Perry Ray Robinson

Perry Ray Robinson (12 September 1937 – 25 April 1973) was an African American activist from Alabama during the civil rights movement. He had been active in Mississippi and Washington, D.C., supporting the March on Washington and the Poor People's Campaign. Robinson disappeared while participating in the 1973 American Indian Movement (AIM) resistance in the Wounded Knee incident on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in South Dakota.

Robinson's family never saw him again; his wife believed he was killed at the reservation, and struggled to get his disappearance investigated. In 2014, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) confirmed that Robinson had been killed and buried on the reservation in April 1973; it released redacted documents to the Robinson family under a Freedom of Information Act suit, including redacted interviews with cooperating witnesses. Robinson was allegedly killed by AIM members during a confrontation, according to FBI. Robinson's remains have not been found. The FBI said it had closed his case.

Activism After leaving boxing, Robinson became a civil rights activist and follower of Martin Luther King Jr. He participated in the 1963 March on Washington and heard King's noted "I Have a Dream" speech. Rose Sanders (since 2003 known as Faya Ora Rose Touré), the first black female judge in the state of Alabama, described Robinson as being called to the civil rights movement: "He was a true soldier. He was a true liberator. He really believed all people should be free." She had been raised in a Republican household, but dropped out of college to become politically active. AIM was appealing for supporters. According to his wife, Robinson decided to go to the reservation to support the occupation and work to align the rights movements of both groups of people of color. although his burial site has not been discovered, and his body has never been recovered.

In 2011, Buffalo-based attorney Michael Kuzma filed a Freedom of Information Act request with the FBI for records concerning Robinson's disappearance. In 2013, Kuzma filed a lawsuit in the United States District Court for the Western District of New York to gain full access to documents about the case.

Conflicting accounts Dennis Banks, then a top leader within AIM, said that he had no knowledge of Ray Robinson. He stated that he had never met Robinson and learned of his being at Wounded Knee only through inquiries by his family members. "Over the years, the Robinson name has popped up and I'm not sure even who would have that information or where it was. That's a complete blank to me." Banks made similar statements in an interview with Indian Country News''' in 2007.

Over time, other rumors and information surfaced. At a time of high suspicion of outsiders, many in AIM were said to have believed that Robinson had been an FBI informant. Publisher Paul DeMain reported that a former AIM member described Robinson to him as a "loud mouthed nigger, who refused to pick up a gun during a firefight," making him suspect.

In 2011, AIM leader Carter Camp told Robinson's daughters that the Guardians of the Oglala Nation, commonly known on the reservation as GOONs, killed their father. They had previously been established by a reservation leader who was opposed by many activists. Activist John Trimbach criticized this account for distorting the history of the Wounded Knee incident and failing to provide substantive evidence of the allegations.

In 2013 Robinson's daughter, Tamara Kamara, worked with attorney Michael Kuzma in Buffalo, New York, where she lived, to file a Freedom of Information suit against the FBI and government to force the release of relevant documents. Her mother and remaining family were then living in Detroit, Michigan.

FBI documents released in 2014 On 11 March 2014, the FBI released documents to Kuzma confirming the death of a black civil rights activist during the 1973 AIM occupation of Wounded Knee. Kuzma said FBI files included statements that "Robinson had been tortured and murdered within the AIM occupation perimeter, and then his remains were buried 'in the hills.'" These conditions included a shortage of food, constant surveillance, regular shootings as the occupation was "under fire," and the unilateral AIM command.

The witness reported that Robinson tried to discuss strategies, but no one listened or gave him any serious consideration. After he got into a heated exchange with another activist, he was escorted to a house by a security team.

Years later, AIM member Richard Two Elk described Robinson's behavior: "He would eat what little food we had. There was no food so everyone was trying not to eat and this guy was eating freely all the time." In correspondence with AIM members, Camp noted that he left Ray in Eagle Bunker after he had Robinson shot in both legs. Camp said, "I had to make the decision not to bring in Buddy Lamont until late afternoon after I knew he was killed in the early morning. I had to leave Ray's life to fight alone in eagle bunker after he was shot through both legs. I did these things to save other Indian lives."

Legacy Robinson is survived by his widow, Cheryl Buswell-Robinson, and their three children, daughters Desiree Mark and Tamara Kamara, and son J. Marc Robinson.

Author Barbara Nixon wrote a book about the events of Wounded Knee, entitled Mi' Taku'Ye-Oyasin: Letters from Wounded Knee'' (2014). Mi' Taku'Ye-Oyasin is a phrase in Lakota that means "All My Relations," referring to the concept of interconnectedness among the people. It included several letters related to Robinson.