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AIM leader Vernon Bellecourt Dies at 75

Vernon Bellecourt (WaBun-Inini) Anishinabe/Ojibwe Nation 1931 - 2007
vernon bellecourt.jpg
Vernon+younger+days.jpg
From: Chris Spotted Eagle
Date: Sat, 13 Oct 2007 18:51:34 -0400

Vernon Bellecourt (WaBun-Inini) passed over into the spirit world earlier today, October 13, 2007. Minneapolis, Minnesota surrounded by his friends and family.

Vernon was a principal spokesman for the American Indian Movement and a leader in actions ranging from the 1972 occupation of the Bureau of Indian Affairs in Washington to the 1992 Redskin Superbowl demonstrations. He Co-founded and was the first Executive Director of the Denver AIM Chapter. His involvement at Wounded Knee in 1973 led to a Federal indictment. He was a special representative of the International Indian Treaty Council and helped organize the first Treaty Conference in 1974. He was jailed for throwing his blood on the Guatemalan Embassy to protest the killing of 100,000 Indians. He was elected to a 4-year term in his White Earth tribal government and developed a model program for the spiritual education of Indian prisoners. Vernon was President of the National Coalition on Racism in Sports & Media and recipient of the City of Phoenix, Martin Luther King Human Rights Award 1993

Monday, October 15, 2007 - 5pm - Celebration of Vernon's Life
All Nations Indian Church
1515 E 23rd Street Minneapolis, MN 55404

Tuesday, October 16, 2007 - Wake
Circle of Life School, White Earth Reservation, MN

Wednesday Morning, October 17, 2007 - Burial
White Earth Reservation, MN

Vernon had no medical insurance plan and the Bellecourt family is collecting donations to help pay for medical and burial costs.

Donations and cards can be sent to:
Clyde Bellecourt
3953 14th Avenue South
Minneapolis, MN 55407

Vernon Bellecourt, in poor health and in a wheelchair, joined an American Indian delegation to Venezuela in August, 2007, to unite Indigenous from the North and South in solidarity:
[ censored-news.blogspot.com/2007/09/american-indians-in-venezuela-build_26.html ]

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AIM Leader Vernon Bellecourt Dies at 75

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) β€” Vernon Bellecourt, a longtime leader of the American Indian Movement who fought against the use of American Indian nicknames for sports teams, died Saturday his brother said. He was 75.

Bellecourt died at Abbott Northwestern Hospital of complications of pneumonia, according to Clyde Bellecourt, a founding member of the militant American Indian rights group.

Just before he was put on the respirator, Vernon Bellecourt joked that the CIA had finally gotten him, his brother said.

"He was willing to put his butt on the line to draw attention to racism in sports," his brother said.

Vernon Bellecourt β€” whose Objibwe name WaBun-Inini means Man of Dawn β€” was a member of Minnesota's White Earth band and was an international spokesman for the AIM Grand Governing Council based in Minneapolis.

Clyde Bellecourt helped found AIM as a militant group in 1968 and Vernon Bellecourt soon became involved, taking part in the 1973 occupation of the town of Wounded Knee on the Pine Ridge reservation in South Dakota. He was present only briefly during the 71-day standoff with federal agents, serving mostly as a spokesman and fundraiser, Clyde Bellecourt said.

He was active in the campaign to free AIM activist Leonard Peltier, who was convicted of killing two FBI agents during a shootout in 1975 on the Pine Ridge reservation.

He was also involved as a negotiator in AIM's 1972 occupation of the Bureau of Indian Affairs headquarters in Washington as part of the Trail of Broken Treaties caravan.

In recent years, Bellecourt had been active in the fight against American Indian nicknames for sports teams as president of the National Coalition on Racism in Sports and Media.

He was arrested in Cleveland during the 1997 World Series and again in 1998 during protests against the Cleveland Indians' mascot, Chief Wahoo. Charges were dropped the first time and he was never charged in the second case.

After Wounded Knee, Vernon Bellecourt became a leader of AIM's work abroad, meeting with presidents such as Daniel Ortega of Nicaragua, Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat and Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi, his brother said. He said they plan to list them as honorary pallbearers.

Clyde Bellecourt said his brother had been in Venezuela about four weeks ago to meet with President Hugo Chavez to discuss Chavez' program for providing heating assistance to American Indian tribes. He fell ill around the time of his return, Clyde Bellecourt said.

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Leonard Peltier, and the Leonard Peltier Defense Committee extend our condolences to the Bellecourt Family.

Vernon died Saturday, October 13, 2007at Abbott Northwestern Hospital, Minneapolis Minnesota surrounded by his friends and family.Vernon Bellecourt, whose Objibwe name (WaBun-Inini) means Man of Dawn was a member of Minnesota's White Earth Band and was an international spokesman for the AIM Grand Governing Council based in Minneapolis. He was 75.

In recent years, Bellecourt had been active in the fight against American Indian nicknames for sports teams as president of the National Coalition on Racism in Sports and Media. He was arrested in Cleveland during the 1997 World Series and again in 1998 during protests against the Cleveland Indian's Mascot, Chief Wahoo. Charges were dropped for the first time and he was never charged on the second case.

A Celebration of Vernon's Life to be held on Monday, October 15, 2007 at All Nations Indian Church, 1515 E 23rd Street Minneapolis, MN 55404.

Wake to be held on Tuesday, October 16, 2007 at the Circle of Life School, White Earth Reservation, MN.

Burial will be Wednesday Morning, October 17, 2007at White Earth Reservation, MN.

Respectfully,
Leonard Peltier
Toni Zeidan, Co-director

LPDC Website: www.leonardpeltier.net/ [ www.leonardpeltier.net/ ]
Email: info (at) leonardpeltier.net
 
 

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