Vernon Bellecourt
Encyclopedia
Vernon Bellecourt, Indian name WaBun-Inini, (October 17, 1931 – October 13, 2007) was a member of the White Earth Band of Ojibwe
(located in Minnesota
), and a Native American
rights activist, one of the highest leaders in the American Indian Movement
(AIM). In the Ojibwe language
, his name meant "Man of Dawn."
, where he lived until he was sixteen years old. In 1947 his family moved to the city of Minneapolis, where his parents sought better opportunities for themselves and their children. When Bellecourt was nineteen, he was convicted of robbing a Saint Paul, Minneapolis tavern and sentenced to time in St. Cloud prison
.
At his release, he started working as a hairdresser and opened a series of beauty salons in Saint Paul. He married and had children with his wife. In the mid 1960s, he sold his business and moved his family near Aspen, Colorado
.
, which his younger brother, Clyde Bellecourt
, helped found in 1968. Vernon soon became involved as well. He co-founded the AIM chapter in Denver, and was its first Executive Director. It worked in urban areas to ensure civil rights for American Indians, as well as to educate people about their cultural and spiritual heritage.
Bellecourt took part in the 1972 Trail of Broken Treaties
caravan to Washington, DC. He served as a negotiator during AIM's occupation
of the Bureau of Indian Affairs
headquarters building at the Department of Interior. Bellecourt was present briefly during the 1973 Wounded Knee occupation
at Pine Ridge Indian Reservation
in South Dakota
. He acted as an AIM spokesman and fundraiser during the 71-day standoff with federal agents.
After Wounded Knee, Bellecourt worked with the International Indian Treaty Council, which advocates on behalf of Indigenous
rights throughout the Western Hemisphere
. He became a leader of AIM’s work abroad, meeting with foreign leaders such as Daniel Ortega
of Nicaragua, Muammar al-Gaddafi
of Libya, and Palestine Liberation Organization
chairman Yasser Arafat
.
Bellecourt was active for many years in the campaign to free AIM activist Leonard Peltier
, who was convicted in 1977 of killing two FBI agents during a 1975 shootout on the Pine Ridge Reservation. He was sentenced to two consecutive life sentences.
In 2002 Paul DeMain, editor of the independent News from Indian Country
, published an editorial saying that he had been told by confidential sources that Peltier had bragged in 1975 to other AIM members about killing at least one of the agents. He also wrote that AIM leaders had feared Anna Mae Aquash
, the highest ranking woman in AIM, may have been an informant and ordered her execution. She was found dead on the Pine Ridge Reservation on February 1976 and was found to have been shot in the back of the head in late December 1975. In 2003 a federal grand jury indicted Arlo Looking Cloud and John Graham in the murder of Aquash. Looking Cloud was convicted in 1974, at a trial in which witnesses testified about Peltier's bragging. Graham was extradited from Canada in 2007 and indicted by the state of South Dakota in 2009. He was convicted of felony murder of Aquash in 2010. Both men are serving life sentences. Authorities are continuing to investigate the murder. The two daughters of Aquash believe that only high-ranking leader(s) of AIM could have ordered her execution.
s in American sports. Bellecourt fought against nicknames such as the Washington Redskins
, Atlanta Braves
or Kansas City Chiefs
. He was arrested twice in Cleveland in protest of the Cleveland Indians'
mascot, Chief Wahoo
. During the 1997 World Series
Bellecourt was arrested for setting fire to a stuffed doll of Chief Wahoo while protesting outside of Jacobs Field
. Charges against him were dropped. Bellecourt was arrested in 1998 but was not charged.
in Venezuela
. The two discussed the possibility of Chavez' providing aid to Native American groups.
According to his brother Clyde, Bellecourt fell ill soon after the trip and was hospitalized. He died of pneumonia
at age 75, in Minneapolis where he lived.
White Earth Band of Ojibwe
The White Earth Band of Ojibwe, or Gaa-waabaabiganikaag Anishinaabeg, is a Native American tribe located in northwestern Minnesota. The tribe's land-based home is the White Earth Indian Reservation...
(located in Minnesota
Minnesota
Minnesota is a U.S. state located in the Midwestern United States. The twelfth largest state of the U.S., it is the twenty-first most populous, with 5.3 million residents. Minnesota was carved out of the eastern half of the Minnesota Territory and admitted to the Union as the thirty-second state...
