Ray Robinson (activist)
Ray Robinson | |
---|---|
Born | Perry Ray Robinson September 12, 1937[1] |
Disappeared | Approx. April 25, 1973 (aged 35)
[3] Pine Ridge Indian Reservation, South Dakota, U.S. |
Status | Missing for 51 years and 2 days |
Occupation | Civil rights activist |
Spouse | Cheryl Buswell-Robinson |
Children | 3 |
Perry Ray Robinson (12 September 1937 – c. 25 April 1973) was an
Robinson's family never saw him again; his wife believed he was killed at the reservation, and struggled to get his disappearance investigated. In 2014, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) confirmed that Robinson had been killed and buried on the reservation in April 1973; it released redacted documents to the Robinson family under a Freedom of Information Act suit, including redacted interviews with cooperating witnesses. Robinson was allegedly killed by AIM members during a confrontation. Robinson's remains have not been found. The FBI said it had closed his case.[4][5]
Early life
Ray Robinson was born on September 12, 1937, in Bogue Chitto, Alabama.[2] He attended local segregated schools. Strong and athletic, Robinson became a prizefighter.[6]
Activism
After leaving boxing, Robinson became a civil rights activist and follower of
Robinson was affiliated with
In the late 1960s, Robinson supported the Vietnam Veterans Against the War (VVAW), organized in 1967. While participating in a 1966 anti-war rally in Madison, Wisconsin, he met Cheryl Buswell; they later married.[8] She had been raised in a Republican household, but dropped out of college to become politically active.[7] Buswell returned with Robinson to Alabama, where they worked in grassroots movements for education and nutrition. They lived in Selma, Alabama, and had three children together from 1967 to 1972.[7]
During a 1973 meeting of VVAW, Robinson learned of the
Disappearance
Cheryl Robinson never saw her husband again, and filed a
In 2011, Buffalo-based attorney Michael Kuzma filed a Freedom of Information Act request with the FBI for records concerning Robinson's disappearance. In 2013, Kuzma filed a lawsuit in the United States District Court for the Western District of New York to gain full access to documents about the case.
Conflicting accounts
Dennis Banks, then a top leader within AIM, said that he had no knowledge of Ray Robinson. He stated that he had never met Robinson and learned of his being at Wounded Knee only through inquiries by his family members. "Over the years, the Robinson name has popped up and I'm not sure even who would have that information or where it was. That's a complete blank to me."[1]
In 2001,
Over time, other rumors and information surfaced. At a time of high suspicion of outsiders, many in AIM were said to have believed that Robinson had been an FBI informant.[14] Publisher Paul DeMain reported that a former AIM member described Robinson to him as a "loud mouthed nigger, who refused to pick up a gun during a firefight," making him suspect.[8][15]
In 2011, AIM leader Carter Camp told Robinson's daughters that the Guardians of the Oglala Nation, commonly known on the reservation as GOONs, killed their father. They had previously been established by a reservation leader who was opposed by many activists.[14][16] Activist John Trimbach criticized this account for distorting the history of the Wounded Knee incident and failing to provide substantive evidence of the allegations.[17]
In 2013 Robinson's daughter, Tamara Kamara, worked with attorney Michael Kuzma in Buffalo, New York, where she lived, to file a Freedom of Information suit against the FBI and government to force the release of relevant documents. Her mother and remaining family were then living in Detroit, Michigan.
FBI documents released in 2014
On 11 March 2014, the FBI released documents to Kuzma confirming the death of a black civil rights activist during the 1973 AIM occupation of Wounded Knee.[2] A memorandum from the FBI dated 21 May 1973 reported that an Indian woman who had left the village said there were 200 Indians, eleven whites and two blacks in the occupation. Robinson was reported as having been accompanied to the siege by a black woman. She returned to her hometown, but he disappeared.[18] Kuzma said FBI files included statements that "Robinson had been tortured and murdered within the AIM occupation perimeter, and then his remains were buried 'in the hills.'"[19]
One witness interviewed by FBI agents said that Robinson had been in Wounded Knee for approximately a week before his death. During this time, the witness said that Robinson had trouble adapting to the harsh conditions and discipline imposed under the siege.[5] These conditions included a shortage of food, constant surveillance, regular shootings as the occupation was "under fire," and the unilateral AIM command.[20]
The witness reported that Robinson tried to discuss strategies, but no one listened or gave him any serious consideration. After he got into a heated exchange with another activist, he was escorted to a house by a security team.[4] There, Robinson grabbed a butcher knife from a table and the team gathered around him. The witness said, "The next thing, I heard a loud bang and saw Mr. Robinson's lower leg spin from the knee and rotate outward as he started to fall forward. His eyes rolled up as he went down."[5] The security team is alleged to have consisted of, among other members, Banks, Camp, Leonard Crow Dog, Frank Blackhorse, Stan Holder, Harry David Hill, and Clyde Bellecourt. According to Bernie Lafferty, a witness who confirmed Robinson's presence on the reservation during the Wounded Knee incident, several AIM members openly discussed the murder of a black man whom they had buried on the hillside. These members included Banks, Camp, Holder, Hill, and Russell Means.[13]
