http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7bU31ixXzOY

Bill Means, a Lakota member of the American Indian Movement (AIM), which advocates for the rights of American Indians, discusses the events that led to AIM’s takeover and 71-day occupation of Wounded Knee on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation of South Dakota.

The complex event that lead to the Wounded Knee incident begins with the American Indian Wars of the 1800s, which  many believe ended with the 1890 massacre of over 300 unarmed Lakota men, women and children by the U.S. 7th Cavalry Regiment near Wounded Knee Creek. The dead were left to stiffen in a blizzard and afterwords dumped in a mass grave. The massacre was one of many events which forced the Lakota, Nakota and Dakota peoples (commonly referred to as the “Sioux”) onto reservations where they would come to face many more injustices by the U.S. government.

Lakota Chief Big Foot Dead After the Wounded Knee Massacre. Source: Wikipedia.

In the 1970s, tribal tensions rose on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation for a variety of reasons, one of them being the widespread opposition to tribal president, Richard Wilson. AIM and “traditional” Lakota accused Wilson of corruption, favoritism towards his family for rare and coveted job opportunities and unfair treatment of political opponents; Wilson was charged for but avoided an impeachment trial by the Oglala Civil Rights Organization (OSCRO), three weeks before the Wounded Knee incident.

On February 27, 1973, AIM led a march of 200 Oglala Lakota and AIM followers through the reservation to the town of Wounded Knee in protest of Wilson–following OSCRO’s failure to impeach him. AIM also protested the U.S. government’s failure to honor treaties with the American Indian peoples. The band of 200 protesters seized and occupied the town of Wounded Knee; within the day, U.S. law enforcement including FBI agents surrounded the town and set up road blocks. Wilson’s paramilitary group, Guardians of the Oglala Nation (GOONs), set up their own roadblocks and surrounded Wounded Knee as well; thus, the standoff began and quickly escalated.

Protestors Occupy Wounded Knee. Source: Revolution Newspaper.

For the three months of occupation, both sides often fired at the other; when firing waned, activists streamed into the town to support the occupiers. Different estimates agree that the U.S. government sent approximately half of a million dollars worth of support to U.S. marshals and law enforcement to the site, including armored vehicles, helicopters, snipers, machine guns and 130,000 rounds of ammunition. The standoff ended on May 8, 1973 after two American Indians were killed, one civil rights activist supporting the Lakota disappeared and two U.S. agents were wounded.

Wide media coverage made the incident well-known as it occurred;  many were sympathetic to the Lakota and American Indians during and after the incident for the injustices they experienced at the hands of the American government. The incident also grabbed the attention of the international community. AIM leaders Russell Means and Dennis Banks were indicted due to the event, but their case was dismissed. Violence in Pine Ridge skyrocketed afterwards, with over 60 of Wilson’s tribal opponents dying in the next three years. Pine Ridge is still the poorest reservation in America and continues to battle health issues, poverty, unemployment and high suicide rates. Nevertheless, AIM’s standoff brought pride to many American Indians for its defiance against a government which so often mistreated, lied and forgot about its country’s first inhabitants.

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AIM Member on What Lead to Wounded Knee Occupation appeared first on Witnify.

“After the coup many people from the village joined the Khmer Rouge to fight against the new government…While the government had squashed this uprising, it was only the beginning of the civil war.”

The Lon Nol coup occurred on March 18, 1970. My uncle Om Ngat, and his wife, Om Ear were living in Takeo Province, Bati District in Chambak Commune. While my mother recalls the streets of Phnom Penh being very quiet that day, my aunt remembers a violent uprising in Chambak Commune in the subsequent days. I interviewed my aunt as she recalls tensions in her village soon afterwards and how the Khmer Rouge grew in her commune as a result: 

Wat Ansung. 2013. Source: ©Banyanblog.

On March 18, 1970 I was living in Takeo Province, Bati District in Chambak Commune. We owned a small shop in our house. We lived in the same house your mother grew up in, which was across the street from Wat Ansung (Ansung Pagoda). We didn’t know that there had been a coup in Phnom Penh. We didn’t hear the announcement because there weren’t many TVs or radios in our village at the time.

A few days afterwards we heard rumors from Phnom Penh that something big had happened, that the government had removed Prince Sihanouk from power. Some villagers said they later heard a message from Prince Sihanouk on the radio telling the people to rise against the enemies and go to the maquis to fight the government. At that point I knew there would be trouble because people in the village adored Prince Sihanouk. They were fiercely loyal to him and would die for him.

