GOON SQUAD LEGACY: DEBRA RICHARDS (aka WHITE PLUME), STANDING ROCK & BEYOND

THE RICHARDS TIOSPAYE:  VIOLENT GOON SQUAD FAMILY

In July of last year (2017), I had contact with a former leader of AIM (American Indian Movement).  This leader had been present at the stand-off in Wounded Knee in 1973.  They were also directly involved in the AIM/Traditional Lakota violent struggle against a tribal paramilitary death squad known as the GOONs (The Guardians of the Oglala Nation).  The membership of the GOONs consisted of Oglala Lakota Tribal members that supported the pro-Fed Pine Ridge Sioux Tribal Chairman Richard (Dick) Wilson and his administration.  They were armed by the FBI/Feds and killed many Traditional Lakota and AIM members on the Pine Ridge/Rosebud Reservations during the 1970s.  These events were known as the “Reign of Terror”.

On the condition of anonymity, this former AIM leader told me the following:

1.  They have never trusted Debra White Plume.
2. Her dad (John Richards) was a leader of the GOONs.
3. Her real last name is Richards
4. The Richards Tiospaye (extended family) was known as the most violent GOON family and was intermarried into the Wilson family.
5. Many of their male members worked for the Feds to harm &/or railroad AIM members. Including acting as FBI operatives.

Background:

The GOON membership was recruited by Wilson and the FBI from the local BIA (Bureau of Indian Affairs) police force and/or from various Lakota families that had shown unwavering support for the US Federal Government over many generations.  Such families were and still are referred to by true Traditional Lakota as “mixed-bloods’, “Hang-Around-the-Forts” or “Government Dog” families.

“From the beginning, those Indians willing to obey the government agents and the missionaries fared much better than those who held to traditional Indian way…The mixed bloods do dominate things…On Pine Ridge, at least, Tribal Council administrations have been regularly accused of acting exclusively in their own best interests by carrying out the wishes of the BIA, which tends to ignore nepotism, incompetence, and corruption as long as its own policies are carried out.” (“In the Spirit of Crazy Horse”, Matthiessen, pgs 28-32).

As noted, in the 1970s, most of these families were mixed-bloods (having long been sired via unions between White men and Indian women), were Christian, pro-Fed and very hostile towards Traditionals. Especially the Traditional full blood Male Lakota Chief (Nachan) Tiospayes.  However, there were also some full-blood “Hang-Around-the-Fort” families that served as GOONs. Those Full-Bloods tended to be Christian however and were by far, a minority.

In the 1930s, the US Government forced onto the Lakota the IRA (Indian Reorganization Act).  This act was designed to usurp the immense power of the Lakota Nachan (Traditional Male Chiefs) who repeatedly blocked the alteration of Treaties. Thus, inhibiting the Feds/Corporations in gaining access to natural resources on Lakota Concentration Camps (aka Reservations) and also lands still recognized as Lakota under Treaty.

By instituting the IRA, the Feds imposed the Western Council and Chairman model of governance upon the Lakota.  The Traditional Chiefs lost all legal standing which then reverted to the mostly Hang-Around-The-Fort families who seized control of the Council/Chairmanship.  Since that time, these families have perpetuated themselves in positions of power (generation after generation).  They do this via gerrymandering (corrupt voter districting practices), bribes, intimidation, violence, harassment, denial of services, making families homeless who oppose them, firing relatives of resisters and most recently the banishing/dis-enrolling of those who refuse to submit.

They are the camp Kapos used by the US Government to maintain order in Lakota Concentration Camps while giving the veneer of legislative legality as the Feds steal from and oppress REAL Traditionals. (“In the Spirit of Crazy Horse”, pg 27).

Link to Wikipedia page describing Concentration Camp Kapos:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kapo_(concentration_camp)

Why do I emphasize the world “REAL” when noting “Traditionals”?

In the late 70s (after the “Reign of Terror” subsided and as their crimes became widely known) these families began to shrewdly & fraudulently re-brand  themselves as “Traditionals.”  Many of them have grown their hair long and do fake Lakota ceremonies for ignorant non-Indian dignitaries/allies…All the while still controlling EVERY major Tribal Governmental institution/agency on Lakota reservations.  Including Tribal Colleges.  As these families have always done, these Tribal “Leaders” ensure that members of their own Tiospaye and allied Tiospayes have jobs, maintain their power and often bestow “official” credibility on their members who are masquerading as Traditionals.

That in hand, I now share the research I have done to investigate the allegations made by this former AIM Leader regarding Debra White Plume (Richards).  Much of this document will be in outline form to enable the reader to better digest the information. I will leave it to the reader to make their own determination as to the validity of this former AIM leader’s claims.

Research Findings:  Richards Tiospaye

The following is a list of members of the Richards Family from Pine Ridge who participated in “Reign of Terror”, were in the GOONs and/or served as operatives (sometimes clandestinely) for the FBI/Feds.  Members of this family from Pine Ridge regularly use the variant spellings of Richard &/or Richards.  Indeed, Debra herself has used “Richards”, though her father is identified as having used the “Richard” form in several obituaries.

[Sources:  Obituaries for Debra’s mother & sister.  PeopleSearchNow & Radaris Profiles for Alex White Plume (Debra’s husband).  See attached scanned documents].

All citations are documented.  Let me note that Debra White Plume (Richards) was in her twenties when the events described below occurred.  Anyone who has lived on a Lakota reservation knows that it would have simply been impossible for Debra to not have known such prominent members of her own Tiospaye in such a small community where she had lived the majority of her life.

The Richards Extended Family,“…a goon clan so unusually brutal that it was known to the Traditionals as ‘the Manson Family’.’ (“In the Spirit of Crazy Horse” Matthiessen, pg 381).

John (Tote) Richards

1. “April 1973:  Glen Three Stars, a known GOON and Tote (John) Richards, also a GOON, assaulted Hobart Keith, member of the tribal council, active in the impeachment effort [to remove Richard (Dick) Wilson.]” ……[Source:  Cached web-site from 1999 titled “We Will Remember the Reign of Terror:  Pine Ridge Reservation 1973-1976”.  Website sources a pamphlet titled “Victims of Progress”, published in 1977 that documents the crimes of GOONs on the Pine Ridge Sioux Reservation.  Link is cited below, but you may have trouble accessing.  A scanned copy is available for viewing in the scanned document attachment found at the end.]

http://www.oocities.org/crazyoglala/1973-76PineRidgeRez.html?20185)

2.  Debra Richards (White Plume) father named John B. Richard.

a.  Would have been born around 1925 & been about 50 during the Wounded Knee Takeover & the “Reign of Terror” (1973-1976).

3.  Served at least 16 years in the US Army including significant time in Europe & Austria.

4.  Returned to Pine Ridge around 1960 with his with family.

5.  Debra Richards (Whiteplume) was born in 1954, likely in Europe. Again, Debra was in her twenties during the Reign of Terror.

6.  Debra Richards (White Plume) brother named Joseph (Anita) Richard Sr.

a.  Would have been around 30 while living on Pine Ridge during the Reign of Terror.

b.  Joseph’s son & Debra’s nephew (deceased) was named John Baptist Richard (aka John B. Richard). Passed on 9/11/2013.

