Controversy in Wounded Knee

In Review of Wounded Knee, I critiqued the storytelling aspects of the fifth episode of PBS's We Shall Remain series. Now I'll concentrate on the content.

Except for some minor quibbles with After the Mayflower, no one has protested the authenticity of the We Shall Remain episodes. Until now, that is. Wounded Knee has elicited some angry responses:

We Shall Remain:  Wounded KneeI've seen this film and am sad to report it is full of distortions, half-truths, and outright falsehoods. Many Indians are disappointed with how this film was put together. The producer, Stanley Nelson, shows that he has an agenda in favor of the perpetrators, leaders of the American Indian Movement (AIM). In this highly offensive throwback to AIM terror and violence, the old guard leaders are free to lie and distort without challenge or balance. The real victims of Wounded Knee, the villagers who lived there and who lost everything they owned, are nearly invisible in this film. Most of them were Indians. It's laughable to hear old fart Russell Means speak on behalf of his victim, Agnes Gildersleeve, who was always under duress to say nice things about her captor when the cameras were rolling. Nelson chose to omit any footage of the devastation visited upon the village during its 71-day demise. There's nothing about Ray Robinson who was shot in the leg by an AIM leader and left to die. Anna Mae Pictou Aquash, another AIM victim, was written out the script as well. Check IndianCountryNews.com for the latest on this developing story of how PBS was hoodwinked into fronting for this film. "Wounded Knee" is mostly a predictable montage of vintage AIM propaganda. It makes a mockery of true Indian heroism shown in previous segments.News Alert:  PBS Accused of Distorting Indian HistoryA group calling themselves The Wounded Knee Victims and Veterans Association (WKVAVA) has issued a scathing letter to Paula Kerger, president and CEO of PBS. The letter, faxed to PBS headquarters on May 10, accuses the organization of fronting what the group says is a distorted film on Indian history, the last in the "American Experience--We Shall Remain" series. The film, entitled "Wounded Knee," describes the occupation of the historic village in 1973 by members and supporters of the American Indian Movement (AIM). Wounded Knee, the site of an Indian massacre in 1890, sits near the southern border of the Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota. The FBI and the U.S. Marshal Service erected roadblocks around the small town after AIM members looted the store, set fires, and shot at responding emergency crews. AIM leaders held 11 residents hostage. The occupation lasted 71 days as government lawyers tried to negotiate a peaceful end to the hostilities. The conflict left the village in shambles. Two occupiers were shot to death, although rumors persist that several victims were murdered behind the scenes during heated arguments and interrogations.

The group charges PBS with failure to hold "Wounded Knee" to PBS standards for editorial integrity, fairness, and historical accuracy. Many of the association's complaints center on the film's lack of information about the Wounded Knee villagers. "The real victims of Wounded Knee were the people who lived there," said Joe Trimbach, author of the book, American Indian Mafia (americanindianmafia.com). 'Most of the residents were Indians. They lost everything they owned and yet they are invisible in this film. It doesn't even show the devastation.' Upon learning that PBS had omitted his book from their bibliography, Trimbach contacted their legal department. PBS has since added Trimbach's book to the list. 'We call Mafia, 'The history book they do not want you to read.' Well, here's a good example. We try to tell the truth about what happened and some people don't want to hear it.'Reality check:  It's true Wounded Knee says nothing about the town being devastated or in shambles. But this press release doesn't tell us much either. Exactly how much property was "devastated"? Were these wanton acts of destruction or the inevitable results of housing an occupying army for 71 days? Were the victims innocent villagers or GOON squad members who harassed and intimidated innocent villagers?

Without more information, we're left with a "he said, she said" situation. One side offers pro-occupation propaganda and the other offers anti-occupation propaganda.

