Dennis Banks (Ojibwe, April 12, 1937 - October 29, 2017) is an American activist, teacher, and author. He is the old leader of the American Indian Movement, which he founded in Minneapolis, Minnesota in 1968 to represent urban Indians.
Born in the Leech Lake Indian Reservation in northern Minnesota, it is also known as Nowa Cumig ( Clamped in the Double Vowel System), which in Ojibwe means "in the center of the universe."
Video Dennis Banks
Working with AIM
In 1968, the Bank established the American Indian Movement (AIM) in Minneapolis. They seek to ensure and protect the civil rights of Native Americans living in urban areas.
Banks participated in the occupation of Alcatraz Island in 1969-1971, initiated by Indian students from San Francisco from the Red Power movement. It is intended to highlight the issues of Native Americans and promote Indian sovereignty in their own land. In 1972, he assisted in the AIM "Trail of Broken Treaties" organization, a caravan of activist groups across the United States to Washington, D.C. to draw attention to the suffering of Native Americans. Members of the caravan anticipate a meeting with US Congressional leaders on related issues, but government officials, especially Harrison Loesch, Assistant Secretary of the Home Affairs responsible for the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA), refused to meet the delegates. The activists arrested and occupied the headquarters of the Ministry of Home Affairs; in the process some people damage the BIA office. Many of India's precious acts of land were destroyed or lost during the occupation.
In 1973, the Bank went to Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in South Dakota when the local civil rights organization Lakota requested assistance in dealing with law enforcement in nearby border towns. Pine Ridge residents believe that the police have failed to sue the killing of a Lakota youth. Under the leadership of the Bank, AIM led a protest in Custer, South Dakota in 1973 to a judicial process that has resulted in the reduction of a white man's indictment for a second-degree offense for killing an Native American.
AIM became involved in a political faction that wanted to overthrow Richard Wilson, the elected chair of the Oglala Sioux Tribe. Opponents believe that he acts autocratic, including recruiting private police forces. The failure of the impeachment made against him caused great protests. Banks and other AIM activists led the armed and occupation takeovers of the Knounded Knee. After a 71-day siege by federal armed law enforcement, which received national attention, the occupation ended. A marshal U.S. shot and paralyzed in March. A Cherokee and Lakota Oglala were shot dead in April 1973. Civil rights activist Ray Robinson, who joined the protesters, disappeared during the occupation and is believed to have been killed.
Thirty resident families returned to the village to find that their homes and businesses had been looted and destroyed by activists. The city was never rebuilt. The Bank is the main negotiator and leader of the Injured Injured troop. Further investigations from Wilson found accounting practices in question, but there was no evidence of criminal offenses. As a result of involvement in Custer and Wounded Knee, the Bank and 300 others were arrested by the federal government and facing trial. He was released from Wounded Knee's allegations, but was convicted of incitement to riots and attacks originating from his previous confrontation in Custer.
Killings and Aquash trials
Rejecting the prison term, the Bank moves underground and organizes small armed AIM groups. These include Anna Mae Pictou Aquash, considered the woman with the highest rank in AIM. Around this time, both are also involved in personal relationships. After disappearing from Denver in late 1975, Aquash was found killed in February 1976 at Pine Ridge Reservation. He has been shot behind the head execution style, and his assassination has not been resolved for decades.
The banks were granted amnesty in California at the time by Governor Jerry Brown, who refused to extradite him to South Dakota to face charges related to activities in the 1973 Custer protest. He also received financial support from actor and sympathizer AIM Marlon Brando.
In January 2003, the federal grand jury charged Arlo Looking Cloud and John Graham in the murder of Aquash. Since 2004, they have been convicted by federal and state juries; each serving a life sentence. Witnesses at the 2004 Arlo Looking Cloud trial included Darlene Ka-Mook Nichols, a former wife of the Bank, who testified that she believed Aquash had been ordered killed by AIM leaders who feared she might be an FBI informant. Aquash and Nichols had heard Leonard Peltier boast in 1975 about seeing two FBI agents shot dead earlier that year at Pine Ridge. Peltier was convicted of killing agents in 1977, and was sentenced to two terms of life. He remains imprisoned.
In 2008, Vine Richard "Dick" Marshall was charged by a federal federal judge for helping and conspiring with the murder of Aquash; he allegedly had given John Graham a gun. He was released from the charges. In 1975, he served as one of the Bank's regulators. Aquash was taken to Marshall's house at the Pine Ridge Reservation in December 1975 before being taken to his homicide. The authorities continue to investigate the killings of Aquash. In 2014, The New York Times Magazine spoke to Banks for an in-depth feature of the killings of Aquash and Robinson.
Maps Dennis Banks
Education and careers
During his time in California from 1976 to 1983, Banks earned an associate degree from the University of California, Davis. He teaches at Deganawida Quetzecoatl University (DQU), an American-controlled alternative higher education institution, where he became the first American Indian Chancellor. In 1978, he founded the first spiritual journey from Davis to Los Angeles, which is now an annual event. In the spring of 1979, he taught at Stanford University.
After Governor Brown left office, in 1984 the Bank received protection from the Onondaga Nation in northern New York. While on their reservation in New York, Banks organized Great Jim Thorpe Longest Run from New York to Los Angeles; the goal was to get the restoration of the gold medal that Thorpe had won at the 1912 Olympics for the Thorpe family.