[Sources:  Obituaries for Bernice Ione Stone (Debra’s mother), Ione Anne (Richard) Reddy (Debra’s sister) & John Baptist Richard (Debra’s nephew) all published in the Rapid City Journal.  Also, an old cached MyLife Profile for Debra White Plume. ”.  Copies available in the scanned documents attachment found at the end.]

Charles (Chuck) Richards

1. Known GOON
2. Son-In-Law of Richard (Dick) Wilson
3. Married to Saunie Richards (Wilson)
4. Dick Wilson was the Pine Ridge Tribal Chairman who formed the GOONs as an Oglala Tribal Ranger Unit. The FBI helped arm them.

[Sources:  “In the Spirit of Crazy Horse”, Matthiessen, pg. 389 & article titled “Death Squads in the US:  Confessions of a Government Terrorist”, Churchill, pgs. 103-108. (Article heavily references the taped admissions from former GOON leader Duane Brewer regarding FBI collusion w/ the GOONs and material support.)]

5.  Involved in the murder of Bryon DeSersa along with Dick Wilson’s son Billy Wilson, also a known GOON (“In the Spirit of Crazy Horse”, pg. 255.). Byron DeSersa was a great-grandson of the legendary Black Elk.

6.  Assaulted and held a shot-gun to Pat Mills head, convicted on at least two violent felonies (“In the Spirit of Crazy Horse”, pg. 281) and was alleged to have held a gun to an unidentified woman’s throat and threatened to kill her if she didn’t help him find her husband (“In the Spirit of Crazy Horse”, pg. 255).

7.  Recruited to Assassinate Leonard Peltier:

a.  Was incarcerated in Leavenworth and Lompoc prisons. Intentionally befriended Leonard Peltier by hiding his true identity.  Leonard did not know him personally or recognize him because he was not originally from Pine Ridge.  Chuck Richards was going by the name “Richardson” while attempting to befriend Peltier.

“Calling himself ‘Richardson’ because his own name was so notorious on Pine Ridge, [Chuck] Richards had befriended Peltier before the warning was received…” (“In the Spirit of Crazy Horse”, Matthiessen, pb. 382).

Was identified by another Federal Operative and inmate initially recruited by the FBI to assassinate Leonard Peltier named Robert Hugh Wilson (not related to Dick Wilson).  Robert Wilson was a convicted bank robber, around 55 years old in 1978 and of Choctaw/Onieda ancestry.  He went by the name Standing Deer.  Once recruited by the FBI, he felt remorse and informed Peltier of the plan to murder him.  The FBI (though unaware of Standing Deer exposing their plan to Peltier) had lost confidence in him, but asked him to help coordinate Peltier’s murder when their new assassin arrived.  When Chuck Richards arrived at Lompoc, shared that he was from Pine Ridge & made very overt efforts to befriend Peltier…Standing Deer informed Peltier that he believed Richards was the new hitman.  Peltier cut off contact with Richards and Richards was later put in protective custody to prevent him from being killed by other inmates.

[Sources:  ”In the Spirit of Crazy Horse”, Matthiessen, pgs. 374-382, 389, 397, 490-93, 494, 496, 503, 506 & ”Blood of the Land”, Weyler, pgs 203-208.]

Alexander Richards

1.  Testified for the Government during the trials against Russell Means & Dennis Banks in 1974 for charges stemming for the Wounded Knee Takeover/Stand-off in 1973.

2.  Admitted that he had lied and gave false testimony while on the stand.

3.  The judge disallowed all his testimony.

[Sources:  ”In the Spirit of Crazy Horse”, Matthiessen, pg. 88 & “Blood of the Land”, Weyler, pg. 116]

Benny Richards

1. “…a former member of the Wilson goon squad on Pine Ridge…” [Source: “Blood of the Land”, Weyler, pg.209]
2. Mysterious Death of John Trudell’s Family:
3. John Trudell was the National Chairman of AIM in February 1979.
4. While previously serving time for Contempt of Court during the Peltier Trial, he was told by an inmate that if “…he did not stop his Indian rights work his family would be killed.  “On 2/11/1979 “…Trudell gave a speech in front of the FBI building in Washington, D.C., condemning the FBI for their role in the persecution of Indian people.” During the event and American Flag was burned. “The fire at his in-law’s home [on the Duck Valley Shoshone-Paiute Reservation] came twelve hours later…”  On 2/12/1979, that house fire killed John Trudell’s family.
   1. His wife (Tina Manning), his three very young children (Ricarda Star, Sunshine Karma and Eli Changing Sun) and his mother-in-law Leah Hicks-Manning all perished in the fire.
   2. At the time, Benny Richards was the acting local Police Chief on the Duck Valley Shoshone-Paiute Reservation.
      1. He was a former GOON from Pine Ridge and had been transferred to Duck Valley.
      2. The BIA Director of Duck Valley was John Artichocker.
      3. Also from the Pine Ridge Sioux Reservation.

• “The BIA [who employed a known GOON Benny Richards as well as John Artichocker in the highest law enforcement/managerial positions on the Duck Valley Rez] issued a statement saying the fire was an accident. Trudell believes his family was murdered.”

[Sources:  “In the Spirit of Crazy Horse“, Matthiessen, pgs. 522-523 & ”Blood on the Land”, Weyler, pg. 209-210.]

Research Findings:  Debra Richards (White Plume) & Alex White Plume

• Debra Richards is noted as being related to Alex White Plume living in Manderson, SD and previously in Batesland, SD in a record from PeopleSearchNow.  Both towns are on the Pine Ridge Sioux Reservation.
• Debra Richards is noted as being related to a John J. Plume having lived in Manderson, SD & Pine Ridge, SD in a Radaris Public Records Document.
• Again, in the obituaries for Ione Anne (Richard) Reddy & Bernice Ione Stone, Debra White Plume is cited as being:
  1. A member of the Richards Tiospaye from the Pine Ridge Sioux Reservation
  2. The daughter of John B. Richard
  3. As being married to Alex White Plume of Manderson, SD.
• In a cached MyLife profile, Debra White Plumes’ bio states:
  1. She lives in Manderson, SD
  2. Was born on 8/20/1954
  3. Lists her many aliases/nicknames
  4. Notes that she is married
  5. That she is related to a John White Plume and an Alex White
  6. That she had been working as a “…Coordinator of Manager as Warrior Graduate Studies at Oglala Lakota College.”

• In a Red Warrior Press Release published in Indian Country Today on June 23, 2017, titled “Red Warrior Camp Speaks”:
  1. Debra White Plume provides a public statement identifying herself as a Red Warrior, an Oglala Lakota grandmother and an activist. She is the only Red Warrior who is publicly revealing her membership in this group via this press release.
  2. The former Red Warrior spokesman (Cody Hall) revealed publicly that local Standing Rock & Cheyenne River  Lakota elders had expressed concern about this group’s promotion of violent tactics during NO-DAPL.  In addition, the Standing Rock Tribal Council voted unanimously that the Red Warriors should leave the Oceti Sakowin Camp and the NO-DAPL resistance in general.  View link.

http://www.kfyrtv.com/content/news/Standing-Rock-Sioux-Tribal-Council-votes-unanimously-to-ask-Red-Warrior-Camp-to-leave-401548985.html

• Alex White Plume
  1. Born in 1952
  2. Husband of Debra White Plume (Richards)
  3. Former Vice-President & Tribal President of the Oglala Sioux Tribe of the Pine Ridge Sioux Reservation.
  4. “From 2000-2002, he earned unwanted publicity when the United Stated federal drug agents raided his farm and destroyed his crop of industrial hemp before he could harvest it for seed as intended. They got a court order prohibiting him to grow the crop.”
  5. Was Dishonorably Discharged from the US Army in 1978
  6. Returned to Pine Ridge, lived in Manderson Housing Project
  7. Joined the Tribal Police Force in 1978
  8. “White Plume’s interest in socio-political issues developed later in life.”

