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Dennis Banks was one of the main leaders of AIM(American Indian Movement), which fought for American Indian rights.
http://biography.yourdictionary.com/dennis-j-banks -
AIM began as a self-defense group against police brutality. But later became an American Indian movement group that fought for the rights of American Indians everywhere.
https://my.hrw.com/tabnav/controller.jsp?isbn=9780547521503 -
Native Americans have been fighting for their rights actively since 1968 and they have continued to this day
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The occupation of Alcatraz occurred after the island closed as a maximum security prison in 1963. Soon after, the Native Americans claimed it as their own.
http://www.historyisaweapon.com/defcon1/alcatrazproclamationandletter.html -
In 1973, a few hundred Sioux Native Americans, led by Dennis Banks and the American Indian Movement attack the Pine Ridge Reservation and Occupy Wounded Knee.
https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/aim-occupation-of-wounded-knee-begins -
The act ended past policies that eradicated the use of Native American languages. They could now use their own languages freely.
https://www.culturalsurvival.org/news/native-american-languages-act-twenty-years-later-has-it-made-difference -
Native Americans believed their trust funds were being mismanaged by the government and took legal action.
https://www.everycrsreport.com/reports/RL34628.html -
They continue to fight for issues such as crime on their reservation and companies trying to get oil from their land.
https://www.americanbar.org/publications/human_rights_magazine_home/human_rights_vol36_2009/winter2009/striving_for_the_independence_of_native_american_tribal_courts.html
https://zinnedproject.org/materials/native-american-activism-1960s-to-present/ -
The American Indian Movement achieved many great accomplishments, but some of the best include the Occupation of Alcatraz, Cobell vs Salazar, and the Native Americans Languages Act.
https://americanindianmovementehs.weebly.com/laws-passed-to-help-american-indians.html
