Dick Wilson (tribal chairman)

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Dick Wilson (1934 - 1990) was the Oglala tribal chairman on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in South Dakota from 1972 - 1976.

The 1992 documentary film Incident at Oglala by Michael Apted posits that Wilson was a corrupt leader who embezzled funds given by the Bureau of Indian Affairs and gave high-paying posts to family members and others loyal to his regime. He employed self-described "goon squads" to enforce his authority and suppress dissent by means of intimidation, drive-by shootings, even murder.

During Wilson's tenure, on June 26, 1975, two FBI Special Agents, Jack Williams and Ron Coler, were killed in a shootout with Native Americans on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation. Apted argues in Incident at Oglala that Wilson created a climate of fear in which the Indians on the reservation felt they had to defend themselves from armed intruders, and thus was indirectly responsible for the shootout.

Leonard Peltier was convicted of the murders, but many, including Amnesty International, believe he did not commit the murders.

[edit] Reference

• Apted, Michael. Incident at Oglala. Documentary film. Narr. Robert Redford. Miramax, USA, 1992.

[edit] External links

• Past Oglala Sioux Tribal Councils.
• Caged Warrior - Leonard Peltier; interview with Peltier in Boulder Weekly, March 13, 2000.
• Affidavit of Eda Gordon, private investigator, Santa Fe, New Mexico, 2000.