Raymond Yellow Thunder (January 1, 1921 – February 13, 1972) was an Oglala Lakota man, born in Kyle, South Dakota, on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation.
His death became notable as an example of a racially motivated assault against a Native American, as he was murdered by four white men who had bragged earlier that evening about beating an Indian.
[1] As an employee, he was "so reliable that Harold Rucker, who employed Yellow Thunder for many years, was immediately alarmed when he wasn't at the appointed spot in Gordon where he picked him up to take him back to the ranch on Sunday evenings.
The brothers Les and Pat Hare along with friends Bernard Lutter, and Robert Bayliss, found him by a used-car lot.
There, they shoved the half-naked Yellow Thunder into the hall, where patrons briefly gawked at the spectacle.
The following day, February 13, 1972, Yellow Thunder was found by George Ghost Dog, an Oglala Lakota boy.
The autopsy showed that he had died of subdural hematoma, caused by blunt trauma to his forehead above his right eye.
Upon hearing rumors perpetuated by newspapers and suspicious Indians that Yellow Thunder had been forced to dance naked at the American Legion Club, tortured and castrated before being killed, members of the American Indian Movement entered the case to protest for justice.