Russell Means, RIP

[Lucille]

Russell Means, RIP
http://www.lewrockwell.com/blog/lewrw/archives/123857.html


Eric Garris informs me of the sad news that Russell Means, the charismatic Oglala Sioux leader, American Indian Movement activist, libertarian, secessionist, champion of hard money and 100% reserve banking, and movie and TV actor has died (http://www.nytimes.com/2012/10/23/us/russell-means-american-indian-activist-dies-at-72.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0)of throat cancer at the age of 72. He was an extraordinary man.

UPDATE Thanks to Travis Holte for this story (http://www.latimes.com/news/obituaries/la-russell-means-indian-activist-actor-dies-at-72-20121022,0,3901740.story).

Russell Means as a Conservative Bogeyman
http://www.lewrockwell.com/blog/lewrw/archives/123863.html

Re: Russell Means
http://www.lewrockwell.com/blog/lewrw/archives/123864.html


This is very sad news. I met Russell and his family a number of years ago at Doug Casey's Eris Society conference in Aspen. You could add "anarchist" to his list of characteristics - a word he used to describe himself. He was a peaceful and very articulate champion of liberty.

[MoneyWhereMyMouthIs2]

:(

[phill4paul]

I have worked within the A.I.M. movement. There are certainly detractors of his. It seems sometimes that the Native American Movement works like a dysfunctional family. However, there is no denying that in his lifetime he has worked towards 'sticking it to the man." I'll burn some sage for him and send thoughts skyward.

[amy31416]

I'm with Phil.

Rest in peace, Russell.

[GunnyFreedom]

I has the sad. :(

God rest ye Russel Means. You did your best at doing what you felt was right, and displayed a courage unmatched by 99.999% of the world in doing so.

[JK/SEA]

"It ended...
His body changed to light,
A star that burns forever in the sky."

----'Aztec-American Indian'

[GeorgiaAvenger]

Too bad he never got to secede. RIP.

[July]

Wow, sad news. I thought his cancer had been in remission.

:(

[Anti Federalist]

Travel Well, my brother...

God damn it...

http://reason.com/assets/mc/_external/2012_07/iron-eyes-cody.jpg

[LibertyEagle]

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[NewRightLibertarian]

R.I.P. The man was a true hero for liberty.

[JK/SEA]

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[donnay]

“I don't want to talk about the environment and the American Indian viewpoint, I hate the word Native American. Its a government term, which was created in the year 1970 in the Department of the Interior, a generic term that describes all the prisoners of the United States of America.” ~ Russell Means

Rest in Peace, Russell

[LibertyEagle]

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[phill4paul]

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[JK/SEA]

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[LibertyEagle]

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[donnay]

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[LibertyEagle]

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[heavenlyboy34]

I did not know thee, Russell, but R.I.P.

[Expatriate]

Rest in peace :(

[Lucille]

Good piece by Doherty: Russell Means, R.I.P. (http://reason.com/blog/2012/10/22/russell-means-rip)


Sioux Indian rights activist, actor, and former seeker of the Libertarian Party's presidential nod in 1988, Russell Means, has died at age 72 of esophageal cancer. He had shunned Western medicine in treatment of the cancer.

This New York Times obituary (http://www.nytimes.com/2012/10/23/us/russell-means-american-indian-activist-dies-at-72.html?_r=0) is good on the basic facts of his career. Here is the heart of his public notoriety outside the libertarian world:
[...]
Means made a very spirited fight against Ron Paul for the LP's bid in '88; Means was such an unusual character that Paul was shocked Means put up such a good fight and appealed to so many Libertarians. As I wrote in my recent book Ron Paul's Revolution: The Man and the Movement He Inspired:


Only in the LP would the four-term congressman have a long, hard fight against the a Native American armed rebel who had only evaded jail because of prosecutorial misconduct. “If you just put it down on paper and put Russell Means here and me here and what I’ve done, you’d think you shouldn’t even have to campaign,” Paul says. “You’d think I’d get a lot more credibility, but it was a lot tougher than it should have been.”

...Means argued that he could bring in a huge swell of new activists from the political or cultural left, and that the color and drama of his life story—indeed, his very identity—would guarantee media attention that a mere politician running for office such as Ron Paul could not....