GOONs:  Recruited from the Pine Ridge BIA Police Force during “Reign of Terror”

• “Many of [Tribal Chairman Dick] Wilson’s relatives, as well as perhaps one-third of the BIA police force on the reservation, were quickly rostered as GOONs”

[Source:  “Death Squads in the U.S.: Confessions of a Government Terrorist”, Churchill, pg 106 & Alex White Plume Wikipedia Profile.  Copy of Wikipedia profile found at end in the scanned document attachment.]

• In 1976, the Pine Ridge Tribal Police Force was created under the advocacy of Gerald Clifford (an Oglala Lakota businessman).
  1. At that time Oglala Sioux Tribe passed Tribal Ordinance 76-12 creating the OST Public Safety (aka Police Force).
  2. “[Gerald] Clifford had help form a corporation he called ACKO, Inc., an acronym for it founders, “Butch” Artichocker, Clifford and Francis Killer. By taking on some of the different contracts offered by the United States government Clifford…and his group…tried, oftentimes in frustration, to educate the bureaucrats to the realities of Indian life and law”.

[Sources:  “The Fight for an Independent Police Force”, Huff Post & Native American Journalists Foundation, Inc., author Tim Giago, 9/8/2008 & “Oglala Sioux Tribe Looks at New Plan for the Police Indian” Indian Country Today (Knight-Ridder/Tribune Business News) August 31, 1997. Copies available in the scanned document attachment.]

Clifford, Richards & Artichocker Family Members:  GOONS, FBI INFORMER, BIA MEN

*A GOON named Mark Clifford was involved in repeatedly ramming a car in which the Eagle Hawk and White Hawk families were riding. “The car is forced off the road. Edith Eagle Hawk, 37, her four month old daughter, Linda and Earl W. Janis Jr. are killed.” Incident occurred on March 21, 1975.

[Source:  “We Will Remember:  The Reign of Terror on Pine Ridge 1973-1976”]

1. Gregory Dewey Clifford:
   1. Gave a statement/complaint to the FBI (acting as an informer, rat & operative) that Jimmy Eagle had confessed to him that he had participated in the shootout at the Jumping Bull Compound on June 26, 1975 where two FBI agents had died. Clifford stated that Eagle had admitted to killing the agents in cooperation with several other men.  Leonard Peltier is in prison regarding this incident.  “A few weeks later, Eagle was formally indicted for murder despite a statement given to Agent Adams by Hazel Little Hawk…that Jimmy had spent June 26 indoors at the Pine Ridge house of his grandmother…”
   2. Clifford was a convicted rapist
   3. Ran over his male cousin with a car.

1. Attempted to strangle a girlfriend (Mary Ann Dalton) who remained in a coma for at least 10 years due to the assault
2. “[Clifford]…enjoyed a strange immunity from prosecution until his true nature could no longer be ignored. In 1989, he was indicted for stabbing a Miss Gerri Patton eighteen times before dismembering the body;  he has since been convicted of first degree murder.”

[Source:  In the Spirit of Crazy Horse, Matthiessen, pg 212, 242, 477, 579.]

3.  As noted previously John Artichocker was from Pine Ridge & was the local BIA Director on the Duck Valley Shoshone-Paiute Reservation on the night John Trudell’s family mysteriously died in a house fire.  Only 12 hours after he burned an American Flag in-front of the FBI Headquarters in DC.

4.  Benny Richards (also from Pine Ridge) happened to be the police chief on Duck Valley at the same time.

QUESTIONS & CONSIDERATIONS:

• It seems that persons who were members of pro-Fed, FBI operative, BIA (Bureau of Indian Affairs) Police and GOON Squad Tiospayes.
  1. Advocated to create an independent Tribal Police Force in 1976 to replace the BIA Police Force.
  2. To contract directly for federal funds (via the BIA) to fund the new Tribal Police Force.
  3. Conveniently allowing the Federally operated BIA to claim that all future oppression of Traditionals occurred at the hands of Tribal Police and thus such issues were due to internal Tribal politics. Since it wasn’t their BIA officers involved, the BIA (and by extension the Feds and FBI) could not be held directly accountable for any abuses.
  4. Given tribal nepotism among Hang-Around-The-Fort Tiospayes that is still rife on Lakota reservations in South Dakota, it is almost certain that many of the former GOON Squad members who were BIA Police Officers, simply were re-hired by the new Tribal Police Force.
  5. Indeed in 1978, Alex White Plume joined the Tribal Police force right as the new Tribal Chairman was re-hiring pro-Wilson/GOON tribal members.

“In 1978, Trimble was defeated by another BIA bureaucrat named Elijah Whirlwind Horse, who soon replaced most the AIM people [hired during the Trimble Administration] with the Pine Ridge faction, including many of the old faces from the Wilson [GOON] days…” (“In the Spirit of Crazy Horse”, pg, 420).

6.  In 1997, the Oglala Tribal Council sought to bring this Tribal Police Force under their direct control due to numerous accussations of corruption, abuse of power, violence, possible embezzlement and lawsuits filed against the Tribal Police by tribal members. Vincent Brewer Sr. was one of the Councilmen overseeing this.  (Duane Brewer was the former GOON leader and BIA Cop who exposed the FBI arming and supporting the GOONs during the “Reign of Terror”).  Interestingly, the Tribal Council Restructuring Committee wanted to abolish the locally elected District Review Boards that oversaw/monitored Police conduct.  Such a move would have again centralized complete coercive force under the Hang-Around-The-Fort families who controlled the Tribal Council.

[Source:  “Oglala Sioux Tribe Looks at New Plan for the Police Indian” Indian Country Today (Knight-Ridder/Tribune Business News) August 31, 1997.  Copies available in the scanned document attachment.]

• THIS IS THE TRIBAL POLICE FORCE ALEX WHITE PLUME ENTERED IN 1978.
  1. He was initially married to a German woman upon his return to Pine Ridge, but at some point, thereafter married Debra Richards (White Plume).
  2. Given that members of the Richards Tiospaye were GOONs, gave false testimony trying to railroad AIM members, were actual FBI operatives and worked in BIA Law Enforcement…
  3. Did Debra Richards and Alex White Plume begin their romantic relationship via shared GOON Squad associations?

