Jails are not a solution to problems – Anna Mae Pictou Aquash (1975)

Candy Hamilton: Annie Mae Pictou?

Anna Mae Pictou Aquash: Yes.

Hamilton: What tribe are you from?

Pictou Aquash: I’m from the Mi’kmaq tribe of Nova Scotia, Canada.

Hamilton: Would you describe what happened to you this past Friday morning on the Rosebud reservation?

Pictou Aquash: [Sighs heavily] I was awakened around, maybe around 5 in the morning by someone saying that they were the FBI and that I should immediately come out. And I was in bed and I just heard a lot of voices all around, and then I heard someone say, “let’s just cut it”, cut open the tent, you know, and I was trying to get out of bed and over at the door before they start cutting the tent.

And when I walked out I saw two FBI agents standing there with M16s and pistols, [sighs heavily] and then I was told to go over and stand amongst a group of women that were standing in front of the main house of the residence of Al Running, and I didn’t know what was going on, even then, other than I knew that they just came in, and I don’t know the correct word to use, raided or busted or just pillaged, you know, they were just all over the place dumping things and just tearing things apart.

And they just had everybody all over the place, you know, some had handcuffs and some didn’t and everybody was standing around half-dressed, and so I went and stood over there and they came over and put a pair of handcuffs on me and took me into the house and searched me, and they told me that I was going to be arrested and that I would be deported.

And they also told me that they were going to charge me with the illegal possession of explosives, well, they didn’t say explosives, they said illegal possession of dynamite.

And that all happened within a matter of 15 minutes, that all took place, and I just I stood there, and they just continued, I could hear things crashing inside the house. They were evidently moving large objects like furniture, I would imagine, refrigerators, bureaus or chests, because I could hear things falling off, breaking, smashing.

And I could hear comments coming from them inside, “oh look at this”, or they would laugh at something, and then they were joking to one another, because one couldn’t move a dresser by himself, and you’d hear somebody going over and helping them and something would smash.

And then it was just like a bunch of, I don’t know, you know, just, they seemed to be having an awful lot of fun, you know, they seemed to be enjoying themselves.

And, I mean, you could look anywhere and you could see them doing the same thing to the vehicles. They were just pulling things out and dumping things, and just throwing things on the ground that were useless to them as evidence.

And whatever they could find that they felt that they could use for evidence, they were marking it down, and whatever they felt that they couldn’t, use they just threw it to the side, you know, and they didn’t have any respect for the value of any of the other contents other than what they could use for evidence. I would assume that’s what they were doing.

And while I was standing there with the group of women waiting, I was just being verbally harassed by some of the agents. They were implying that they had been looking for me for a long time and that they were very pleased that they finally found me.

And then they were referring to, well, they weren’t referring really, they were accusing me of a number of things that I have not done, and I just, they said so many things to me that I know I haven’t done that I just stood there, because I just didn’t know why I was being arrested, or because they told me so many different things that I did just didn’t know, I just knew that I was being arrested.

And they told me that I’d be in Canada by the afternoon, that they were going to deport me, and I was in this country illegally, and I tried explaining to them that I wasn’t, and they just totally ignored me. They insisted that I was here illegally.

And then during this, there were two young Indians that came up to the roadblock, because they had a roadblock just past the Al Running residence on the main road, they had a roadblock.

And we heard some loud shouting, yelling, and the other two women that were standing there with me, we were talking amongst each other, and we wanted, you know, we were saying, “what’s going on, they’re yelling at someone over there.”

And then we heard, you know, “if you keep going, we’re going to shoot you”, and the other woman that was standing there, she got pretty nervous because she said that “somebody’s going to get shot, and if that ever happens”, you know, “everybody’s going to start shooting and then it’s going to be called an accidental shooting”, and she’s really scared.

And it turned out that there were two Indians, I could see them walking into the driveway, and they were handcuffed, and the agents were trying to stop them from coming in. But they walked in and they were met by about four or five agents that turned them around and started pushing them.

And we were just standing there. I couldn’t even watch any longer because I was being distracted on the other side by all the smashing that was going on in the house and the ransacking of the vehicles, and just looking into everything that was outside, you know, food containers, and even looking through a little place that was secluded on the side for one of the female dogs that had a litter of puppies, and they were even going through that, and then they were just every place, you know, but just picking up things.

And finally I heard the helicopters going around up in the air and I could hear all the radio messages going back and forth, and the agents are coming over, just asking me questions over and over and over again, and they finally put me in the car and they put in a different agent in there with me and gave him a pencil and a piece of paper, and he started asking me the same questions they had already asked me, and then he’d add on more questions, and they finally, I guess, understood, that I just didn’t want to talk to them.