The LP in the mid-1980s was just staggering along, hemorrhaging money and members. Paul rode in as a potential savior, and groused in an interview with American Libertarian that he wasn’t thrilled with the notion of having to debate Means. He hoped the LP had enough agreement that such wastes of energy could be avoided....

Means, for his part, tried to win the anti-authority hearts of LP members by stressing such selling points as having removed himself from the Social Security system, not having paid income taxes since 1971, and battling the state of South Dakota over whether as a tribe member on a reservation, he had to have a license plate or driver’s license....

The LP had never seen such a tense, expensive fight over its hand. With Paul having raised a quarter of a million dollars just seeking the nomination, the politician ended up winning the bare majority needed for victory over the Indian rebel at the LP’s convention by just three votes. The wisdom in the LP world was that Paul had won their minds—just barely—but not their hearts....
[...]
Jacob Levy at Bleeding Heart Libertarian wonders what the libertarian movement would have been like if Means' more left-leaning approach rather than Paul had won the 1988 nomination. (My thoughts? Given how little effect any particular LP candidate has had on the larger movement, I think it would have been little different. And this wondering of Levy's elides how successful Paul's own non-pandering plumbline libertarianism has been in left outreach in this age of endless wars and crony capitalism. I wrote a Reason feature about this topic in the November 2012 issue, not yet online, and subscribe today!)

Means supported his old foe Ron Paul in the 2012 race for being the only constitutional candidate who didn't support presidential unilateral power to kill:


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=psBLNzR789Q

[nobody's_hero]

Too bad he never got to secede. RIP.

I thought the Lakota nation did secede but, like most relations between the U.S. and tribes, it was ignored.

[Travlyr]

I was pleasantly surprised to learn that Russell Means was a strict constitutionalist.

RIP Russell Means

[phill4paul]

Good night in the garden:

The moon was waxing gibbous. Slightly on the other side of new. The evening was cool and comfortable. The garden, far from tired, smelled of good earth. I gave praise for everything that we have been given. The sky. The sun. The moon. The stars. The clouds. The earth. The mountains. The valleys. The deserts. The plants which heal me and those that sustain. Those that live upon the wing within the sky. Those that live upon the earth. Those that live beneath the earth. Those that live without of me and those that live within. Those that have two legs. Those with four. Those with hundreds and thousands. The ocean and the waters. Those with fins and those without. Thank you all. For if you were not upon this earth or in the heavens than neither would I be.
And I thank you for the warrior spirit. that which you have put into my breast since birth. That you have nurtured through giving the same gift to those that came before me. And so instructed me. Thank you to the warriors that have come before. Thank you Russell Means. Your spirit lives on.

http://ts4.mm.bing.net/th?id=i.4873143670341715&pid=15.1

[phill4paul]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fuzg1c2AdFc&feature=related

[Uriah]

Rest in peace

[PreDeadMan]

Wow i read on facebook last night that his health was very bad and that he could die. I'm very shocked that he passed away :*( i was watching a documentary on indians on netflix and he was featured in it. I'm very sad going to have a beer in memory of the great fighter of liberty Russell Means :((((((

[Carehn]

He was a cool guy. Sad sad day.

[Aratus]

he truly lived his life to the full
but was taken from us too soon

[CaseyJones]

Anna Mae Aquash

[liberty2897]

I'm only familiar with him from videos posted on this forum. He seemed like someone who was probably a great role model, family man, and overall good person with a very good insight on what freedom really means.
Rest in peace.

[phill4paul]

Anna Mae Aquash

There is always that. And the Bellecourts. As I have said the Native Indian movement was/is dysfunctional. Maybe another thread is the place?

[MelissaCato]

Rest in peace Russell Means.

[phill4paul]

I am so damn proud of everyone in this thread. The redactions given Thank you.

L.E., donnay, JK/SEA

We need to do this more often,

[sparebulb]

I'm watching The Last of the Mohicans as we speak, in memory of.

[JK/SEA]

''Means' death came a day after former U.S. Sen. George McGovern died in Sioux Falls at the age of 90. McGovern had traveled to Wounded Knee with U.S. Sen. James Abourezk during the 71-day takeover to try to negotiate an end.''