Dennis Banks at 75: Then and Now

Levi Rickert, editor-in-chief in Native Currents. Discussion »

LEECH LAKE INDIAN RESERVATION – American Indian Movement co-founder Dennis Banks turns 75 today.

In Solidarity

Even in his mature age, Banks does not appear to be slowing down.

Just before Christmas last year, he assisted in the the launch of the Leonard Peltier Walk for Human Rights on Alcatraz Island; leading the singing and drumming on the ferry to and from the island.

In January, he went to Germany for the premiere of "A Good Day to Die," a documentary film that deals with his life and the rise of the American Indian Movement.

Last week, he launched a new business venture called Whispering Warrior in San Diego at the National Indian Gaming Association's annual tradeshow. Next month, Banks will be part of "Hee Haw II, The Next Generation" at Kewadin Casino in Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan.

For Education

“His spirit is so youthful and his energy level is high. He continues to be full of life,”

commented his daughter, Tashina Banks.

“I used to think people who were 75 were really old; he makes it look young and there is a lot of life left in him… it is inspiring,”

she continued.

On Friday evening, The Celebration for Dennis Banks' 75th Birthday will be hosted by Russell Means, comedian Charlie Hill and Banks' brother, Mark Banks, at the Northern Lights Casino on the Leech Lake Indian Reservation.

“I hope to make to it 75”

Quipped 72 year old Russell Means with slight laughter in his voice. Means was at the forefront of the American Indian Movement with Banks in the early 1970s.

For Diabetes Prevention

“I am excited to celebrate his birthday with him. You know, it is not often we get to celebrate together. We usually are waging protests for our people. It will be fun to enjoy each other on Friday night.”

Birthday Wishes

Born on the Leech Lake Indian Reservation on April 12 seventy-five years ago, he was given the name Nowa Cuming, which means "At the Center of the Universe."

A young Nowa Cumig was removed from his family home when he was only five years old and was placed in an Indian boarding school several hours from home. At the Indian boarding school he was given the English name, Dennis Banks.

While confined to three different Indian boarding schools during 1940s, he experienced extreme feelings of loneliness and maternal abandonment, which progressed into detachment from the love of his mother. During the ensuing years at Indian boarding schools, he never understood why he was taken from his family home and sent to live in the schools.

In Germany

During the years he was at the schools, he escaped eleven times; only to be captured and returned to the Indian school ten times. He states he somehow knew his familial home was on the reservation to the north. Each escape he got closer to home. During his eleventh escape, he made it all the way home.

Once home, Mr. Banks relationship with his mother was never properly restored to normalcy. Sadly, his mother died at the age of 51 when he was only 21 years old.

American Indian scholars argue the Indian boarding school policy is the most significant factor that impacts the social ills American Indians experience in contemporary time, such as high rates of alcoholism, domestic abuse and suicides.

Banks tells a portion of his Indian boarding school experience in his 2004 autobiography, "Ojibwa Warrior: Dennis Banks and the Rise of the American Indian Movement," which was published by the University of Oklahoma Press in a chapter entitled, The Yellow Bus. His story was given more publicity in April 2009 in the acclaimed PBS-documentary series, "American Experience, We Shall Remain, Episode Five: Wounded Knee."

While these two venues provided insight of his Indian boarding schools experience, it was not until late 2008 he discovered that fifteen letters were in his cumulative student file, maintained at a repository in St. Louis, Missouri. Note: Even though the PBS segment had yet to air, his segment was recorded prior to the discovery of the letters.

In the fifteen letters, addressed to him or school officials, he discovered his mother had unsuccessfully attempted to have him brought back home. One letter disclosed she even sent $6 for bus fare to bring him home. Some of the letters were addressed to him, but the school superintendent decided to never share them with him.

The story of how he reacted to reading the letters is powerful and riveting: As he read the long-ago filed away letters, and still harboring vast feelings of betrayal by his mother for some six decades, Banks had floods of tears roll down his face. Moved by a tremendous sense of remorse, he knew he had to visit his mother's grave. Once there, he knelt down and hugged the grave stone and wept.

There he verbally asked for his mother's forgiveness.

Before that humbling moment, he was propelled into the living icon he is today. As a founder of the American Indian Movement, he has remained in the limelight for the past several decades.

