Lyr Req: Anna Mae (from Jim Page)

Subject: Blow Dakota Blow -Anna Mae Aquash
From: InOBU
Date: 26 Jul 00 - 12:25 PM

Does any one know who wrtoe the song about the murder of Anna Mae Aquash, Blow Dakota Blow? A Lakota friend gave it to me on an unmarked tape and it is a lovely song. I want to perform it with Sorcha Dorcha, but need to credit it to the great fellow who wrote it.

Subject: RE: Blow Dakota Blow -Anna May Aquash
From: GUEST,orville johnson
Date: 26 Jul 00 - 03:19 PM

the song entitled "Anna Mae" (blow dakota blow is the chorus line ) was written by Seattle songwriter Jim Page. there is a beautiful version on an out of print lp on flying fish records entitled "Visions in my View ". I think he has a website but i don't have the url.

Subject: RE: Blow Dakota Blow -Anna May Aquash
From: Willie-O
Date: 26 Jul 00 - 04:03 PM

Well out of respect for a woman I consider a hero and an inspiration to many in both the United States and Canada, and whose murder had terrible effects which are still being felt, may I point out that that's

Anne Mae Pictou Aquash

you're referring to.
Thanks
Willie-O

Subject: RE: Blow Dakota Blow -Anna May Aquash
From: SDShad
Date: 26 Jul 00 - 04:21 PM

One of many in Indian country at the time (also Pedro Bissonette, Buddy Lamont, Jancita Eagle Deer...the list is long), Willie-O, but one of the saddest. Boy did that name jump out at me from the list of threads.

Never heard the song, though. Must go out and find it.

Chris

Subject: RE: Blow Dakota Blow -Anna May Aquash
From: Turtle
Date: 26 Jul 00 - 04:38 PM

Larry Long wrote a song about Anna Mae Aquash too. Both he and Carrie Gerendasy used to sing it around these parts, but I don't know if either of them ever recorded it.

Subject: RE: Blow Dakota Blow -Anna May Aquash
From: Les B
Date: 26 Jul 00 - 04:49 PM

For those of us a little farther away from the Dakotas, can you give a bit of history about who the murdered woman was, when, etc. ??

Subject: RE: Blow Dakota Blow -Anna May Aquash
From: InOBU
Date: 26 Jul 00 - 05:07 PM

Thanks to all:
As to who Anna Mae was, I will certainly expect corrections, but in the common knowledge of my friends, she was a MicMac, who organised survival schools to try and undo some of the cultural damage from the policy of forcing Natives in Canada into boarding schools where their culture was driven out of their lives. She went to Wounded Knee with a group of, I believe 25 MicMacs. She was found, one night dead and frozen on the pine ridge reservation. The FBI claimed that she got drunk and froze to death. The family had to fight to get her body back from the FBI and when her remains were recovered, the FBI had cut her hands off, for identification, they said, and it was also discovered that she had died from a bullet to the back of the head. Popograghs of her hands were used by the US federal government (in this non-police state) to coerce a false statement from Mary? Poor Bear in the successful frame up and extradition from Canada of Leonard Peliter.
One of the MicMacs who was at wounded knee, Vinny, a great Scottish stye harmonica player, has remained so destroyed by the murder of Anna Mae, that he has been living - drunk on my door step ever since. One of the several theories of her death, lays the blame on the FBI. That is it in a nut shell, and I hope for clarification and expantion by others who know more than I.
All the best and thanks again
Larry

Subject: RE: Blow Dakota Blow -Anna May Aquash
From: SDShad
Date: 26 Jul 00 - 05:09 PM

Good (or at least interesting) resources here (although they call her "Annie Mae") and here.

A lot of controversy surrounds Anna Mae's death, needless to say. The most interesting thing to me is that a BIA patholigist ruled her death as from "exposure" in a cursory autopsy, not apparently noticing the bullet hole in the back of her head.

Chris

Subject: RE: Blow Dakota Blow -Anna May Aquash
From: SDShad
Date: 26 Jul 00 - 05:12 PM

Got that one in under me, Larry. Myrtle Poor Bear is the name. Unfortunate woman.

Another theory is that Anna Mae's death was a result of her being bad-jacketed by the FBI (making AIM members think she was an informant when she wasn't). In any event, the whole thing has the FBI's fingerprints all over it.

Chris

Subject: RE: Blow Dakota Blow -Anna May Aquash
From: Willie-O
Date: 26 Jul 00 - 05:18 PM

Anna Mae Aquash was a MicMac woman from Nova Scotia who was an activist in the American Indian Movement in the early 70's during the siege at Wounded Knee and subsequent events. Her body was found in a gulch in South Dakota during the winter of 1976. She had been shot in the head but the coroner listed her death as 'exposure" and it took months for the truth that she had been deliberately killed to come out.

This was a time of terrible violence in Sioux country, many people were killed in the war between the AIM supporters and the tribal goon squad (that's what they were actually called--they used the acronym Guardians Of the Oglala Nation) which enforced the rule of the corrupt tribal government, supported by the FBI. As Shad mentions, many died with no charges ever laid.

