Question

Which is the reason that AIM chose Wounded Knee, South Dakota for their protest occupation?

Answer 1

Wounded Knee was a symbolic site because of the Wounded Knee Massacre, which took place there in 1890. The massacre occurred on the Lakota Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota. The massacre was the culmination of a more than 20 years of intense warfare between American and Native American forces. Efforts to stamp out Native American resistance, especially proponents of the Ghost Dance, a ceremonial dance originated by the Pauite prophet Wovoka which centralized figured prominently in this event. Determined to root out the practice, US army troops pursued 250 Lakota to Pine Ridge. After a disagreement and scuffle, the troops opened fire and killed more than 250 defenseless children, women and old people. AIM considered this site sacred ground and occupied it to dramatize the need to address the plight of Native American people.

Answer 2

The AIM chose Wounded Knee, South Dakota, for their protest occupation in 1973 because of its emblematic character, since there had been a bloody battle almost a century before that supposed the definitive end of the indigenous resistance.

Step-by-step explanation:

The reason for the protest was the accusation made against Richard Wilson, the tribal president, to whom they attributed corruption cases, as well as publicly making public his complaint about the continued delay by the government in the practical development of the treaties.

To all that was added the miserable economic situation of the reserve, where the Indians owned the land but its use depended in part on the executive and it was slow to pay agricultural leases to settlers, in addition to imposing the mining use of a important part, giving it to private companies.