SOUND
BITE: Updates on recent 3rd arrest per murder of Anna Mae
Aquash, notes on UK author Serle Chapman “paid informant/co-operating
witness”, Annie Mae “alive in ’76” and legal team events leading up to the
Rapid City, S. Dakota, John Graham Murder Trial, Oct. 6, 2008
“In Sound
Proof Rooms”
about the
Murder of Anna Mae Aquash (1945-1975/6)
and the
upcoming trial of John Graham, S. Tutchone
by
antoinette nora claypoole
dedicated to
Anna Mae Pictou Aquash (1945-1975/6)
“With
Graham's trial coming up on October 6th in Rapid City, S.D., it is an
opportune time to remind people about who the thugs were that perpetuated
the Oglala Civil War of the 1970's. The government has the capability and
experience in fabricating their records and evidence. They gained experience
from their mistakes.” –Ben Carnes Aug. 22, 08
Ashland,
Or. Sept. 8, 08. 40 years ago this summer. Activists filled the streets
of Chicago. Demanding a voice where once there was deception. In a war.
Now. 60’s protestors are called “terrorists” and a professor who was once
in that league can become a red alert. Nothing much has changed in the way
a government lies to it’s people. Fear the great drug. Love painting the
faces of memory. While oil moguls are dancing in the streets watching Rome
burn. And Indian Country has seen all this before.
Ragged,
half blank, names blotted out. FBI documents from early 1976. Teletyped
archives. “Armed and dangerous. Anna Mae Aquash aka Anna Mae Pictou.” Seen
at one point driving “a blue mustang” on Pine Ridge Indian Reservation. And
then. Trying to “free Banks” and working at “Fitzgerald’s Place” a tavern
in Oklahoma City. All this weeks after she was supposed to have been
murdered by Arlo Looking Cloud and John Graham. What are witnesses to
believe in any of this?
Notes
from FBI files contradict themselves. About this murder that happened in the
American Indian Movement (AIM) over 30 years ago. One person found guilty,
Arlo Looking Cloud. While others are awaiting trial. For a murder which has
now become so important for the U. S. Attorney in S, Dakota to solve that
he continues to investigate other suspects.
Recent
Marshall Arrest
For
just as a First Nations man (Yukon Territory, B.C.), John Graham, awaits
trial for the murder of Anna Mae Aquash, M’ikmaq member of AIM in the
1970’s, a “new crop” of suspects in the Anna Mae murder seem to be
vanquished. Consider Vine Richard “Dick” Marshall, an AIMster who was
released on parole in 2000. For another murder committed in Indian Country
over 25 years ago while acting as the body guard for Russell Means, early
AIM leader and now famous Hollywood icon. In late August 2008 Marshall was
indicted and arrested on charges of “aiding and abetting” in the murder of
Aquash.
Three
members of AIM have been charged per the execution in `1975/6. One already
convicted, two more indicted and envelopes of other possible suspects may
still be stashed in the desk of the U.S. Attorney. Perhaps intersecting
current grand juries and past investigations.
“We have
sealed envelopes waiting to be served” asst. U.S. Attorney Robert Mandel
explained back in March of 2004.
Robert
Robideau, living in Portland, Oregon, former Spokesperson Leonard Peltier
Defense Committee and an informal information source in this case insists
however “There are no envelopes. These indictments are because Looking
Cloud is coming forward now with information”. How does Robideau know. I
can’t answer that. Neither can he.
Either
way. A secret key has unlocked Pandora’s box.
And
envelopes or not, indictments are being laid in the hands of old AIM
activists like cracker jack prizes.
Yet. Not
one informer, FBI or “outsider” has been named as playing a role in Aquash’s
execution.
The
search for AIM people who will sing continues. But why?
Perhaps
the need becomes more pressing as the Defense multiplies it’s research, even
suggesting a potential alibi for Graham, per Pacer, an online source for
motions in federal court.