For many years it was thought that Anna Mae had been murdered by the FBI or the GOONs. Now it appears that something even more upsetting, if you can believe it, took place: the FBI took advantage of infighting within different factions of AIM, and "jacketed" (falsely) Anna Mae as an FBI informer. There is strong evidence that she was kidnapped and held for several weeks by members of AIM, beaten and raped, given a sort of a trial for treason to the movement, and eventually taken out and shot.

In recent years the investigation of her death has been reopened, and her cousin Rober Pictou Branscombe has been trying to get at the truth. He believes he knows who killed Anna Mae, and has named names. No charges have been laid; the person whom he alleges pulled the trigger lives in Canada. The whole thing is very difficult for the native community which has always considered AIM its defenders--prominent AIM leaders have been named in regards to Anna Mae's captivity and trial. Larry (InOBU) probably knows much more about this than I do.

There is always the suspicion that this could be one of those re-writing history spin jobs, but it doesn't look that way if you get into the evidence presented at this First Nations website.

There's also an Anna Mae foundation which does excellent work with native youth, something Anna herself focussed on during her activist years.

The end of the story is yet to be written...

Willie-O

Subject: RE: Blow Dakota Blow -Anna May Aquash
From: Les B
Date: 26 Jul 00 - 06:43 PM

Thanks for the info - I thought it might be about that difficult & trying time.

Subject: RE: Blow Dakota Blow -Anna May Aquash
From: InOBU
Date: 26 Jul 00 - 06:54 PM

Thanks Willie O:
and Chriss for reminding me that it is Myrtle...
Thanks for putting forward other web sites, I also read and heard that AIM was possible responcible for her death, and in fact, even in the face of Cointellpro missinformation, if that is the case, it is unforgivable. We have to start living in the better world we seek to create, and Anna Mae, certainly attempted to live in that world she believed in.
Larry

Subject: Lyr Add: ANNA MAE (Larry Long)
From: raredance
Date: 27 Jul 00 - 12:48 AM

Here are the words to the Larry Long song that was recorded on his "Run For Freedom" album (Flying Fish FF 346).

ANNA MAE
Larry Long

From the womb of Nova Scotia
In the land of sunrise
Used to work building cars
On the assembly line
When she heard a warrior speak
Of a better day to come
Quit her job traveled west
To the land of the setting sun.

Survival schools she organized
Gathered history
Cooking food chopping wood
For the elderly
When she left left behind
Tow children young
Asking forgiveness from the Creator
When the day was done.

Chorus:
Anna Mae, Anna Mae, Anna Mae, Anna Mae
We can hear your spirit call
Anna Mae, Anna Mae, Anna Mae, Anna Mae
When the rain begins to fall
We can hear your spirit call.

On the Trail of Broken Treaties
Anna Mae took a stand
Building bunkers at Wounded Knee
Defending Sacred Land
Slipping in, slipping out
Behind the lines
With supplies late at night
Where the Grandfathers shielded her
From the swatman's gunsight.

In the month of June in Oglala
The FBI did come
On the very same day the BIA
Sold the land of the setting sun
In a firefight they killed Joe Stuntz
This is what they said
Before the year is out
Anna Mae we will see you dead

Chorus

100 miles from the nearest town
A body was found
With a turquoise bracelet on her wrist
Frozen to the ground
Standing by the FBI
Could not justify
The body of this woman who
They hauled in one too many times

So they took the turquoise bracelet off her hand
Cut them off at the wrist
Sent her hands to Washington
They said for fingerprints
Doctor said she was drunk
Fell down, simply froze
So the FBI buried her
With the name of Jane Doe

Chorus

Homicide the people cried
For their Anna Mae
Forcing the FBI
To bring her from the grave
What they found was a bullet
Hole in the back of her head
While the FBI put one more notch
In their gun for one more dead

An Oglala wind blew last night
To the sound of the drum
Heard the voice of Anna Mae
Speaking in a Micmac tongue
There's no force made by men
That can stop the driving rain
Where people fight for their land
You will still find Anna Mae

Chorus

rich r

Subject: RE: Blow Dakota Blow -Anna May Aquash
From: InOBU
Date: 28 Jul 00 - 01:32 PM

Thanks Rich r, and to all the others who added to this thread. - Larry

Subject: RE: Blow Dakota Blow -Anna May Aquash
From: katlaughing
Date: 28 Jul 00 - 02:01 PM

And Leonard still sits in jail, another president has passed of the pardon so may of us have signed petitions to obtain.

Thanks to all of you for this honouring of such brave people. My heart is on the ground in sorrow and shame...

Subject: RE: Blow Dakota Blow -Anna May Aquash
From: Turtle
Date: 28 Jul 00 - 02:10 PM

There is a good biography of Anna Mae, published back in the early 80s I think, by Johanna Brand.

Subject: RE: Blow Dakota Blow -Anna May Aquash
From: GUEST,Susan Helf
Date: 15 Jun 07 - 05:24 PM

The song, "Blow, Dakota, Blow," about Anna Mae Aquash's murder, was written by Linda Klaver. Jim Page recorded it once or twice, including on a Leonard Pelltier tribute CD. Also, Scottish singer Dick Gaughin has recently recorded it.

