1. Dennis Banks: The Ojibwa Warrior
Kendall Pressley
April 21, 2016
Dennis Banks is an Ojibwa Indian who was born on April 12, 1937 at Federal Dam on the
Leech Lake Indian Reservation of Minneapolis, Minnesota. Dennis Banks grew up in a time
where American Indians were still regarded as “other” people. Of course, these views and
associations still exist today but they were extremely prominent in the era in which he grew up.
Dennis Banks grew up to be a very important person in American Indian history, and he
explains everything in his book “Ojibwa Warrior: Dennis Banks and the Rise of the American
Indian Movement.”
Around the time he was born, it was popular for the government to attempt to “civilize”
the Indians. Indian children were forced to go to boarding schools where they would be
“acculturated.” This meant erasing their history, removing them from their homes,
disconnecting them from their families and tribes, and essentially robbing them of their Indian
identities by forbidding them to speak their languages, practice their religions, and dress and
communicate the way they were raised.
To the ignorant eye this was a heroic act on behalf of the government, taking the
Indians and helping them to become a “proper” people in American society, but to Indians and
other people who recognized what was happening, these events were totally devastating to
Indians. Indian children were separated from their families only to be treated like prisoners and
delinquents at military-style boarding schools. They were given white names, forced to dress

2. like whites and forced to learn and speak English only. They would graduate and go into society
just to continue to be seen as and treated as outsiders, while if they returned to their tribes,
they were usually rejected by the tribe or had lost the closeness to their families. The Indian
child was trapped in a world where they were never truly accepted by anyone the way they
deserved to be.
His view of Indian boarding schools is made clear when he says “they separated us from
our families as a matter of government policy, to separate us from our language and traditions
in order to Christianize (“acculturate”) us.” (28) Banks was fortunate enough to return home to
a reservation where his tribe welcomed him back and helped him relearn their ways, but not all
Indians had such luck when they returned. Banks himself lost the close connection he had to his
mother before he left the reservation, and he also lost his knowledge of his native language.
The loss of language was a heartbreaking tragedy that effected Indians far beyond boarding
schools, and led to the near extinction of almost all native languages today.
During this time, non-Indians had killed off the game and then told the Indians that they had to
have licenses to hunt and could only do so in season. This was devastating to the lifestyle and
the economy of Indian people, because they had been hunting AND sustaining the game on
their own terms for hundreds of years until now and had little money to buy food elsewhere,
especially without meat to trade or sell. The Indians “resented the assumption of control over
our affairs,” that the white man had taken (37).
He joined the Air Force to explore the world, gain freedom he did not have in America, and
provide a source of income to his family on the reservation. He loved the discipline and became

3. extremely patriotic, to the point he would have done anything the Air Force told him to do
without a second thought. When he got to Japan, he fell in love with the country and its people.
They did not discriminate and they weren’t overruled by white people. He fell in love with a
young woman and they got married and moved in together for a few years. The Air Force told
him that his marriage to his lover Machiko was invalid and that he would be discharged. He
tried to run away but they arrested him and sent him back to the States.
When he came back, he was arrested several times, as were hundreds of other Indians.
The police had a quota systemfor arresting Indians to get free labor out of them every week.
They would wait until night time and then head down the main streets to the bars and falsely
charge large groups of Indians with “drunk and disorderly conduct.” This unfair harassment and
treatment was everywhere in the states, and many times there were cruel beatings. Police
brutality was a huge problem for all people of color in the across the nation, but the Indian
people were invisible to the large majority of the country so they had nobody to speak out or
stand up for them.
When he was not in prison, he was drinking his life away. He became an alcoholic after
being discharged from the Air Force and being forced to leave his new wife and child behind. He
would go days without remembering what had happened to him, without taking care of
himself, and his relationships with other people distant or broken. He woke up one day and
decided that he was never going to drink again.
Soon he was married again, but always wanted to find his lost family back in Japan. With
his new wife, he had a family of 8. With no money and no food, he was forced to steal to feed

4. his family. In the summer of 1968, he was sentenced to 5 years in jail for stealing a few bags of
groceries. His white friend, also guilty, was given only 2 years of probation. By the time he was
free again, his second family was gone and he had to start over once again.
He was so hurt and angry by what had happened to him in his life and what was still
happening to his people; what had been happening for decades now. He was desperate to find
a solution. One night he decided he was going to do something about it if nobody else would.
He called for a meeting with George Mitchell to start an Indian civil rights organization. They
went door-to-door inviting people to a meeting to discuss (mostly) police brutality and
discrimination; they expected maybe 50 people; 200 showed up. This was the first sign that
something big was about to take place. Clyde Bellecourt was made the first chairman of the
organization, and thus AIM was born.
AIM is the American Indian Movement and police brutality was their first priority. The
movement was somewhat modeled after the Black Panthers party. Banks and his team did not
want violence, but they soon realized that “necessary violence” would have to be used if the
American people refused to listen to them when they were peaceful. The main goals of AIM
were to unite Indians of all tribes and fight for their stolen or suppressed rights. They were tired
of sitting in silence and fear and wanted something done now, and if no one else was going to
do it, they would. They had protests, went to the courts with huge lawsuits, and violence broke
out several times when they were not being heard. Suddenly, Indians who had felt hopeless
and alone their entire lives were surrounded by other Indians who wanted their way of life to
survive and who wanted to connect with other Indians.