Hoping
for “canaries” some in Indian Country claim the Prosecution will find it
easy to name Graham as the murderer, especially in light of a rigourous
Graham Defense team which has surprised some who thought this trial might be
another Looking Cloud, dog and pony show. Looking Cloud had a trial of 3 ½
days. He was accused and found guilty of being with Graham and killing
Aquash, with his defense calling a mere single witness, FBI agent David
Price. Perhaps the need for new “blood” stems from the potential Graham
alibi, or DNA evidence finally released in early summer. Either way,
according to claims in the Marshall indictment, he gave Graham the gun that
killed Aquash, alledgedly on Dec. 12, 1975. This could seal the
Prosecution’s deal.
Robideau,
who is close to the Looking Cloud camp explains further: “Without Looking
Cloud’s testimony Marshall would never have been arrested. Looking Cloud is
ready to talk now that he has a support system. And we need someone to
finger Graham”. Grasping hands in gestures of not so long ago lynchings,
many applaud the new “evidence”.
In all this,
Robideau's commitment to finding the truth runs as deep as the history of
Aquash's belief in her people. Something that was not returned to her in
kind by those in AIM who believed she was a "snitch".
History
of Anna Mae
Nonetheless. Let’s retrace the steps that lead us here.
It was
over 20 years ago when I first heard her name, Anna Mae Aquash, here in the
Pacific Northwest. Almost ten years after she had been executed. And only
a couple years after stumbling into Indian Country. I remember the night
vividly.
Her name
didn’t come easily. It wasn’t spoken because people talked about Aquash as
a heroine, a warrior who helped Indian kids at the Red School house in
Minneapolis. It wasn’t because of her courage in taking her young daughters
to a political rally in Washington, D.C., the BIA takeover back in the early
70’s. It wasn’t even “hey Anna Mae” because someone was bragging about her
work with the elders on Pine Ridge and her trying to help protect water
rights and prevent uranium mining there inside the remote world of Indian
Country, barren, poverty infested, warped history lessons of massacre,
Rosebud, Pine Ridge, Bear Butte. Nope. It wasn’t for Anna Mae’s courage
and bravado, like she was someone Marlon Brando woulda starred against if
he’d had the chance.
Nope. I
heard about Anna Mae Aquash because people said, quietly, “Yes she was with
AIM. But we think she was a snitch, that’s why she was killed”. I spend 10
years researching her life, death and friends to prove them wrong. She was
not a fed, but was set-up by the FBI to appear as a threat. To AIM.
In many
ways the hands of time have been pushed back by the grown daughters, the
dead activists, the young children and dying elders. All speaking in
harmonic wails of fright. Who killed Annie Mae? Many journalists, Michael
Donnelly, Rex Wyler, many writers Steve Hendricks and Serle Chapman, famous
UK writer who recently (summer 08) is alleged to have been working as a
“federal informant.” This according to court documents filed on behalf of
John Graham in August. Located on Pacer.
All
these people have done their time. Asking questions. Serving justice.
Writing stories. About “who killed annie mae”. But me? My mind my fingers
are on my own pulse, still alive, I say.
My eyes
drift like a death walk. Back into the heartbeat of a Pacific Northwest
audience. An event myself and local activists organized: “Apartheid in
America”. One night that late winter weekend International Treaty Council
person Tom LaBlanc brought an 8mm flick up from San Francisco. It was
called “Brave Hearted Woman” and there I heard Annie Mae’s name. Saw her
death in the eyes of all of us, like headlights on an Oregon highway which
Robert Robideau still claims “did her in. That November (1975) bust here in
Oregon was her death sentence, antoinette”.
Anna
Mae’s execution went unnoticed, undiscussed by federal authorities AND AIM
activists. For nearly 20 years. And then something happened.
Branscombe Searching for Killers
Her
second cousin, Robert Pictou Branscombe was approached by “an agent of some
kind” according to Branscombe, in an interview I did with him back in the
mid 90’s. The “agent” came up to him at a pow wow in Arizona and said “look
at this”.
It was a
file, according to Branscombe, which had photos and details about Anna Mae.
Branscombe had never heard of her and didn’t grasp the depth of what he had
just fancy danced into. Death, murder, lies, secrets, brutal betrayal,
lovers and friends colluding with paranoia that Anna Mae was an agent.
Branscombe talked to his mum. “Was she our relative?”
Yes was
the answer he got. His mother and Annie Mae were cousins. And everyone
back in Nova Scotia, at that time, was still afraid to talk about Annie
Mae. Just like it was in MY part of the world. Silence the mantra.
