Russell Charles Mins (November 10, 1939 - October 22, 2012), an activist of Oglala Sioux, defended the rights of Native Americans. Joining the Association of American Indians (AIM) in 1968, he became one of its leaders and took part in organizing several protest movements that attracted much media attention. Mins was a significant person in international issues of indigenous peoples, fought for the recognition of the rights of the Indians of Central and South America. He was actively involved in politics in his native Indian settlement Pine Ridge. Since 1992, Mins has starred in many films. Released his own music album, and in 1995 published his autobiography. Russell Mins died in 2012 at the age of 72.
Russell Mines: biography
Mins was born on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in 1939. When Russell was three years old, his family moved to the San Francisco Bay Area. In 1958, Mins graduated from San Leandro, California High School. Later, after studying at four different colleges, Russell did not graduate from one of them. In his autobiography in 1995, Mins spoke about a harsh childhood - his father was an alcoholic, and Russell himself became a criminal and also suffered from alcoholism, but then he found a lesson for himself in the American Indian movement in Minneapolis, San Francisco Chronicle. In 1967, his father died. After that, Mins lived in several Indian settlements throughout the United States and was in constant search of work.
Mins joins AIM and protests
In 1968, Mins joined the Association of American Indians (AIM), and after a while, in 1970, he became the first national director of AIM, and the organization began a period of growing protests. In 1970, Thanksgiving, Means and AIM activists participated in his first protest in Boston. They captured Mayflower II , a copy of the Mayflower ship. In 1971, Mins, as part of AIM, also participated in the capture of Mount Rushmore Hill (a federal monument in Rushmore). Rushmore is located within the Black Hills, an area of the sacred Lakota tribe. In November 1972, Mins took part in the capture of the BIA (Bureau of Indian Affairs) building in Washington, DC. And in 1973, AIM occupied the village of Wounded-Ni, proclaiming in it its independent tribal rule. It has become AIM's most famous protest. Over 300 Lakota and AIM activists fought with the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and state law enforcement. The armed confrontation lasted more than two months.
Native American politics
In 1974, Mins became a candidate for president of his native oglal-siu tribe. But according to the election results, Russell lost to incumbent President Richard Wilson with more than 200 votes. But voters complained of intimidation by Wilson's private police. The US government conducted its investigation and confirmed the problems in the elections, but the federal court upheld their results. In the late 1970s, Mins participated in an international forum that discussed indigenous rights. On the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation, he helped organize the KILI radio station and the Porcupine clinic.
AIM split
In the 1980s, AIM split into two competing factions. This division was due to disagreements among members of the organization regarding support for indigenous peoples in Nicaragua. Mins announced his support for the Miskito group (later known as YATAMA), which was affiliated with Contras. Mins became convinced that the Miskito people were aimed at annihilation. Some AIM members supported the Sandinista national government, although they forced thousands of Miskito to leave their home territory. AIM's “Big Board of Governors,” based in Minnesota, has asked Mins to cease to represent himself as an AIM leader. But despite this, other AIM chapters continued to support it. On January 8, 1988, Mins announced his resignation from AIM, stating that the organization had achieved its goals. In January of this year, the “Big Board of Governors of AIM,” led by the Bellecour brothers, asked the press “to never again report that Mins is the founder of the American Indian movement, and not to say that he was the leader of the American Indian movement.” In 1993 AIM officially split into two independent organizations: the AIM Board of Governors, Minnesota, which protected the copyright of its name (AIM), and the Colorado American Native American Movement, of which Mins was a part.
Other political activities
On November 11, 2001, Russell Means opposed the war against terror in a DC antiwar protest. In the early 1980s, Russell began supporting politicians from the Libertarian Party. In 1983, he was an assistant to Larry Flynt in his unsuccessful attempt to become president of the United States. And in 1987, Mins himself decided to run in the presidential election from the Libertarian Party and received significant support, taking second place (31.41%) at the 1987 Libertalian National Congress. In 2001, Mins nominated himself as governor of the state of New Mexico. However, his team was not able to satisfy all the necessary procedural requirements, and he was not admitted to the elections. In 2004, Russell became the presidential candidate of Oglala Sioux, but lost to Cecilia Fire Thunder , the first woman to be elected president of the tribe. In 2007, Denver police arrested 80 protesters, including Mins, for staging their rally during the Columbus Day parade, which they said was a "genocide celebration."
Russell Mins: roles in cinema
Since 1992, Mins has starred in many films and television programs, first as the main Chingachgook in The Last of the Mohicans. Russell Mins in the film Pathfinder (1996) starred in the role of Arrowhead. Also played in the film "Natural Born Killers" (1994). He voiced Disney's third full-length film, Pocahontas (1995), and his sequel, Pocahontas II: Journey to a New World (1998), in which he played the father of the main character, Chief Powhatan. With the increasing popularity on the Internet, a lot of photos of Russell Mins appeared. He was also a character in the adventure game Access Software Under the Killing Moon Microsoft Game Studios. Russell Mines recorded a CD called Electric Warrior , whose label was SOAR. The album features live performances in America and includes Une Gente Indio , Hey You, Hey Indian, Wounded Knee Set Us Free and Indian Cars Go Far. American pop artist Andy Warhol painted 18 separate portraits of Russell Meen in 1976. The Dayton Art Institute has one of them.
Mins disease and death
In August 2011, Mins was diagnosed with cancer of the esophagus. But he told the Associated Press that he was abandoning “medical procedures in favor of the traditional treatment of Native Americans.” In September of the same year, Mins said that thanks to tomotherapy, his tumor was reduced by 95%. He later said that he had completely recovered. However, the following year his health deteriorated sharply, and he died on October 22, 2012. ABC News said that Mins “lived his life as a modern American Indian warrior accused of violated treaties, he fought to return the land taken from the Indians and even took up arms against the government of the country, turning to national attention, talked about the situation of poor tribes and often complained to weakening Indian culture. ” Russell Mins had ten children from five different wives. With his fifth wife, Gloria Grant Mins, he was married for the rest of his life.