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January 12, 2022

Clyde Bellecourt, Founder of American Indian Movement, Dies at 85
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Clyde Bellecourt, co-founder of the American Indian Movement, has died
at the age of 85. In 1972, the group organized a major march to D.C.
called the Trail of Broken Treaties. Bellecourt was a prominent figure
in the occupation of Wounded Knee on the Pine Ridge Reservation in South
Dakota in 1973. In 2013, we spoke with Bellecourt about the campaign to
force the Washington football team to change its racist name

Clyde Bellecourt: "We're putting pressure on the whole world about these
racist slurs and this continued cultural genocidal policies of this
government. Let's not forget, there's over 2,000 high schools, colleges
and universities throughout America have changed. They said they would
never change, never change their name, just like Dan Snyder, but they
have changed. Every single one of them have changed. And so will happen
to this Washington team."

In 2020, the Washington NFL team finally retired its old name. Click
here to see our full interview with Clyde Bellecourt. His Ojibwe name
was Nee-gon-we-way-we-dun, meaning "Thunder Before the Storm."


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