Branscombe broke the spell.
He
searched, travelled and found people who talked about what happened to his
cousin. When he came out with who he felt killed Anna Mae it began what is
culminating in Rapid City this Fall, October 6. John Graham, from the Yukon
Territory, accused of murder of his friend.
But when
Branscombe named Graham there were other names mentioned. The recent arrest
now becomes no mystery.
There
were “5 or 6 of you” Branscombe said in a public statement published on the
web pages of Jordan S. Dill. Back in the late 90’s. And Branscombe claimed
some of them were agents who his cousin had discovered as feds. Back then
there was even talk of “another Anna Mae”, an imposter, who may have been
stirring paranoia about Aquash by posing as a friendly to the FBI.
Serle
Chapman, UK writer turns “State”
Fast
Forward, back to now.
Under
the guise of finding Aquash’s murderer, paid informants in this case make a
New York parade on Thanksgiving Day look lean. A Revolution against the
Brits “aint seen nothing yet”. For as UK author Serle Chapman, who now
lives in S. Dakota, is added to the informant “co-operating witness” list,
one has to wonder “who is next”.
Chapman
was paid by the U.S. Government after “cooperating” with their
investigation, receiving over $70,000, according to online, Pacer docket
files. From August 08 in the U.S. vs John Graham. Posing as a writer and
friend to Indians. Taping interviews which Chapman would later turn over to
federal prosecutors.Items
which may possibly include a “secret”, mystery tape originally circulating
about the Graham case a few years back. A recording of Graham which some
speculate may have been conducted by Chapman in Canada before Graham was
extradited in 2007. This all according to a quiet, piercing buzz in Indian
Country.
Chapman
had many people believing he was “just a writer”. Including controversial
prosecution witness, one time friend to Anna Mae and former Chairman of AIM,
John Trudell. Trudell wrote a book introduction for one of Chapman’s
projects which places the old AIM figure into a less than poetic chapter of
“colluding with the enemy”. Or did he innocently, as so many other of
Chapman’s fans, “get taken in” by feeling important enough to have a white
guy from Europe want to “tell your story”?? Hard to tell. Still.
Hitherto
a poster child for Indian Country, Chapman, best known for a myriad of
popular “Indian books” has a rather huge role in all this. Aug. 08 court
documents filed by the Defense, and response by the courts (Sept. 08)
confirm receipt of funds by Chapman from the U.S. Government, for at best
“being a paid informant”, at least “co-operating with the Prosecution”. A
decision regarding details of his role was handed down by the court on Sept.
4, 08 and another, sealed from public viewing, on Sept. 8th.
And the quest for more witness continues.
Freelance writers not immune, an offer made to me by the Prosecution in
July 08 was far less exotic. “Tell your lawyer to talk to me if she needs
money”. I politely refused but was told “Don’t worry, all the other
journalists we contacted are co-operating”. Finding an attorney is less
spendy than life as a betrayer of civil liberties. As journalists we are
still able to secure our sources, sanity and neutrality. If not without a
series of random events akin to small pox blankets. A story best left for
another news clip.
But
maybe there’s a reason for all this. Perhaps the quest for “new witnesses”
comes because there are still others unnamed in the investigations, events
which lead to Aquash’s execution which are begging to be known. And. Like
Professor Plum in the library being nuked inside a mushroom cloud. Holding a
lit candlestick to time illuminates little of the brutal mystery.
Faulty
FBI Files: Anna Mae alive in 1976?
From all
corners of this brutal murder, the indictments--including the recent
Marshall arrest--and claims of innocence fail to convince. Why? Because
missing in all the attempts to resolve and wrap murder in a post-colonial
blanket of truth is a failure to address inconsistencies in FBI files. And
the chilling fact that Federal investigations have employed “snitches”
and continue to offer revenue to informants who “cooperate” . With that,
claims to justice appear less than operant.
Specifically because varied realities about Aquash, where she was seen (or
not), who killed her and why, continue to defy the ravages of time.
There
are defense and prosecution teams who pursue justice and desire resolve in
this case, yet what is emerging in 2008 Rapid City, S. Dakota are a
series of events and court documents which sometimes contradict, oftentimes
blur the clear path to truth.