), and a Native American
Native Americans in the United States
Native Americans in the United States are the indigenous peoples in North America within the boundaries of the present-day continental United States, parts of Alaska, and the island state of Hawaii. They are composed of numerous, distinct tribes, states, and ethnic groups, many of which survive as...
rights activist, one of the highest leaders in the American Indian Movement
American Indian Movement
The American Indian Movement is a Native American activist organization in the United States, founded in 1968 in Minneapolis, Minnesota by urban Native Americans. The national AIM agenda focuses on spirituality, leadership, and sovereignty...
(AIM). In the Ojibwe language
Ojibwe language
Ojibwe , also called Anishinaabemowin, is an indigenous language of the Algonquian language family. Ojibwe is characterized by a series of dialects that have local names and frequently local writing systems...
, his name meant "Man of Dawn."
Early years
One of 12 children in his family, Bellecourt was born on the White Earth Indian ReservationWhite Earth Indian Reservation
The White Earth Indian Reservation is the home to the White Earth Nation, located in northwestern Minnesota. It is the largest Indian reservation in that state...
, where he lived until he was sixteen years old. In 1947 his family moved to the city of Minneapolis, where his parents sought better opportunities for themselves and their children. When Bellecourt was nineteen, he was convicted of robbing a Saint Paul, Minneapolis tavern and sentenced to time in St. Cloud prison
Minnesota Correctional Facility - St. Cloud
Minnesota Correctional Facility – St. Cloud is a state prison located in St. Cloud, Minnesota, United States. Originally built in 1889, it is a level four, close-security institution with an inmate population of about 1,000 men.MCF-St...
.
At his release, he started working as a hairdresser and opened a series of beauty salons in Saint Paul. He married and had children with his wife. In the mid 1960s, he sold his business and moved his family near Aspen, Colorado
Aspen, Colorado
The City of Aspen is a Home Rule Municipality that is the county seat and the most populous city of Pitkin County, Colorado, United States. The United States Census Bureau estimates that the city population was 5,804 in 2005...
.
American Indian Movement
Bellecourt was a long-time leader in the American Indian MovementAmerican Indian Movement
The American Indian Movement is a Native American activist organization in the United States, founded in 1968 in Minneapolis, Minnesota by urban Native Americans. The national AIM agenda focuses on spirituality, leadership, and sovereignty...
, which his younger brother, Clyde Bellecourt
Clyde Bellecourt
Clyde Howard Bellecourt is a White Earth Ojibwe civil rights organizer noted for co-founding the American Indian Movement in 1968 with Dennis Banks, Herb Powless, and Eddie Benton Banai, among others. His older brother, the late Vernon Bellecourt, was also active...
, helped found in 1968. Vernon soon became involved as well. He co-founded the AIM chapter in Denver, and was its first Executive Director. It worked in urban areas to ensure civil rights for American Indians, as well as to educate people about their cultural and spiritual heritage.
Bellecourt took part in the 1972 Trail of Broken Treaties
Trail of Broken Treaties
The Trail of Broken Treaties was a cross-country protest in the United States by American Indian and First Nations organizations that took place in the autumn of 1972...
caravan to Washington, DC. He served as a negotiator during AIM's occupation
Bureau of Indian Affairs building takeover
The Bureau of Indian Affairs building takeover occurred from November 3 to November 9, 1972. On November 3, a group of around 500 American Indians with the American Indian Movement took over the Bureau of Indian Affairs building in Washington, D.C., the culmination of their participation in the...
of the Bureau of Indian Affairs
Bureau of Indian Affairs
The Bureau of Indian Affairs is an agency of the federal government of the United States within the US Department of the Interior. It is responsible for the administration and management of of land held in trust by the United States for Native Americans in the United States, Native American...
headquarters building at the Department of Interior. Bellecourt was present briefly during the 1973 Wounded Knee occupation
Wounded Knee Incident
The Wounded Knee incident began February 27, 1973 when about 200 Oglala Lakota and followers of the American Indian Movement seized and occupied the town of Wounded Knee, South Dakota on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation...
at Pine Ridge Indian Reservation
Pine Ridge Indian Reservation
The Pine Ridge Indian Reservation is an Oglala Sioux Native American reservation located in the U.S. state of South Dakota. Originally included within the territory of the Great Sioux Reservation, Pine Ridge was established in 1889 in the southwest corner of South Dakota on the Nebraska border...
in South Dakota
South Dakota
South Dakota is a state located in the Midwestern region of the United States. It is named after the Lakota and Dakota Sioux American Indian tribes. Once a part of Dakota Territory, South Dakota became a state on November 2, 1889. The state has an area of and an estimated population of just over...