DEEP AGENTS:  AGENT PROVOCATEURS

• In an investigative book released last year, the former leader of the famous SLA (Symbionese Liberation Army) was exposed as being a Deep Agent Provocateur and the SLA as a false front group used by the Feds/FBI.
• His name was Donald ”Cinque” DeFreeze.
• He was recruited by CIA Advisor Colston Westbrook in 1970, who became his case officer.
• Defreeze was in Vacaville Prison at the time. (N:  Having served time in prison or having past legal trouble with Federal Authorities is always useful in developing credibility for such agents).
• Defreeze had served as a police informer for the LAPD Public Disorder Intelligence Unit between 1967-1969.
• His mission under Holbrook’s direction was to hi-jack the momentum of legitimate Leftist actions via the encouragement and use of extreme violence so as to justify a violent FBI response to “…finally pacify…that tumultuous political landscape [of the San Francisco Bay Area].”
• The other outcome of DeFreeze’s & the SLA’s violence (via the deadly shootout between LAPD SWAT in May 1974) was that “…police departments across the country [began] asking the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) to help them set up their own SWAT teams. In a post-Ferguson American, with the STANDING ROCK battle, we cannot overlook the importance of this beginning of police militarization.”

1. Indeed, “…investigators presented their findings to the Los Angeles City Council, charging that the intelligence unit of the police department-the Criminal Section-knew of the SLA’s presence [in Los Angeles, as did the FBI] but wanted a shootout for test purposes.”

[Sources:  Article, “Do We Owe Military-Style Police Swat Teams to the Wild Story of Patty Hearst and the SLA?”, by  Paul Krassner of ALTERNET, 1/7/2017.  Article References book by Brad Schreiber, “Revolution’s End:  The Patty Hearst Kidnapping, Mind Control, & the Secret History of Donald DeFreeze & the SLA”. See attached scanned documents.]

RED WARRIOR VIOLENCE AT STANDING ROCK

• As noted the Red Warriors were asked to leave the NO-DAPL resistance because they were promoting and engaging in violent tactics against the expressed wishes of local Lakota Elders from Standing Rock & Cheyenne River. The elders disavowed their behaviors.
• Tactics that proved to actually help ETP (Energy Transfer Partners) and the Feds at critical times.
  1. North Camp Raid: 10/27/2016:
  2. The Red Warriors refused to be non-violent and sit in prayer circles. They rioted and attacked white law enforcement with rocks, sticks, etc.
  3. They had seized the drill pad ground several days before, but mysteriously abandoned it (with no resistance) to White Law Enforcement as they raided the camp. ETP then controlled the ground.  Dislodging them after this proved to be highly impractical and likely impossible.

• Red Fawn was arrested and later charged w/ attempted murder for supposedly discharging a gun in her possession.
  1. Red Fawn was a medic. The Medic Center was controlled by the Red Warriors and the vast majority of medics were actually Red Warrior members.
  2. Later it was revealed in court documents and an Intercept article that Red Fawn’s lover (Heath Harmon) was an American Indian FBI Informer/Operative from the Fort Berthold Indian Reservation. His brother was a BIA Police Officer and made introductions for him to the FBI.
  3. Also Harmon’s uncle (Gerald Fox) had direct connections to GOON Squad actions during the “Reign of Terror” and likely had direct interactions with those members of  Debra Richards (White Plume’s) Tiospaye working w/ the Feds to suppress Traditionals. The following qoutes from the Intercept article are informative and confirm the trans-generational loyalty that these Hang-Around-The-Fort families exhibit towards their Federal masters.  Thus the “Government Dog” moniker given them by some Traditionals.
  4. “Harmon is part of a different lineage. In his interview with law enforcement, he noted that his uncle Gerald Fox had been on the ‘other side’ of the AIM struggle at Pine Ridge. Fox was a BIA officer who stood off against AIM during the 71-day occupation of Wounded Knee, alongside members of the U.S. Marshals Service and the FBI. According to a 2010 obituary in the Bismarck Tribune, Fox went on to join a BIA special operations unit, and between 1976 and 1984 “was detailed to every major Native conflict that happened in the United States…In the aftermath of the Pine Ridge standoff, the FBI looked the other way while a paramilitary organization known as the GOONs — whose leaders included members of the BIA tribal police force — carried out a multiyear campaign of extrajudicial killings and brutal physical assaults of AIM members and supporters.”
  5. Also note, that this same Intercept article reveals that the FBI was aware of the networking (and likely planning) going at the highest levels between the Red Warriors and allied groups.
  6. The FBI was even aware of the sexual liaisons of activists.
  7. HOW? Clearly there were informants/operatives with in the Red Warrior Society encampments and likely with in it’s leadership and/or in the leadership of allied organizations.

[Sources:  Intercept Article, “An Activist Stands Accused of Firing a Gun at Standing Rock.  It Belonged to her Lover-An FBI Informant., by Will Parrish, Dec. 11, 2017 & Traditional American Indian Alliance Open Letter/Blog Posts, by Kevin Meagher titled “Red Warrior Deceit” & “FBI Informant Lover, Red Warriors & Red Fawn’s Gun”.  Links provided.]

https://theintercept.com/2017/12/11/standing-rock-dakota-access-pipeline-fbi-informant-red-fawn-fallis/

https://traditionalamericanindianalliance.wordpress.com/2017/06/09/39/

https://traditionalamericanindianalliance.wordpress.com/2018/01/23/fbi-informant-lover-red-warriors-red-fawns-gun/

1. Backwater Bridge Battle: 11/20/2016
2. In violation of our elders’ orders to not disturb the barricade on that bridge (after they had made an agreement with Morton County). The Red Warriors went up to the location and began to dismantle the barricade.  Their behaviors eventually elicited Morton County’s response.
3. The Red Warriors then ran into camp (after the elders had shut off the central mic for the evening and left camp/gone to bed) and created a panic by screaming and yelling that the Feds and Morton County were coming over the barricade to take the camp.
4. Hundreds of mostly non-Indian activists went up there and an hours long battle ensued. Numerous serious injuries occurred and ambulances from locations up to 80 miles or more away, struggled to get into the camp to respond.
5. Days later the Feds/Corps of Engineers leveraged this violence and the need for quick emergency medical service to begin the process to close the camps for good. As the camps were being forcefully closed in February 2017, the Dakota Access Pipeline went in.
6. At every juncture, the Red Warriors did everything the Feds and ETP needed to complete the pipeline.
   1. Their orchestrated violence legitimized the Fed/Corporate narrative that the Lakota were violent and working with violent far-Left activists.
   2. They abandoned the Drill Pad to ETP. Which if it had been held by activists, would have blocked the completion of DAPL via a stand-off similar to Oka in 1990 and Wounded Knee in 1973.

• The violence they orchestrated via the Backwater Bridge Battle (in defiance of the TRUE local Lakota) lead to a medical emergency that substantiated their narrative that the camps must be closed to ensure public health & safety.

