The Anti-AIM Tide Is Rising

All of us who surround those who were involved in AIM since the early 70’s have known it was coming, or rather “they” would come for them again. There is no shock in the recent campaign to discredit Ward Churchill. Most of all, we are sure Mr. Churchill himself knew it was coming sooner or later. We are sure Ward is at home asking himself questions such as: why now, what will be gained by disabling me at this time and how will this negatively affect the movement? Most of all, like any good warrior, we hope he finds himself asking how he can make this work for the movement’s benefit. Mr. Churchill has co-authored books which guaranteed he would be attacked by his favorite organization, the FBI.  His contributions academically to the Indian movement, whether it be AIM or a generation of like minded thinkers, has been vast. Without books such as Agents of Repression: The FBI’s Secret Wars Against the Black Panther Party and the American Indian Movement and The COINTELPRO Papers: Documents from the FBI’s Secret War Against Dissent in the United States our generation and those younger would not have a map by which we can predict the government’s response and how they will work to stop Indians being outspoken. Simply put, we firmly believe that many of AIM’s figureheads are modern day Indian heroes. We cannot sit by and watch our government continue to destroy Native Americans.  Mr. Churchill’s writings are motivational in a way the government does not appreciate. His writings are critical of the government. We believe any educated Indian would have to agree with his works and themes though not necessarily embrace every point. We believe we need people such as Mr. Churchill who are not afraid to exercise their First Amendment Right of Freedom of Speech. American Indians need to feel free to speak.  Please note the newspaper reporters seem to forget how long ago Mr. Churchill wrote the 9/11 piece. It is also important to note how the mainstream press has totally misinterpreted and misreported Mr. Churchill’s statements and intent. We challenge those who have not read Mr. Churchill to read what he has written and draw their own conclusions and not be swayed by the propaganda being spread by the mainstream media. Our question is why all of a sudden is the press attacking Mr. Churchill for issues which happened more than a year ago? This is not news, these are old issues. We should all be asking ourselves why now. Our belief is, that as we await the results of the John Graham extradition hearing, the United States wishes to raise anti-AIM sentiments hoping to use the John Graham extradition as a vehicle to attack people such as Ward Churchill and Leonard Peltier.  We would like to remind the older generation of AIM of allegiance and honor. Don’t forget, years of knowing each other, and years of trying to have Leonard Peltier freed means there is a spider web of relationships which the government is clearly trying to unentangle and frame Leonard as a patsy. We are not saying Anna Mae does not deserve justice.  We believe she was a loyal AIM woman and she should be treated as such.  We believe that those involved in what happened to her owe her family answers, very soon. We hope her family still believes as she did, in the cause and rights of Indians. Please beware the government will use Anna Mae’s murder, 9/11 and anything else they find inflammatory right now to turn the tide against AIM and against Leonard Peltier. Our phones are tapped, of this we are sure, so the FBI clearly knows lately those at the LPDC have made some great contacts internationally. We assure you they want to turn the tide against Leonard and AIM right now, they must undo all our work, they must keep us down. Remember these guys earn a paycheck to suppress us, we have nothing but pocket lint because it is our lives. But if we do not let the rising anti-AIM tide drown our spirits we can still win. We say good luck Mr. Churchill. We personally like the way you exercise your first amendment rights.