5. AIM wanted the Indian people to regain their identity and to create a voice for
themselves to represent those who were not seen, heard, or recognized. They wanted to help
their tribes get out of poverty, get rid of diseases that were killing everyone in their tribes, and
end the massive starvation on reservations. They aimed to educate the ignorant and spread
awareness about how their people were treated and come up with ways to make it right. AIM
was largely successful in gaining sympathy from non-Indians, but to those who were
uneducated or blinded by what the government was telling them, they were seen as violent,
unruly, and unpatriotic savages (much like those associated with the Black Panther party, and
the Black Lives Matter movement today). They were successful in gaining 5000 attending
members in just 2 years. By 1973, 79 AIM chapters existed. They helped people in need of legal
assistance, established housing programs, helped families move, improved communications
between Indian and non-Indian communities, and had their own Indian businesses all over. (64)
AIM’s biggest moment was the occupation at Wounded Knee, where they protested and
fought for 71 days to end the suffering of their people, caused by the corrupt tribal chairman,
Richard Wilson. Led by Dennis Banks, AIM members and supporters from all over the country
came to show support for their people even though they had never met before. They were
fighting against the tribal government and the US government now. The Indian people were
tired, sick, hungry, and desperate to survive. Women made food and blankets and clothing and
things to trade, while the men stood at the edge of Pine Ridge, daring the FBI to attack. The
press was all over this action, spreading the news of what was going on and educating
Americans about how Indians were actually being treated. Eventually the press was kicked out

6. because they were helping the Indians instead of making them look worse. People were
sending food and supplies to the reservation daily.
The occupation at Wounded Knee provided the most attention to their efforts, as all of
the other projects AIM had worked on long and hard had gone unnoticed by the general public
of America. During the siege, Banks told all the Indians who had come to defend their people
“this is not an AIM action. It is an all-Indian action. They can’t do anything worse than kill us. Be
prepared to defend this position with your life! The Feds will be coming soon. What is at stake
here at Wounded Knee is not the lives of a few hundred Indian people, but our whole Indian
way of life” (167). There were intense firefights and hundreds of AIM members were wounded.
The council members of AIM decided to go to Washington to declare sovereignty of the Oglala
Nation. At this point, they even had the support of the majority of white Americans.
On April 5, Kent Frizzell, the chief government representative, signed an agreement that
listed the conditions under which the Indians would resign, and from there, the AIM council
took it to Washington for finalization. While they waited at DC, two of the bravest members
gave birth to a child and were married before returning to the frontline of the fight. This was
extremely symbolic and encouraging for Indian people, seeing such a beautiful moment full of
life in a place where such a brutal, devastating massacre had taken place before. Days later,
they were starving, running out of supplies, and being threatened more and more every day
with imprisonment and death. Buddy Lemont had just arrived at Wounded Knee and was shot
in the heart. “Buddy’s burial was the end of our struggle. Negotiations went on for a few days
more, but we all knew it was over. Talks were almost complete, and it was time to finish them”
(208).

7. On May 8, 1973, one hundred and forty-sex Indians surrendered. AIM members, along
with anyone tied to the occupation in any way, were being arrested and tried in courts all over
the nation. AIM was able to get an amazing defense team. Ramon Roubideaux, a Lakota, was
their lawyer. The trial lasted 8 long months. In his opening statement, Banks told the court “Let
the people decide who is guilty of crimes at Wounded Knee. When the American people see
evidence of poverty, brutal conditions, and shotgun murders, they will have no choice but to
find the US government guilty (…) Wounded Knee represented to the Oglala Sioux and to the
Indian people all across the country a desperate attempt to bring about justice. What is so
significant is that Indians and non-Indians alike came together to bring back our basic human
rights” (217). The long trial against AIM and its supports was finally over, being dismissed due to
foul play by the government.
Banks regrets not having been around to raise his kids, admitting that he was too caught
up in Indian affairs around the country or stuck in jail for long periods of time. He regrets seeing
so many of his friends and family die, whether it be of old age or in sacrifice for the Indian
people. He honors the women warriors of Wounded Knee as well, telling an old Cheyenne
proverb, “a nation is not conquered until the hearts of its women are on the ground. Then it is
done, no matter how brave its warriors nor how strong their weapons” (Banks, 352). He is still
inspired and strengthened by the memories of all those who died. Though he regrets that AIM
was not always successful, and wishes he had had better knowledge or resources during those
times, he celebrates his time working with AIM and believes that his life has been enriched by it
because “Wounded Knee awakened not only the conscience of all Native Americans, but also of
white Americans nationwide” (360).

8. Dennis Banks is one of the most influential Indian leaders of all time, having founded the
American Indian Movement, making history in the process of fighting for his people. He is proof
that through strength and perseverance, people can be enlightened and that even through
hardships, good will always prevail. He has changed the lives of thousands of Indian people by
leading the movement to preserve their culture and take their freedom back from those who
tried to silence and imprison them. He has contributed so much to the Indian people in such a
short time. He is not just a political warrior, but a hero for Indian and non-Indian people alike,
and he will be remembered far beyond his time in this world.