- Vernon Bellecourt
Vernon Bellecourt, Indian name "WaBun-Inini," (
October 17 ,1931 –October 13 ,2007 ) cite web |url=http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5iJxB-9AliRGcw5gKuYnJiiIhWWqAD8S8Q4R80|title=AIM Leader Vernon Bellecourt Dies at 75|accessdate=2007-10-13 |author=|date= |work= |publisher=AP] was a member of theWhite Earth Band of Ojibwe (located inMinnesota ), and a Native American rights activist. In theOjibwe language his name meant "Man of Dawn." cite web | title =Native Amer. Activist Bellecourt Dies, 75
publisher = | date =2007-10-14 | url =http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2007/10/14/national/main3365284.shtml | accessdate =2007-10-14 ]Biography
Bellecourt lived on the
White Earth Indian Reservation until he was sixteen when his family moved to Minneapolis. When Bellecourt was nineteen he spent time in St. Cloud prison for robbing a Saint Paul tavern.Citation | last=Rosenblum | first=Gail | last2 =Levy | first2 =Paul | publication-date=2007-10-15 | title=Vernon Bellecourt: A lifetime of protest | periodical=Star Tribune | pages=A1 | url= http://www.startribune.com/462/story/1484502.html | issn=0895-2825 | accessdate=2007-10-16] When Bellecourt was released he became a hairdresser and procceded to opened a series of beauty salons in Saint Paul.cite book | last =De Leon | first =David | title =Leaders from the 1960s: A Biographical Sourcebook of American Activism | publisher =Greenwood Press | date =1994 | pages =29 | url =http://books.google.com/books?id=M5O66-pLg_MC&pg=PA29&dq=%22vernon+bellecourt%22&sig=3mumlPAJPBU6BFDrj0vGq7BUKbk#PPA29,M1 | isbn =0313274142 ] In the mid 1960s he sold his business and moved his family out to nearAspen, Colorado .Bellecourt was a long time leader in the
American Indian Movement . His brother,Clyde Bellecourt , helped found AIM as a militant group in 1968, and Vernon soon became involved as well. He co-founded the AIM chapter inDenver , and was its first Executive Director.Bellecourt took part in the 1972
Trail of Broken Treaties caravan, then served as a negotiator during AIM's occupation of theBureau of Indian Affairs , which took place followng the caravan's arrival in Washington, D.C. Bellecourt was present briefly during the 1973 Wounded Knee occupation inSouth Dakota , serving mostly 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 theWestern Hemisphere . He became a leader of AIM’s work abroad, meeting with foreign leaders likeDaniel Ortega of Nicaragua,Muammar al-Gaddafi of Libya, andPalestine Liberation Organization chairmanYasser 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 thePine Ridge Reservation .ports mascots and nicknames
As president of the National Coalition on Racism in Sports and Media, Bellecourt played a leading role in the struggle to end the use of American Indian
nickname s, in American sports. Bellecourt fought against nicknames such as theWashington Redskins ,Atlanta Braves orKansas City Chiefs . He was arrested twice in Cleveland in protest of the Cleveland Indians's mascot,Chief Wahoo . During the1997 World Series Bellecourt was arrested for setting fire to a stuffed doll of Chief Wahoo while protesting outside ofJacobs Field . Charges against him were dropped. [cite web | title =Ohio v. Vernon Bellecourt, et al. | publisher =Court TV | url =http://www.courttv.com/archive/verdicts/bellecourt.html | accessdate = 2007-10-15 ] Bellecourt was again 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 and visited with President
Hugo Chavez inVenezuela . 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 ofpneumonia at age 75, inMinneapolis , where he lived.References
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Native American mascot controversy
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