Clyde Bellecourt, One of Original Founders of the American Indian Movement, Passes Away at 85

Clyde Bellecourt, one of the original founders of the American Indian Movement (AIM), passed away today due to complications with cancer, according to Lisa Bellanger, Co-Director of the American Indian Movement’s Grand Governing Council. His Ojibwe name is “Nee-gon-we-way-we-dun-“Thunder Before the Storm.” He was 85 years old.

Along with Dennis Banks, Eddie Benton-Benai, and George Mitchell, Clyde Bellecourt co-founded the American Indian Movement in Minneapolis, Minnesota in 1968. In its beginning, the American Indian Movement aimed to address systemic issues of poverty, discrimination, and police brutality against urban American Indians.