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Sioux language test of Wikipedia at Wikimedia Incubator

Sioux is a Siouan language spoken by over 33,000 Sioux in the United States and Canada, making it the fifth most spoken indigenous language in the United States or Canada, behind Navajo, Cree, Inuit and Ojibwe.^[1][2]

Regional variation[link]

Sioux has three major regional varieties, with various sub-varieties:

1. Lakota (AKA Lakȟóta, Teton, Teton Sioux)
2. Western Dakota (AKA Yankton-Yanktonai or Dakȟóta, and erroneously classified, for a very long time, as “Nakota”^[3])
   • Yankton (Iháŋktȟuŋwaŋ)
   • Yanktonai (Iháŋktȟuŋwaŋna)
3. Eastern Dakota (AKA Santee-Sisseton or Dakhóta)
   • Santee (Isáŋyáthi: Bdewákhathuŋwaŋ, Waȟpékhute)
   • Sisseton (Sisíthuŋwaŋ, Waȟpéthuŋwaŋ)

Yankton-Yanktonai (Western Dakota) stands between Santee-Sisseton (Eastern Dakota) and Lakota within the dialect continuum. It is phonetically closer to Santee-Sisseton but lexically and grammatically it is much closer to Lakota. For this reason Lakota and Western Dakota are much more mutually intelligible than they are with Eastern Dakota. The assumed extent of mutual intelligibility is usually overestimated by speakers of the language. While Lakota and Yankton-Yanktonai speakers understand each other to a great extent, they each find it difficult to follow Santee-Sisseton speakers.

Distantly related to the Sioux language are the Assiniboine and Stoney languages, whose speakers use the self-designation term Nakhóta or Nakhóda. Speakers of Lakota and Dakota do not understand either of the two Nakoda languages (Assiniboine and Stoney).^[4]

Comparison of Sioux and Nakota dialects[link]

Phonetic differences[link]

The following table shows some of the main phonetic differences between the regional varieties of the Sioux language. The table also provides comparison with the two closely related Nakota languages (Assiniboine and Stoney). They are not considered part of the Siouan nation (neither by the Sioux nor by themselves.)^{[dubious – discuss]} These languages (particularly Stoney) are not considered to be mutually intelligible with the Sioux language.^[4][5]

Lexical differences[link]

There are also numerous lexical differences among the Sioux dialects as well as between the sub-dialects. Yankton-Yanktonai is in fact lexically closer to the Lakota language than it is to Santee-Sisseton. The following table gives some examples:^[4]

Writing systems[link]

Life for the Dakota changed significantly in the 1800s as the early years brought increased contact with white settlers, particularly Christian missionaries. The goal of the missionaries was to introduce the Dakota to Christian beliefs. To achieve this, the missions began to transcribe the Dakota language. In 1836, brothers Samuel and Gideon Pond, Rev. Stephen Return Riggs, and Dr. Thomas Williamson set out to begin translating hymns and Bible stories into Dakota. By 1852, Riggs and Williamson had completed a Dakota Grammar and Dictionary (Saskatchewan Indian Cultural Center). Eventually, the entire Bible had been translated.

Today, it is possible to find a variety of texts in Dakota. Traditional stories have been translated, children’s books, even games such as Pictionary and Scrabble. Despite such progress, written Dakota is not without its difficulties. The Pond brothers, Rev. Riggs, and Dr. Williamson were not the only missionaries documenting the Dakota language. Around the same time, missionaries in other Dakota bands were developing their own versions of the written language. Since the 1900s, professional linguists have been creating their own versions of the orthography. The Dakota have also been making modifications. “Having so many different writing systems is causing confusion, conflict between our [the Dakota] people, causing inconstancy in what is being taught to students, and making the sharing of instructional and other materials very difficult” (SICC).

Prior to the white man’s way of writing, the Dakota did have a writing system of their own: one of representational pictographs. In pictographic writing, a drawing represents exactly what it means. For example, a drawing of a dog literally meant a dog. Palmer writes that,

“As a written language, it [pictographs] was practical enough that it allowed the Lakota to keep a record of years in their winter counts which can still be understood today, and it was in such common usage that pictographs were recognized and accepted by census officials in the 1880s, who would receive boards or hides adorned with the head of the household’s name depicted graphically” (pg. 34).

For the missionaries however, documenting the Bible through pictographs was impractical and presented significant challenges.