That is,
a weave around the murder theory which might be fraying.
And.
Yes. There is more to the story. As a Leonard Peltier support organizer, Els
from a popular Indian e-newlist says “If we wrote this and gave the script
to Hollywood they’d never buy it. They’d say the whole thing’s too far
fetched”.
This
past month (Aug.2008) the defense for John Graham, John Murphy of Rapid
City, S. Dakota, made surprising court requests. It appears Murphy has
filed request pertaining to it’s knowledge that an FBI file written in Feb.
1976 claims that Annie Mae Aquash was seen alive two months after Graham is
alleged to have killer her. “Wearing blue jeans.....and moccasins”
somewhere on Pine Ridge. In Feb. 1976.
Why is
this important?
The
obvious. Because John Graham is accused of killing Annie Mae before
Christmas, 1975 and various, unauthenticated FBI reports claim what appears
to be multiple Annie Mae sightings weeks AFTER Aquash was supposedly shot
and killed, on Dec. 12, 1975 by Graham.
It’s not
the first time the “Annie Mae alive” theory has been spun, but the first
time a legal team has taken the words and dressed them in defense of the
accused.
“Pictou
was wearing blue jeans, a red scarf, a long brown coat and moccasins”, from
an FBI memorandum sent on Feb. 19, 1976. Two months to the day. After the
alleged Aquash murder. I have to keep saying that. Over and over. Wrapping
myself, us, around the new spin. Reading these scanned pages I finally
stop. A pause, a prayer for all the times Aquash and others were, have been,
watched and detailed. The tattoo on a shoulder, the nuance of slinging
burgers, all become sentences which document our lives. Through the eyes of
spies.
The
agent listed at the top of scanned, aging and faded page in a PDF bleeds
through. Special Agent. David Price. Appears. To have written about
the blue jean Annie Mae sighting. From a source who remains anonymous, per
FBI policy to redact (withhold) names. Despite efforts by the Graham
Defense to have the name released per prior legal cases where are sources
are not “unequivocally” protected, a ruling by Judge Duffy on Sept. 4, 2008
dismissed the FBI file as “a mistake” that is proven by Aquash’s “decomposed
body”. Yet, 1976 coroner reports she was “partially decomposed” and
suggested Aquash was exposed for 7-10 days. Before being found. That would
put her ALIVE on Feb. 12, 1976. If we believe the faulty coroner.
The
Sept. 08 ruling to keep “secret” the one witness who might help Graham in
his defense is a blow. To the matrix of all who want justice. If it was a
mistake, let the informer explain to us. To a jury. Why not? The ruling
perplexes. The judge’s disregard for the government’s own reporting and
file keeping is less suspicious than it is revealing. Nothing is what it
seems and reports are only true if the court favors their content.
Perhaps. Still. The questions linger.
Who was
the informant?
And why
didn’t anyone, including Price, mention this in Looking Cloud’s trial? I
wonder out loud. No worries about secrets. Price, an FBI agent who
allegedly threatened Annie Mae before she was killed was also the infamous
sole ominous “witness for the defense” in that Feb. 04 murder trial.
Price. A
man described by Robideau as “Little Custer”.....who wrote the three Poor
Bear affidavits used to extradite LP {Leonard Peltier} back to the U.S....{files}
that the Government later admits were fabricated..... should we believe his
reports now?”
Robideau’s rant is adamant and he answers his own question. Yet. There are
more.
Fragments of files attempting to confirm this bizarre turn. Arrive. Via
Robideau. Teletyped reports claiming Aquash alive was a mistake. But for
other reasons Another sighting her in a mustang. Filed by unnamed
informants in and around AIM. 1976. Sent out to Portland, Denver, Rapid
City. Unauthenticated, they nonetheless create dust devils in a prairie of
cisterns. The vague oasis blurred.
When
seen in teletype, though, something still takes hold; “Anna Mae Aquash....January
28, 1976 driving en route Tulsa. Oklahoma, in white over red 1975 Pontiac
Grand Prix....vehicle reportedly owned by Aquash...she is former wife of
(name deleted) who is reportedly in Oklahoma City Territory at present time
and she may be planning to meet him”.
