Women of All Red Nations

The best-known Native American women's organization of the 1970s was Women of All Red Nations (WARN). WARN was initiated in 1978 by women, many of whom were also members of the American Indian Movement which was founded in 1968 by Dennis Banks, George Mitchell, and Mary Jane Wilson, an Anishinabe activist. (12) WARN's activism included fighting sterilization in public health service hospitals, suing the U.S. government for attempts to sell Pine Ridge water in South Dakota to corporations, and networking with indigenous people in Guatemala and Nicaragua. (13) WARN reflected a whole generation of Native American women activists who had been leaders in the takeover of Wounded Knee in South Dakota in 1973, on the Pine Ridge reservation (1973-76), and elsewhere. WARN, like Asian Sisters and Hijas de Cuauhtemoc, grew out of--and often worked with--mixed-gender nationalist organizations.1

Though both men and women were involved in AIM's activism, only the former were severely punished for their participation in militant acts against federal authorities. Realizing that they were essentially being ignored because they were considered powerless, the women took advantage of their inconspicuousness to create a solid organization to promote the rights of American Indians. The organization focuses on issues affecting American Indian women; however, as local groups began campaigning on behalf of American Indian men, the national agenda of WARN in the mid-1990s also included issues such as respect for American Indian men and their culture in prison.

As one of the most prominent groups representing American Indian women, WARN participates in national conferences and works with other women's organizations, such as the National Organization for Women, on policies important to minority women. WARN's main goals are to improve educational opportunities, health care, and reproductive rights for American Indian women; to combat violence against women; to end stereotyping and exploitation of American Indians; to uphold treaties over Indian lands; and to protect the land and environment where American Indians live. In support of the latter goal, WARN published "Radiation: Dangerous to Pine Ridge Women" (1980) in the journal Akwesasne Notes.2

Check out their website: http://www.americanindianmovement.org/warn/warnhistory.html