QUESTIONS & CONSIDERATIONS:

• Just like the SLA was a false front group created to generate violence so as to legitimize an FBI/Federal narrative that Leftist Groups needed to be violently suppressed and that local Law Enforcement needed to be militarized.
• The Red Warrior Society:

1. Who certainly masqueraded as a legitimate Traditional Lakota Akicita/Warrior Society (though it’s members are mostly White & Latino AntiFa Insurrectionary Anarchists).
2. The Red Warrior Society appears to have acted exactly like a false front group would. Clearly exploiting the credibility of Lakota culture to infiltrate the NO-DAPL resistance.  Their actions at NO-DAPL achieved the same/similar outcomes for the FBI, the Feds, Morton County and the Oil Company (ETP) as the violent SLA actions had done 50 years earlier.
   1. NOTE: In their own “Red Warrior Camp Speaks” Press Release, they state they won’t “…acknowledge elders who…dictate and control.”  Umm…By definition Lakota Akicita Societies must have the Chief (aka Nachan) councils approval before going to war.  War affects the entire people. Just not the Akicita.

ASIDE:  Watch the French language documentary “AntiFa: Chaussers de Skins”. This documentary tells the story of the violent resistance of AntiFa street gangs against equally violent Neo-Nazi street gangs on the streets of Paris during the ’80s. Two of these AntiFa gangs were named “Red Warriors” and “Red Skins”. I have previously read that the Red Warriors named themselves such in admiration of the traditional Mohawk Warrior. The “Red Skins” clearly were playing off racial stereotypes by wearing the team colors of the Washington DC football team. The Red Warriors later became security for a far-Left org called SCALP. Their entire movement was called the “Red Skins” or “Head Hunters”. Clearly, these AntiFa gangs were playing off the White colonial narrative that characterized American Indians as “savage” warriors. A narrative used recently at the NO-DAPL resistance by ETP and the Feds. A narrative legitimized by the Red Warrior Society via their violent tactics (condemned by the real local Lakota). Its clear that the inspiration for the mostly White/Latino “Red Warrior Society” members (who are Insurrectionary Anarchists) wasn’t real Lakota Akicita Societies, but the “Red Warriors” AntiFa street gang of Paris during the 80s. Oddly, Tara Houska (a non-Lakota, Ojibwe), who is constantly denouncing the mis-appropriation of American Indian cultures by non-Indians (including attacks on the Washington Red Skins imagery) participated in appropriating the credibility of Lakota Akicita Societies w/ groups that have a long history of using racist American Indian imagery.

Let me state, I support how the Paris “Red Warriors” chose to organize and resist Neo-Nazi street gangs WHEN those Nazis were actively assaulting them.  I also believe that times do arise in which persons are justified in mobilizing to engage in acts of extreme civil disobedience…this can include acts of violence.  Either in defense of themselves and their people.  However, that violence must be warranted, applied in the correct way, at the appropriate time, to achieve the maximum benefit and under the direction &/or with the support of the local community.

The “Red Warrior Society” did not represent the local Lakota of Cheyenne River and Standing Rock.  The vast majority of them aren’t even American Indian and their identities weren’t known to the local Lakota.  Their claims to represent said communities (even after being formally denounced and asked to leave) is the height of disrespect and cultural appropriation.  In addition, it is clear that their violence was NOT meant to stop the pipeline at all because when they had the chance to make a stand like the Mohawk had done at Oka in 1990 (in defense of their burial grounds), these “Red Warriors” abandoned the strategic drill pad ground (which was in their possession) to ETP/White Law Enforcement without any resistance whatsoever.

Choosing to apply AntiFa Black Block tactics (in general) as well as the same violent tactics which were designed by the French “Red Warrior” AntiFa street gang to battle random Neo-Nazis (under the cover of darkness)…is something very different than resisting a highly militarized Federal/State/County police presence (& multi-billion corporation) actively trying to label the NO-DAPL resistance as a violent protest needing to be shut down.  Given the constant media presence and the Red Warrior Society’s clear unwillingness to make a real stand by holding the Drill Pad ground…choosing such tactics was just plain stupid.  But again, was the Red Warrior Society’s agenda ever really to stop the completion of the Dakota Access Pipeline?

[Sources:  “AntiFa:  Chasseurs de Skins” Documentary, by Resistance Films, 2008.  Press release included in scanned documents attachment. Link provided below to a clip of the film.]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B3yu7Y8-gBw&t=52s

RETURN:

• Donald “Cinque” DeFreeze (leader of the SLA) was an agent provocateur and former police informer. He was created by the CIA and instructed to promote violent tactics and to engage in violence to justify that violent FBI repression/militarization of law enforcement.  However, he had a criminal record that conveniently assisted in giving him street credibility.
• Given that Debra White Plume (Richards):

1. Is one of the few people (other than Tara Houska & Cody Hall) to publicly admit that she is a Red Warrior and is clearly held in high esteem by the group (serving as a voice trying to legitimize their “Indigenous” cred).
2. Provided the statement in the “Red Warrior Camp Speaks Press Release” stating she was a Red Warrior Society Member
   1. She was interviewed by Democracy Now! from the Red Warrior Society Camp during NO-DAPL. (Link after next Source citations).
   2. Is a documented member of the Richards Tiospaye from Pine Ridge. A family of documented FBI operatives, alleged assassins, GOONs, BIA cops and FBI/Police informers, etc.
   3. Lives in Manderson, SD w/Alex White Plume on the Pine Ridge Sioux Reservation in South Dakota. The very town where Red Warrior Society Members traveled to after May 21, 2017 for “training”, to “analyze media and videos from current and past social justice actions” and to engage in “related events”.
   4. A training facilitated by the “The People’s Media Project of Chicago”
      1. N:  Alex White Plume personally donated $20 to assist Red Warrior Society members in their travel expenses.

[Source:  GoFundMe Red Warrior Society Fundraiser Campaign posted by Michelle Cothran on, May 21, 2017.  Document was cached and can be found in the attached scanned document].

https://www.democracynow.org/2016/9/12/lakota_activist_debra_white_plume_from

5.  Is married to Alex White Plume who as a Tribal Cop likely worked directly with former GOONs.

6.  Twenty years later, achieved street cred by being raided by the Feds for growing hemp.

7.  Debra was an adult (in her twenties) during the “Reign of Terror” of the 1970s, as the male members of her Tiospaye assisted in killing Traditional Lakota.

CONSIDERATION:  Just as Defreeze was recruited by the CIA & FBI to lead the “SLA” operation BECAUSE he had a history/background as being informer.  The FBI clearly recruited from the Richards Tiospaye (extended family) BECAUSE of their history.  This mixed-blood, pro-Fed Tiospaye had a proven track record of serving as Fed/FBI operatives, informers, possible assassins, perjurers & GOON Squad members.  A reliable pool from which to draw recruits.

 QUESTION:  Given Debra’s Tiospaye associations, and her obviously very important role in the “Red Warrior Society”,  one wonders how she may have influenced the highly counter-productive Direct Actions undertaken by the Red Warriors at very critical times during the NO-DAPL resistance? Direct Actions that actually helped ETP and the Feds win.

ASIDE:  Also, based on:

• The many interviews given by Tara Houska as a Red Warrior
• Winona LaDuke’s expressed support of the Red Warriors
  1. Both are with Honor the Earth
• Debra White Plume’s (Richards) very important role in the Red Warrior Society
• The fact that the Red Warriors have publicly stated that they will not obey local elders of any tribe who seek to “dictate and control” them.

*One begins to wonder if Debra White Plume (Richards), Winona LaDuke and Tara Houska are using the Red Warrior Society as a personal army? An army that obeys their directives only…regardless of the will of recognized Traditional leaders from host communities?