Does anybody have the lyrics? It is sung to the tune of the English class "Oh, the Dreadful Wind and the Rain."
Thanks,

Susan Helf
Seattle
[e-mail]

Subject: RE: Blow Dakota Blow -Anna May Aquash
From: GUEST,meself
Date: 15 Jun 07 - 07:14 PM

"For many years it was thought that Anna Mae had been murdered by the FBI or the GOONs. Now it appears that something even more upsetting, if you can believe it, took place: the FBI took advantage of infighting within different factions of AIM, and "jacketed" (falsely) Anna Mae as an FBI informer" -

A number of years have passed since Willie-O wrote that, and it seems much new information has come to light. You might want to read what one of the late Ms. Aquash's daughters thinks about who is responsible: here.

Quote: "My mother's death was more about a power trip for a few egotists who called themselves leaders than any counter-intelligence program."

Subject: RE: Blow Dakota Blow -Anna May Aquash
From: Willie-O
Date: 16 Jun 07 - 01:41 PM

I'm still following the case and I stand by my previous remarks. There is no contradiction between saying that the FBI was involved--indirectly, as we now know--in the sequence of events that led to Anna Mae's murder, and that those who kidnapped, held and killed her were and are responsible for their own actions.

John Graham, a former AIM member who is a Canadian citizen, is indicted for the murder of Anna Mae--for several years now the US has been seeking his extradition from Canada to face the charge that he was the triggerman. He has various supporters within the native and leftist communities who are opposing his extradition. I'm not one of them. Most of the arguments they use are specious, trying to link this extradition case to the Leonard Peltier extradition in 1976, which was clearly based on false evidence. If you look at the information available now (start by following the various links cited above, many of which have become valuable archives which are still updated periodically), there is a strong case to be made against him, and it is based on statements from many Native Americans who were involved in AIM and/or were near Pine Ridge at the time of the murder. They are speaking out now, with great courage, because the truth needs to come out for their communities to move forward.

Graham would not be eligible for the death penalty if he stands trial in South Dakota, due to it not being in force at the time of the murder. Canada would not extradite him if the death penalty was a possibility (although this has happened in the past, the Supreme Court of Canada clearly ruled in 2001 that this would contravene the Charter of Rights and Freedoms).

The status of the case is that Graham's extradition order has been upheld and his appeal is being considered by the BC Court of Appeals, which will rule on it in Sept 2007.

The case against Graham is that he was a young foot-soldier in a particular faction of AIM who was ordered to kill Anna Mae, and did so. The big remaining questions are: "who ordered the killing?" and "will they be charged as well?" Some very well-known AIM leaders are implicated, but since the case was reopened in the 90's (and another low-level AIM member, Arlo Looking Cloud, was convicted in 2004 of participating in the kidnapping and killing), everyone has been waiting for charges to be laid higher up. And waiting. And waiting.   That Dakota wind is still blowing.

W-O

Subject: RE: Blow Dakota Blow -Anna May Aquash
From: GUEST,meself
Date: 16 Jun 07 - 02:52 PM

Agreed. But the wording of your earlier post indicates that you found it more upsetting that the FBI might have played dirty tricks on AIM than that AIM members might have beaten, raped and murdered one of their own. Perhaps that's not what you meant, but if you re-read the relevant bit of your post, I think you'll agree that that's the way it sounds.

No doubt you know more about this matter than I do, but I haven't read anything that indicates the FBI was even indirectly involved in a deliberate discrediting of Ms. Aquash. There IS a difference between saying that the FBI '"jacketed" (falsely) Anna Mae as an FBI informer' and saying that the FBI "was involved--indirectly". A substantial difference.

Apart from that issue, you've given what seems a fair and succinct summation of the case - please keep us posted as to further developments.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Anna Mae (from Jim Page)
From: Jim Dixon
Date: 27 Jun 07 - 07:49 PM

Here's Jim Page's web site.

It says his album "Visions in My View" came out in 1986, but there is no further information about it.

However, it says the song ANNA MAE is on 2 of his other albums: "Heroes and Survivors," Whid-Isle Music, 1997 (supposedly available at Sounds of Seattle Records, but the link he gives is dead); and "Human Interesting: A Temporary Retrospective," Whid-Isle Music (2002), available at CD Baby.

CD Baby has a 2-minute sound sample of ANNA MAE, from which I transcribed this:

Anna Mae came to the plains, I'm told,
    Blow, Dakota, blow,
From away up eastward where the weather gets cold,
    And the cold Dakota winds they blow.

And she said, "I hear there's been trouble down here."
They said, "Trouble? We been gettin' trouble every year."

Anna Mae made a vow by the fire that night,
She would give her life to the people's fight.

And then the voice in the whispering wind did say:
"Somebody's gonna get hurt someday."

In nineteen-hundred and seventy-two,
Trouble in the Pine Ridge settlement grew.

And in nineteen-hundred and seventy-three,
The trouble exploded at Wounded Knee.

And in nineteen-hundred and....

[Jim Page's web site doesn't say who wrote the song.

[The tune, by the way, is very similar, if not identical, to THE WIND AND RAIN (Two Sisters).]