Russell means daughter

He became a prominent member of the American Indian Movement AIM after joining the organization in and helped organize notable events that attracted national and international media coverage.

Russell means son

Means was active in international issues of indigenous peoples, including working with groups in Central and South America and with the United Nations for recognition of their rights. He was active in politics at his native Pine Ridge Indian Reservation and at the state and national level. Beginning an acting career in , he appeared on numerous television series and in several films, including The Last of the Mohicans , Pocahontas , and Curb Your Enthusiasm.

He released his own music CD. In , the Means family resettled in the San Francisco Bay Area , seeking to escape the poverty and problems of the reservation. His father worked at the shipyard in Vallejo. His father died in and, in his twenties, Means lived in several Indian reservations throughout the United States while searching for work. Physicians at the reservation clinic believed that he had been brought in inebriated.

After they refused to examine him for several days, Means was finally diagnosed with a concussion due to a presumed fight in a saloon. A visiting specialist later discovered that the reservation doctors had overlooked a common ear infection , which cost Means the hearing in one ear. After recovering from the infection, Means worked for a year in the Office of Economic Opportunity , where he came to know several legal activists who were managing legal action on behalf of the Lakota people.

After a dispute with his supervisor, Means left Rosebud for Cleveland, Ohio. In , Means was appointed AIM's first national director, and the organization began a period of increasing protests and activism. Means participated in the Alcatraz occupation.