Lorelei DeCora Means

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Lorelei DeCora Means
Lorelei DeCora
Born
Lorelei DeCora

October 1954 (age 68)
Winnebago Reservation, Nebraska, US
Nationality American Indian
Alma mater University of South Dakota 1981 (ADN)
South Dakota State University 1986 (BSN)
Occupation(s)Registered nurse, grassroots activist
Years active1973–present
Known for American Indian Movement
Pie Patrol [1]
Women of All Red Nations
We Will Remember Survival School
Black Hills Alliance
AIDS Resource Team
International Indian Treaty Council
KILI RADIO 90.1 FM
Porcupine Clinic
Diabetes Talking Circles [2]
SpouseTed Means (ex-husband) [1]
Children3 children (all daughters): Marcella Gilbert [3]
Relatives Russell Means (brother-in-law)
Madonna Thunder Hawk (in-law) [4]
Five grandchildren
Awards1993 Robert Wood Johnson Community Health Leadership Award
1997 William Kunstler Fund for Racial Justice Award

Lorelei DeCora Means, born Lorelei De Cora, was a Native American nurse and civil rights activist. She is best known for her role in the second siege in the town of Wounded Knee, South Dakota, on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation. She was also a co-founder of the American Indian organization, Women of All Red Nations.

Contents

Early life

Lorelei DeCora was born on the Winnebago Reservation in the state of Nebraska. [5] She is an enrolled member of the Winnebago tribe (in the Thunder Bird Clan) and a descendant of the Minnecojou Lakota Sioux through her mother. [6] Her great grandmother was a survivor of the Wounded Knee Massacre at the Wounded Knee Creek.

Personal life

In 1981, Lorelei received an associate degree in nursing from the University of South Dakota and a bachelor's degree in nursing from South Dakota State University in 1986. [6] Lorelei would also have three daughters before divorcing her husband, Theodore "Ted" Means. [6]

Activism

Lorelei became involved in the Red Power Movement at a relatively early age in her life. Lorelei was enrolled at a Catholic grade school on the Winnebago Reservation in Nebraska, where she resisted numerous endeavors undertaken by school officials to cut her ties to her American Indian cultural traditions. In high school, her family protested against a history book, entitled Hawkeye Tales, that was being used by Sioux City public school officials to educate children despite its graphically negative and racist portrayal of American Indians. Their protest led to the book being removed from the curriculum in the Iowa public school system. [6]

American Indian Movement

It was also during high school that Lorelei DeCora became one of the youngest members on the board of directors for the AIM. [5]

Wounded Knee incident

Lorelei also participated in the American Indian Movement occupation of the Wounded Knee. She was a member of the Pie Patrol, a group of women active in AIM, consisting of herself, Thelma Rios, and Theda Nelson Clarke. [4] Mary Crow Dog (née Brave Bird), wife of civil rights activist Leonard Crow Dog, who also participated in the siege at Wounded Knee, referred to the members of the Pie Patrol as "loud-mouth city women, media conscious and hugging the limelight," who loved the camera and took credit for what the women of AIM were doing behind the scenes. This group of women bore particular resentment against an individual by the name of Anna Mae Pictou Aquash. [7] Anna Mae, a MikMaq woman from Nova Scotia, was having an affair with Dennis Banks, founder of the American Indian Movement while he was still involved in a common-law marriage with Darlene "Kamook" Nichols. The affair did not sit well with the women of different tribal affiliations within the movement, and these women (as well as the Pie Patrol) viewed the relationship as a threat to AIM's stability. [7] Multiple witnesses have placed Lorelei in the lone medical facility operated by AIM during the 20th-century Wounded Knee Siege when Ray Robinson was brought into the facility. [8] One account details how Robinson was shot in the knee, dragged outside, beaten and taken to the Wounded Knee Medical Clinic ran by Lorelei Decora Means and Madonna Thunder Hawk, as well as several other volunteer nurses and medics. Ray was then reportedly shoved into a closet, where he died of exsanguination. [9]

Lorelei was also present during the interrogation of Annie Mae, where Madonna Thunder Hawk slapped Annie Mae around. [4] [8]

Post Wounded Knee incident

In 1974, [10] Lorelei and Madonna were also co-founders of the Women of All Red Nations organization. [11] The grassroots group was created as a solution to the leadership vacuum which surfaced following the aftermath of the Wounded Knee incident. The Women of All Red Nations addressed devastating socioeconomic problems American Indians living on the reservation dealt with, such as a poor state of nutrition, insufficient and inadequate healthcare, compulsory sterilization programs, and domestic violence in response to a constellation of poor social determinants, including poverty, lack of employment, substance abuse and mental health illness. [12]

In 1974, [13] Lorelei De Cora, along with Madonna, founded and established, the 'We Will Remember Survival School,' a place where American Indian youth whose parents were facing federal charges or who had dropped out of the secondary education system. [14] Specifically, the school was founded for the children of participants who were defendants in the Wounded Knee trials which followed the American Indian Movement occupation of the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation. This alternative model was a component of the National Federation of Native-Controlled Survival Schools that was established during the movement.

