM activist Leonard Peltier, who was convicted of killing two FBI agents during a shootout in 1975 on the Pine Ridge reservation. He also was involved as a negotiator in the group's 1972 occupation of the Bureau of Indian Affairs headquarters in Washington as part of the Trail of Broken Treaties caravan. In recent years, Bellecourt had been active in the fight against American Indian nicknames for sports teams as president of the National Coalition on Racism in Sports and Media. He was arrested in Cleveland, Ohio, during the 1997 World Series and again in 1998 during protests against the Cleveland Indians' mascot, Chief Wahoo. Charges were dropped the first time, and he was never charged in the second case. After Wounded Knee, Vernon Bellecourt became a leader of AIM's work abroad, meeting with presidents such as Daniel Ortega of Nicaragua, Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat and Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi, his brother said. Clyde Bellecourt said his brother had been in Venezuela about four weeks ago to meet with President Hugo Chavez to discuss Chavez's program for providing heating assistance to American Indian tribes. He fell ill around the time of his return, Clyde Bellecourt said. ----------------------------- Photo Caption: Vernon Bellecourt, right, helps honor the 30th anniversary of the Wounded Knee, South Dakota, standoff in 2003. ----------------------------- *** [This arrived too late, for people to do much, aside from making donations.-NYTr] Emily Kunstler on Vernon Bellecourt via Portside - Oct 13, 2007 With a heavy heart I am writing to inform you that our dear friend Vernon Bellecourt (WaBun-Inini) passed over into the spirit world earlier today, October 13, 2007. Vernon died in Minneapolis, Minnesota surrounded by his friends and family. Sarah, Margaret, and I had the privilege of visiting Vernon in the hospital last Tuesday with his brother Clyde while we were in Minneapolis. The Kunstler family sends its sincere condolences to the Bellecourt family. Our thoughts and prayers are with you. Vernon will be deeply missed. Please read below to see how you can help the Bellecourt family during this difficult period. Vernon Bellecourt (WaBun-Inini) 1931 - 2007 Anishinabe/Ojibwe Nation Vernon was a principal spokesman for the American Indian Movement and a leader in actions ranging from the 1972 occupation of the Bureau of Indian Affairs in Washington to the 1992 Redskin Superbowl demonstrations. He Co-founded and was the first Executive Director of the Denver AIM Chapter. His involvement at Wounded Knee in 1973 led to a Federal indictment. He was a special representative of the International Indian Treaty Council and helped organize the first Treaty Conference in 1974. He was jailed for throwing his blood on the Guatemalan Embassy to protest the killing of 100,000 Indians. He was elected to a 4-year term in his White Earth tribal government and developed a model program for the spiritual education of Indian prisoners. Vernon was President of the National Coalition on Racism in Sports & Media and recipient of the City of Phoenix, Martin Luther King Human Rights Award 1993. The Bellecourt family has asked us to share the memorial and [burial] plans. Monday, October 15, 2007 - 5pm - Celebration of Vernon's Life All Nations Indian Church 1515 E 23rd Street Minneapolis, MN 55404 Tuesday, October 16, 2007 - Wake Circle of Life School, White Earth Reservation, MN Wednesday Morning, October 17, 2007 - Burial White Earth Reservation, MN Vernon had no medical insurance plan and the Bellecourt family is collecting donations to help pay for medical and burial costs. Please give generously. Donations and cards can be sent to: Clyde Bellecourt 3953 14th Avenue South Minneapolis, MN 55407 * ================================================================= NY Transfer News Collective * A Service of Blythe Systems Since 1985 - Information for the Rest of Us Our main website: http://www.blythe.org List Archives: http://blythe-systems.com/pipermail/nytr/ Subscribe: http://blythe-systems.com/mailman/listinfo/nytr =================================================================