. He acted as an AIM spokesman and fundraiser during the 71-day standoff with federal agents.
After Wounded Knee, Bellecourt worked with the International Indian Treaty Council, which advocates on behalf of Indigenous
Indigenous peoples
Indigenous peoples are ethnic groups that are defined as indigenous according to one of the various definitions of the term, there is no universally accepted definition but most of which carry connotations of being the "original inhabitants" of a territory....
rights throughout the Western Hemisphere
Western Hemisphere
The Western Hemisphere or western hemisphere is mainly used as a geographical term for the half of the Earth that lies west of the Prime Meridian and east of the Antimeridian , the other half being called the Eastern Hemisphere.In this sense, the western hemisphere consists of the western portions...
. He became a leader of AIM’s work abroad, meeting with foreign leaders such as Daniel Ortega
Daniel Ortega
José Daniel Ortega Saavedra is a Nicaraguan politician and revolutionary, currently serving as the 83rd President of Nicaragua, a position that he has held since 2007. He previously served as the 79th President, between 1985 and 1990, and for much of his life, has been a leader in the Sandinista...
of Nicaragua, Muammar al-Gaddafi
Muammar al-Gaddafi
Muammar Muhammad Abu Minyar Gaddafi or "September 1942" 20 October 2011), commonly known as Muammar Gaddafi or Colonel Gaddafi, was the official ruler of the Libyan Arab Republic from 1969 to 1977 and then the "Brother Leader" of the Libyan Arab Jamahiriya from 1977 to 2011.He seized power in a...
of Libya, and Palestine Liberation Organization
Palestine Liberation Organization
The Palestine Liberation Organization is a political and paramilitary organization which was created in 1964. It is recognized as the "sole legitimate representative of the Palestinian people" by the United Nations and over 100 states with which it holds diplomatic relations, and has enjoyed...
chairman Yasser Arafat
Yasser Arafat
Mohammed Yasser Abdel Rahman Abdel Raouf Arafat al-Qudwa al-Husseini , popularly known as Yasser Arafat or by his kunya Abu Ammar , was a Palestinian leader and a Laureate of the Nobel Prize. He was Chairman of the Palestine Liberation Organization , President of the Palestinian National Authority...
.
Bellecourt was active for many years in the campaign to free AIM activist Leonard Peltier
Leonard Peltier
Leonard Peltier is a Native American activist and member of the American Indian Movement . In 1977 he was convicted and sentenced to two consecutive terms of life imprisonment for first degree murder in the shooting of two Federal Bureau of Investigation agents during a 1975 conflict on the Pine...
, who was convicted in 1977 of killing two FBI agents during a 1975 shootout on the Pine Ridge Reservation. He was sentenced to two consecutive life sentences.
In 2002 Paul DeMain, editor of the independent News from Indian Country
News from Indian Country
News From Indian Country is a nationwide, privately owned newspaper, published twice a month, founded by Paul DeMain in 1986, who is the managing editor and an owner. It is the oldest continuing, nationally distributed publication that is not owned by a tribal government...
, published an editorial saying that he had been told by confidential sources that Peltier had bragged in 1975 to other AIM members about killing at least one of the agents. He also wrote that AIM leaders had feared Anna Mae Aquash
Anna Mae Aquash
Anna Mae Aquash was a Mi'kmaq activist from Nova Scotia, Canada who became the highest-ranking woman in the American Indian Movement in the United States during the mid-1970s.Aquash...