In 1979, [15] Lorelei was a co-founder and organizer who helped establish the Black Hills Alliance. The Black Hills Alliance was responsible for preventing the Union Carbide corporation from mining uranium on sacred Lakota land. [14] Thunder Hawk fought to preserve the land in sacred Black Hills from developers wishing to raze the area, and conducted analyses on the water supplies on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation, proving there were dangerously high levels of radiation in the water supply. The result of her activism was the implementation of a new water system. [5] The Black Hills Alliance was also founded to rally against the mining of uranium in the region and to educate communities about the risks, dangers and consequences of mineral development. [6]

As a nurse, Lorelei continued to expand her foray into the domain of pan-Indian activist affairs. As a result, she co-founded the AIDS Resource Team, which served as the only community AIDS education initiative in the state of South Dakota at the time of its establishment, which was geared toward providing a greater awareness and understanding of AIDS. [6] She also played a pivotal role in the establishment of the International Indian Treaty Council, a non-governmental organization which operates through the United Nations, and serves as a podium for indigenous populations throughout the international community. [6] Lorelei was also an instrumental component in the formation and development of the first and only independent American Indian Radio Station (KILI Radio, Porcupine, S.D.). [6]

In 1987, Lorelei took a full-time job as a Registered Nurse with the Indian Health Service hospital located in Rosebud, South Dakota. [6] Although she continued to devote time to the Porcupine Clinic in the capacity of an administrative consultant, she found yet another cause to champion when working with patients at the hospital in Rosebud. It was here she stumbled across an excess of patients who were being treated for diabetes-related complications. [16] Lorelei was the innovator responsible for the conception of Diabetes Talking Circles. She was able to launch the program in conjunction with the Seva Foundation in 1996. The method employed is a form of highly specialized training that helps Native people cultivate a set of self-managed strategies for diabetes prevention and treatment while simultaneously observing the importance Native spiritual and religious beliefs, in addition to using the basis as an education tool. [17] Lorelei currently serves as the Project Director of both, the Seva Foundation - Native American Diabetes Project and the Diabetes Wellness: American Indian Talking Circles Project. [18] Lorelei serves on the National Diabetes Education Program - NDEP, American Indian Work Group.[ citation needed ]

Lorelei also managed to spearhead the opening of the first community-owned and operated clinic on a tribal reservation in the United States. In 1980, a community meeting inspired Lorelei to open a clinic to better serve the needs of residents living in the region, which was first funded by the SEVA Foundation. [6] Between 1989-1991, the Porcupine Clinic was only opened on a part-time basis. However, in the year 1992, it received state certification as a rural health clinic, and was able to provide an extensive range of health services, including preventive and primary care, prenatal care, immunizations, and health education, to both American Indians and non-Native Americans. [6] Today, the Porcupine Clinic is the only free-standing, non-profit, community-supported clinic operating in the rural territory in Indian country. [19] [20]

Awards

Lorelei is a 1993 recipient of the Robert Wood Johnson Community Health Leadership Award, [21] a recipient of the 1997 William Kunstler Fund for Racial Justice Award.

Legacy

Lorelei has also been mentioned in numerous publications, including Ghost Dancing the Law: The Wounded Knee Trials, authored by John William Sayer, The American Midwest: An Interpretive Encyclopedia, edited by Andrew R. L. Cayton, Richard Sisson, Chris Zacher, The State of Native America: Genocide, Colonization, and Resistance, edited by M. Annette Jaimes, Red Power: The American Indians' Fight for Freedom, edited by Alvin M. Josephy, Joane Nagel, Troy R. Johnson, Ojibwa Warrior: Dennis Banks and the Rise of the American Indian Movement, authored by Dennis Banks and Richard Erdoes, and Beyond Nature's Housekeepers: American Women in Environmental History, authored by Nancy C. Unger.

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">American Indian Movement</span> United States civil rights organization

The American Indian Movement (AIM) is a Native American grassroots movement which was founded in Minneapolis, Minnesota in July 1968, initially centered in urban areas in order to address systemic issues of poverty, discrimination, and police brutality against Native Americans. AIM soon widened its focus from urban issues to many Indigenous Tribal issues that Native American groups have faced due to settler colonialism in the Americas. These issues have included treaty rights, high rates of unemployment, Native American education, cultural continuity, and the preservation of Indigenous cultures.

