After 25 Years, Russell Means Is Still Fighting

Russell Means strode into the Alexis Hotel looking every bit the American Indian leader he envisions himself to be.

He held his head high. Long leather hair wraps filled with silver snaps dangled from his thinning hair. An Indian necklace that identifies the wearer as a male leader hung from his neck.

Even from a distance you can see the lines of history that crease his face, marks from years of battle that have included armed resistance against the U.S. government at Wounded Knee, occupation of a federal building in Washington, D.C., to protest the Bureau of Indian Affairs and the taming of his own rage.

He came to Seattle yesterday to do a reading of his 554-page autobiography, "Where White Men Fear to Tread" (St. Martins Press, $26.95). The author also has turned actor, starring in "The Last of the Mohicans," "Pocahontas" and "Natural Born Killers."

Few American Indian activists have commanded the attention that Means has drawn to himself during the past 25 years. Born 56 years ago on the Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota, he grew up off the reservation. But he took on the Indian cause with a vengeance when he became part of the American Indian Movement (AIM) and its controversial activities in the 1970s.

Means believes the U.S. government has been and still is engaged in a genocidal war against the American Indians.

"I don't throw this term around loosely. I'm defining genocide as defined by the treaty of genocide signed by President Reagan," Means said.

Genocide by that definition, he said, involves relocation and extermination; denial of religious freedom; denial of constitutional rights; and starvation. In his book, Means writes that U.S. policy keeps Indians poor, forcing them to buy starchy foods that build a sugar dependency, which leads them to seek out alcohol, which decimates the population.

Means believes that the U.S. has successfully practiced its genocidal policies first on the American Indian, then exported it to other countries and brought it back here to use it as a way to control its own general population. He pointed to the problems in policies affecting farms, education, health and economics as examples.

When asked what the U.S. government, or its citizens, could do to improve relationships between the two groups, his tall, trim frame suddenly stiffened.

"Leave us alone!" Russell Means snapped loudly. "Leave us alone culturally, economically, politically. Respect our sovereignty. We respect yours."

Although Means sees himself as a spokesman and leader in the American Indian community, not all American Indians share that view.

Sherman Alexie, a Spokane Indian and author of "Reservation Blues," noted that Means is not universally loved in the Indian world. He remembers AIM as people who came on his reservation, beat people up and left."He's a very American political figure because he's very extreme," Alexie said. "He's not a spokesman for American Indians. He's playing to a white audience."

Hank Adams, of Olympia, described by Means as one of the most brilliant American Indian leaders, said he thinks Means' book is one of the better ones about American Indians. But he also sees Means as the perfect media creation. He said if he had to describe what Means has done of significance, he'd respond as Eisenhower did about Richard Nixon: Give me a week and I'll come up with something.

Janet McCloud, an American Indian in Yelm, concedes that Means has been both a volatile and controversial figure. She also thinks he tends to blow his own horn. "I don't always agree with him but I respect him."