Face

In an earlier What She Wants article (November 1974), we presented the wide scope of government efforts to break AIM through pursuit of their leaders. At that time, numerous AIM members faced trials in eight different cities in the U.S. (5 trials were slated for South Dakota cities). Sarah Bad Heart Bull and three other AIM members had been convicted, sentenced to up to 7 years for being at the scene of a riot (a protest rally, objecting to Sarah's son's murderer being acquitted). Although the three males convicted are still in prison, Sarah has been released on probation as a result of petitions, letters of protest and demonstrations on her behalf. This is some of the best news to come out of the many trials.

Two of nine Wounded Knee cases in Lincoln, Nebraska have been postponed as a result of the infiltration of the Defense Committee by an FBI agent. The defense contends that the agent's presence jeopardized the attorney-client relationships. The defendants are now free on bond pending sentencing.

A trial in Council Bluffs, Iowa has ended in acquittal for Bernard Escamilla who was charged with robbery of the Wounded Knee trading post. The judge, however, instructed the jury that they could find him guilty on a lesser charge, which they did.

After more than two years, James Robideaux was recently arrested on charges stemming from the Custer, South Dakota protests which were held in objection to the Bad Heart Bull murder. His warrant was issued from the grand jury, which left the indictments nameless, so the government could arrest a person of their choice. His bond has been set at $22,500.

The greatest amount of difficulty has taken place on the Pine Ridge, South Dakota Reservation where six deaths and numerous arrests of AIM members and supporters have systematically tried to break the unity and spirit of the movement. "We talk about it as a reign of terror," said a Wounded Knee Legal Defense/ Offense Committee member.

One group of legal workers was attacked as they returned from touring the Reservation -15 cars filled with Tribal President Richard Wilson and his "private police force" the Highway Safety Patrol (better known as the "goon squad") surrounded them. The attack and resulting beatings were reported to the FBI and the U.S. Attorney and testified to before a jury, but no arrests have been made. The same day, Russell Means arrived on the Reservation, was assaulted, and later arrested by the sheriff. The arrest was for a shooting, the victim of which told the government prosecutor that Means did not shoot him. At the time of arrest, Means was struck over the eye, resulting in a three-inch wound, which the sheriff refused to treat until Means' lawyer demanded it. He is being held on $30,000 bond, as are two other AIM members arrested at the same time.

A memorial service at the Wounded Knee cemetery on the second anniversary was disrupted by 20 of the goon squad carrying M-16's. Matthew Kind, a tribal elder, chairman of the traditional chiefs of the Sioux Nation and AIM Treaty Council, was fired upon in his home: Eighteen shots and two shotgun blasts fortunately injured no one. Two carloads of Reser-

page 6/What She Wants/June, 1975

NATIVE

Brutality

CCô0Ød4༢

In the face of continuing harrasment and arrests flowing out of the Wounded Knee demonstrations, the American Indian Movement (AIM) has called for a tourist boycott of South Dakota. "See South Dakota Last" is the slogan AIM has chosen to convey its disgust with the state power structure. This state is particularly vulnerable to such a boycott, since over a third of its income depends on tourism. For more details on how to boycott see WHATS HAPPENING on page 11,

Sterilization

Black Women

The involuntary sterilization of women, especially Black and poor women, is a practice much of which has come to light within the past two years. What She Wants has been trying to cover these revelations.

According to reports, methods both blatant and subtle are used in coercing women to have sterilizations. Many women are "talked into" having a sterilization, often without being fully informed of alternative methods of birth control or of the permanent nature of the operation. In other cases doctors may misrepresent the permission form, forcing illiterate women to sign, or may "push" women who are in labor, having entered the hospital to give birth, to sign without full reflection or knowledge of what they are doing. Still other women are threatened by their doctors that welfare or Medicaid payments may be cut off if they do not submit to sterilization.

In the wake of the involuntary sterilization by a federal agency of the Relf sisters in Alabama and of others, the Department of Health, Education and Welfare issued a series of regulations to hospitals last year. Recent studies by Ralph Nader, his research group, and the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) show that the regulations are being almost totally ignored.

In the ACLU survey, for example, only

HERE

vation residents were forced off the road and beaten. Ellen Moves Camp, an active AIM member (see November 1974 issue) was threatened as was her family.

Investigation of these charges has begun by a grand jury. There are problems with this, however it is the same grand jury that refused to indict Wilson on other charges last year, the location (Rapid City, South Dakota), felt the effects last summer of the tourist boycott sponsored by AIM, and the U.S. Attorney who presents witnesses has previously been eager to push AIM arrests while slow to indict "goon squad" members. The Bureau of Indian Affairs has been investigating also. They decided AI Trimball, who has come into conflict with Wilson, was the problem, and has had him removed. Meanwhile, harrasment goes on: an AIM sympathizer was shot and Wilson and his thugs interrupted the wake held by the family, walking off with the guest register. Another more active AIM member was shot on her way to the wake, and was dead on arrival at the hospital. She and her husband had been warned to "get the hell off the reservation". A woman travelling back to the reservation with eight children was killed when one of Wilson's associates bumped her car from the rear, locked bumpers, and forced the car off the road at a high speed. Her four-month old daughter and a threeyear old were also killed.

Incidents have been reported from AIM supporters and members off the reservation as well, leading Ken Tilsen, a lawyer for the Wounded Knee Defense/Offense Committee, to comment that it "smacks of the same kind of dragnet arrests that were used at times against the Black Panthers." With as much evidence as has been related here, it is not surprising that AIM has sought support from outside sources through the tourist boycott.

American

fifteen of fifty-one hospitals give the required notice to Medicaid and welfare patients that "no benefits can be withdrawn if they do not wish to be sterilized."

The Nader group study estimates that 3,600 hospitals are not complying with the government regulations. (Militant, May 1975) Native American Women

Since last June, there have been charges of widespread sterilization of young Native American women in the U.S.-operated Indian Health Service (IHS) hospital in Claremore, Oklahoma. A doctor there explained that consent forms are written in Grade 12 level English and many women may not understand what they are signing. She advocates a policy of informed consent, stressing an adequate family-planning program that of fers other means of birth control and extensive counseling. An official report of the U.S. Senate's Permanent Investigations Subcommittee on the matter confirmed that the hospital's sterilization procedures do. "not set forth as clearly as possible the fact that the procedures are irrevocable." (Akwesasne Notes Early Winter 1975)