The Bureau of Indian Affairs building takeover refers to a protest by Native Americans at the Department of the Interior headquarters in the United States capital of Washington, D.C., from November 3 to November 9, 1972. On November 3, a group of around 500 American Indians with the American Indian Movement (AIM) took over the Interior building in Washington, D.C. It being the culmination of their cross-country journey in the Trail of Broken Treaties, intended to bring attention to American Indian issues such as living standards and treaty rights.
The incident began with a group of AIM protesters travelling to the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) offices at the national headquarters building, intending to negotiate for better housing on reservations and other related issues. But after interpreting a government refusal of their demands as a double cross, the protesters began the siege, occupying the building. And after denying a federal court order to vacate the premises issued after the first night of the occupation. The takeover quickly gained national media attention.
The AIM affiliated protesters overturned tables and desks against windows, fortifying against potential police attack. Some set fires in interior offices and the marble lobbies, destroying many historic documents. The demonstrators started to run out of provisions after several days. They would not allow police or any government representative to approach the building, so two children of BIA employees were recruited to bring in provisions. After a week of occupation, the protesters left, with some taking BIA documents with them, and having caused an estimated $700,000 in damages. And with the loss of the documents, the Washington Post claimed that the destruction and theft of records could set the Bureau of Indian Affairs back 50 to 100 years.
Then President Richard M. Nixon had an interest in promoting tribal sovereignty, as having ended the termination of tribes that was part of 1950s policy. Alongside being interested in the decentralization of government, Nixon fundamentally agreed that tribes should manage their operations. Which as a result of the AIM occupation if the BIA's offices, Nixon signed law the Menominee Restoration Act to restore one tribe to federally recognized status and supported legislation that offered tribes control over their own operations and programs.
Preparation
AIM members had done research and organized to prepare for their 1972 cross-country journey and anticipated negotiating with the federal government. They researched, organized, and prepared in 1972 after the brief BIA takeover in 1971. Understanding the law was essential to bringing the claims of Indian tribes and the urban populations forward to policy makers and the courts. Volunteer attorneys and other scholars who had studied the laws, executive orders, and BIA budgeting and practices to inform the AIM agenda of exposing government misdirection and illegal practice.
These Indians were concerned about the lands they had lost through treaties, speculation, and corruption. They struggled to make lives on the small areas of reservations, often isolated from population centers.
Momentum and support grew for the AIM among younger Native Americans and First Nations peoples. Unlike in 1971, the groups were prepared and focused on their target. Sympathetic groups joined the planning:
National Indian Brotherhood of Canada
Native American Rights Fund
National Indian Youth Council
National American Indian Council
National Council on Indian Work
National Indian Leadership Training
American Indian Committee on Alcohol and Drug Abuse
Others who endorsed the effort
Native American Women’s Action Council
United Native Americans
National Indian Lutheran Board
Coalition of Indian-Controlled School Boards
Black Panther Party for Self Defense
Occupation
Indians from around the country gathered into groups and converged on the Interior building on November 2, 1972, and stayed there for seven days. As Richard M. Nixon celebrated a landslide presidential victory on November 7 as AIM’s 'Twenty Points' were presented to him. It reminded Nixon how unprepared he was to deal with Indian issues across the country and how he had failed in his effort to quell Indian pressures for reforms.
The twenty points established Native American goals for their relations with the federal government. Twelve of the twenty points directly or indirectly address treaty responsibility in which the U.S. had fallen short.