Robinson had adopted a non-violent philosophy in his civil rights work. This position put him at odds with AIM, which conducted armed resistance to the federal government. This likely added to existing suspicions of him as an outsider to the Indian movement. The Pine Ridge Reservation had already been disrupted because of severe internal political conflict over the leadership of Richard Wilson.[8][19]
Years later, AIM member Richard Two Elk described Robinson's behavior: "He would eat what little food we had. There was no food so everyone was trying not to eat and this guy was eating freely all the time."[7] AIM members resented his actions. Cheryl Buswell-Robinson said of her husband, "Ray did not respond well to that authoritative direction."[19] Two Elk said that Robinson was the aggressor at the time he was shot. "I think it was just a reaction. He jumped up and he had a knife and started moving and someone reacted. It happened in a couple of seconds. I think it was someone's gut level reaction in the middle of a firefight."[7] Two Elk also said, "One of the things that was quite apparent was the conflict and the clash of the two concepts of social rights-civil rights and Indian rights. Indian rights are in a whole different context. They (blacks) were coming from rights within the system and Indian rights was about sovereignty and independent nations."[7]
Another account said that Robinson was shot in the knee after the security team entered the bunker. He was dragged outside, beaten and taken to the Wounded Knee Medical Clinic. This was run by
The late Vernon Bellecourt, older brother of Clyde and leader of an AIM chapter, was said to have known of Robinson's murder during the occupation. He reportedly said at one time that AIM had "really managed to keep a tight lid on that one over the years."[4]
Legacy
Robinson is survived by his widow, Cheryl Buswell-Robinson,[22] and their three children, daughters Desiree Mark and Tamara Kamara, and son J. Marc Robinson.[7]
Representation in other media
The 2009
Author Barbara Nixon wrote a book about the events of Wounded Knee, entitled Mi' Taku'Ye-Oyasin: Letters from Wounded Knee (2014). Mi' Taku'Ye-Oyasin is a phrase in Lakota that means "All My Relations," referring to the concept of interconnectedness among the people.[24] It included several letters related to Robinson.[25]
See also
- Lists of people who disappeared
- Resurrection City
- Vietnam Veterans Against the War
References
- ^ a b c "Black Man Goes To Fight For American Indians 40 Yrs Ago, Then Disappears". NewsOne. 27 April 2012. Retrieved 22 Aug 2014.
- ^ a b c "FBI confirms Black activist was killed in Wounded Knee 1973". Indian Country News. 11 March 2014. Retrieved 22 Aug 2014.
- ^ a b "Annie Mae Timeline I - Wounded Knee". Indian Country News. 16 December 2007. Retrieved 22 Aug 2014.
- ^ a b c Lammers, Dirk (19 February 2014). "FBI suspects militant Native Americans killed black civil rights activist in 1973". The Guardian. Retrieved 22 August 2014.
- ^ a b c "FBI confirms civil rights activist was killed in 1973 Wounded Knee protest". NYPost. 19 February 2014. Retrieved 22 August 2014.
- ^ a b Walker, Carson (22 November 2012). "A follower of Martin Luther King Jr. might be buried at Wounded Knee". Indian Country News. Retrieved 22 August 2014.
- ^ a b c d e f g Walker, Carson (16 January 2004). "Slain Activist Had Roots In Civil Rights Movement". JFAMR, first printed in Indian Country News. Retrieved 22 August 2014.
- ^ a b c d e Hulett, Sarah (10 March 2014). "Detroit family inches toward answers in mystery of civil rights activist's disappearance". Michigan Radio. Retrieved 22 August 2014.
- ^ "Our Story, Our Success Wičhóoyake na Wóokihi Uŋkítȟawapi Kiŋ". Red Cloud Indian School. Retrieved 22 August 2014.
- ^ "Ray Robinson: Whatever happened to the civil rights activist at Wounded Knee?". Missing Persons of America. 15 July 2014. Retrieved 22 August 2014.
- ^ Lammers, Dirk (20 February 2014). "FBI confirms activist Ray Robinson was killed in South Dakota in 1973". The Grio. Retrieved 22 August 2014.
- ^ a b Konigsberg, Erik (25 April 2014). "Who Killed Anna Mae?". The New York Times. Retrieved 22 August 2014.
- ^ a b "Bernie Lafferty speaks about Ray Robinson's killing inside Wounded Knee 1973". Indian Country News. 17 July 2007. Retrieved 22 August 2014.
- ^ a b Magnuson, Stew (20 April 2011). "Stew Magnuson: The 1973 disappearance of Ray Robinson". Indianz. Retrieved 22 August 2014.
- ^ "Perry Ray Robinson Jr. & Other AIM Victims", Oneida Eye, 29 September 2013, retrieved 22 August 2014
- ^ Magnuson, Stew (20 April 2011). "It's Time for a Vigorous Investigation into Ray Robinson's Mysterious Disappearance". Stew Magnunson. Retrieved 22 August 2014.
- ^ Trimbach, John (27 May 2013). "John Trimbach: Even more distortions of Wounded Knee '73". Indianz. Retrieved 22 August 2014.
- ^ "Widow of civil rights activist wants him home". Commercial Appeal. 27 April 2012. Retrieved 22 August 2014.
- ^ a b c "FBI confirms black activist was killed during 1973 occupation of Wounded Knee". CBS. 20 February 2014. Retrieved 22 August 2014.
- ^ "FBI confirms activist was killed in South Dakota in 1973". Rapid City Journal. 19 February 2014. Retrieved 22 August 2014.
- ^ Lammers, Dirk. "American Indian Movement & Wounded Knee". First Thoughts. Retrieved 22 August 2014.
- ^ Lammers, Dirk (27 April 2012). "Widow Of Civil Rights Activist Ray Robinson Wants Him Home". Huffington Post. Retrieved 22 August 2014.
- ^ Michael Getler (20 May 2009). "Burying Some Questions at Wounded Knee". PBS Ombudsman. Retrieved 22 August 2014.
- ^ "Mitakuye Oyasin". Retrieved 22 August 2014.
- ISBN 9781465353894. Retrieved 22 August 2014.
External links
- "Justice for Perry Ray Robinson, Jr.", Facebook
- "Perry Ray Robinson, Jr. Report", July 2013, Missing Persons of America