News From Indian Country was a privately owned newspaper, published once a month in the United States, founded by the journalist Paul DeMain (Ojibwe/Oneida) in 1986, who served as a managing editor and an owner. It was the oldest continuing, nationally distributed publication that was not owned by a tribal government. It offered national, cultural and regional sections, and "the most up-to-date pow-wow directory in the United States and Canada," according to its website. The newspaper was offered both in print and electronic form and has subscribers throughout the United States, Canada and 17 other countries.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pine Ridge Indian Reservation</span> Indian reservation in United States, Oglala Sioux

The Pine Ridge Indian Reservation, also called Pine Ridge Agency, is an Oglala Lakota Indian reservation located almost entirely within the U.S. state of South Dakota, with a small portion in Nebraska. Originally included within the territory of the Great Sioux Reservation, Pine Ridge was created by the Act of March 2, 1889, 25 Stat. 888. in the southwest corner of South Dakota on the Nebraska border. Today it consists of 3,468.85 sq mi (8,984 km2) of land area and is one of the largest reservations in the United States.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Russell Means</span> Oglala Lakota activist (1939–2012)

Russell Charles Means was an Oglala Lakota activist for the rights of Native Americans, libertarian political activist, actor, musician and writer. He became a prominent member of the American Indian Movement (AIM) after joining the organization in 1968 and helped organize notable events that attracted national and international media coverage.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dennis Banks</span> American actor

Dennis Banks was a Native American activist, teacher, and author. He was a longtime leader of the American Indian Movement, which he co-founded in Minneapolis, Minnesota in 1968 to represent urban Indians.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Anna Mae Aquash</span> First Nations activist (1945–1975)

Annie Mae Aquash was a First Nations activist and Mi'kmaq tribal member from Nova Scotia, Canada. Aquash moved to Boston in the 1960s and joined other First Nations and Indigenous Americans focused on education and resistance, and police brutality against urban Indigenous peoples. She was part of the American Indian Movement, participated in several occupations, and participated in the 1973 Wounded Knee incident at the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation, United States.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Wounded Knee Occupation</span> 1973 American Indian occupation protest

The Wounded Knee Occupation, also known as Second Wounded Knee, began on February 27, 1973, when approximately 200 Oglala Lakota and followers of the American Indian Movement (AIM) seized and occupied the town of Wounded Knee, South Dakota, United States, on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation. The protest followed the failure of an effort of the Oglala Sioux Civil Rights Organization (OSCRO) to use impeachment to remove tribal president Richard Wilson, whom they accused of corruption and abuse of opponents. Additionally, protesters criticized the United States government's failure to fulfill treaties with Native American people and demanded the reopening of treaty negotiations to hopefully arrive at fair and equitable treatment of Native Americans.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Red Power movement</span> Native American youth movement

The Red Power movement was a social movement led by Native American youth to demand self-determination for Native Americans in the United States. Organizations that were part of Red Power Movement included American Indian Movement (AIM) and National Indian Youth Council (NIYC). This movement sought the rights for Native Americans to make policies and programs for themselves while maintaining and controlling their own land and resources. The Red Power movement took a confrontational and civil disobedience approach to inciting change in United States to Native American affairs compared to using negotiations and settlements, which national Native American groups such as National Congress of American Indians had before. Red Power centered around mass action, militant action, and unified action.

Women of All Red Nations (WARN) was a Native American women's organization. It was established in 1974 by Lorelei DeCora Means, Madonna Thunderhawk, Phyllis Young, Janet McCloud, Marie Sanchez and others. WARN included more than 300 women from 30 different tribal communities. Many of its members had previously been active in the American Indian Movement and were participants in the 1973 Wounded Knee incident. The inaugural conference took place in Rapid City, South Dakota.

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Minnie Two Shoes</span> American journalist

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Perry Ray Robinson was an African-American activist from Alabama during the Civil Rights Movement. He had been active in Mississippi and Washington, D.C., supporting the March on Washington and the Poor People's Campaign. Robinson disappeared while participating in the 1973 American Indian Movement (AIM) resistance in the Wounded Knee incident on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in South Dakota.

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Richard Two Elk is a Native American combat veteran, journalist and civil rights activist. He is perhaps best known for participation in the Wounded Knee incident in the 1970s and for being a radio host.

Edgar Donroy Bear Runner was a Native American activist. He is perhaps best known for parleying with American Indian Movement activists in an attempt to negotiate a peaceful resolution to the standoff which occurred during the Jumping Bull ranch incident in 1975.

