Protesters also criticized the United States government's failure to fulfill treaties with Native American people , and demanded the reopening of treaty negotiations with the goal of fair and equitable treatment of Native Americans. The activists chose the site of the Wounded Knee Massacre for its symbolic value. In March, a U. Marshal was shot by gunfire coming from the town, which ultimately resulted in paralysis. Ray Robinson , a civil rights activist who joined the protesters, disappeared during the events.
It was later determined that he had been buried on the reservation after allegedly being killed during a confrontation with AIM members. Following Lamont's death the two sides agreed to a truce, which led to the end of the occupation. Remedial steps were part of the negotiated resolution. The occupation attracted wide media coverage, especially after the press accompanied two U.
Senators from South Dakota to Wounded Knee. The events electrified Native Americans, and many Native American supporters traveled to Wounded Knee to join the protest.
At the time there was widespread public sympathy for the goals of the occupation, as Americans were becoming more aware of longstanding issues of injustice related to Natives. Afterward AIM leaders Dennis Banks and Russell Means were indicted on charges related to the events, but their case was dismissed by the federal court for prosecutorial misconduct, [ 3 ] a decision upheld on appeal.
Wilson stayed in office and in was re-elected amid charges of intimidation, voter fraud , and other abuses. The rate of violence climbed on the reservation as conflict opened between political factions in the following three years; residents accused Wilson's private militia, Guardians of the Oglala Nation GOONs , of much of it. According to AIM, there were 64 unsolved murders during these years, including opponents of the tribal government, such as Pedro Bissonette, director of the Oglala Sioux Civil Rights Organization OSCRO , [ 4 ] but this is disputed, with an FBI report in concluding that there were only four unsolved murders and that many of the deaths listed were not homicides or political.
