In September, the FBI raided a Pine Ridge home where Aquash was living. She was arrested on a weapons charge but released on bail. Afraid for her life, she chose to flee South Dakota rather that stand trial. Several months later, she was discovered in Oregon and arrested. As the police prepared to return her to the Pine Ridge authorities, she told a reporter of her terror. ” If they take me back to South Dakota, I’ll be murdered.” Before the trial was held, she was again granted bail and again took the opportunity to run from the law. Where she went at that point is unknown. For months, she did not contact her friends or family. Their concern about her turned to panic when no one received their customary call from Aquash on Christmas.
On February 24, 1976, the huddled corpse of a young woman was found by a Pine Ridge rancher on his property. The badly decomposed body was examined by a doctor employed by the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA)-the agency of the government that overseas its dealings with Indian tribes. He ruled that the woman had died of exposure and on the order of the BIA had her immediately buried in an unmarked grave. Before the burial, the hands of the corpse were cut off and shipped to FBI headquarters in Washington, D.C. Through the fingerprints, the body was identified as that of Anna Mae Aquash. Her grieving family demanded a second autopsy, which revealed that she died not of exposure but of a bullet shot point-blank at the base of her skull. Her body was then reburied with traditional Sioux rites as the AIM flag waved overhead.
Who killed Anna Mae Aquash?? Many Indians-including most AIM members-accused the FBI. To them, the inaccurate first autopsy and quick burial suggest a cover-up. Some have even speculated that her hands were cut off to hide evidence of her identity. The FBI has accused AIM of killing her because it believed she was working for the FBI. Another theory is that AIM killed at the request of the FBI. Despite the many theories of those who knew her and her story, the murder of Anna continues to be as much a mystery as it was a tragedy.
Conclusion
Anna is remembered as a young American Indian woman, for the selfless sacrifices that she made in behalf of the First Nations people. She found her way from her homeland in Nova Scotia, Canada, departing from children and family to set forth her dedication at the cry of the struggle in Oglala, South Dakota to protect and fight for the rights of those who could not protect themselves. She believed in what the American Indian Movement represented. She sought to bring back to her homeland that of which she believed was the kind of spirit that would uphold the integrity of all native people.
Anna Mae knew that she was strong and persuasive enough to challenge some of the most adverse conditions. She stood amongst hundreds of others like herself to make a difference for the welfare and preservation of the traditional cultures, languages, and constitutional rights of the native people. Anna did not settle for anything less than the highest of achievement that would represent herself and those she fought and braved for. And then, Anna Mae was killed.
Everywhere that she traveled, she took part in whatever work was at hand, whether it was joining local “street patrols” that saved many Indian runaways, prostitutes, homeless and drunks. Anna had no use for the disgusting concepts of individual rights or any belief in the sham that passes for democracy that most North Americans pretend to believe in. Nor did she have any use for the almighty dollar.
Anna was one of the first Indian women in North America to actively rebel and fight, really fight against the systemic efforts of the government to destroy First Nations by their ruthless attacks on the self-worth and dignity of Indian women and the bonds of family, land, and language. Anna Mae Pictou was one of the most coherent and incessant champions of truth. She pointed out the fact that the government was the state that has slaughtered more innocent human beings on this planet than all of the dictators and mass-murderers of history combined.
Resources
Brand, Joanna. The Life and Death of Anna Mae Aquash.
Toronto: James Lorimer, 1978
Chobanian, Arthur, producer. Incident at Oglala. Van Nuys, Calif.:
Live Home Video. Videotape, 90 min., 1991.
Matthiessen, Peter. In the Spirit of Crazy Horse.
New York: Viking, 1983.
Weir, David, and Lowell Bergman. The Killing of Anna Mae Aquash.
Rolling Stone (April7, 1977): 51-55