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Last November, the tribal council at Pine Ridge voted to condemn the occupation of the Bureau of Indian Affairs building. A tribal court order enjoined Means and another AIM leader, Severt Young Bear, from assembling in Pine Ridge. In turn, AIM tried unsuccessfully to persuade the council to impeach Wilson, charging him with corruption. Dorothy Richards, secretary to the tribal court at Pine Ridge, explains: "Sioux are free-thinking people, but AIM demands total obedience. So we don't have too many AIM people here. Most of the ones in Pine Ridge are outsiders, and we hate people coming in from the outside telling us what to do." What support there is for AIM on the reservation is based largely on hostility to the power held by mixed bloods, of which Council President Wilson is the most prominent. A plump, older woman named White Feather, for example, wants the present council thrown out and replaced by full bloods. Referring to Wilson, she complains that "all the jobs here are held by his relatives, and it's us that need the jobs. He controls everything."
Late last week, there were reports that hundreds of AIM supporters were heading toward Wounded Knee from five states. Indians and lawmen traded shots for the first time since the takeover. No one was injured, but the flare-up strained a tense situation.
A group of lawyers arrived to help seek a peaceful settlement and counsel the Indians on federal charges that could be filed against them. At week's end the AIM party was still holed up and the questions remained: How much had been lost? Had anything been gained?