Anna Mae Pictou Aquash was one of the most skilled warriors and dedicated community organizers in the Indigenous resistance movement, and because of this was targeted for repression by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) and Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI).
“The federal government chose to prosecute us because we will not betray our culture, our identity. The federal government chose to prosecute us because we chose not to betray the People.”
“The established media focused their attention on who they judged to be the leaders and organizers — that is, Native American males. Their cameras and tape recorders only grazed the faces of Martha Grass from Oklahoma or Ann Jock from Akwesasne or the many strong women who like Anna Mae Pictou breathed life into an idea.”
This violent state repression consisted of dozens of murders and assaults, including an assault on a non-Native legal defence team.
