FBI: Indians likely killed black activist at Wounded Knee

SIOUX FALLS, S.D. - The FBI says a black civil-rights activist was killed during the 1973 occupation of Wounded Knee, and it suspects militant members of the American Indian Movement are responsible, according to recently released documents.

Hundreds of pages of reports provided to Buffalo, N.Y., attorney Michael Kuzma shed new light on the 40-year-old case of Ray Robinson, an activist and follower of Martin Luther King Jr. Kuzma sued the U.S. Justice Department in June to help Robinson’s widow, Cheryl Buswell-Robinson, get some closure.

The father of three from Bogue Chitto, Ala., traveled to South Dakota’s Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in April 1973 to stand alongside American Indians during their prolonged protest. The 71-day standoff between members of the American Indian Movement and federal agents at Wounded Knee left at least two tribal members dead and a federal agent seriously wounded.

Robinson never returned and his body was never found.

Buswell-Robinson of Detroit said her husband’s nonviolent approach conflicted with the violent situation at Wounded Knee, and it’s possible the Indians suspected he was a federal informant.

According to the FBI documents, an unidentified cooperating witness told agents that “Robinson had been tortured and murdered within the … occupation perimeter, and then his remains were buried ‘in the hills.’”