Movie Review of Incident at Oglala
Interesting drum beat, like the beating of a heart. Multiple people telling the story
leading up to the shootings. “The agents committed suicide when they went in there after
Jimmy Eagle.” Indians are saying they do not understand why the Fed agents would
surround a place where there were families, children, homes, and start firing. Some say
they were fired upon first by the agents, some say the agents came into the Jumping Bull
compound and were immediately fired upon. FBI spokes person said that Agent
Williams put up his hand in front of his face and was shot through his hand and into his
head, killing him. Coler was shot through the top of his head then the through the neck
and taking part of his jaw. Another Indian, Joe Stunts (?), was shot through the forehead .
There is a feeling of sense of loss for all these lives. News report said “the agents
survived the initial shooting only to be executed. One Indian was shot dead but the rest
of the Indians escaped.” Three Indians were charged with the killing of the FBI agents,
but no one was ever charged with the killing of Joe Stunts. Hmmm. The narration flips
back and forth between Indian interviewees and FBI agents. Both sides telling their
version of what happened. FBI portraying the two agents as “innocent victims just doing
their job and being set upon by hostile Indians.” (Oh, come on! Didn’t that go out with
the 19th Century?) Indians portraying the FBI agents as interfering outsiders. One
narrator said the shooting was part of the pattern of violence that was occurring on the
Reservation, he doesn’t know who started it but it doesn’t surprise him that two
strangers, unknown FBI agents in civilian clothes from off the reservation would drive
up to an isolated farm house and start shooting. Given the level of tension, anxiety, and
fear that existed on the reservation, it is a war zone.
Pine Ridge is the poorest reservation in the US, and has sort of been forgotten by
the US gov’t. People were divided between the full-blood traditional native Americans
and the “governmental-types,“ those with other blood mixed and viewed as those
dominant. Dick Wilson, mixed-blood Indian, was suspected of using Gov’t money to
better his personal situation and funds were not going to the people for whom it was
intended to reach; he was viewed as not Pro-Indian. He was seen as a puppet of the gov’t
and the native Indians were always in the wrong.
1972 A Challenge to the injustice and poverty on the Pine Ridge Reservation.
Bureau of Indian Affairs started bringing in big weaponry to the areato scare the native
Indians into submission???? Keep them in line???? Indians were ready to put their
bodies on the line because that is all they felt they had. The government was fearful of
the rise of the American Indians, like they have been for the last three hundred years.
Wounded Knee occupation.
Reign of Terror--May 1973 to June 1975 when most of the people died.
Population on Pine Ridge Reservation was 15,000. Population of whole state was
700,000. There were more violent deaths in those twelve months than the entire state
combined. Violence was created by the Dick Wilson administration, who was using
gov’t money to set up vans of armed men, called “goon squads”, who were acting as
vigilante-type law enforcement, to intimidate residents of the reservation so they did not
threaten by questioning the practices of Wilson. Goon Squads, or Death Squads as they
became known, were using automatic weapons given to them by the United States
Government to use against the native Indians.
There were personal reflections of people who lost family, friends, through the
goon/death squads. The heartache of burying those who were victims. No one was
untouched by these death squads. Shootouts going on all the time, before and long after.
Gov’t turned a blind eye to Wilson’s stranglehold on the Pine Ridge Reservation.
American Indian Movement came in to protect the community from the death squads. If
you did not know someone, then it was immediately assumed that they were there to kill
you. AIM started community gardens, repair work on homes, be a man and not just
parade around with a weapon. AIM really advocated sobriety. There were sixty unsolved
murders of AIM supporters during this time period. No Feds or Goon Squad members
were killed. Dick Wilson’s Goon Squad, the United States Government, and the FBI
worked together with the intent to destroy the Pine Ridge community members.
Within three days of the shooting deaths of Coler and Williams, over 350 FBI
agents descended upon the community, where as, before all the reservation deaths were
just swept under the rug. Massive manhunt for the shooters of two agents.