"Demolition" of Wounded KneeJoAnn Gildersleeve Feraca, daughter of Wounded Knee residents Clive and Agnes Gildersleeve, recalled what it was like to watch the steady demolition of her community while the media appeared oblivious to the destruction. 'The reporters did one of the worst disservices to real news gathering that I have ever seen. The media wanted to film a western. They created the good guys and the bad guys, and never even had to pay for ruined property and lives. And now we have a film from PBS that pays homage to the perpetrators all over again. My parents suffered greatly at the hands of their assailants. They were taken hostage. Their trading post store was burned to the ground. They even stole my mother's wedding ring and gold bracelet. My parents lost everything they had spent a lifetime building.'Reality check: Wounded Knee says the protesters "stripped" the Gildersleeves' store, but doesn't say why. It avoids more inflammatory words such as "robbed" or "pillaged."

If they "stripped" the store to feed their people or to pay the Gildersleeves back for years of unfair store policies, someone could strain to justify that morally. But it's hard to imagine a reason for taking Mrs. Gildersleeve's wedding ring or burning down the store.

Here the victims' group has a point. I don't know what really happened, but Wounded Knee doesn't even mention the protesters' grievances or actions against the Gildersleeves' store. This is the mark of a propaganda piece.

As for the hostages, Wounded Knee quotes Mrs. Gildersleeve saying they weren't hostages and she feared the feds coming in and killing everyone. The person above claims she said this because Russell Means was standing nearby and intimidating her. Without more information, this is another "he said, she said" situation.

Deaths of suspected spiesPaul DeMain, editor of News from Indian Country (IndianCountryNews.com), said that parts of the film "take us to a well-charted fantasyland" because it fails to hold AIM accountable. 'AIM leaders Dennis Banks, Russell Means, and Madonna Thunderhawk [all featured in the film] are named co-conspirators in several murders, like that of civil rights worker Perry Ray Robinson.' Robinson, a colleague of Martin Luther King, was said to be the only black man inside the village during that period of the occupation. AIM is believed to have buried his body near Wounded Knee Creek in an effort to keep his death a secret. Added DeMain, 'These same AIM leaders were involved in the execution of Annie Mae Pictou Aquash. They are not heroes. Several people tried to warn Producer Stanley Nelson and PBS about this. They chose to ignore us.' The group has called for justice for Robinson and for Pictou Aquash who was murdered in 1975 because AIM leaders mistakenly thought she was a government informant. Pictou Aquash was also at Wounded Knee but does not appear in the film.Reality check: Wounded Knee mentions that the FBI had sources of information--i.e., spies--within the occupation. This made the protesters suspicious and paranoid about each other. It led to "purported cases of people who disappeared, and were killed."

That's a pretty weak statement for what could well be murder. Note the passive tense. Who did the killing...the people whom the documentary is painting as noble warriors?

Wounded Knee didn't have to take DeMain's position and denounce AIM's leaders as executioners. But it spent 10 minutes on historical subjects that were only tangential to the occupation. It could've spent a couple of minutes presenting both sides of the issue.

After the occupation

Pictou Aquash died after the occupation was over. According to Wounded Knee, two FBI agents and more than 60 AIM supporters were killed in the following three years. Meanwhile, the government filed more than 500 indictments against AIM members--most of which it later dropped. AIM fell into disarray and violent infighting and would never again have the same impact.

These statements are terribly vague. Who killed the 60-plus AIM supporters? Rogue federal agents? Rogue AIM members? Regular AIM members acting at the behest of AIM's leaders? Or...? Was this part of the "violent infighting," or was that something else?

The two dead FBI agents presumably were the ones Leonard Peltier was convicted of killing. Yet Wounded Knee doesn't mention Peltier. If you're going to talk about the occupation's legacy, isn't his case part of it?

The episode wasn't obligated to cover the occupation's aftermath in depth. But the fact that some of the on-camera speakers were "named co-conspirators in several murders" seems significant. How do you avoid mentioning something about that?

Again, the episode wasn't obligated to take the victims' position. But at least present the controversy. Say so-and-so was accused of complicity in murder and so-and-so denies it. Don't ignore the issue as if it doesn't exist.

All in all, the victims' group has a valid argument. Wounded Knee downplayed or ignored several significant controversies. It gave us too much propaganda and not enough hard facts.

For more on the subject, see Native Documentaries and News.