So they they put a woman agent in the back seat of the car with me and we drove out towards the driveway.

And they were taking me to Pierre, but on our way, from the Running residence we had to pass Crow Dog’s residence, and so therefore the agent that was driving the car pulled into the Crow Dog residence, and when I drove in there, you know, there were agents all over the place there, they had people standing up against objects and they had women and children outside all standing around in groups, you know, partially dressed, and then the agent got out and spoke to the other agents, and then got back in the car and then they drove off.

And then when we passed the other road block, which is on the other side of Crow Dog’s residence, before they crossed the Little White River Bridge, they had another road block there.

And then we stopped there and then the agent told the agents that were there that he was taking me into Pierre, and then they just peered into the window. And then they made comments towards my name, making it appear as though they all knew me by name, and they were remarking that I was a bit surly today, and they drove off.

And they drove me all the way to Pierre and when I got to Pierre they took me to the Federal Building, took me upstairs on the third floor and they put me into one of the small offices, and, oh, I don’t know how long I was in there, 40, 45 minutes. And the agents were coming in and out, and two-way radios were going off and on, people were, there was a woman typing away and there was a radio going, and every once in a while they’d come in and they’d ask me something.

And then finally they had one agent, came in and he sat down, and he showed me his card, and told me his name, and he started asking me questions, totally unrelated to what I was being arrested for, and I told him that I wanted to talk to someone, I wanted to call someone so that they can send somebody up here to help me out, and he told me that I could not make my telephone call unless I talked to him first.

And I told him that, you know, they can’t do that, and he said, “well, you’re not going to get a call through unless you talk to us first,” and he said that he was talking to me about another situation which had absolutely nothing to do with why I was being arrested, and he started referring to the June 26th incident that happened in Oglala where three people were killed.

And first he said, “I want to talk to you about an incident that happened in in Oglala on June 26th where two people, two men were killed.” [audible indignation in Pictou Aquash’s voice]

And I told him, “well, there were three.”

And he said “okay three” and he was a bit unnerved about my referring to the fact that there were three rather than two as he had told me.

And he started referring to other things that had absolutely nothing to do with me, and he kept insisting that I used to live there, where the incident took place, and I kept insisting back to him that I have never lived there, and he just wouldn’t believe me, and he just kept asking me questions like whether I knew Harry Jumping Bull or Cecilia Jumping Bull, and I’ve never had, you know, the opportunity of even meeting these people, let alone knowing them.

And finally I just refused to talk, so he left me alone, but they would periodically come through and ask me something, and then finally after I was there about three hours, they finally took me over to the county jail in Pierre. And while we were driving over there the agent kept reminding me, well, he kept asking me, if I knew what I was being charged with, and I was just using the memory of what they told me that morning, which was, “yes, I know what I’m being charged with, I’m being charged with illegal possession of dynamite.”

And he said, “yes, and do you understand what that means?”

I said, “yes.”

And he wanted to know if I wanted to talk to him.

I said, “no I don’t.”

They finally got me to the county jail and he told the jail keeper that he had to call the Federal Building, and so he did, and he returned, and then he had it written on a piece of paper what I was being charged with, and which was different.

And he says, “do you know what you’re being charged with?”

He asked me that again.

I said, “yes, illegal possession of dynamite.”

And he says, “well, this is your charge.”

And then he showed it to me written on a piece of paper. Altered firearm, I mean, the possession of a firearm with altered serial number, which was totally different than, you know, what they told me I was being arrested for.

And then he asked me if I understood that and I said “yes, I understood that,” well, no, I told him I didn’t at first, and he explained it to me and I said, “well, then yes, I understand.”

And he just kept standing there asking me if there was anything more, and I just said “no.”

And he said, “are you sure there there’s nothing more.”

And I said, “I’m sure.”

And he said, “you don’t want to say anything else to me?”

And I said, “no!”

And, “you don’t want to talk to me?”

And I said, “no.”

And the jail keeper, “well, is that it?”

And he said, “yes, I think so,” and he looked at me and they say, “is that it?”

And I just kept insisting, “yes,” I didn’t want to talk to him.

And so they finally took me up to my cell upstairs and I would say within an hour I heard someone open the door, and a woman came in, and she called my name, so I got up out of bed and went over there, and she introduced me to a US Marshall, and he told me who he was he, gave me his name, and he gave me a piece of paper, so I looked at it and it was a subpoena.

I was being subpoenaed for the grand jury in Rapid City, and it had on there the date and the time that I should go there. And then he left and so I went back in my cell, and I just stayed there until later on that afternoon.