¹ Saskatchewan uses c̀ for White Hat's ċ

² Saskatchewan uses s̀ for White Hat's ṡ

Structure[link]

Sound system[link]

See Lakota sound system and Dakota sound system.

Morphology[link]

Dakota is an agglutinating language. It features suffixes, prefixes, and infixes. Each affix has a specific rule in Dakota. For example, the suffix –pi is added to the verb to mark the plurality of an animate subject (Shaw, pg. 10). “With respect to number agreement for objects, only animate objects are marked, and these by the verbal prefix wicha-“(Shaw, pg. 11). Also, there is no gender agreement in Dakota.

Example of the use of –pi:

• 1. ma-khata ‘I am hot’ (I-hot)
• khata-pi ‘they are hot’ (0-hot-pl.)

Example of the use of wicha-

• 1. wa-kte ‘I kill him’ (0-I-kill)
• wicha-wa-kte ‘I kill them’ (them-I-kill)

(Shaw, pg. 12) Infixes are rare in Dakota, but do exist when a statement features predicates requiring two “patients.”

Example of infixing:

• 1. iye-checa ‘to resemble’
• iye-ni-ma-checa ‘I resemble you’
• ‘you resemble me’
• 2. iskola ‘be as small as’
• i-ni-ma-skola ‘I am as small as you’
• ‘you are as small as I’

Syntax[link]

Dakota has subject/object/ verb (SOV) word order. Along the same line, the language also has postpositions. Examples of word order:

• 1. wichasta-g wax aksica-g kte
• (man-DET bear-DET kill)
• ‘the man killed the bear’
• 2. wax aksicas-g wichasta-g kte
• (bear-DET man-DET kill)
• ‘the bear killed the man’

(Shaw, pg. 10)

According to Shaw, word order exemplifies grammatical relations.

In Dakota, the verb is the most important part of the sentence. There are many verb forms in Dakota, although they are “dichotomized into a stative-active classification, with the active verbs being further subcategorized as transitive or intransitive” (Shaw, pg. 11). Some examples of this are:

• 1. stative:
• ma-khata ‘I am hot’ (I-hot)
• ni-khata ‘you are hot’ (you-hot)
• khata ‘he/she/it is hot’ (0-hot)
• u-khata ‘we (you and I) are hot’ (we-hot)
• u-khata-pi ‘we (excl. or pl) are hot’ (we-hot-pl.)
• ni-khata-pi ‘you (pl.) are hot’ (you-hot-pl.)
• khata-pi ‘they are hot’ (0-hot-pl.)

• 2. active intransitive
• wa-hi ‘I arrive (coming)’ (I-arrive)
• ya-hi ‘you arrive’ (you-arrive)
• hi ‘he arrives’
• u-hi ‘we (you and I) arrive’
• u-hi-pi ‘we (excl. or pl.) arrive’
• ya-hi-pi ‘you (pl.) arrive’
• hi-pi ‘they arrive’

• 3. active transitive
• wa-kte ‘I kill him’ (0-I-kill)
• wicha-wa-kte ‘I kill them’ (them-I-kill)
• chi-kte ‘I kill you’ (I-you (portmanteau)- kill)
• ya-kte ‘you kill him’ (0-you-kill)
• wicha-ya-kte ‘you kill them’ (them- you-kill)
• wicha-ya-kte-pi ‘you (pl.) kill them’
• ma-ya-kte ‘you kill me’ (me-you-kill)
• u-ya-kte-pi ‘you kill us’ (we-you-kill-pl.)
• ma-ktea ‘he kills me’ (0-me-kill-pl.)
• ni-kte-pi ‘they kill you’ (0-you-kill-pl.)
• u-ni-kte-pi ‘we kill you’ (we-you-kill-pl.)
• wicha-u-kte ‘we (you and I) kill them’ (them-we-kill)

(Shaw, pgs. 11-12)

The phonology, morphology, and syntax of Dakota are very complex. There are a number of broad rules that become more and more specific as they are more closely examined. The components of the language become somewhat confusing and more difficult to study as more sources are examined, as each scholar has a somewhat different opinion on the basic characteristics of the language.