The American Indian Movement had its origins in Minneapolis, Minnesota in 1968. Banks, George Mitchell, Clyde and Vernon Bellecourt started the organization to stop the large number of urban Indians being rounded up each weekend, beaten and jailed by the police. In 1969, the American Indian Movement assisted another group of American Indians who took over Alcatraz Island.

For Leonard Peltier

By 1972, the American Indian Movement went to Washington DC to protest and ended up taking over the Bureau of Indian Affairs national headquarters.

In five short years, the American Indian Movement emerged as the premier Indian organization concerned with American Indian rights and issues in various parts of the country. While other groups existed, the American Indian Movement was one group that could mobilize quickly.

On February 28, 1973, the American Indian Movement took over and occupied Wounded Knee in South Dakota. This siege would last seventy-one days and would become known as the Wounded Knee II. It was called Wounded Knee II because it was there at Wounded Knee – on December 29, 1890 – that the US Calvary Regiment massacred some 150 Lakota men, women and children. From a historical perspective, what happened at Wounded Knee in 1890 represents a symbol of the vast mistreatment of American Indians by the federal government.

The American Indian Movement did not takeover Wounded Knee simply to take over a prairie hamlet, instead their intent was to end the corruption that existed on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation.

With the siege of Wounded Knee, all of the sudden American Indian concerns were front and center in the minds of Americans who usually only referenced American Indians on Thanksgiving. This, of course, was the result of the power of being on nightly newscasts on television coming into Americans.

The international media even paid attention to the poor treatment of American Indians.

The American Indian Movement allowed for Americans to get past the Disney version of Indian chiefs galloping through the dusty prairies on horseback wearing long war bonnets. While the media referred to the Indians who took over Wounded Knee as militants, American Indians called them warriors. The contemporary warriors – American Indian Movement members – wore blue jeans, cowboy boots, head bands and carried guns. What happened at Wounded Knee was nothing short of warfare against Indian warriors.

In the end, it was reported that more than 35 tanks, over 130,000 rounds of ammunition were fired into occupied Wounded Knee. Military helicopters and jets flew overhead. Most nights were filled with gunfire into the cordoned off town from federal marshals and National Guard members.

The longer the siege lasted, the pride of being an American Indian tribal member intensified for Indians throughout America. The American Indian Movement leaders were our new heroes. Average Americans had John Wayne to look up to in movies. In real life, American Indians had Dennis Banks, Clyde Bellecourt and others. My own family discussed the takeover and cheered the Indians relentless stance to stay holed up at Wounded Knee.

The standoff quickly gained the attention and support of Hollywood celebrities; such as Harry Belafonte, Jane Fonda, Joan Baez and Marlon Brando. During the siege, Brando won the 1973 Academy Award for Best Actor for his portrayal of Don Vito Corleone in The Godfather; however, he refused to attend the Academy Awards ceremony during that last week of March.

Since that time, Banks has remained in the spotlight and very active in several causes on behalf of American Indians.

"A Good Day to Die" has helped to acquaint a new generation of American Indian youth about the contributions Banks and the American Indian Movement have made to improve the lives of their grandparents and parents.

"Dennis wanted to make this film because he said many of the children and grandchildren of the AIM generation had no idea what their parents and grandparents did for them. After they see this film… they will know… and so will the rest of America and the world,"

stated Lynn Salt, Choctaw Nation, who wrote produced and co-directed "A Good Day to Die."

Last year in between promoting the film, Banks led the Longest Walk 3 - Reversing Diabetes bringing attention to the devastating impact the disease has on American Indians. Banks, who was diagnosed with the diabetes, has reversed his diabetes through a strict diet and rigorous exercise.

“I am tired of our people going to the spirit world as part Indians,”

Banks told crowds across the country, as he rallied American Indians to eat more healthy foods and he discussed the disproportionate number of American Indians who lose their limbs as the result of diabetes.

“I will spend the remainder of my life bringing attention to this dreadful disease that impacts almost every family in Indian Country,”

Banks said at the conclusion of the Longest Walk in Washington.

updated 3:30 pm edt; posted April 12, 2012 2:30 pm edt