Eddie Benton-Banai, co-founder of American Indian Movement, dies age 89
Eddie Benton-Banai, a co-founder of the American Indian Movement that fought for indigenous rights and pushed back against alleged police brutality, has died. He was 89. Benton-Banai died Monday at the care center in Hayward, Wis., that he had been staying for months, family friend Dorene Day told The Associated Press. He had several health issues and had been hospitalized numerous times in recent years, she said. The Anishinaabe Ojibwe spiritual leader and activist was born and raised on the Lac Courte Oreilles reservation in northern Wisconsin. He made a life of connecting American Indians with their spirituality and promoting sovereignty, and was the grand chief — spiritual leader — of the Three Fires Midewiwin Lodge. People sought his guidance in the religious practices of the Anishinaabe Ojibwe people, Day told the AP, and he gave countless babies their traditional names. Indigenous Peoples on both sides of the U.S.-Canada border paid tribute. “Today we mourn the passing of a great knowledge keeper and spiritual leader, Dr. Eddie Benton-Banai, Bawdwaywidun from Lac Court Orielles Band of Ojibways in Wisconsin and a relative from the Fish Clan,” Garden River First Nation Chief Andy Rickard said in a statement from the band’s headquarters in Ontario, Canada. “Eddie was a leader in the early days in advancing Anishinaabe-controlled education and cultural-based education based on Anishinaabe philosophy and our sacred prophesies.” Benton-Banai’s work spanned generations as he served as father figure, sovereignty guardian and educator. His 2010 “The Mishomis Book: The Voice of the Ojibway” documented Ojibway history, traditions and culture of oral histories passed down through generations, preserving traditional knowledge for future generations. He also founded a school, the Red School House, in St. Paul, Minn., in 1972, reported SooToday.com, a local news website in Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario. It along with a sister school in Minneapolis educated indigenous children within the context of maintaining their spiritual and cultural practices. Benton-Banai’s activism was key in starting American Indian Movement, whose roots lay in a cultural program that he and co-founder Clyde Bellecourt launched while in jail in Minnesota, the latter recounted to AP. Bellecourt recalled hearing Benton-Banai whistling “You Are My Sunshine,” then peering through a tiny hole in his cell wall to find his fellow inmate. They started teaching fellow American Indians about their history and encouraging them to pursue a profession or trade, then took that work to the outside when they left prison. That evolved into AIM, AP said. “It started because I met Eddie in jail,” Bellecourt said. “Our whole Indian way of life came back because of him. … My whole life just changed. I started reading books about history of the Ojibwe nation… dreaming about how beautiful it must have been at one time in our history.” The activism of better-known Russell Means, Dennis