Notes[link]

Bibliography[link]

• DeMallie, Raymond J. (2001). Sioux until 1850. In R. J. DeMallie (Ed.), Handbook of North American Indians: Plains (Vol. 13, Part 2, pp. 718–760). W. C. Sturtevant (Gen. Ed.). Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institution. ISBN 0-16-050400-7.
• Parks, Douglas R.; & Rankin, Robert L. (2001). The Siouan languages. In Handbook of North American Indians: Plains (Vol. 13, Part 1, pp. 94–114). Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institution.
• de Reuse, Willem J. (1987). One hundred years of Lakota linguistics (1887–1987). Kansas Working Papers in Linguistics, 12, 13-42. (Online version: https://kuscholarworks.ku.edu/dspace/handle/1808/509).
• de Reuse, Willem J. (1990). A supplementary bibliography of Lakota languages and linguistics (1887–1990). Kansas Working Papers in Linguistics, 15 (2), 146-165. (Studies in Native American languages 6). (Online version: https://kuscholarworks.ku.edu/dspace/handle/1808/441).

• Rood, David S.; & Taylor, Allan R. (1996). Sketch of Lakhota, a Siouan language. In Handbook of North American Indians: Languages (Vol. 17, pp. 440–482). Washington DC: Smithsonian Institution.

• Eastman, M. H. (1995). Dahcotah or, life and legends of the Sioux around Fort Snelling. Afton: Afton Historical Society Press.

• Gordon, Raymond G., Jr. (ed.), 2005. Ethnologue: Languages of the World, Fifteenth edition. Dallas, Tex.: SIL International. Online version: [1]

• Howard, J. H. (1966). Anthropological papers number 2: the Dakota or Sioux Indians: a study in human ecology. Vermillion: Dakota Museum.

• Hunhoff, B. (2005, November 30). It’s safely recorded in a book at last. South Dakota Magazine: Editor’s Notebook. Retrieved November 30, 2008, from [2]

• McCrady, D.G. (2006). Living with strangers: the ninetheenth-century Sioux and the Canadian-American borderlands. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press.

• Palmer, J.D. (2008). The Dakota peoples: a history of the Dakota, Lakota, and Nakota through 1863. Jefferson: McFarland & Company, Inc., Publishers.

• Parks, D.R. & DeMallie, R.J. (1992). Sioux, Assiniboine, and Stoney Dialects: A Classification . Anthropological Linguistics vol. 34, nos. 1-4

• Riggs, S.R., & Dorsey, J.O. (Ed.). (1973). Dakota grammar, texts, and ethnography. Minneapolis: Ross & Haines, Inc.

• Robinson, D. (1956). A history of the Dakota or Sioux Indians: from their earliest traditions and first contact with white men to the final settlement of the last of them upon reservations and the consequent abandonment of the old tribal life. Minneapolis: Ross & Haines, Inc.

• Saskatchewan Indian Cultural Center. Our languages: Dakota Lakota Nakota. Retrieved November 30, 2008. Web site: [3]

• Shaw, P.A. (1980). Theoretical issues in Dakota phonology and morphology. New York: Garland Publishing, Inc.

• The Bismark Tribune. (2006, March 26). Scrabble helps keep Dakota language alive. Retrieved November 30, 2008, from [4]

• Utley, R.M. (1963). The last days of the Sioux nation. New Haven: Yale University Press.

• Ullrich, Jan. (2008). New Lakota Dictionary. & Incorporating the Dakota Dialects of Santee-Sisseton and Yankton-Yanktonai (Lakota Language Consortium). ISBN 0-9761082-9-1.

External links[link]

• Lakota Language FORUM
• Our Languages: Dakota, Nakota, Lakota (Saskatchewan Indian Cultural Centre)
• Texts in Dakota and Lakota

Yup'ik shaman exorcising evil spirits from a sick boy. Nushagak, Alaska, 1890s.^[1]

"Medicine man" or "medicine woman" are English terms used to describe traditional healers and spiritual leaders among Native American and other indigenous or aboriginal peoples. Anthropologists tend to prefer the term "shaman," a specific term for a spiritual mediator from the Tungusic peoples of Siberia.^[2]

The medicine man and woman in North America[link]

Role in native society[link]

The primary function of these "medicine elders" (who are not always male) is to secure the help of the spirit world, including the Great Spirit (Wakan Tanka in the language of the Lakota Sioux), for the benefit of the entire community.

Sometimes the help sought may be for the sake of healing disease, sometimes it may be for the sake of healing the psyche, sometimes the goal is to promote harmony between human groups or between humans & nature. So the term "medicine man/woman" is not entirely inappropriate, but it greatly oversimplifies and also skews the depiction of the people whose role in society complements that of the chief. These people are not the Native American equivalent of the Chinese "barefoot doctors", herbalists, nor of the emergency medical technicians who ride rescue vehicles.