Darlene Nichols, also known by the names Kamook, Ka-Mook, Kamook Nichols and Ka-Mook Nichols, is the name of a former AIM member and Native American protester. She is best known for her role in the American Indian Movement for organizing The Longest Walk, and for serving as a key material witness in the trials of Arlo Looking Cloud, Richard Marshall, and John Graham that ultimately led to the conviction of two AIM members in the murders of Anna Mae Aquash.

Arlo Looking Cloud is a former Native American activist. He is perhaps best known for his involvement with the murder of fellow American Indian Movement activist Anna Mae Aquash.

John Graham is a Canadian former Native American activist. He is best known for being the person who shot and killed fellow American Indian Movement activist Anna Mae Aquash.

Theda Nelson Clarke, born Theda Rose Nelson (1924-2011), was a Native American activist. She is perhaps best known for her involvement in the Wounded Knee incident with the murder of fellow American Indian Movement activist Anna Mae Aquash.

Thelma Conroy-Rios was a Native American activist. She is perhaps best known for her involvement in the Wounded Knee incident and for her involvement in the murder of fellow American Indian Movement activist Anna Mae Aquash.

References

  1. 1 2 "Annie Mae Timeline I - Wounded Knee". Indian Country News. Retrieved 26 October 2014.
  2. ↑ "Diabetes Public Health Resource". CDC. Retrieved 16 November 2014.
  3. ↑ "'Warrior Women' documentary screening and reception February 20". News Maven. 14 February 2019. Retrieved 20 July 2019.
  4. 1 2 3 O'Driscoll, Patrick (January 1997). "Annie Mae Pictou Aquash Time Line An Investigation by News From Indian Country". Dick Shovel. Retrieved 26 October 2014.
  5. 1 2 3 Noriyuki, Duane (14 October 1998). "The Women of Wounded Knee". DickShovel. Retrieved 26 October 2014.
  6. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 Jessepe, Lorraine (28 February 2010). "Lorelei DeCora 1993 Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Community Health Leader". Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. Retrieved 15 November 2014.
  7. 1 2 Konigsberg, Eric (25 April 2014). "Who Killed Anna Mae?". The New York Times . Retrieved 26 October 2014.
  8. 1 2 "Madonna Gilbert Thunder Hawk". Oneida Eye. Archived from the original on 29 September 2014. Retrieved 26 October 2014.
  9. ↑ Lammers, Dirk. "American Indian Movement & Wounded Knee". First Thoughts. Archived from the original on 26 August 2014. Retrieved 22 August 2014.
  10. ↑ "Women of All Red Nations". Equality Archive. 2015-11-03. Retrieved 20 July 2019.
  11. ↑ "Native American Liberation or Rights? A Critique of Perspectives on Native American Feminism". Anti-Imperialism. 22 May 2011. Archived from the original on 16 November 2014. Retrieved 16 November 2014.
  12. ↑ Lewallen, Ann-Elise. "Strategic "Indigeneity" and the Possibility of a Global Indigenous Women's Movement". University of Michigan. Retrieved 16 November 2014.
  13. ↑ "Our Team". Warrior Women Project. Retrieved 20 July 2019.
  14. 1 2 Waterman Wittstock, Laura (31 October 2012). "Elizabeth Castle and Madonna Thunder Hawk". KFAI. Retrieved 26 October 2014.
  15. ↑ Grossman, Zoltán. "THE BLACK HILLS ALLIANCE – Zoltán Grossman". EverGreen State College. Retrieved 20 July 2019.
  16. ↑ "Vtla Kaliseji - Native American Diabetes Resources". TriPod. Retrieved 16 November 2014.
  17. ↑ "Diabetes Talking Circles". Seva. Archived from the original on 14 April 2012. Retrieved 16 November 2014.
  18. ↑ Pember, Mary Annette. "Documenting Native Approaches to Wellness With images and words, a journalist tells the story of a tribe's effort to prevent and control Type II diabetes". NiemanReports. Retrieved 16 November 2014.
  19. ↑ "Devils Tower - Sacred to Many People". Devil's Tower. 31 October 2012. Retrieved 16 November 2014.
  20. ↑ Schwartz, Stephanie M. (8 January 2009). "Feeding, Heating, and Healing One Family at a Time Record-Breaking Winter Hits Reservation Service Organizations Hard". Silver Drach. Retrieved 16 November 2014.
  21. ↑ To Give Their Gifts: Health, Community, and Democracy. Nashville: Vanderbilt University Press. 2002. pp. 19–20. ISBN   9780826514103.
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