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.

The post American Indian Movement
AIM Member on What Lead to Wounded Knee Occupation appeared first on Witnify.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SSt574xqPbw

Watch rare footage of the last 27 prisoners leaving Alcatraz on March 21, 1963, the day the notorious federal penitentiary was closed for good due to major structural problems, which became a burdensome financial strain.

The post Alcatraz Island
Rare Footage of Alcatraz Prison’s Closing Day appeared first on Witnify.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lv8hlSuR8qU

Al Seedman, the former NYC Chief of Detectives, discusses how they caught the murderer of Kitty Genovese and explains how the investigation improved police department procedures. When Genovese was murdered on March 13, 1964, reportedly near neighbors who ignored her cries for help, it triggered the beginning of research into the bystander effect.

The post Murder of Kitty Genovese
Detective Al Seedman on the Kitty Genovese Investigation appeared first on Witnify.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2KFpgHG12p0

Trayvon Martin was 17-years-old when he was fatally shot by George Zimmerman in Sanford, Florida. On the evening of February 26, 20012, Martin had travelled with his father to visit his father’s fiancee. Martin went out to purchase some items from a convenience store. On his way home, Zimmerman, a member of the community watch, spotted him and called Sanford police. Although he was told not to, Zimmerman followed Martin, resulting in an altercation between the two in which Martin was shot in the chest. In this video, Trayvon Martin’s parents discuss their emotions and thoughts during Zimmerman’s trial.

The post Trayvon Martin’s Parents Speak About Zimmerman’s Trial 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.

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

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OmvXxwg8Ezg

The Rwandan Genocide took place over approximately 100 days from April to July of 1994. Between 500,000 and 1,000,000 Rwandans were killed, constituting as much as 20% of the country’s total population. Tutsis and moderate Hutus were slain by the Hutu majority. In this video, a survivor of the genocide talks about life in post-genocide Rwanda. The video also shows a community group working to reconcile victims and perpetrators of the genocide.

The post Rwandan Genocide
Survivor Of Genocide Speaks About Reconciliation appeared first on Witnify.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=atu4knCODDY

The office of Charlie Hebdo, a French satirical newspaper, was the site of a terrorist attack on January 7, 2015. Many staff members of the newspaper were killed. In this video, french journalist Laure Bretton talks about what she heard and saw during the attack.

The post Charlie Hebdo
Eyewitness Describes Charlie Hebdo Attack appeared first on Witnify.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Old3rKsxTeM

On January 7, 2015, French satirical newspaper Charlie Hebdo was the victim of a terrorist attack in which many of its employees were gunned down at its offices in Paris, France. Charlie Hebdo had previously been the victim of another terrorist attack in 2011, in which its offices were firebombed. In this video, Parisians react to the deadly attack.

The post Charlie Hebdo
Parisians React To The Attack On Charlie Hebdo appeared first on Witnify.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2iVfLfdjvew

On December 22, 2001, Richard Reid – otherwise known as the Shoe Bomber- attempted to detonate his explosive-packed shoes whole aboard an American Airlines flight from Paris to Miami. He was subdued by fellow passengers on the plane, which was diverted to Boston, Massachusetts, where it landed safely. Reid was later sentenced to three life terms plus 110 years in prison without parole. In this video, fellow passengers recall what happened on the flight. One passenger recalls: “The stewardess at one point said ‘Pass belts forward’ and people sort of from the back of the cabin who had really seen what had happened were taking off belts and all passing them forward and they were tying up the… you know, they were tying him up with these belts.”

The post Fellow Passengers Speak About The Shoe Bomber appeared first on Witnify.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mA0G8VlJEtw

Adolf Eichmann was a lieutenant colonel in the Nazi Army and one of the lead organizers of the holocaust. Eichmann was responsible for coordinating the logistics of of sending Jews to ghettos and extermination camps across Easter Europe during World War II. After the war, Eichmann managed to escape to Austria and then to Argentina, where he began a new life under an assumed name. In 1960, Israeli intelligence tracked him down and captured him, bringing him to Israel to stand trial on charges including war crimes and crimes against the Jewish people. Eichmann’s trial was the first trial to be televised. He was found guilty and on December 15, 1961, was sentenced to die by hanging. His sentence was carried out on May 31, 1962. This video shows clips of Eichmann’s funeral.

The post The Holocaust
The Trial Of Adolf Eichmann appeared first on Witnify.