Indigenous activism has been very present in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. The American Indian Movement, or AIM, is a national Indigenous American organization pushing for many acts to improve, recognize, and help Indigenous people. The United States has refused to accept many Indigenous communities’ rights, so AIM has had to find many creative ways to get the attention of the federal government. AIM relied on occupations and protesting to get their message across.
AIM organized the occupation of specific locations that had tragic significance to many Indigenous communities. These occupations were when many people would stay and live within a particular area without permission from the Federal Government to make a political statement to reclaim their land and history. Two famous occupations are still discussed today: the occupation of Alcatraz and the Occupation of Wounded Knee.
On February 17, 1973, many AIM activists tried to make a political statement by starting to occupy the land where the Knee Massacre had happened. Pine Ridge, South Dakota, gained much attention due to AIM creating an occupation within that city. Unfortunately for AIM, the Lokata people were divided over Wounded Knee’s occupation. Dick Wilson was the Tribal Chairman and was the head of the disagreers, the Progressives. The Lakotas, who had disagreed with the Progressives, were called the Traditionalists. They believed that: Dick Wilson should not be the Tribal Head of the Lokata and should be investigated for his alleged crimes and corruption, Pine Ridge Reservation should be a place of Liberation for the Lokata, and the Lokata should not work in favor of the United States Federal Government. Due to the disagreements between the progressives and traditionalists, the occupation of Wounded Knee became extremely difficult for AIM. The progressives and the Federal Government decided to block the roads leading to where the occupiers were living, causing the occupiers to be hungry, thirsty, and despair. The Federal government started to put criminal charges on many AIM members, causing many AIM activism to come to a halt.
Although the federal government would try to hush the voices of the Indigenous People, it is very admirable that organizations like AIM would organize occupations, protests, and speeches to fight their oppression.