Soon after, perhaps that day or the next day, massive protests in Chambak commune broke out. It started in the afternoon when a group of people marched to Salah Temnah Kong Eng and took down a picture of Prince Sihanouk. The commune officials from the Chambak Salah Srok tried to prevent the villagers from doing so, but the people wouldn’t listen.  They took the picture down and carried it to Wat Ansung, which was about two kilometers from the Salah Srok.  Wat Ansung became the central meeting place for the protestors. Since our house was right in front of the pagoda and we had a shop, people would come and buy things, and ask for Om Ngat, who was well known in the village. They wanted him to come out and protest with them.  I told them he wasn’t home, that he was out playing football (soccer) by Tonle Bati.

Norodom Sihanouk. 1983. Source: Anefo, Dutch National Archives.

Towards the evening more and more people gathered at the pagoda. By this time your uncle came back. Then there was a knock at our door. This time the protestors wanted our megaphone to make announcements to rally the people. We gave it to them but told them we didn’t know how to use it since we had rented it from someone else. They took it and left us alone for the night.

The next morning, more and more people came to our village.  Droves of people were marching from as far as Phnom Chiso and they all gathered at Wat Ansung. The crowd got so large that the pagoda couldn’t fit everyone. There was an overflow of people and many of them stood in front of our house. I was scared. Your uncle was on his way to Phnom Penh to buy things for the shop and I was at home with your grandfather Kong Sreng and the children. Kong Sreng saw more and more people coming down the road carrying machetes. They were a rabble-rousing crowd. He told me to close the door. He was afraid that the protestors were drunk, would become violent and would burn down the house. I closed the doors to the house.

Later that morning villagers at the pagoda turned into a massive mob and knocked on our door again looking for Om Ngat. They went from house to house telling people to come out and protest.  In some cases they threatened to burn the house down. I told them he wasn’t home that he had gone to Phnom Penh. Shortly after I heard a noise in the back of our house. It was Om Ngat who snuck by the protestors. I let him in the back door. He told me he didn’t make it to Phnom Penh. The government had closed the roads going into the city. On his way back someone at the market told him that he needed to rush home because the mob was going to burn down his house.

The crowd had swelled to the hundreds, if not thousands, by the late morning. They left Wat Ansungand marched with the picture of the Prince to the hospital and then to the Salah Srok. There must have been thousands of people marching, wielding knives and machetes and screaming at the top of their lungs Jay-yo Samdach (Victory Prince). The workers at the Salah Srok must have been scared from the day before and called for help from Takeo Province. Earlier that day two big trucks carrying soldiers came. They stood in front of the Salah Srok waiting for the protestors.

Flag used by Khmer Rouge during their 1975 campaign. This design was replaced soon after their victory. Source: Creative Commons.

The Salah Srok was the final confrontation, soldiers against the angry mob. Even with the soldiers there carrying their guns, the protestors did not disperse. They were not intimidated. The soldiers warned them but the people wouldn’t move.  The people were defiant, they yelled Jay-yo Samdach, Jay-yo Samdach! Then it turned violent. The soldiers started shooting people indiscriminately. The crowd had scattered. I heard the shots and saw people running past our house screaming. I was terrified. Suddenly it was silent. The protestors went home. Eight people had died that day. Later in the afternoon the soldiers left. In the evening people went back to the Salah Srok to pick up the dead bodies to take to the hospital.

In the following days, I had heard that Khieu Samphan (a high ranking Khmer Rouge official) and some Khmer Rouge soldiers came to the village and setup a makeshift medical treatment area to tend to the wounded. The people who had protested were grateful to the Khmer Rouge for their help.  We reopened the shop following the protests and people would buy food, alcohol and medicine for the Khmer Rouge soldiers. After the coup many people from the village joined the Khmer Rouge to fight against the new government. That is how they grew in numbers in our commune. While the government had squashed this uprising, it was only the beginning of the civil war.

*All events are recalled to the best ability and any misstatements are unintentional*

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The Uprising in Takeo appeared first on Witnify.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MPlXC3M8hbg

Bobby Fischer was an American chess prodigy considered by many to be the greatest chess player of all time. Fischer began competing in the United States Chess Championship at age 14, and at age 15 he became the youngest grandmaster of his time. In 1972, Fischer defeated Boris Spassky of the USSR to claim the title of World Chess Champion. In this video, Fischer discusses the importance of staying fit and building stamina in order to be a successful chess player.