In 1985, the Bank left Onondaga to surrender to federal law enforcement officials in South Dakota. He served an 18-month sentence in prison over a 1973 allegation for Custer's riots. After his release, he worked as a drug and alcohol counselor at Pine Ridge Indian Reservation. During 1987, grave robbers in Uniontown, Kentucky were stopped in their excavations for artifacts on the site of an American Indian tomb. The bank organizes a funeral ceremony. Its activities resulted in the states of Kentucky and Indiana passing strict laws against grave desecration.
In 2006, Banks led Sacred Run 2006, a spiritual escape from Alcatraz Island in San Francisco to Washington, D.C. Runners follow a native American tradition that carries the message "Land, Life and Peace" from village to village. They travel about 100 miles a day and enter Washington, D.C. on Earth Day, April 22, 2006. Along the way, they take the southern route in solidarity with those who rebuild after hurricanes Katrina and Rita. Major events were held in Albuquerque, New Orleans, Philadelphia, Mississippi, a civil rights site; Knoxville, and Washington, D.C.
Since "The Longest Walk" in 1978, Sacred Run has evolved as an international movement. Sacred Run 2006 has runners from Japan, Australia, Ireland, and Canada, as well as many from the United States. In 2008, the International "The Longest Walk 2" followed the Sacred Run 2006 route, as well as the original walking route of 1978. Dennis Banks delivered the "Manifesto for Change" to John Conyers (D-CA) Representative.
The Bank is a member of the Supervisory Board for Leech Lake Tribal College, a two-year public college located outside Cass Lake, Minnesota. Established and operated by the federal Leech Lake Band from Ojibwe, it serves mainly Native American students. Banks participate in governance and fundraising.
Politics
In August 2016, the Bank received a vice-presidential nomination from the Peace and Freedom Party, a socialist political party with voting access in California. He appeared in a California vote with presidential candidate Gloria La Riva.
Other activities
Bank memiliki peran dalam film War Party (1988), The Last of the Mohicans (1992), Thunderheart (1992), dan Older Than America (2008).
The music release of Still Strong (1993) features original Banks songs, as well as traditional American songs. He also participated as a musician on albums such as: Peter Gabriel's Les Musiques du Monde and Peter Matthiessen's No Boundaries .
Marriage and family
Early in his life, the Bank registered in the United States Air Force and sent to Japan. While there, he married a woman named Machiko. After they were together for two years, Machiko had a daughter, Michiko. The Bank abandoned Japan after a military court by the Air Force because of AWOL (Absent Without Official Leave). He never saw Machiko or Michiko again. He returns to Japan several times, but Machiko has remarried and Michiko is at university in North Japan.
According to a birth note from Minnesota, the Bank has seven children with wife Jeanette Banks: Janice (born March 2, 1962), Darla (born February 18, 1963), fraternal twins Deanna Jane and Dennis James (born April 20, 1964), Red Elk June 1970), Tatanka Wanbli (born 7 September 1971), and Minoh Bekwad Banks (born October 10, 1992).
At Pine Ridge Reservation, Banks met Darlene Kamook Nichols, who is 17 years old and still in high school. He is 32 years old. After he graduated, they began to meet each other and get married. They have three daughters and one son together: Tokala, Tiopa, Tasina and son Tacanunpa Banks. They then divorced. (Kamook Nichols remarried and is now known as Darlene Ecoffey.)
In Salt Lake City he has a daughter, named Arrow, with Angie Begay (Navajo).
The Bank has several stepchildren: Roland (Kawliga) Blanchard, Beverly Baribeau, Glenda Roberts, Bank Denise, Pearl Blanchard, and Danielle Louise Dickey. (Dickey was assassinated in 2007 at Turtle Mountain Reservation in North Dakota). She has a granddaughter named Migizi Roberts from Minneapolis, Minnesota.
Discography
In 2012, the Bank joins the Golden Globe and Grammy Award-winning Kitaro in Earth Celebration on CD Earth Let's Speak . The project contains an international peace message, linked to life stories and lessons from the Bank, and features Kitaro music. The album was released on September 11, 2012, at Domo Records.
Death
The bank died at the age of 80 complications of pneumonia after cardiac surgery on October 29, 2017 in Rochester, Minnesota.
Movieography
- War Feast - Ben Crowkiller/Dead Crow Chief (1988)
- The Last of the Mohicans - Ongewasgone (1992)
- Older Than America - Pete Goodfeather (2008)
- American Experience - TV Series documentaries - We Will Stay : "Part V - Injuries" - Himself (2009)
- A Good Day to Die - Documentary - Himself (2010)
- Nowa Cumig: The Drum Will Never Stop (movie 2011) - Documentary - Himself (2011)
Autobiography
- Banks, Dennis and Richard Erdoes (2004). Ojibwa Warrior: Dennis Banks and the Rise of the American Indian Movement , Norman, Oklahoma: University of Oklahoma Press. ISBNÃ, 0-8061-3580-8
References
External links
- Nowa Cumig Institute
- SacredRun, 2007
- Still Strong
- Dennis Banks on IMDb
- Dennis Banks at AllMovie
- Dennis Banks Official Website
- Let the Earth Mother Speak Facebook Page
- A Good Day to Die - movies
- Nowa Cumig: Drums Will Never Stop - Filming
Source of the article : Wikipedia
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