Clyde Bellecourt, born at the White Earth reservation in Minnesota in
1939, is one of the founders, along with George Mitchell and Dennis Banks,
of the American Indian Movement (AIM).  The three men, all Ojibwa Indians,
started AIM in Minneapolis in 1968. On February 27, 1973, AIM led the
occupation at Wounded Knee, aided by traditionalists like Leonard Crow
Dog, after Dee Brown's 1971 book, Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee, made the
site into a nationally recognized symbol.  Bellecourt also helped draw up
the twenty demands put before the government during the 1972 occupation of
the Bureau of Indian Affairs building.  The protesters called for, among
other things, a separate Indian nation to be operated from the White
House; restoration of lands; renegotiation of all past treaties, beginning
1871; consolidation of natural resources, land and water; and a department
in Washington D.C., for community reconstruction.  Although the White
House did not agree to meet these demands outright, it did establish a
government task force to meet with the protest leaders and other Indian
groups to discuss grievances and proposals.  The government also promised
to make no arrests for the occupations.