, the highest ranking woman in AIM, may have been an informant and ordered her execution. She was found dead on the Pine Ridge Reservation on February 1976 and was found to have been shot in the back of the head in late December 1975. In 2003 a federal grand jury indicted Arlo Looking Cloud and John Graham in the murder of Aquash. Looking Cloud was convicted in 1974, at a trial in which witnesses testified about Peltier's bragging. Graham was extradited from Canada in 2007 and indicted by the state of South Dakota in 2009. He was convicted of felony murder of Aquash in 2010. Both men are serving life sentences. Authorities are continuing to investigate the murder. The two daughters of Aquash believe that only high-ranking leader(s) of AIM could have ordered her execution.
Sports mascots and nicknames
As president of the National Coalition on Racism in Sports and Media, Bellecourt worked to end the unauthorized use of American Indian tribal land nicknameNickname
A nickname is "a usually familiar or humorous but sometimes pointed or cruel name given to a person or place, as a supposedly appropriate replacement for or addition to the proper name.", or a name similar in origin and pronunciation from the original name....
s in American sports. Bellecourt fought against nicknames such as the Washington Redskins
Washington Redskins
The Washington Redskins are a professional American football team and members of the East Division of the National Football Conference in the National Football League . The team plays at FedExField in Landover, Maryland, while its headquarters and training facility are at Redskin Park in Ashburn,...
, Atlanta Braves
Atlanta Braves
The Atlanta Braves are a professional baseball club based in Atlanta, Georgia. The Braves are a member of the Eastern Division of Major League Baseball's National League. The Braves have played in Turner Field since 1997....
or Kansas City Chiefs
Kansas City Chiefs
The Kansas City Chiefs are a professional American football team based in Kansas City, Missouri. They are a member of the Western Division of the American Football Conference in the National Football League . Originally named the Dallas Texans, the club was founded by Lamar Hunt in 1960 as a...
. He was arrested twice in Cleveland in protest of the Cleveland Indians'
Cleveland Indians
The Cleveland Indians are a professional baseball team based in Cleveland, Ohio. They are in the Central Division of Major League Baseball's American League. Since , they have played in Progressive Field. The team's spring training facility is in Goodyear, Arizona...
mascot, Chief Wahoo
Chief Wahoo
Chief Wahoo is a trademarked logo for the Cleveland Indians baseball team. The illustration is a Native American cartoon caricature.Although the club had adopted the name "Indians" starting with the 1915 season, there was no acknowledgment of this nickname on their uniforms until 1928...
. During the 1997 World Series
1997 World Series
-Game 1:Saturday, October 18, 1997 at Pro Player Stadium in Miami Gardens, FloridaThe first World Series game in the state of Florida, Game 1 featured a youngster and a veteran facing each other on the mound...
Bellecourt was arrested for setting fire to a stuffed doll of Chief Wahoo while protesting outside of Jacobs Field
Jacobs Field
Progressive Field is a ballpark located in downtown Cleveland, Ohio, and is the home of the Cleveland Indians of Major League Baseball and the American League. Along with Quicken Loans Arena, it is part of the Gateway Sports and Entertainment Complex...
. Charges against him were dropped. Bellecourt was arrested in 1998 but was not charged.
Final days
In August 2007, Bellecourt accepted an invitation from the Venezuelan government to attend the First International Congress of Anti-imperialist Indigenous Peoples of America. He met with President Hugo ChavezHugo Chávez
Hugo Rafael Chávez Frías is the 56th and current President of Venezuela, having held that position since 1999. He was formerly the leader of the Fifth Republic Movement political party from its foundation in 1997 until 2007, when he became the leader of the United Socialist Party of Venezuela...
in Venezuela
Venezuela
Venezuela , officially called the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela , is a tropical country on the northern coast of South America. It borders Colombia to the west, Guyana to the east, and Brazil to the south...
. The two discussed the possibility of Chavez' providing aid to Native American groups.
According to his brother Clyde, Bellecourt fell ill soon after the trip and was hospitalized. He died of pneumonia
Pneumonia
Pneumonia is an inflammatory condition of the lung—especially affecting the microscopic air sacs —associated with fever, chest symptoms, and a lack of air space on a chest X-ray. Pneumonia is typically caused by an infection but there are a number of other causes...
at age 75, in Minneapolis where he lived.
See also
- Native American mascot controversyNative American mascot controversyThe propriety of using Native American mascots and images in sports has been a topic of debate in the United States and Canada since the 1960s.Americans have had a history of drawing inspiration from native peoples and "playing Indian" that dates back at least to the 18th century...