Transcripts

KEVIN MCKIERNAN: Lou, how long have you and your husband lived down on Pine Ridge Reservation?

LOU BEAN: For about eight years, and then off and on. So it's been quite a while.

KEVIN MCKIERNAN: How long were you inside of Wounded Knee during the occupation?

LOU BEAN: I was in there 68 days until my brother was shot, then we brought him out.

KEVIN MCKIERNAN: This is Buddy Lamont, the boy who was killed in late April.

LOU BEAN: Yes, it was.

KEVIN MCKIERNAN: I wonder if you could tell me a little bit what it's like to have been living on the Reservation since the Standing Donovan at Wounded Knee on May 8.

LOU BEAN: Well, I can tell you on the Pine Ridge Reservation, it's terrible. I mean, there's no words to describe the way things are right now when you have people like Woody Richards and John Huffman around just going around and shooting anytime they please. And they're allowed to carry guns. And yet, we went down.

And I talked to, what's his name, Daryl Eastman. And I said, well, if they could carry guns, I said, why can't we, I said. And he said, well, he said, there's just nothing we could do about it unless you have a permit. So I said, well, I'll get a permit. And he said, well, I'm sorry, I can't give you a permit, he said. So I said, well, the heck with you then. I said, I'm just going to go carry a gun.

KEVIN MCKIERNAN: Now Daryl Eastman is the head of the BIA police on the Pine Ridge Reservation.

LOU BEAN: Yes, he is. And I remember one certain night, that night that little girl was shot, that little-- I can't remember what her name was, down in Wounded Knee. That night, Edward came up to us, and he wanted us to go down and help that man to sign a complaint against John Huffman and Woody Richards. So we went down to the jail, and we talked.

KEVIN MCKIERNAN: This is the jail in Pine Ridge?

LOU BEAN: Yeah. And they went down there and talked and talked, and while-- we was looking for a lawyer, but we couldn't find her at that certain time. And so we went down and we done our own talking. And that girl's father wanted to sign a complaint against John Huffman, but they wouldn't accept his complaint because they called it an accident.

KEVIN MCKIERNAN: Are you a member of the American Indian Movement?

LOU BEAN: Yes.

KEVIN MCKIERNAN: Could you tell me a little bit about your association with the Oglala Civil Rights?

LOU BEAN: Well, it started-- that time, they started-- we was trying to impeach Dickie Wilson because he was, what shall I say, embezzling money, and he committed nepotism and all sorts of stuff, and we all saw it. And we saw the way he treated the full bloods down there. He treated us bad.

And if you ever noticed and I noticed while I was sitting down in the Pine Ridge jail for a couple of hours yesterday, there was no half bleeds in there, they were all full bloods. All of them from the youngest to the oldest were full bloods sitting in jail. And that's one of the dirtiest and the filthiest jails I've ever seen.

And to start the Civil Rights, that's when we got mad. And there was a bunch of us women got together. You know how women are. Well, we just got a drum and we start raising heck. And then we went out and we went out to Calico, out by Holy Rose. And we had a meeting, and then we just-- that's how we got started.

And then we needed someone to help us. So then we asked Pedro Bissonnet to help us lead because-- I don't know. For some strange reason, there's no Oglala Sioux men around. And he was one who wasn't scared to stand up and say what he wanted to say.

KEVIN MCKIERNAN: Was this before Wounded Knee?

LOU BEAN: Yes, that was before Wounded Knee. And he just done everything himself. And then they kind of called him a judge-like. But the night before, they paid him off $500 before he ever-- they ever got him in there to beat a judge. So see, he was bought off.

KEVIN MCKIERNAN: This was the judge for the impeachment hearing for Dickie Wilson.

LOU BEAN: Yes, it was. And nothing ever came about, because-- I don't know what you call those guys. He has that little hammer and he hollers around and gives you-- anyway, he gave the representatives only three minutes to talk, which wasn't much of a chance to talk. So that's why we all got up and walked out. And there was all his goons ready to fight, but we didn't pay no attention to them.

We just went down to-- back down to Calico. And we had a meeting, talked about it. And we just sat there and talked some more. And then we all finally decided that we would ask help from the American Indian Movement. So we went. And I can't remember who called, but somebody called him. And so we went home and got things ready and went back down to Calico and waited for them. A couple of hours afterwards, they got there. We were pretty happy to see them too.

KEVIN MCKIERNAN: Were you a member of AIM before that time?

LOU BEAN: No, not really.

KEVIN MCKIERNAN: How soon after that meeting did the occupation of Wounded Knee take place?

LOU BEAN: The same night. I'm pretty sure.

KEVIN MCKIERNAN: And so this time it was probably in late February.

LOU BEAN: Yeah, I can't-- I think it was February 26th when we went down in there, that evening about seven, around seven.

KEVIN MCKIERNAN: Have you been charged or indicted for actions in Wounded Knee?

LOU BEAN: Yes, I have. And there's something really strange about that. And I don't know if I should tell it or not. But that time, they shot my brother while the CRIS men came and they told me that Mr. Frizzell was on a Hill. And they had the walkie-talkie. And so I stood there, and I talked to Mr. Frizzell. And he told me, he said--

KEVIN MCKIERNAN: This is the Solicitor General of the Interior Department.

LOU BEAN: Yes, it is. And I asked him. I said, I'm going to bring my brother out. And I said, I'm going to come out. And I said, I don't want to get thrown in jail. And he said, well, I promise you Mrs. Bean, he said, you won't, he said, because see, I was one of the negotiators on the Hill and we kind of knew each other arguing back and forth and what have you. So me and my husband and my two nieces and my other two cousins, we came out.

And when we came out and we got to the top of the Hill, well, they asked us to get off the ambulance. So we did. And when we got off, well, then the handcuffed us, me and my husband together and my two nieces and my two cousins and my other cousin and her baby. They handcuffed us all together. And they took us straight to the Pine Ridge Jail because the cancer cell lied to us at that time.

KEVIN MCKIERNAN: Do you still have charges relating to Wounded Knee at this time?

LOU BEAN: I don't know. Castleman said that they were dropped, but I don't believe no White man. I mean, I have to see it before I believe it.