Dennis Banks

Dennis Banks

Describe the overall purpose of their organizational effort

Dennis Banks , an American Indian of the Ojibwa Tribe, was born in 1937 on the Leach Lake reservation in Minnesota and was raised by his grandparents. Dennis Banks grew up learning the traditional ways of the Ojibwa lifestyle. As a young child he was taken away from practicing his traditional ways and was put into a government boarding school that was designed for Indian children to learn the white culture. After years of attending the boarding school, Banks enlisted in the U.S. Air Force, shipping out to Japan when he was only seventeen years old.

When Banks returned to Minnesota he was living in poverty and was later arrested for stealing groceries to help feed his growing family. His accomplice, who was white, was freed and given probation, but Banks was sent to prison. While in prison, Banks was determined to educate himself. He heard about the civil rights struggle that African Americans were dealing with at the time. He realized that the same thing was happening with American Indians and they must fight for their rights too. He wanted Americans to realize that native people are still here, that they have the same rights as every other U.S. citizen and have morals of their own.

Dennis Banks dealt with racism most of his life and was robbed of his culture. He did not want Native people to live in poverty anymore or not have a voice in the government. He was tired of putting up with the battery, unfairness, and racism against Indians. He felt it was time for him to step up and take control of the situation.

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Accomplishment in assisting disadvantaged groups and how they were achieved

In 1968 Banks co-founded the American Indian Movement (AIM). AIM is to help and protect the traditional ways of Indian people and also to engage in legal cases that protected treaty rights of Indian people, such as hunting and fishing, trapping, wild

riceing. Through AIM, Dennis Banks wanted to confront racism with activism that deeply affected the Native religion and culture. Banks had inspired many Indians from many different tribes to join and fight for American Indian rights. In 1972 AIM organized a march called "Trail of Broken Treaties" across the U.S. to Washington D.C. They wanted to call out the attention of American Indian issues to the Congressional leaders, but government officials did not want to meet with the delegates of this group and it ended in the occupation of the Bureau of Indian Affairs Office. This lead to the 1973 standoff on Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in South Dakota. The Lakota Indians and AIM activist all over the country occupied the site of the 1890 Wounded Knee massacre that took three hundred Sioux men, woman, and children's lives. The protest was called Wounded Knee II. This standoff was to protest the rights of American Indians and the corruption of the Bureau of Indian Affairs. It was a siege of 71 days and it gained national attention all over the country. Dennis Banks was the principal negotiator and leader of the Wounded Knee forces.

Also around the same time as Wounded Knee II, Banks also led AIM protesters in Custer, South Dakota against the judicial process that found a white man, a BIA police officer, innocent of killing an Indian. He and 300 AIM activists were arrested and faced

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trial. He was acquitted for his involvement in the Wounded Knee case, but was convicted of assault and rioting from the protesting in Custer, SD. Banks fled to California and was later granted amnesty from the Governor, Jerry Brown. Years later he surrendered himself to South Dakota authorities and spent 18 months in prison.

AIM has been successful in bringing American Indian issues to the public. They have been able to fight for what is theirs and to get equal opportunity rights. Banks has proven to American Indians that they need to stand up for what is theirs and to be heard and have a voice. Also to show American Indians that they should not be afraid to fight for what is right.

What community organization strategies did this person use to create societal change?

During his time in California he established the first spiritual run from Davis, CA to Los Angeles, CA in 1978, a distance of 500 miles. The run was called the Sacred Run. It was to teach American Indian ways, religion, and philosophy world wide. Since it

started it has become multi-cultural, participants from all over the world have joined to run with American Indians to help carry the message of the sacredness of all life and the relationship human kind has with Mother Earth. It has become an annual event and Banks has been the leader of the Sacred Run. As of 1996, Banks has led runners all through the United States, Alaska, Europe, Japan, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand and has covered over 58,000 miles.

Also in 1978 Banks organized the Longest Walk which is form Alcatraz to Washington, D.C. the same year he started the Sacred Run. The distance between

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Alcatraz and Washington, D.C. is 3,600 miles. The purpose of the walk was to gather enough support to halt proposed legislation abrogating Indian treaties with the U.S. government. Banks later in 1994 led a similar walk called Walk for Justice from Alcatraz island into San Francisco to Washington, D.C.. The