Joseph and John Trimbachs' Revealing Words of Truth

"You will see how many people were fooled by misplaced sympathies and emotions. If any good can come of those mistakes, let it begin with those who have been misled."--Richard Two Elk

This morning I received a copy of Joseph and John Trimbach's book American Indian Mafia: An FBI Agent's True Story about Wounded Knee, Leonard Peltier, and the American Indian Movement (AIM). [While you wait for the paperback to arrive, you can download the e-book to your computer for only five dollars here!]

The book begins with some quotes. The quote I like best is by Quintillian: "A liar needs a good memory."

The book begins with a foreward by an Indian man named Richard Two Elk who has spent 32 years recording the words of Native Peoples across the Americas. He sounds like a truthful man who as been able to reflect in his mature years on how he was manipulated in his youth.

As a teenager, Mr. Two Elk took part in AIM's 1973 occupation of Wounded Knee and witnessed the atrocities and ruin of this Indian town. He says that many Indian people have been on the receiving end of AIM violence and that even today they are afraid to speak up about the "AIM legacy of membership through intimidation" for fear of retribution.

Mr. Two Elk says that the Trimbachs' book is "a good first step in exposing the false history aging AIMsters desperately try to protect."

Mr. Two Elk says of American Indian Mafia:

In its revealing words of truth, you will discover that popular books presented as modern-day history are flat-out wrong. You will see how many people were fooled out of misplaced sympathies and emotions. If any good can come of those mistakes, let it begin with those who have been misled.

Mr. Two Elk says that the terrible problems Indians on Pine Ridge face--unemployment, crime, alcoholism, and domestic violence--have "been compounded by the destructive legacy of false heroes." He says that Native people are now speaking out to native journalists "about what really happened at Pine Ridge in the early and mid 1970s" and "the voice of truth survives."

Mr. Two Elk also says that living conditions on Pine Ridge have created a monster called child sexual abuse. He says that the FBI and the Bureau of Indian Affairs, "the government agencies that AIMsters love to criticize from afar" to are trying to "defeat this evil."

Mr. Two Elk observes: "How ironic that the people doing the heavy lifting are law officers, while AIM stars are nowhere in sight." Mr. Two Elk says that child sexual abuse is a plague that is destroying what is left of Indian society and asks for our help.

He says to look in the Epilogue to find out what we can do.

Mr. Two Elk signed his foreward on June 26, 2007. This is the anniversary of the date that two FBI agents were murdered by AIM on Pine Ridge.

Christmas is a time when we especially remember innocent children. For some people, Christmas is also a difficult time because life doesn't always measure up to our expectations of peace on earth and good will toward men. The world has its share of hypocritical liars, con-artists, oppportunists--sanctimonious bad men who advance themselves by sowing lies, mistrust, and dischord.

Fortunately, we also are blessed with clear-sighted men of good will like the Trimbachs who seek the justice that can heal the historical wounds that divide our people.

For me, the Trimbachs' book is a really special Christmas present and an answer to my prayer for "Peace on Earth Good Will Toward Men."