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I grew up w/a ton of 'em in NM, fell in love with, and had a relationship w/a former Miss Indian USA.

My ex-wife is 1/2, and my kids are now 1/4.

I also worked for an Indian business for years.

The ones I know are the funniest guys and gals you'd ever want to meet. Great sense of humor. They don't take Russel Banks, Dennis Banks, or people like Ward Churchill even remotely seriously.

If you want to see someone get vigorously denounced, see what they do to phony Indians. They are more serious about it than veterans are.

The average Joes love the Washington Redskins, Kansas City Chiefs, and Atlanta Braves, even if they live 1000's of miles away. They are for the most part proud of the names.

They make fun of the college Indians, and think they are more "Apple" (red on the outside, white on the inside) than anyone wearing a 'Skins jacket on the rez.

I knew several New Mexico AIM guys back in the 70's.

The hardcore radicals typically come out of the career student, hippie-magnet universities like UNM, CU Boulder, Berkely, etc. (surprise, surprise), and have been taught to hate by the likes of Margaret Randall (google her for a laugh sometime), and the old-line Marxist radicals.

Russell Means and Dennis Banks had a big power struggle for leadership of AIM years ago, and Russell has been bitter about losing ever since.

Some folks think he has sold out for Hollywood fame, but hey a guy's gotta make a buck.

Anyway, that's my take. It's worth what ya paid for it.