[Source:  New Age Fraud.org comment by WINative June, 22, 2017 regarding Red Warriors.  Document available in scanned document attachment].

FAKE TRADITIONALISM & FALSE MATRIARCHY NARRATIVE

• Debra White Plume (Richards) is one of the biggest purveyors of the narrative that the Lakota are traditionally a Matriarchal culture.
• On June 28, 2007, Arvol Looking Horse (a full-blood and the 19^th Generation Keeper of the profoundly sacred Calf Pipe) wrote a piece that was published in the Dakota/Lakota Journal. He is responding to inappropriate behaviors engaged in by Lakota women during a Treaty Council & Headsmen Meeting which took place on the Rosebud Reservation:

“Our struggles continue today protecting our Sacred Sites. But the women who are my relatives have caused a lot of confusion…Two traditional laws have been broken [by them]. The first law is that our Lakota/Dakota/Nakota Oyate [Nation] is a patriarchal society and the (women) shouldn’t have ever overstepped the traditional headsmen that tabled their resolution in October 26, 2006 and posted it to the public as if it were passed and agreed upon.  The second law, in our tradition is when a woman was with a Non-Indian, they would have no voice within our nation to speak publicly about our traditions, but they could still pray and be among our people.  So this stated in our treaties by our ancestors.  This is what I would like to remind our people of.”

• Who do you believe?
  1. The Full-Blood keeper of the most sacred Lakota object in an unbroken chain for 19 Generations. An object that it is at the center of the Lakota Universe. A man unquestionably raised in ancient Lakota tradition, spirituality, societal law and hidden knowledge.  In a family that never stopped being Traditional, or…
  2. Debra Richards (White Plume)
     1. A woman from a documented mixed-blood extended family who had members serve as pro-Fed, FBI operatives/informants, GOONs & BIA Cops. A clan so brutal that they were called the “Manson family” by real Lakota Traditionals on Pine Ridge in the 1970s.

• Debra Richards (White Plume) along with some of her family, appear to have only begun to portray themselves publicly as Traditionals after the “Reign of Terror” ended. The last & most brutal event potentially being the killing of John Trudell’s family in 1979. (Again, Benny Richards was the local Chief of Police on Duck Valley Reservation when this happened).
• Based on the obituaries of Debra’s sister and mother
  Her mom began to participate at the Maka Luta Sundance Society in 1981.
  1. Received Catholic rites during her funeral and was buried at a Catholic Church.
  2. Her sister couldn’t speak Lakota and was born in Austria because her Dad John Richard was a career Army man.
  3. Like Debra, was given a job by the Oglala Tribal Government (always controlled by pro-Fed Hang-Around-The-Fort families) at Oglala Lakota College in the Accounting Department.
  4. Worked 18 years for the Internal Revenue Service in Rapid City, SD
  5. Based on Alex White Plume’s Wikipedia page, “At that time [1978] he joined the Tribal Police Force as an officer.  White Plume’s interest in socio-political issues developed later in life.”

CONSIDERATION:  In this light one can see how many Lakota view Debra’s claims as being a reliable source regarding Traditional Lakota Ways as somewhat suspect.  In true Lakota culture, women do not play leadership roles either as Chiefs or as leaders of Warrior Societies.  Indeed, women are completely banned from participating in combat so as to protect their “Tah Mni” (aka the DNA in their ovaries) from what the Whites call epi-genetic damage which arises from trauma.

• Debra is not a Band/Clan leader of a matriarchal Lakota society, because the Lakota are Patriarchal, our Band/Clan leaders are men and the Lakota are Patrilineal.  However, Lakota are Matrilocal.  That is men live with their wife’s family and raise their children among them. However, the children are of the father’s Band/Clan.  This is done to decrease the likelihood of what Lakota view to be the worst type of incest…having sex/children with someone patrilineally descended from your father’s Band/Clan.  Again, the Lakota are patrilineal.  That is why the camp at NO-DAPL was named Oceti Sakowin (Seven Council Fires).  It refers to the Seven Brothers that all Lakota/Nakota/Dakota/Nakoda descend from.  These seven men were the sons of one man named Eagle Man.

N:  Traditional Lakota respect the right of other Tribes to be Matriarchal.  They simply ask that that same respect be shown to them as they seek to maintain their ancient ways from interference from Whites and exploitive American Indians.

• Debra cannot be a combat warrior or a leader of an Akicita (Soldier) Society.

1. These societies are ancient, were initially authorized/given to MEN via dreams/visions by the Grandfather Spirits and their members are known to other local Lakota. These Soldiers come from the local Tiospayes of Lakota people. Only men can become real Akicita.
2. To become a member you often have to have proven War Deeds or have shown great courage in sincere defense of the people. You must be inducted in the Traditional manner.
3. A truest Lakota Warrior however, is a man whose hands are painted red. That is, he has taken a human life in combat, painted his hands with the blood of his enemy and sent the spirit of that man through the gate into the Spirit World.
4. Debra was hired as Coordinator/Manager of the Warrior Graduate Studies Program at Oglala Lakota College under Oglala Sioux Tribal Council authority. A council still run by generations old Hang-Around-The-Fort families.

• Debra White Plume (Richards) has become “famous” to non-Lakota by promoting herself to them for around 30 years.  She has done so via the help of Whites and their assimilated American Indian allies.
  1. As Malcom X expresses in this interview, White Liberals create fake minority leaders, then present them to the targeted community as “their” leaders.  The Whites then use these leaders that they have manufactured as means of exploiting/maintaining control over minority communities to achieve White Agendas. Here is the link.

[Note:  I use this interview simply because it’s available on YouTube and the reader/viewer can hear Malcolm in his own words.  I have no idea what the political ideas of the person who posted it may be nor do I endorse that person’s views. The original video I linked too has since been erased. Here is the link to another copy of said interview. Go to minute 17:45 in the video to listen as Malcolm X begins to speak on the matter. FYI, if for some reason this video should also disappear, the date/location of the interview was October 11, 1963 in Berkeley, CA.]

USURPING THE TRADITIONAL HEADSMENS SYSTEM (AKA CHIEF SYSTEM)

An outcome of promoting this false Matriarchal narrative is the undermining of the Traditional Lakota Patriarchal Headsmen/Chief political system.  A system so powerful that these groups/actions were not able to break it.

• Genocide
• Imprisonment in Concentration Camps (Indian Reservations)
• Forced Assimilation via Boarding Schools
• The massive Federal violations of the Fort Laramie Treaty of 1868
• The forced imposition of the IRA (Indian Reorganization Act) western Tribal Council/Chairmanship system over the Lakota
• The GOON paramilitary death squad
• Numerous & violent Federal Agencies (FBI, BIA & US Cavalry)
• Traitorous pro-Fed Hang-Around-The-Fort Families
• Corporations and (yes), the…
• American Indian Movement

Simply put…The ONLY reasons the Lakota are still HERE resisting is because of the power of Lakota Spirituality & the Traditional Patriarchal/Male Chief System known as the “Headsmen” or “Nachan”.