Can the
intersection of past and present get more complex? You bet.
Branscombe and his “5 or 6 of you” proclamation. Comes to mind. And. The
early ’76, “other Annie Mae” theory. Running around Indian Country. An
imposter? A coincidence that another AIM activist had the same first name,
Anna Mae?
An email
from someone who doesn’t want his name in print, asking to remain anonymous
gets into the frayed fabric of deception: “There is Anna Mae Tanaquodle in
Oklahoma who was originally thought to be Aquash until the FBI interviewed
her. It was this “other Annie Mae” who was around confusing people”. This is
sent my way to “prove” it would seem, that any Annie Mae sighting can be
explained by the Oklahoma, potential informant/imposter “Anna Mae” working
at Fitzgerald’s Place.
The
Other Annie Mae
A blown
tire in this road trip lets no one get to be who they say they are. The
questions persist.
Was this
“other Annie Mae” a federal agent? Was it really HER that the FBI says was
driving mustang, a grand prix, going to see her husband? Was the “other
Annie Mae” intentionally targetting Aquash as fed, impersonating, with an
FBI alliance which would cost Aquash her life? Or was Aquash still alive and
the tag you’re it game was in play?
Though
most in Indian Country confirm a packet of extensive, authenticated FBI
records exist. Others believe that the whole thing is a sideshow.
The
documents by the Defense which mention Annie Mae alive are “razzle, dazzle.
Nothing but bullshit” Robideau explains as though he we offering a closing
statement back in the day. “This is nothing but creative writing on the part
of the defense” Robideau reads the riot act about it all. And believes
that the Marshall arrest is less historic than canarylike—“All we needed
was someone else to name Graham.....even if Looking Cloud doesn’t talk,
again, we have Marshall now”. And they wouldn’t have Marshall, without
Looking Cloud, according to a source close to the case who explains that
Looking Cloud left jail to talk at a recent grand jury in Sioux Falls.
Perhaps.
Ragged
FBI teletype once again arrests the spin. “....Individual thought to be
subject Aquash in reality Tulsa AIM activist”, reported on Feb. 19, 1976 in
those raggedy ass scanned papers.
And Mike
Kuzma, expert in FOIA (Freedom of Information Act) documents, believes some
of the files sent to me are “tampered with, unauthentic. Look at the
typeface on these pages, for instance. And what are those page numbers.
Those don’t exist on FBI files”. With eyes like a redtail hawk hovering over
an interstate of hungry commuters, Kuzma FOIA attorney for Leonard Peltier,.
points out that someone wants me to believe things which may not be true.
“There’s a novel thought” I reply. People trying to force feed me a story.
“Wowsie, haven’t been here before, right?” I lie. We both laugh nervously.
Kuzma’s insights make Col. Mustard in a Clue game look lost. I sort through
the stacks of questions on my laptop PDF’s. And wish I had a way to
rewrite time.
Perhaps
the FBI files were sent because many in Indian Country have a very clear
agenda. We’ll just leave it at that.
It’s
true. Many in Indian Country are staunch believers that Graham murdered
Annie Mae, that Graham pulled the trigger in Dec. 1975. It’s true. That
Robideau is not alone. In his belief that “Graham is finished”. Quite
definitively. Most everyone I have spoken with in the 5 years--since early
indictments were handed down--most everyone I talk with believes Graham
raped and killed his friend. Anna Mae Aquash.
Yet.
Graham’s defense, in soliciting for DNA testing (per the rape accusation)
and in unearthing an FBI Annie Mae sighting long after she was supposed to
be dead. Graham defense defied, for a moment, the ghost of imagination.
For even
as Graham supporter Matthew Lien, back in 2006 called for “anyone who saw
Annie Mae at Christmas time, 1975, please contact us” I suddenly remembered
an eerie sighting myself. Something about a “Paula Giese” website. That was
sent to me when I first started writing my book for Annie Mae, to break the
warped silence about her life. The early 1990’s website was supposed
stories about “Annie Mae’s last Christmas” 1975.
Many
times I have been told, sometimes I have been threatened and most times I
had ear muffs on. “Don’t talk about the timeline, antoinette”. More than
one hardy seasoned character talked to me like this.
