Russell Means, clashed with the law, who fought as he had for the Indians, has died at 72

Russell C. Meaning, the charismatic Oglala Sioux who helped revive the image of the American Indian soldiers in the 1970s with the strike of the guerrilla tactics drawn attention to the historical injustice against indigenous peoples time, died Monday at his farm hedgehog , SD, on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation. He was 72. Causes of esophageal cancer, which recently spread to the tongue, lymph nodes and lungs, said Glenn Morris, Mr. means legal representation. He said that in the summer of 2011 that the cancer was inoperable, ie Mr. resolved to avoid major medical care in favor of natural remedies and herbal others. Strapping and handsome deerskin, with facial scarring, piercing dark eyes and raven tresses hanging at the waist, Mr. media was, in his words, a magnet for - addiction to drugs and alcohol in the early years and subsequently arrested repeated clashes with rivals and law. He was on trial for masterminding the killing, was shot, stabbed once and jailed for a year by the unrest. We designed a throwback to the ancestors who refused westward expansion of the American frontier. In the theater of protest that drew national attention to poverty and discrimination of his people, is undoubtedly the most famous Indian since Sitting Bull and Crazy Horse. But critics, including many Indians, calling him a tireless self-promoter who exploit his fame angry rebel quixotic career running for president and governor of New Mexico, acting in dozens of films - especially the lead role in "The Last of the Mohicans "(1992) - and writing and recording music with Indian soldiers and commercial heritage theme. He rose to national attention as the leader of the American Indian Movement in 1970 by a group of protesters who took India the same ship Mayflower II in Plymouth, Massachusetts, on Thanksgiving Day. Strong confrontation between India and costumes "Pilgrim" interesting television coverage of the network and Mr India Media white hero overnight dissidents and friendly. Later, he led a prayer vigil federal president of India monument sculpted head to Mount Rushmore, South Dakota, as Lakota claim land in Black Hills. In 1972, a meeting was organized between countries in Washington protest caravan centuries broken treaties and job leads the Bureau of Indian Affairs. He also attacked the "Chief Wahoo" mascot baseball team the Cleveland Indians, India with teeth cartoon called racist and demeaning. It is still in use. And in a 1973 protest was covered by the national media for months, hundreds of supporters took Indians and whites in a work of Wounded Knee, South Dakota, where the slaughter of 1890 of about 350 Lakota people, women and children in the last great conflict of the Indian Wars American. The protesters demanded strict adherence old Indian federal treaty, ending what they call a corrupt tribal government. In a 71-day confrontation with federal agents following, thousands of shots, two Indians were killed and mutilated agency. It means that Mr. Banks and other protest leaders Dennis was charged with assault, robbery and conspiracy. But after a long federal court in Minnesota in 1974, increased retention of current complaints and history of India, the case was dismissed by a judge responsible for errors. Mr. Means then face another legal battle. In 1976, he was acquitted in a jury trial in Rapid City, SD, for instigating the murder of a bar fight. Want guaranteed six in the two countries, was convicted in 1974 for his involvement in clashes between riot police and activists outside the courthouse in India Sioux Falls, South Dakota. It was a year in state prison, where he was stabbed by another inmate. Mr. Means is also survived by several gunshots - the one in the abdomen was fired during a fight with a police officer in the GAC North Dakota of India in 1975, one of which grazed his forehead as she called a drive-by assassination attempt Rosebud Indian Reservation of South Dakota in 1975, and one in the chest fired by another cause of death would be another reservation in South Dakota in 1976. Undeterred, he led a caravan of Sioux and Cheyenne to a group of 500 people commemorate one hundred years of existence last General George Armstrong Custer at the Little Big Horn in Montana in 1876, the defeat of the most famous Indian war in that country. To hit the drum, Mr. Means and his followers a platform speaker stands, hand in hand and making victory dance, sung in Lakota Sioux, titled "Custer died for your sins." Charles Russell Means, born in Pine Ridge reserve November 10, 1939, the eldest of the four sons Harold and Theodora means feathers. Anglo-Saxon surnames of my great grandfather. When I was 3 years old, his family moved to San Francisco Bay, where his father, a welder and mechanic, worked in the shipyard during the war. Russell attended public schools in Vallejo and San Leandro High School, where he faced racial slurs, have poor grades and almost graduated in 1958. It stems to combat crime, drugs, alcohol and street. You followed the four universities, including Arizona State in Tempe, but not a degree. During most of 1960, were thrilled with the West, working as a janitor cowboy printer, and dance educator. In 1969, he took a job with the Rosebud Sioux tribal council in South Dakota. A few months later he moved to Cleveland and became the founding director of the government-funded help India adapt to urban life. He also met with Mr. Banks, who recently founded the American Indian Movement. In 1970, the national director of Mr. movement, and during the following decade, their actions become a household name. In 1985 and 1986, he went to Nicaragua to support indigenous Miskito where independence is threatened by leftist Sandinista government. Sandinista atrocities reported against India, and urged the Reagan administration to help the victims. Millions of aid went to several anti-Sandinista groups, but Miskito Indian rebel leader, Brooklyn Rivera, told his followers not to accept any help. In 1987, Mr. means running for president. Requested the Libertarian Party nomination, but lost to Ron Paul, a former congressman and the future of Texas. In 2002, Mr. Means independent campaign for governor of New Mexico, but procedurally voting is prohibited. Mr. Means suspended from the American Indian Movement in 1988, but its leader, who had fought for years, mocking, said he was "retiring" six times before. Overall not recognize him and his work, calling him an opportunist to achieve political and financial. In 1989, Congress said there was "widespread corruption and corruption" in government programs that help tribal and federal American Indians. Mr. Means began his acting career in 1992 with "The Last of the Mohicans", using Michael Mann James Fenimore Cooper novel, in which he played an honest Chingachgook Daniel Day-Lewis and Madeleine Stowe. More than two decades has appeared in over 30 film and television productions, including "Natural Born Killers" (1994) and "Pathfinder" (2007). He also recorded a CD, including "Electric Warrior: The Sound of Indian America" ​​(1993), and wrote an autobiography, "where white men fear Tread" (1995, with Marvin J. Wolf). He married and divorced four times and had nine children. Meeting also adopted many Lakota tradition. Marriage fifth, Pearl Daniels, in 1999, and she survived. Mr. Media braids cut several months before being diagnosed with cancer. That, said in an interview last October, the attitude of mourning for his people. In Lakota knowledge, explained, the hair remains in the memory, and the mourners often cut to open the memory, and the people in it, the world of spirits.