The fraudulent “Matriarchy” narrative is the latest attempt made by Whites (the Feds, Corporations and exploitive White Feminists) to capitalize on the very poor cultural instruction given to many of the younger generations of Lakota by Baby Boomer parents/grandparents.  This generation was the AIM generation.  They drank, drugged, partied, slept around, sired many children that they failed to raise and ushered Lakota communities into an era of near total social collapse because of their extreme violence.

White interests now realize this and see the opportunity to exploit this cultural ignorance for their own agendas.  Which at the core is always about power & money.  Either White feminists appropriating culture for ammo in their war to wrest power from White men or Corporations/Feds seeing the chance to finally bring down the Lakota Chiefs who have repeatedly frustrated their plans.

“To the FBI it perhaps seemed incredible and frustrating that all their effort had not eradicated the traditional Indian movement…The opposition, however, was not to be simply outflanked:  the FBI would employ CIA and international law enforcement connections to engage the Indian movement on the global front.  The multinational corporations whose energy development schemes were at the root of the conflict[s with Indigenous people] were also no strangers to global conflict.” (“Blood of the Land”, Weyler, pg, 210-211)

But there is still hope.  There are a few very old true elders left.  And there are still Lakota (Gen Xers & Millennials) who were trained in the REAL traditional Lakota culture, by the last of the REAL elders.  Elders born before and during the Great Depression who raised their grand-kids, great-grandkids and even great-great grandkids.  I can assure these fraudulent Baby Boomers, that there lies aren’t fooling any of these younger Lakota.

THE NACHAN

Wanted to share some quotes affirming the role of the Male Lakota Chiefs in Lakota society during the 1970s/AIM era. Those Baby Boomer era Lakota who were young people at that time (yet keep claiming that the Lakota don’t operate traditionally on the Patriarchal Headsmen/Chief system) should be ashamed.  The pro-Fed Baby Boomers do this because they fear the power of the Chiefs.  The Baby Boomer AIMsters do it because the Chiefs denounced their many unnecessary acts of violence and allegiances with violent White groups.  The Chiefs checked their behaviors which forced AIM to lose Traditional Lakota support & thereby momentum.  The Nachan (Chiefs) have always been about doing what is best for the Lakota Oyate (Nation)…not what’s best for AIM, the Feds or the Hang-Around-the-Forts.  All of the quotes below come from the book “In the Spirit of Crazy Horse”.

“…Chief Frank Fools Crow placed a wreath upon the ground. “I was the real leader of the group,” the old man said, “although AIM spokesman did most of the talking.” (pg. 283)

“We had our chiefs with us-Frank Fools Crow and Charlie Red Cloud and many others,” says Leonard Peltier.” (pg. 52)

“The Oglala statement was signed…it was endorsed by the eight leading chiefs and medicine men of the Oglala band including Frank Fools Crow, Edgar Red Cloud, and Pete Catches, and was therefore the voice of the Lakota nations that had won the Treaty of 1868.” (pg. 66)

“”…Harry Jumping Bull, who was much respected, was presented with a rifle by Chief Frank Fools Crow, the spokesman for the Lakota Treaty Council.” (pg. 148)

“It was in 1975, Dennis Banks believes, when AIM lost most of it support from the Oglala “because the killing continued, and the people had been through too much…” (pg. 419)

“Among the traditionals who had turned away from AIM was Chief Franck Fools Crow…Fools Crow told his biographer in 1976.  ‘The traditionalists do not like violent tactics, so we do not support AIM anymore.’” (pg. 420)

“THE CONSEQUENCES”:  EXPLOITATION OF LAKOTA SPIRITUALITY & LAKOTA PEOPLE

In closing, I wanted to share the following to hopefully wake some folks up.

In Lakota way, Lakota elders and the Tunkashilas (Grandfather Spirits) teach that those who abuse and exploit Lakota Spirituality and Lakota Tradition (thus harming the Oyate)…will eventually suffer “the Consequences”.

“The Consequences” are basically a spanking from the Spirits themselves.  But their spankings are something you never want to experience.  The Grandfather Spirits are tolerant, forgiving and patient.  When they first come to you, they come to you as Kings, with great compassion.  But if you don’t open your ears and listen to them when they warn you to cease certain behaviors…you can turn them around.  Once you turn them around, as the Spirits themselves say, “All a two-legged [a human being] can do is cry.”

So, once they tell you to stop lying about Lakota ways, pretending to be Holy Men (aka Medicine Men) are whatever else they want you to stop…but you keep doing it…THE CONSEQUENCES ALWAYS COME.

The Grandfather Spirits will give you time to adjust your behavior.  Once they decide to act, they will often first send a warning.  Such incidents are usually the complete destruction of the offender’s home via a house fire or some other means.  The Grandfather Spirits themselves execute this warning themselves.  No one usually dies during this initial warning.  Its meant to shock the offender awake so they will pray, make amends and stop what they are doing wrong.

If that doesn’t work, then the Grandfather Spirits begin to “Hollow Out” the offender.  They begin to orchestrate the death of close family members of the offender, usually in fairly rapid succession.  This death can be via car accidents, murder, cancer etc.  Usually the victims are not in the 4^th Stage of Life (Old Age) and were deeply loved by the offender.

Though it is possible to petition Wakan Tanka (God) and the Grandfather Spirits to have mercy, once it gets to this point its pretty difficult to persuade them to stop.  This type of punishment is worse than death.  You are left “hollowed out” and alone.  After losing so many loved ones, you start to become empty and hopeless from too much mourning.  And what’s worse is that you know that you were responsible.  Once in that state, the Grandfather Spirits will let you linger there for a time as a punishment.  Then they will eventually come and get you (aka take your life).   Also, if it is best for the people, sometimes they will just take the offender outright.  To prevent them from hurting any more people.  This usually happens after the offender has already lost loved ones as a punishment, been warned…yet refuses to stop. Basically, acting like a socio-path who doesn’t care how their actions are harming others.

Out of compassion, I won’t list the various “leaders” &/or their close relatives who have died since the end of the Standing Rock NO-DAPL resistance in February 2017.  These offenders (responsible for this cycle of death having been put in motion) were all directly involved in the afore mentioned “Red Warrior” behaviors during NO-DAPL.  Indeed, some of the deaths in these families began years ago…because certain people refused to stop misrepresenting/exploiting the Lakota people and Lakota spirituality.  I hope if they read this, that they do pray for themselves.  But I warn them, that if they are shown mercy, they CAN’T return to their former practices.  The Consequences will simply start up all over again.  And I encourage them to not try to hit me with Bad Medicine.  All good and evil you do comes back to you.  The Grandfather Spirits have said this. If you harm me, then the Grandfather Spirits will one day take someone you cherish deeply.

Sources:

“In the Spirit of Crazy Horse”, by Peter Matthiessen. 1991, edition.

“Blood of the Land:  The US Government & Corporate War Against the American Indian”, by Rex Weyler, 1984.

“Death Squads in the U.S.:  Confessions of a Government Terrorist” (Article), by Ward Churchill, Published in Z Magazine, May, 1991.

Other Sources noted at end of citation.  Copies of some can be found in the attached scan document file.

Copies of scanned documents which have been attached can be viewed by clicking the link below.