June 1976-Cedar Rapids IA The trial started for Robideau and Butler while Peltier
awaited extradition in Canada. Predominately white community with little or no previous
sympathy for native American Indians. Robideau and Butler felt they were high profile in
AIM and they were chosen to stand trial because of their involvement in AIM, not
necessarily for killing the FBI agents. Defense team definitely felt they were going to be
steamrolled over by the US Gov’t. Any and all “evidence” was complied from over 250
FBI agents investigating this case, 4,000 pieces of physical evidence from twenty
locations in thirteen states. It was as though if a piece of evidence looked like it could fit,
it was admissible. The gov’t said they were on the Jumping Bull compound at the time
and their presence constitutes their active participation in the ambush and murders of the
FBI agents. Many shell casings were found but none could be directly attributed to
weapons “possibly fired” by Robideau and Butler. As the case continued, it because
evident that the “evidence” was circumstantial. One direct eye witness said Robideau and
Butler were behind cars, a few hundred yards away, firing their guns at whomever was
firing at them. Self defense???? NO ONE could pinpoint who shot the agents.
Who was James Harper? He said he spent the night in jail with Darrell Butler
who confessed multiple things to him, which, to the government, made him a credible
witness against the two defendants. Luckily for the defense, James Harper’s landlady
came forward and said he was the deceitful, fugitive felon that he was, and that he had
been rehearsing should he get caught; he was wanted in Texas and Wisconsin
The defense was amazed that the US Gov’t thought they could put this scum bag
(my words) on the witness stand as a credible witness for their side. It finally became
clear to the defense, it was a case of self defense. Didn’t I say that eight lines earlier?
These unknown/unfamiliar agents came rushing in and the community reacted with fear.
The burden of proof was finally put on the shoulders of the government to prove that the
agents were gunned down for no reason. Robideau and Butler were found not guilty and
FBI agents were shocked. Againsomeone was going to pay!
Leonard Peltier was extradited from Canada and I felt it was obvious he was going
even though she wasn’t even there. She was threatened by the gov’t that if she did not
testify, she would have “things” happen to her. There was no physical evidence of her
being there but an affidavit by a woman named Poor Bear said she made the girlfriend
watch and recognize Leonard Peltier as the one who killed the agents. The “girlfriend”
later said she did not know Leonard and did not know what he looked like until she saw
him in the courtroom. He was painted as a leader of the AIM.
Suddenly a guy named Mike Anderson makes a statement, and says from his
vantage point on a roof top, (what in the hell was he doing there?) appears as a witness to
Peltier shooting at close range the two downed FBI agents. Others said he was with them
in the tents when the shooting started.
Bloodied autopsy pictures were presented to the jurors, which made the reality of
the agents’ shooting deaths more heartfelt, and that convinced the jurors that somebody
had to pay. Peltier was convicted. He appealed five years later for a new trial on the
grounds that crucial evidence was never presented in the original trial. With the Freedom
of Information Act, evidence was of a spent cartridge casing found in the trunk of one of
the dead agents, the firing pin markings did not match the AR-15 used by Peltier and
somebody else had an AR-15 that fired upon the agents. There was no way the casing
could have come from a gun fired by Peltier. Eighteen thousand pages of information,
evidence, and testimony was compiled by the FBI and the defense has been only able to
procure maybe half of that. Unfortunately there was no reasonable and probable cause for
a new trial and appeal was denied.
A red pickup truck was seen leaving the scene of the shooting, the same pick up
truck the agents followed onto the Jumping Bull compound. Leonard Peltier was already
on the compound, with witnesses, and his red and white van had not been driven.
In 1989, a man named only “Mr. X” admitted to killing the two agents. Leonard Peltier
says the only thing he is guilty of is struggling for his people. His release date is 2035.
We are presented with multiple views on both sides and allowed to form our own
opinions. The lawyers for the defense have given probable cause that “witnesses”
and evidence were fabricated and tampered with. Leonard Peltier is in prison because
“someone” as to pay for the deaths of the two FBI agents who so recklessly (my word and
opinion) drove onto the Jumping Bull compound “with guns a-blazin’.” The Indians are
still being treated with no respect and regarded as something our government just wants
would never have watched it on my own. I have been made aware of a very turbulent and
modern time in our history with our Native Americans. I am better informed regarding
their mistreatment by our government. I sincerely feel this review could not have been
written about with fewer words. I had so much revealed to me through this documentary.