To be recognized as the one who performs this function of bridging between the natural world and the spiritual world for the benefit of the community, an individual must be validated in his role by that community. Medicine men and women study through a medicine society or from a single teacher.

Cultural context[link]

An Ojibwa medicine man preparing an herbal remedy.

The term "medicine people" is commonly used in Native American communities, for example, when Arwen Nuttall (Cherokee) of the National Museum of the American Indian writes, "The knowledge possessed by medicine people is privileged, and it often remains in particular families."^[3]

Native Americans tend to be quite reluctant to discuss issues about medicine or medicine people with non-Indians. In some cultures, the people will not even discuss these matters with Indians from other tribes. In most tribes medicine elders are not expected to advertise or introduce themselves as such. As Nuttall writes, "An inquiry to a Native person about religious beliefs or ceremonies is often viewed with suspicion.^[3] One example of this was the Apache medicine cord or Izze-kloth, whose purpose and use by Apache medicine elders was a mystery to nineteenth century ethnologists because "the Apache look upon these cords as so sacred that strangers are not allowed to see them, much less handle them or talk about them."^[4]

The 1954 version of Webster's New World Dictionary of the American Language, reflects the poorly grounded perceptions of the people whose use of the term effectively defined it for the people of that time: "a man supposed to have supernatural powers of curing disease and controlling spirits." In effect, such definitions were not explanations of what these "medicine people" were to their own communities, but instead reported on the consensus of socially and psychologically remote observers when they tried to categorize these individuals.^{[citation needed]} The term "medicine man/woman," like the term "shaman", has been criticized by Native Americans, as well as other specialists in the fields of religion and anthropology.

The term "medicine man/woman" was also frequently used by Europeans to refer to African traditional healers, also known as "witch doctors" or "fetish men/women".

See also[link]

References[link]

v t e Traditional medicine East Asian Traditional Chinese Japanese Kampo Traditional Korean Traditional Mongolian Traditional Tibetan South & Southeast Asian Ayurveda Traditional Sri Lankan Jamu Siddha Traditional Thai Unani Mediterranean & Near Eastern Byzantine Ancient Egyptian Ancient Greek Medieval Islamic Ancient Iranian Ancient Roman African Inyanga Muti Nganga Sangoma Yoruba Iboga Americas Ayahuasca Aztec Traditional Brazilian Maya Australasia & Oceania Bush medicine General Alternative History of alternative medicine Health care Herbalism Naturopathy Prehistoric Western Medieval Medicinal plant conservation

Russell Means
Russell Means in 1987.
Born	Russell Charles Means (1939-11-10) November 10, 1939 (age 72) Wanblee, South Dakota, United States
Occupation	Activist, politician, actor, writer, musician
Years active	1968 – present
Spouse	Gloria Grant Means (three previous marriages) A total of 10 children, two with Gloria

Russell Charles Means (born November 10, 1939) is an Oglala Sioux activist for the rights of Native American people. He became a prominent member of the American Indian Movement (AIM) after joining the organization in 1968, and helped organize notable events that attracted national and international media coverage. The organization split in 1993, in part over the 1975 murder of Anna Mae Aquash, the leading woman activist in AIM.^[1]

Means has been active in international issues of indigenous peoples, including working with groups in Central and South America, and with the United Nations for recognition of their rights. He has been active in politics at his native Pine Ridge Indian Reservation and at the state and national level.

Since 1992, he has acted in numerous films and released his own music CD. He published his autobiography Where White Men Fear to Tread in 1997.

Early life[link]

Means was born in Wanblee, South Dakota, a community located in the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation, to Theodora Feather and Harold "Hank" Means.^[2] He was baptized Oyate Wacinyapin, which means "works for the people" in the Lakota language. His Oglala Sioux parents met as students at an Indian boarding school.^[2]

In 1942, when Russell was three, the Means family resettled in the San Francisco Bay Area, seeking to escape the poverty and problems of the reservation. His father worked at the shipyard. Means grew up in the Bay area, graduating in 1958 from San Leandro High School in San Leandro, California.^[3] In his 1995 autobiography, Means recounted a harsh childhood; his father was alcoholic and he himself fell into years of "truancy, crime and drugs" before finding purpose in the American Indian Movement in Minneapolis.^[4]

