[IPSM] Online John Graham Documentary

[nora butler burke]

Backgrounder on the Extradition of John Graham provided below.

More information is available at: www.grahamdefense.org


---------------------------- Original Message ----------------------------
Subject: online John Graham Documentary
From: "Vancouver NYM" <nymchapter604 at hotmail.com>
Date: Wed, June 28, 2006 9:02 pm
To: nymchapter604 at hotmail.com
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Native Youth Movement - Statement on the Arrest of John Graham

February 7, 2004

On Monday, December 1, 2003, John Graham was arrested in Vancouver,
Canada. He is charged by the FBI with the 1975 murder of Anna Mae Pictou
Aquash, a Mik?maq from Nova Scotia whose frozen body was found on the Pine
Ridge Reservation, South Dakota.

Presently free on bail, John Graham faces extradition to the US.

At this time, the Native Youth Movement (NYM) Vancouver feels it necessary
to state its position in regards to this case.

Anna Mae has been an inspiration and example to our movement for many
years. She symbolized the warrior spirit and our people?s determination to
resist. This is also the legacy of the American Indian Movement, to which
she belonged.

It was because of this spirit that AIM was targeted by the FBI?s
Counter-Intelligence Program (COINTEL-PRO) in the early 1970?s, and why so
many AIM members in South Dakota were killed during this period, including
Anna Mae Aquash.

If, as alleged, her killing was ordered by AIM?s leadership (under the
pretext she was an informant), those ultimately responsible for her death
are US government officials, including the FBI ? for it was under their
orders that a deadly counter-insurgency campaign was waged against AIM,
which included portraying genuine movement members as informants.

This strategy was used to create paranoia and division, to turn members
against one another (just as the FBI had done against the Black Panther
Party). Anna Mae was herself the target of an FBI ?bad jacket?. FBI agents
had threatened to kill her in the year prior to her death. When her body
was found, despite being on an FBI wanted list, agents had her hands cut
off for fingerprint analysis. During the first autopsy, the government
coroner determined the cause of death to be exposure, somehow missing the
bullet hole in the back of her head.

Leonard Peltier, we recall, was extradited from Vancouver in 1977 under
false evidence provided to Canadian courts by the FBI. He was subsequently
tried and convicted for the 1975 shoot-out at Oglala, South Dakota, in
which two FBI agents were killed. During this same incident, the FBI shot
and killed AIM member Joseph Stuntz Killsright.

A basic principle of any resistance movement is non-collaboration with our
enemy. As Peltier recently stated in regards to the arrest of John Graham:

?When we talk of sovereignty, we must be willing to solve our own problems
and not go running to the oppressor for relief . . . We have been and
still are at odds with the most dangerous, well-funded, strongest military
and political organization in the history of the world [the US
government].?

We must therefore oppose the attempt to extradite John Graham to South
Dakota by US authorities, and denounce the efforts by certain individuals
in our own community to facilitate this process.

In particular, we must clarify that Kelly White, a local (Vancouver)
Native radio show host who has conducted an ongoing campaign against John
Graham, has never been a leader, member, or advisor to the NYM.
Furthermore, NYM Vancouver does not consider information provided by Ms.
White to be credible.

In conclusion, no member of NYM was involved in the conflicts of the
1970s. We weren?t there. We cannot say with certainty that John Graham did
? or did not ? kill Anna Mae. We have neither the information nor
witnesses at our disposal to make such a decision.

What can be said is that Anna Mae Aquash, along with many others, died as
a direct result of her commitment to the struggle for her people. She is
an example of all we aspire to be as a resistance movement. She was a
warrior, a veteran of the 71-day siege at Wounded Knee in 1973, a
community worker who helped set up schools and camps. She promoted
traditional culture and spirituality. She gave her life for us, knowing
all along the consequences. That is why she is called a Brave-Hearted
Woman.

Whatever the result of any trials conducted in the court rooms of our
oppressor ? the same ones? ultimately responsible for Anna Mae?s death ?
we will continue to advance in our movement towards victory, inspired by
her memory and her spirit.

Native Youth Movement
Vancouver Chapter