Bureau of Indian Affairs building takeover

The Bureau of Indian Affairs building takeover refers to a protest by Native Americans at the Department of Interior headquarters in the national capital of Washington, DC 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 was 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 march had brought to Washington the largest gathering ever of Native Americans and supporters hoping to speak to government officials about their concerns and to gain change to help their peoples.

a group of protesters went to Bureau of Indian Affairs offices at the national headquarters building, intending to negotiate for better housing on reservations and other issues. Protesters began the siege after interpreting a government error as a doublecross. Protesters began to vandalize the building in protest. They were not evicted on the first night. The takover quickly gained national media attention.

Protesters overturned tables and desks against the 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, the protesters left, some taking documents with them, having caused an estimated $700,000 in damages. Their actions caused was loss, destruction, and theft of many records, including important treaties, deeds, and water rights records, which some Indian officials said could set them back 50 to 100 years.

While President Richard M. Nixon was preoccupied with achieving re-election in 1972, he had an interest in promoting tribal sovereignty; he had ended the termination of tribes that was part of 1950s policy. Interested in decentralization of government, he fundamentally agreed that tribes likely could manage some of their operations better than a bureaucracy. He signed a law to restore one tribe to federally recognized status and supported legislation to allow tribes more control over managing programs for their people.

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