His father died in 1967, and in his 20's, Means lived in several Indian reservations throughout the United States while searching for work. While at the Rosebud Indian Reservation in south-central South Dakota, he developed severe vertigo. Physicians at the reservation clinic believed that he had been brought in inebriated. After they refused to examine him for several days, Means was finally diagnosed with a concussion due to a presumed fist fight in a saloon. A visiting specialist later discovered that the reservation doctors had overlooked a common ear infection, which cost Means the hearing in one ear.^[5]

After recovering from the infection, Means worked for a year in the Office of Economic Opportunity, where he came to know several legal activists who were managing legal action on behalf of the Lakota people. After a dispute with his supervisor, Means left Rosebud for Cleveland, Ohio. In Cleveland, he worked with Native American community leaders against the backdrop of the American Civil Rights Movement.^[5]

Involvement with the American Indian Movement[link]

Means participated - together with his father - in the 1964 Alcatraz occupation. In 1968 at age 29, Means joined the American Indian Movement (AIM), where he rose to become a prominent leader.^[6] In 1970, Means was appointed AIM's first national director, and the organization began a period of increasing protests and activism. On Thanksgiving Day 1970, Means and other AIM activists staged their first protest in Boston: they seized the Mayflower II, a replica ship of the Mayflower, to protest the Puritans' and United States' mistreatment of Native Americans.^[7] Later that year, Means was one of the leaders of AIM's takeover of Mount Rushmore, a federal monument. In 1972, he participated in AIM's occupation of the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) headquarters in Washington, D.C. Many confidential records were taken or destroyed, and more than $2 million in damages was done to the building.

In 1973, Dennis Banks and Charles Camp led AIM's occupation of Wounded Knee, which became the group's most well-known action. ^[7] Means appeared as a spokesman and prominent leader as well. The armed standoff of more than 300 Lakota and AIM activists with the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and state law enforcement lasted for 71 days. A visiting Cherokee from North Carolina and an Oglala Lakota activist from Pine Ridge Reservation were killed in April 1973. Earlier an FBI agent was shot and became paralyzed from his wounds.

In 1974, Means resigned from AIM to run for the presidency of his native Oglala Sioux Tribe (OST) against the incumbent Richard Wilson. The official vote count showed Wilson winning by more than 200 votes. Residents complained of intimidation by Wilson's private militia. The report of a government investigation confirmed problems in the election, but in a related court challenge to the results of the election, a federal court upheld the results.

In the late 1970s, Means turned to an international forum on issues of rights for indigenous peoples. He worked with the United Nations to establish the offices of the International Indian Treaty Council in 1977. At the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation, he assisted in the organization of community institutions, such as the KILI radio station and the Porcupine Health Clinic in Porcupine, South Dakota.

In the 1980s, AIM divided into several competing factions. The division was in part over differences among members regarding support for the indigenous peoples in Nicaragua, a nation then led by a socialist government. Means announced his support for the Miskito group MISURASATA (later known as YATAMA), which was allied with the Contras. He traveled to the Atlantic Coast of Nicaragua in 1985 and 1986 on fact-finding tours. Some members of AIM supported the Sandinistas of the national government, although they had forced removal of thousands of Miskito from their traditional territory. At that time, the Grand Governing Council of AIM, based in Minnesota, asked Means to cease representing himself as a leader of AIM.^{[citation needed]} Other chapters of AIM continued to support Means.

On January 8, 1988, Means held a press conference to announce his retirement from AIM (for the sixth time), saying it had achieved its goals.^[8] That January, the AIM Grand Governing Council, headed by the Bellecourt brothers, released a press release noting this was the sixth resignation by Means since 1974, and asking the press to "never again report either that he is a founder of the American Indian Movement, or [that] he is a leader of the American Indian Movement". The AIM General Governing Council noted there were many open issues and legislation regarding Native Americans for which they were continuing to work.^[9]

In 1993, the organization divided officially into two main factions: AIM Grand Governing Council, based in Minnesota, which has the legal right to use the name; and American Indian Movement of Colorado, based in Colorado and allied with Means.