As the
trial is only 6 weeks away, I wonder what kind of sound proof rooms the
defense has.
And am
even more curious about “the other Annie Mae” documents and how they may, or
may not, surface to deafen more muted ears.
That is,
as I write this inside my own quest for neutrality and civil liberties of
writers, there is an imagining that the frayed weave of “truth” be
challenged. To reinvent itself as a warm blanket, wrapping murder tightly
into the psyches of everyone who knows what happened. And can never tell.
Heroes
and Snitches
This
game of informants in a Movement is being played not only within Indian
Country but as a green show. For an entire new generation of activists who
may watch in awe as the Federal Government continues to drag up people from
the past. Who are expected to be like singing canaries in a room full of
crows. No one is shocked. Indians always seems to get the small pox
blankets before the rest. “It always happens first Indian Country” the old
guys used to say.
Finding,
indicting, arresting and convicting. Still. The resolve to actually grasp
the events which surrounded the murder of Anna Mae Aquash continue to remain
elusive. The successful quest for “new witnesses” promises even more work
for the Defense, and potentially more paid “informant” testimonies for the
Prosecution. Quite a plethora of needs. The case, nonetheless, continues to
serve various camps who either want to see AIM take the rap for Aquash’s
death or have a need to hide facts about paid informants who may have
silenced her. Because she “knew too much” as both her cousin Branscombe and
friend Trudell used to tout.
Maybe
Ben Carnes, an AIM activist from Colorado says it best, in a recent piece he
wrote for Leonard Peltier:
“In the
Aquash case, it seems strange that all of a sudden the Justice Department
and FBI are being cast as heroes in solving the case.....if Graham is
convicted, then will the case be over for Indians? Will "justice" be served
on a plate of BS and greedily devoured by anti-AIMers and the media?”
The
verdict is not in on either front. Though it doesn’t take a political
historian or a collection of fries in a happy meal. To guess. That none of
this will be over anytime soon.
The
Graham trial, now scheduled for October 6, 2008 in Rapid City, S. Dakota,
may do what so many quests accomplish. Frame the questions in ways that
answers are inconceivable to fathom. To renounce or embrace. The summer of
love is long gone. Or, maybe it’s like an old Indian guy once told me
“sometimes you White people ask too many questions. Just watch. The things
around you. You’ll learn alot that way”.
And then
there’s that ominous anonymous email I received the day before the Marshall
arrest “it ain’t over after Graham”.
The beat goes on is all I could reply.
Resources/Links:
Court Documents and Rulings in the U.S. vs John Graham: Aug., Sept. 08
www.grahamdocuments.blogspot.com
PACER:
Federal Court Docket
http://pacer.psc.uscourts.gov/
antoinette
nora claypoole: current statement re Journalism Civil Liberties: Aug. 08
www.johngrahaminterview.blogspot.com
Graham
Defense Moves for FBI Documents: Aug. 08
http://www.canada.com/topics/news/national/story.html?id=461482c3-fa8e-488c-9b0f-a1b92eb51e9b
Extradition of JOHN GRAHAM: Dec. 07
http://www.heyokamagazine.com/HEYOKA.10.JohnGraham.1.htm
HISTORY/HEARINGS in VANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA: 03-07
http://www.antoinetteclaypoole.blogspot.com/
AUDIO:
PACIFICA RADIO BROADCAST ARCHIVE from Looking Cloud Trial: antoinette, 2. 03
http://heyokamagazine.com/HEYOKA.9.Antoinetteclaypoole.ArloTrial.htm
Graham
Defense Committee: Annie Mae at Christmas: spring 06
http://antoinetteclaypoole.blogspot.com/2006/08/annie-mae-alive-at-christmas-1975.html
Statements
from Annie Mae’s family: 05, 07
http://anniemaefamily.blogspot.com/
“This is
Leonard Peltier” by Ben Carnes: Aug. 08
http://bsnorrell.blogspot.com/2008/08/ben-carnes-peltier-justice-and.html
antoinette
nora claypoole bio/WORK: current/past
http://www.antoinettewritings.blogspot.com
“Pictou
was wearing blue jeans, a red scarf, a long brown coat and moccasins”
---FBI
report, Feb. 12, 1976
Also see
books