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A Different Side Of Bobby Fischer appeared first on Witnify.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F_nTpeoYkyM

On February 27, 1973, approximately 200 Oglala Lakota and members of the American Indian Movement (AIM) occupied the town of Wounded Knee, South Dakota, which is located on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation. The occupation was imp rotes of the failure of the Oglala Civil Rights Organization to impeach tribal president Richard Wilson, whom they believed was guilty of corruption and abuse of opponents. The occupiers also called out the United States government for its failure to fulfill its treaties with Indina people. The Oglala and AIM controlled Wounded Knee for 71 days while FBI and other law enforcement agents were in the area. Both sides were armed. Due to the damage to the houses in Wounded Knee, the community was not reoccupied until the 1990s. In this video, participants from both sides talk about what led up to the occupation as well as what took place during the 71 days.

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The American Indian Movement Occupies Wounded Knee appeared first on Witnify.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VHAWUby7V-A

On February 22, 1974, Samuel Byck attempted to hijack a plane flying out of Baltimore/Washington International Airport in the hopes of crashing it into the White House and killing U.S. President Richard Nixon. Byck first got attention from the Secret Service in 1972, when he threatened Nixon for the first time. Byck was upset that the Small Business Administration had turned him down for a loan. The Secret Service considered Byck to be harmless and no action was taken against him. On the day of the attempted hijacking and assassination, Byck carried a .22 caliber revolver he stole from a friend, as well as a homemade bomb of gasoline and an igniter. At the airport, Byck killed Maryland Aviation Administration Police Officer George Neal Ramsburg and pilot Fred Jones. Pilot Reese Loftin was also shot but survived. After a standoff, Anne Arundel County Police stormed the plane and wounded Byck, who committed suicide before police could apprehend him. Byck kept audio recordings of his motives and plans, clips of which are compiled in this video.

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Samuel Byck On His Attempted Assassination of Nixon appeared first on Witnify.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cHHToi3tAlg

The Who are a British rock band considered to be one of the most influential of the 20th century. The group formed in 1964, and went on to sell over 100 million records worldwide. In 1969, The Who released their album Tommy, which was about a deaf, dumb and blind boy and his attempts to communicate with the rest of the world. On February 14, 1970, The Who recorded a live album at Leeds University in England. The band wanted to use the live recording to show how different their live sound was to that on Tommy. Live at Leeds is now considered to be one of the best live rock albums of all time. In this video, fans and crew remember the concert.

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The Who Perform Live At Leeds appeared first on Witnify.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vrqqJ_dm9Ak

Patricia Hearst, granddaughter of publishing magnate William Randolph Hearst, was kidnapped from her home in Berkely, California on February 4, 1974 by the Symbionese Liberation Army. One condition the SLA gave for Patty Hearst’s release was that her family distribute $70 worth of food to every needy Californian. Hearst’s father took out a loan to arrange for the donation of $2 million of food to the Bay Area, however the SLA still refused to release her. Two months after her abduction, Hearst announced that she had joined the SLA and assumed the name “Tania”. Hearst then participated in the robbery of a bank with the SLA. This video contains audio clips of both Hearst and her kidnappers, as well as footage of reaction around Berkeley and San Francisco.

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The Symbionese Liberation Army Kidnap Patty Hearst appeared first on Witnify.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LVXN6EiqKFY

On February 3, 1969, Yasser Arafat became the leader of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO). This video is a clip from Arafat’s first address to the United Nations on November 13, 1974, in which he tells them: “I come to you bearing an olive branch in one hand and a freedom fighter’s gun in the other. Do not let the olive branch fall from my hand.”

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Yasser Arafat’s First Address To The United Nations appeared first on Witnify.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=09e7R7UjRcA

Idi Amin was the third President of Uganda, maintaining power from 1971 to 1979. As a young man, Amin was a member of the British colonial regiment, the King’s African Rifles. Following decolonization, Amin worked his way up to the rank of major general in the Ugandan Army and became the Army’s commander, leading a military coup in January of 1971. During his years in power, Amin committed egregious human rights violations, with anywhere from 100,000 to 500,000 being killed under his regime. He was also responsible for political repression, corruption, and economic mismanagement. In this video, a member of the British colonial regiment and a Ugandan historian recall Amin both before and after he came into power.

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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FQKinDucjfU

On January 21, 1977, President Jimmy Carter pardoned hundreds of thousands of men who had evaded the Vietnam War draft by either fleeing the country or failing to register. The pardon occurred on President Carter’s first day in office and was the fulfillment of a campaign promise. Not included in the pardon were military deserters. In this audio recording, Professor Gerald Treece, a Vietnam veteran, and Professor Geoffrey Corn discuss the impact of President Carter’s pardon.

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President Jimmy Carter Pardons Vietnam War Evaders appeared first on Witnify.