They took me down to the Federal Building again and to my surprise that’s when I found out that there were six other people in the same jail with me, because I didn’t know that. I was the first one that they took away that morning and I didn’t know where they took anybody else or who else were arrested.

And they took me out of the jail to take me over to the federal building that afternoon, when I saw the rest of them were all chained up at the waist and handcuffs, and they were chained together in these green, I don’t know, cover-alls I guess, and they were all put in a car and they were going to the federal building too.

And we got there, and since I don’t understand any of the, very many legal terms or legal language, I asked what I was taken there for, and I still don’t remember what they told me. I’ve never gone through anything like that before, you know, I’ve never been arrested like that and I just didn’t know what what was going on.

And they took me down to the Federal Building and I went in front of magistrate, and there was an attorney there for me, and, I don’t know, they were just talking about, or they set bail for me, that’s right, and they set it at $5,000.

And they took me back to the jail and then the following day I went up for a bail reduction, which was at first denied, and with the comment that my lawyer was telling the magistrate that $5,000 is is an unreasonable figure for me, because there’s no way that I can get up that much money. It’s just totally impossible. I have absolutely no resources whatsoever.

And he said, “well, that’s right.”

And my lawyer, you know, told the magistrate that I would have to, you know, just sit in jail!

And the magistrate’s reply is, “yes, that’s right, that’s exactly what she has to do, sit in jail.”

Finally, they continued talking about whether or not I was actually guilty of the charge and I think they realized then that was not a place to be discussing that, but, you know, a court room is where something like that has to be discussed and proved.

And finally, they asked me for my own personal statement as to my past work here in South Dakota and I told the magistrate the work that I have been doing in Oglala, and he still denied it, my bail reduction, but finally after he was told, because he did make a statement stating that I had been indicted, and my lawyer said, “no, she has not been indicted.”

And to this he was really surprised, he said, “oh, you haven’t been?”

And he looked at the, I don’t know if it’s a prosecutor, I think that’s what you call him, but I know he’s not on my side, and he asked him, he said “she’s not been indicted?”

And he said “oh no.”

And evidently that totally made a different, you know, circumstance for him to make a decision, because he then said, “well, one of the conditions that we can release her on would be under the custody of her lawyer, which would be 10% of her bond.”

And [that] certainly made made me feel happy because I knew I’d never be able to raise $5,000 sitting in jail.

So from there it was just a matter of waiting until people finally got together $500 and I was released on bond. And now I’m working myself, trying to raise bail money for the rest of them, which is $5,000 each, and then I know that it’s money that they cannot raise, because not one of these people, you know, has $5, you know, I can honestly say that, that they don’t have even $5 let alone $5,000.

And my whole purpose now is to to raise funds and also raise, or to have the Press concentrate on this whole incident, because to the best of my findings, lately, since I’ve been out, is that this incident started way before Friday morning when the raid was conducted. I hear that there have been a lot of things that have been taking place in Rosebud that led up to this.

And also we are not allowed to have outside attorneys, out of the state of South Dakota, and yesterday before I was released, the magistrate appointed a South Dakota lawyer for me, whom I don’t know and who knows absolutely nothing about the raid, why the raid happened, or he only knows what I have been charged with and that is it.

I do have some people that have been willing to help, for counsel, and I don’t know how that’s going to turn out, but hopefully I can get some press coverage, you know, that will reach across the country and help financially and support physically.

Because it’s very critical that these people, and myself, that we get a fair trial, because it’s something that has been involved here for a long period of time, it just didn’t start Friday, you know, it’s something that has, the injustices that have been going on, on the reservations here in South Dakota, have been just continuing, and the only way I feel that they think they can stop them is to arrest everyone, throw them in jail, and they feel that’s the end of the problem, and I don’t, that’s no solution to any problem.

Jails are not a solution to problems.

So that’s what I’m doing.

Hamilton: What was the FBI’s excuse for coming to the Running home?

Pictou Aquash: They gave me absolutely no excuse.

As far as I know, after consulting with my lawyer, I then found out that they had search warrants and the search warrants were, they were looking for a particular number of things which I don’t remember, but they also had warrants for the arrest of five of the people, because of a, supposedly, an assault and battery charge that has been signed, complaint that has been signed by two people who are non-Indians.

Hamilton: Did the FBI make any racist or insulting remarks to you?

Pictou Aquash: The FBI most certainly conducted themselves with the attitude that they are racist. They, during their search, they emptied the medicine bags and threw about medicine pipes, and confiscated eagle feathers and the varieties of beadwork, and those objects that are used in sacred ceremonies.

They just dumped and allowed to just fall off of objects, and they just didn’t seem to care. They seem to feel that, or they showed that they had absolutely no respect for these objects.

