"The history of the Government connections with the Indians is a shameful record of broken treaties and unfulfilled promises. The history of the border white man's connection with the Indians is a sickening record of murder, outrage, robbery, and wrongs committed by the former, as the rule, and occasional savage outbreaks and unspeakably barbarous deeds of retaliation by the latter, as the exception.

Taught by the Government that they had rights entitled to respect, when those rights have been assailed by the rapacity of the white man, the arm which should have been raised to protect them has ever been ready to sustain the aggressor.

The testimony of some of the highest military officers of the United States is on record to the effect that, in our Indian wars, almost without exception, the first aggressions have been made by the white man....Every crime committed by a white man against an Indian is concealed and palliated. Every offense committed by an Indian against a white man is borne on the wings of the post or the telegraph to the remotest corner of the land, clothed with all the horrors which the reality or imagination can throw around it. Against such influences as these are the people of the United States need to be warned".

Helen Hunt Jackson, A Century of Dishonor, 1881

Standing next to the sign that "Bans Guns" from WCCO is one of the would be "Indian Fighters".

Tension was building outside the door.

Honor Nation members were armed only with their personal convictions.

More than two weeks had passed since our first visit. There had been no response from CBS. We told them we were coming again. We told them the truth.

"All Indians who are not on reservations are hostile and will remain so until killed off." -- General William Sherman --
Indian Fighter

Boldly, Honor Nation members enter the foyer of WCCO. In front of us, a contingent of tough guys called us foul and degrading names. They tried to assert themselves as authority figures. Melvin stepped in to try and calm the guard down.

"I couldn't belive the way that they were treating Bellecourt and the other members of Honor Nation. It looked like a group of John Waynes' thugs trying to protect their fort. All I could do was to blow peace bubbles to try to distract and bring sanity to this John Wayne Movie playing out in front of me."

Melvin Giles 4-01-04

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Kevin Montry moved back to evaluate the situation and he sees the guards have Barry Hand on the floor. One guard holds Barry's arm and twists his hand backwards as the other guard kicks him repeatedly.

In this blow up of the image above, you can see Barry's arm and hand seized and twisted by the Indian fighter. The other guard has his leg raised as he continues to kick Barry.

Barry Hand is on the floor here, back against the window, trying to protect himself. "This has got to stop" says Kevin.

Kevin Montry (in the white t-shirt), ducking and catching the punches of the "Indian fighters", moves in to protect Barry Hand.

Kevin grabs the "Indian fighter" who had Barry's arm twisted. The "Indian fighter" was put in a headlock and subdued.

The guard was asked to surrender. The guard vocally surrendered and immediately was released by Kevin.

Police and emergency vehicles arrived on the scene. Kevin was arrested. Honor Nation continued its protest. The police reviewed the video and were unable to make more arrests. A WCCO Cameraman somehow missed getting the actions of their hired Indian fighters on film but did get enough footage to have Kevin charged.

"They were like Custer at the Battle of Greasy Grass aka Little Big Horn, who underestimated the power and resolve of the people". Kevin Montry 4-1-04

The Police questioned us and ordered us out of the WCCO foyer but we did not leave.. They realized that threatening to arrest us was not effective. We left the foyer of our own accord.. The Police were unable to understand our explanation of coming together under the symbol of grandfathers, the canupa, to deliver our spiritual message of dignity and to lay claim to our rights as the authentic owners of our own heritage.

As a sidenote, a few weeks after our discovery of WCCO, Kevin went to court. The hired "Indian fighters" were there. These people were removed from the room as they had come into the courtroom wearing their pistols and stun guns.

Honor Nation members speak to the crowd after the encounter with WCCO Indian Fighters

We gathered up the petition and dusted off our self-respect before leaving. Jake looked into the WCCO lobby to see the GM standing there. Honor Nation held a meeting after leaving the station. We tended to injuries and raised money to bail our koda out of jail.

That's how it was on April 1st, 2004 when Native Americans and their allies discovered WCC0/CBS in Minneapolis Minnesota.