Scanned Documents

RICHARDS TIOSPAYE MEMBERS RESPOND:

Here is an important overview/assessment of a series of comments I have received from members of the Richards Tiospaye that they have asked to be posted. All of these comments are shared in their entirety in the comment section of this piece.  I would like to state that Lawrence Swallow’s comment is packed with what I know to be fraudulent Traditional Lakota nonsense that mostly members of the Richards/White Plume Tiospayes and their allies promote.  It would take me quite a bit of time to unravel his phoney traditionalism and this blog piece is not about doing that. However, let me state that it is the absolutely the responsibility of Lakota Akicita to expose exploiters of the Lakota Oyate.  Based on Lawrence’s fake Traditional smoke screen, he would audaciously tell us that we can never challenge his relative Debra White Plume (Richards)…even though she 1) regularly lies about Lakota culture, 2) publicly disrespected the will of Traditional Lakota elders from Standing Rock/Cheyenne River and 3) profoundly harmed the Lakota of Standing Rock/Cheyenne River as a result.

The first two comments are from the grandson of Charles (Chuck) Richards whose documented deeds were discussed at great length above.  Here they are:

Tristan Jon Richard (comments forwarded on July 24 & July 25, 2018)

“First off my grandpa Chuck did work for both AIM and Goon. AIM MEMBERS AREN’T SAINTS”

“If this was true, than why did the FBI spend 30 years trying to scare people into snitching on My grandpa’s Sister chop? If we were working with them than why did my uncle spend 10 years in feds for a crime he didn’t commit? It’s because your lieing.”

I’m not sure what crime regarding his uncle that Tristan is referring too. Nor do I know anything about the supposed “snitch jacketing” of this great-aunt he calls “Chop”.  What I do know is this…his grandfather Chuck Richards served time for assaulting “Oglala Police” Officer Pat Mills.  During this altercation, Richards held a shotgun to Mills head for which he received a three year sentence.  The question arises why would Chuck serve time for this incident when he was getting away with everything else…including his participation in the murder of Byron DeSersa?  The answer…this crime was against a cop and not against an AIM supporter or Traditional Lakota.

Chuck Richards was not a BIA Cop, he was a GOON Squad member.  Federal Law identifies all BIA & Tribal Cops as Federal Agents.  Pat Mills was a police officer of some sort (Matthiessen simply identifies Mills as being in the “Oglala Police”).  Those who attack such tribal law enforcement personnel are charged in a similar fashion as if they had assaulted a US Marshal or FBI Agent.  This just shows how completely out of control and violent Chuck Richards really was. However, once in prison, we are told by both Weyler & Matthiessen that Chuck Richards was recruited by the Feds to assassinate Leonard Peltier.

What is interesting however is Tristan’s admission that his grandfather Charles Richards was both a GOON and (as he claims) was at some point in AIM. Thus potentially serving as a double agent of sorts.  Was he directed to infiltrate AIM by the FBI?  Why would Chuck Richards all of sudden assist AIM?  If it’s true, why on earth would AIM ever have anything to do with Chuck?  Again, as noted by Matthiessen and Weyler,..Chuck Richards was recruited by the Feds to assassinate Leonard Peltier.  Richards was also the son-in-law of Dick Wilson.  We are told from various sources that he was involved in killing/harming AIM supporters.  These two groups (GOONs & AIM) were actively killing each others’ comrades.  Tristan Richards statements do generate some very interesting questions.

Indeed, Tristan’s statements substantiate other questions people have posed regarding members of the Richard’s Tiospaye serving as infiltrators and Agent Provocateurs for the FBI.   Debra White Plume (Richards) is a member of this Tiospaye, was in AIM during the “Reign of Terror” and her father (John Richard) is alleged to have been a leader of the GOONs by a former AIM leader. As we have seen a John Richards was identified as a GOON who attacked Hobart Keith in April 1973 for seeking to impeach OST Chairman Dick Wilson.  Who just happened to be the founder of the GOONs and the father-in-law of Chuck Richards.  This also makes Dick Wilson, likely Tristan Richards great-grandpa.  Infact, it has been repeatedly verified that quite a few members of Debra White Plume’s (Richards) Tiospaye were FBI infiltrators/operatives, GOONS and BIA Cops during this period.

[Source:  Pamphlet:  Victims of Progress, Early Fall 1977, pg. 8-9 (see Scanned Documents link above.)]

Yet, as noted, Richards Tiospaye members would have you believe that asking any questions about Debra White Plume (Richards) is simply slander.  How dare we question a family of documented Federal operatives/GOONs, Debra herself and/or:

1. Her role within the Red Warriors
2. How her influence over them affected their highly counterproductive & violent actions during NO-DAPL/Standing Rock
   1. Actions taken at critical times that conveniently legitimized the ETP/Fed narrative that we were violent militants and thus the camps needed to be closed down.
   2. Actions denounced by the real traditional Lakota of Standing Rock/Cheyenne River.

That aside, his contention that his grandfather and members of the Richards Tiospaye weren’t operatives for the Feds is clearly contradicted by the highly professional investigative research of both Matthiesen and Weyler in their books “In the Spirit of Crazy Horse”, and “Blood on the Land”.  A “…goon clan so unusually brutal that it was known to the Traditionals as ‘the Manson Family’.’ (“In the Spirit of Crazy Horse” Matthiessen, pg 381).  I stress again, this is Debra White Plume’s (Richards) Tiospaye.  Also, Tristan’s dislike for 70s era AIM activists seems to be on full display.  Did he learn this dislike from his grandfather?  If so, it reveals the strong trans-generational transmission of pro-Fed and GOON Squad loyalty down Hang-Around-The-Fort family lines.

The next comment comes from Lawrence Swallow.  In it he admits that is a member of the Richards Tiospaye and appears to confirm that he is aware of the crimes of his Tiospaye.  In the following assessment, I have edited out some parts which lack direct relevancy to the discussion at hand.  However, I have posted his entire comment in the comment section.

Lawrence Swallow (comment forwarded on July 12, 2018)

“Interesting piece of garbage…I have been on both Pine Ridge and Rosebud reservation’s all my life…According to the 1868 Treaty, anytime there is an Indian on Indian argument, the Feds are to step in and act as mediators only. In the early 70’s, not only did they mediate, they also took a side as you stated. They took one side, armed them, then turned their backs and let them kill each other in a civil war…All due to Patriarchal mentality and making excuses…Your article is insulting…As a Rich’ard, I am aware of what my recent ancestors have done and as a Lakota, I have spent the past 20+ years trying to make right what my grandfather’s have done as Patriarchs and non Indian’s intermixed with our people. At least I am trying to find a healing for my people. What you are doing is uncalled for and highly disrespectful…”

As has already been noted, the Traditional credibility of the Richards Tiospaye is highly suspect.  What is interesting in this comment however is that he:

1. Admits that he is a member of the Richards Tiospaye
2. Acknowledges their recent crimes by stating “I am aware of what my recent ancestors have done…”
3. And that he doesn’t like our Patriarchal Headsmen and Nachan.
   1. NOTE:  There are dialect differences between bands of Lakota.  Some bands pronounce “NACA” as “NACHAN” with a slight nasal “N” at the end.  As you can tell I haven’t studied from some book but have learned the word from actually hearing it regularly spoken.  Again, this shows the ignorance of Richards Tiospaye members regarding Traditional Lakota culture.