I myself, for one, when they were trying to remove my medicine bag in the jail, I refused to remove it and they told me that I can take it off, “the boogeyman isn’t going to bother me.”

And that’s an insult, and they don’t have the ability to be able to comprehend that another people has another belief other than what they have been believing or practicing, whatever it may be. They seem to feel that if you don’t, if they’re not familiar with what your beliefs are and then they use that to ridicule you, to criticize you, to make fun of you.

They were making fun of a woman that was praying. They were snickering at her, and, you know, the FBI don’t have any respect for these articles, and, you know, the people are really worried because they they want to know why they want these things, why are they confiscating these things, you know, what are they, what do they plan on doing with these things.

And I think it’s a very serious matter when it touches on to these objects, because it definitely shows that they have absolutely no respect for a religion or a belief that another nation has, and that’s very discriminating, that’s very racist, and they don’t have the ability to just allow someone to believe in something else, something that’s totally different, something that may be even totally alien to them.

The fact that, they don’t have to understand it, they don’t have to be a part of it, but I think they should have at least the respect, not for, I wouldn’t ask for respect from them, but I think they should be able to at least respect themselves, to at least have the ability to be able to allow someone the freedom of believing whatever they want to believe in.

And one of the things that I have forgotten here is, when I was taken into the Federal Building and Pierre several times, each time I walked into the main corridor, the lobby downstairs, they had these American Revolution flags plastered all over the walls, and to me that was such a hypocrisy, you know, they are asking this country to join in on a revolution that they feel is totally justified, for whatever reasons they may have had when they decided to pull away from whoever, you know, they feel that that’s something you can celebrate, and that you should be proud of, and in turn, they themselves can at the very same day look upon a nation and ridicule them for what their beliefs are.

And I do feel that this is something very important. I have seen that there is something that is disturbing the agents very much, they’re very frustrated or angry or there’s something wrong somewhere. It is not only the raid that they seem to be interested in. There were a lot of other things about Indian people in general that they are very, very concerned with.

The American Indian Movement, they are very, very concerned with that. And I think it’s not just arresting those that they went there to arrest, because they included a lot of other things, the religious items that they took and the ridicules and the remarks that they gave, which are totally unnecessary.

I think it’s very serious, it’s coming out, and it’s very, very serious. I think that they most definitely want to destroy a nation if it will not subdue to the living conditions of a so-called reservation. And those that do not want those kinds of conditions for their children or for themselves, then I think that they definitely are out to destroy that concept of freedom.

And that’s it.

Interview with Candy Hamilton

Question: What did she do here on the reservation? She mentioned the work she did.

Hamilton: After June 26th last summer, there was a move here in the White Clay district in Oglala to establish local control through returning to traditional structures of government. And that involved a lot of getting people together, talking with people about the importance of supporting each other.

There were a lot of plans for all kind all kinds of ways of returning to local control. That is, establishing economic bases and all that sort of thing and Anna Mae was just very involved within the community, making those plans, helping get people together, and encouraging people to try.

She had worked with AIM in St. Paul, Los Angeles, here on the reservation, in a number of places, and she had a lot of experience and background that was very helpful to people here who have not had that contact outside. She’s really respected by the people here and really looked to for support and guidance and assistance.

Oglala traditionalists’ statement (March 1976)

We demand that a full investigation be conducted about the causes and circumstances of the death of Anna Mae Pictou Aquash.

We do not believe she died from exposure and we are certain that foul play is involved. The way in which the BIA police and the Federal Bureau of Investigation have handled this investigation makes it appear more of a cover-up than an investigation into the death of still another Indian on the Pine Ridge Reservation.

If she was identified by fingerprints, why did it take so long? Why was she buried before she was positively identified? Or did the police and federal and tribal authorities know who she was?

Anna Mae worked hard serving her Indian people and assisted us in our efforts to shed the shackles of government paternalism. She was with us and has lived in Oglala. We consider her a friend. So, therefore we are concerned because we feel her involvement as our ally probably caused her death.

We are prepared to conduct our own investigation and we feel that a report from an independent coroner is essential.

Doctor Brown, the pathologist who conducted Anna Mae’s first autopsy, also provided the BIA and FBI with the information they wanted about the deaths of Buddy Lamont, killed by the federal forces at Wounded Knee in April, 1973, and Pedro Bissonette, killed by the BIA police in October, 1973. Therefore, we question Dr. Brown’s independence and credibility.

We want to know the truth about Anna Mae’s death.

Anna Mae Pictou was respected and loved by the people of Oglala. We mourn her and we urge all law-abiding citizens to demand the real truth about her death.