On 3 November 1999, Means and Robert Pictou-Branscombe, a maternal cousin of Aquash from Canada, held a press conference in Denver at the Federal Building to discuss the slow progress of the government's investigation into Aquash's murder. It had been under investigation both by the Denver police, as Aquash had been kidnapped from there, and by the FBI, as she had been taken across state lines and killed on the Pine Ridge Reservation. Both Branscombe and Means accused Vernon Bellecourt, a high-ranking leader of AIM, of having ordered the execution of Aquash. Means said that Clyde Bellecourt, a founder of AIM, had ensured that it was carried out at the Pine Ridge Reservation. Means said that an AIM tribunal had banned the Bellecourt brothers but tried to keep the reason for the dissension internal to protect AIM.^[10]

The Associated Press (AP) reporter Robert Weller noted that this was the first time that an AIM leader active at the time of Aquash's death had publicly implicated AIM in her murder. There had long been rumors.^[11] Means and Branscombe accused three indigenous people: Arlo Looking Cloud, Theda Nelson Clark and John Graham, of having been directly involved in the kidnapping and murder of Aquash.^[10] The two men were indicted in 2003 and convicted in separate trials in 2004 and 2010, respectively. By then in a nursing home, Clark was not indicted.

As of 2004, Means' website states that he was a board member of the Colorado AIM chapter, which is affiliated with AIM-Autonomous Chapters.^[12]

Other political involvement[link]

Since the late 1970s, Means has often supported libertarian political causes, in contrast with several of the other leaders of AIM. In 1987, Means ran for nomination of President of the United States under the Libertarian Party, and attracted considerable support within the party, finishing 2nd (31.41%) at the 1987 Libertarian National Convention.^[13] He lost the nomination to Congressman Ron Paul.^[14]

In 2001, Means began an independent candidacy for Governor of New Mexico. His campaign failed to satisfy procedural requirements and he was not selected for the ballot. In the 2004 and 2008 Presidential Elections, Means supported independent Ralph Nader.

Nearly thirty years after his first candidacy, Means ran for president of the Oglala Sioux in 2004 with the help of Twila Lebeaux, losing to Cecilia Fire Thunder, the first woman elected president of the tribe. She also defeated the incumbent John Yellow Bird Steele.^[15]

Since the late 20th century, there has been a debate in the United States over the appropriate term for the indigenous peoples of North America. Some want to be called Native American; others prefer American Indian. Means says that he prefers "American Indian", arguing that it derives not from explorers' confusion of the people with those of India, but from the Italian expression in Dio, meaning "in God".^[16][17] In addition, Means notes that since treaties and other legal documents in relation to the United States government use "Indian", continuing use of the term can help today's American Indian people forestall any attempts by others to use legal loopholes in the struggle over land and treaty rights.

Following the non-binding United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples in September 2007, a group of American Indian activists presented a letter to the U.S. State Department, indicating they were withdrawing from all treaties with the U.S. Government. In December, they began contacting foreign governments to solicit support for energy projects on the territory.

On December 20, 2007, Means announced the withdrawal by a small group of Lakota Sioux from all treaties with the United States government.^[18] Means and a delegation of activists declared the Republic of Lakotah a sovereign nation, with property rights over thousands of square miles in South Dakota, North Dakota, Nebraska, Wyoming and Montana.^{[19][dead link]} Means said that his group does not "represent collaborators, the Vichy Indians and those tribal governments set up by the United States of America".^[20]

On January 8, 2008 the elected leaders President Rodney Bordeaux of the 25,000-member Rosebud Sioux Tribe, and Chairman Joseph Brings Plenty of the 8,500-member Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe, said that Means did not speak for their members or for any elected Lakota tribal governments. While acknowledging problems with the federal government's implementation of treaties, they opposed his plan to renounce treaties with the United States. They said the issue instead was to enforce existing treaties.^{[21][dead link] [22]}

In January 2012, he announced his endorsement of Ron Paul in his bid for President.^[23]

Other activities[link]

Acting[link]

Since 1992, Means has appeared as an actor in numerous films and TV movies: first as the chief Chingachgook in The Last of the Mohicans. He appeared as Arrowhead in the made-for-TV movie The Pathfinder (1996), his second appearance in a movie adapted from a novel by James Fenimore Cooper. He appeared in Natural Born Killers (1994), as Jim Thorpe in Windrunner: A Spirited Journey, as Sitting Bull in Buffalo Girls (1995), and had a cameo in the miniseries Into the West (2005).

He was a voice actor in the animated film Pocahontas (1995) and its sequel Pocahontas II: Journey to a New World (1998), playing the title character's father, Chief Powhatan. Means appeared as Billy Twofeathers in Thomas & the Magic Railroad (2000).

