Loud Hawk

About this book

Loud Hawk: The United States versus the American Indian Movement is the story of a criminal case that began with the arrest of six members of the American Indian Movement - Kenny Loud Hawk, Russell Redner, Anna Mae Aquash, KaMook Banks, Dennis Banks, and Leonard Peltier - in Portland, Oregon, in 1975. The case did not end until 1988, after thirteen years of pretrial litigation. It stands as the longest pretrial case in U.S. history. It is also the story of the U.S. government's war against Indians, specifically, against the leadership of the American Indian Movement. It is a war that erupted into armed conflict at Wounded Knee, on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation, South Dakota, in the summer of 1975. The events at Wounded Knee led to the prosecutions that are the subject of this book. Kenneth S. Stern was a first-year law student when the arrests took place. His involvement in the case began when he volunteered his legal services to the defense attorneys. Stern's involvement ended when the case was decided in 1988, following his appearance as lead counsel before the U.S. Supreme Court in 1985. As he unravels the complex legal maneuverings and the chilling evidence of the government's repeated gross misconduct that characterized United States v. Loud Hawk et al., Stern also takes us on a personal odyssey - from youthful idealist to sophisticated adult whose ideals remain intact but are tempered by experience. Finally, this is a dramatic story of people and of government abuse of the legal system, of judicial courage and bone-chilling bigotry. It is an insider's view of the legal process and of the conditions in Indian country that led up to and followed Wounded Knee.