PJALS is delighted to welcome Clyde Bellecourt, Wounded Knee organizer & American Indian Movement co-founder and national director, Ojibwe name Nee Gon Nway Wee Dung “Thunder Before the Storm.” Clyde Bellecourt will address the 1973 AIM occupation of and subsequent protracted government siege at Wounded Knee in S.D. as well as Native Peoples’ near-term needs & long-term future.
Come hear Clyde on Saturday February 4 at 2pm, FREE at All Saints Lutheran Church, 314 S. Spruce, [SW edge of Coeur d’Alene Park] in Browne’s Addition in east Spokane.
Co-sponsored by Peace & Justice Action League of Spokane and Progressive Democrats of America – Spokane Chapter.
Minneapolis Mayor R.T. Rybak in a formal City Proclamation places Clyde Bellecourt alongside “great leadership [which] has come forth over the centuries to defend Native nations and peoples … bringing social, economic, and political justice … “.
Clyde Bellecourt, age 75, is the founding chairman of the American Indian Movement (started 1968), where he continues today as AIM’s national director. He was prime organizer of the occupations of the Bureau of Indian Affairs (1972) in Washington DC and of Wounded Knee (1973) in South Dakota. During a lifetime of activism, Clyde became a key player in founding several government-funded & business-supported Indian-focus services such as legal & jobs programs, health clinics, an Indian education system, and a large condo-style housing complex. Today he directs also The Heart of the Earth Inc interpretive center, headquartered in Minneapolis. Clyde Bellecourt has addressed The United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues (May 2010), and The World Council of Churches (Dec 1974).
Clyde’s story is full of drama, excitement, Spirit, courage, intrigue, tragedy, and community dedication. Clyde and his brother the late Vernon Bellecourt have been central players along with Dennis Banks, Russell Means, still-imprisoned Leonard Peltier, Leonard Crow Dog, the late Anna Mae Aquash, Ward Churchill, attorneys Ken Tilsen& William Kunstler, and others.
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For more information, contact
O u r J o u r n e y
a chronicle of America’s counter-cultures
personal appearances / speaker series
Bob Zeller, Our Journey series producer