Means starred in Pathfinder, a 2007 movie about Vikings' battling Native Americans in the New World. Recently Means co-starred in Rez Bomb from director Steven Lewis Simpson, the first feature filmed on his native Pine Ridge Indian Reservation. He stars with Tamara Feldman and Trent Ford and Chris Robinson.

He also appears as a character in the Access Adventure Game Under a Killing Moon.^[24] In 2004 Means made a guest appearance on the HBO program Curb Your Enthusiasm. Means played Wandering Bear, an American Indian with skills in landscaping and herbal medicine.

Writing[link]

The neutrality of this section is disputed. Please see the discussion on the talk page. Please do not remove this message until the dispute is resolved. (August 2011)

In 1995, Means published an autobiography, Where White Men Fear to Tread, written with Marvin J. Wolf. He recounted his own family's problems: his alcoholic father, and his own "fall into truancy, crime and drugs" before he found the American Indian Movement.^[4] Writing in the New York Times Book Review, the author Brent Staples said of Means:

"His repeated assertion that Native American culture is cosmologically superior to Europe’s seems patronizing, even coming from an Indian. The first law of the universe, after all, is that evil and stupidity are randomly distributed. Had the Lakota and others been the seers Mr. Means seems to think they were, they would have avoided at least some of the disasters that befell them."^[25]

In 1998 Vernon Bellecourt, a longtime leader of AIM, criticized Marvin Wolf for failure to consult with other AIM leaders about events that Means recounted. He said, "Not one of the people in the movement was asked by Means' co-author, Marvin J. Wolf, to confirm Means' version of events. It's a very reckless book. It puts out a lot of inaccuracies and petty attacks on people that are seen as very divisive."^[26]

The journalist Malcolm Brenner, who had covered Native American issues for newspapers from the Shiprock, New Mexico area, wrote in his review: "Over and over again, Means makes blanket condemnations of all 'White People' that he would assuredly bust my chops for if I made them about Indians... Readers should understand that this book is Russell Means' version of reality, and it does not necessarily bear any relationship to the truth...Ultimately, this book is a chronicle of Means' bottomless rage..." which Brenner notes may have been justified by "the circumstances of his life in particular or American Indian lives in general," but he thought Means' stance was overdone.^[27]

Patricia Holt, book editor for the San Francisco Chronicle wrote of the book, "It's American history -- warts, wounds and all."^[4] Mari Wadsworth of the Tucson Weekly wrote, "Critical readers do well to remain skeptical of any individual, however charismatic, who claims to be the voice of authority and authenticity for any population, let alone one as diverse as the native tribes of the Americas."^[28]

Music[link]

Russell Means recorded a CD entitled Electric Warrior under indie label SOAR.^[29] Songs include "Une Gente Indio", "Hey You, Hey Indian", "Wounded Knee Set Us Free", and "Indian Cars Go Far".

Representation in other media[link]

The American pop artist Andy Warhol painted 18 individual portraits of Russell Means in his 1976 American Indian Series. The Dayton Art Institute holds one of the Warhol portraits of Means in its collection.^[30]

Personal life[link]

Means has been married four times; his first three marriages ended in divorce. He has a total of ten children.^[2]

Means is married to Gloria (Grant) Means, a Dine educator and former rodeo rider.^[2] They have two sons: Tatanka Means, who is an actor, and Nataanii Nez Means. Means is also the stepfather of Gloria's son Scott from her previous marriage.

On December 29, 1997, Means was arrested for assault and battery of his 80-year-old father-in-law Leon Grant, a member of the Dine (Navajo) Nation. AIM Governing General Council issued a press release to reiterate its separation from Means.^[26]

In August 2011, Means was diagnosed with esophageal cancer.^[31][32] In late September, Means reported that through tomotherapy, the tumor had diminished greatly.^[33] At the start of November 2011, he said that his tumor was "95% gone."^{[citation needed]} On December 5, Means stated that he "beat cancer," that he beat "the death penalty."^{[citation needed]}

References[link]

External links[link]

Wikinews has related news: Lakota activists declare secession from US

Wikinews has related news: Lakota Freedom Delegation says spokesman Russell Means 'hijacked' organization

Wikinews has related news: 'No treaty withdrawal', says Lakota elder

• Russell Means official website
• Russell Means Freedom
• Russell Means at the Internet Movie Database
• Republic of Lakotah Official Web Site
• American Indian Movement on Russell Means

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