Wounded Knee Commemoration, Northern California 2/25

by Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz

AIM-WEST
PO Box 410534
San Francisco, CA 94141

For
immediate
Release
                            Commemoration Day to acknowledge Wounded Knee, South
Dakota 1973
AIM-WEST invites all Wounded Knee veterans, allies and the general public to a
memorable occasion on Friday, February 25th from 5 pm until 10 pm to commemorate and
acknowledge the historic uprising and sacrifices that began at Wounded Knee, in
South Dakota on February 27, 1973.  The event will be held, and co-sponsored by, the
Intertribal Friendship House, located at 523 International Blvd. in Oakland
(510-836-1955). All Nation Singers, dancers, drums, and vendors are invited.
For 73 days these brave Warriors and members of the American Indian Movement (AIM)
held off the largest military power in the world, in their desperate effort to
maintain their sovereignty, and helped uphold the 1868 Fort Laramie Treaty ratified
by the U.S. Congress.  Spiritual leaders such as Phillip Deere, Matthew King, Frank
Fools Crow, and Leonard Crow Dog stepped forward to lend guidance at this critical
time.
Join special invited guests, and Wounded Knee veterans, Len Foster (Dine/Navajo),
along with Ms. Jessie Rittle (Pit River), and many other California veterans who
participated in this major confrontation against the U.S. Army, will be on hand to
share their experiences.  Their testimonies will leave us inspired, assured that the
spirit and struggle for self-determination will go on in Indian Country.
A reign of terror ensued on the Pine Ridge Reservation before and after Wounded Knee
leaving behind over 70 unsolved murders in a short span of three years, including
the shoot out on the Jumping Bull compound in 1975.  It led to the arrest and
conviction of Leonard Peltier, charged with aiding and abetting in the death of two
FBI agents.  Joe Killsright Stuntz, was also murder by the FBI that fateful day.
Read the book by Peter Matthiessen “In The Spirit of Crazy Horse” for more detailed
information.  
A special documentary movie “Older than America” will be shown, with native
writer/director and producer Ms. Georgina Lightning on hand for Q & A!  Please see
the trailer to the movie at http://www.olderthanamerica.com/ for more information.
A discussion will follow after the movie to draw ideas and develop a strategy to
call upon the US government to apologize to the American Indian communities who were
subjected to these brutal policies of the past, and let the healing to truly begin
the process of reconciliation.  A United Nations study and report on Boarding
Schools throughout the world can be found at www.aimwest.info
A raffle and pot-luck dinner will be provided.  The public is requested to bring
your favorite dish and refreshments to share.  This is a benefit fundraiser and a
donation at the door is deeply appreciated.  No one will be turned away.  Open to
the public, wheel chair accessible.

Freedom for Leonard Peltier, NOW!
For All My Relations!
For information call 415-577-1492 or check the website www.aimwest.info