Richard A. Wilson (April 29, 1934 – January 31, 1990) was elected chairman (also called president) of the Oglala Lakota of the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in South Dakota, where he served from 1972–1976, following re-election in 1974.
Following complaints about his favoring friends and family in award of jobs and suppressing political opponents with his private militia, Guardians of the Oglala Nation (GOONs), members of the tribal council brought impeachment charges against him in February 1973.
[2] Wilson entered politics when he ran and was elected as a councilor to represent the village of Pine Ridge in the Oglala Sioux Tribal Council.
[3] There were allegations that he diverted tribal funds for his own purposes and used his private quasi-law enforcement group to intimidate opponents with violence and murder.
Before the election, his political connections were largely limited to Pine Ridge due to his years as a councilor, but he campaigned in all parts of the reservation and sought the support of both traditionalists and progressives.
Opponents criticized Wilson for favoring mixed-bloods (he was of mixed-race ancestry) over full-blood Oglala, and giving "special attention" and benefits to his friends and relatives.
Wilson favored reaching a financial settlement with the US government and using the money to invest in infrastructure, education and other improvements for the tribe.
[7] Following the murder of Wesley Bad Heart Bull in a border town in early 1973, AIM chapters began forming in many places on the reservation.
The Oglala Lakota saw a continuing pattern of discriminatory attacks against them in towns off the reservation, which police did not prosecute at all or not according to the severity of the crimes; they were also increasingly discontented with the poor conditions at Pine Ridge.
Wilson agreed with AIM members that there was serious social damage from the high rates of unemployment, suicide, and alcoholism at Pine Ridge.
He also believed that the US government had illegally broken land treaties with the Sioux, but Wilson considered AIM's militancy "more as threat than a savior" for the Indian people.
"[8] Wilson harshly criticized AIM for the Bureau of Indian Affairs building takeover in Washington, DC in November 1972.
He said that an earlier council resolution giving the chairman powers to maintain law and order was sufficient authority; he may have illegally financed the militia with tribal funds.
[citation needed] On February 9, 1973, tribal councilors Sioux Long, Kills Straight, and C. Hobart Keith introduced eight charges of impeachment against Wilson at a council meeting.
The council unanimously approved Vincent Thunder Bull as presiding officer for the impeachment trial, which began the next day.
After Thunder Bull refused to permit the introduction of additional charges, four opposition council members and much of audience left the trial in frustration.
Because of the heightened tension, Stanley Lyman, the BIA superintendent at the reservation, ordered the United States Marshals Service to place Wilson and his family in protective custody.
Marshals, it is virtually impossible to for any Oglala to voice any kind of opinion which may run contrary to this puppet government with out being arrested or beaten...a policy that cannot go unchallenged or unanswered.The resulting standoff with law enforcement lasted seventy-one days, resulted in two protesters dead and one marshal paralyzed and drew national attention to the issues of Native American rights and conflicts on the reservation.
[19][20] One was Pedro Bissonette, head of the civil rights organization, who had originally invited AIM activists to Pine Ridge.