Above Photo: From Vimeo.com. VIdeo Still.
Clyde Bellecourt, whose Indigenous name is Nee-gon-we-way-we-dun (which means “Thunder Before the Storm”), took the microphone at a forum in Minnesota and makes a speech about the history of abuse of Indigenous Peoples and asks Bernie Sanders if he is elected president will he honor treaties the US made with Native Americans. Bellecourt founded the American Indian Movement with David Banks, Herb Powless, and Eddie Benton Banai, among others in 1968 and was elected its first chairman. Bellecourt was one of the organizers of the 1973 peace march to create a Federal Indian Commission. He also was a leader in protests at the Pine Ridge Reservation in 1973, protesting the conditions at what had originally been a prison camp for Indigenous Peoples. He was convicted of drug charges in 1985 and sentenced to five years in prison, serving less than two years. Bellecourt lives in Minneapolis and continues to direct national and international AIM activities.