RAPID CITY, S.D. – Thelma Conroy-Rios, an American Indian activist, has been accused as an accessory in the 1975 murder of Anna Mae Aquash. She blames her situation on an “irresponsible media addicted to sensationalism.” She said, “To me, these people abuse me when they print lies.”
But, who is Thelma Rios and, how did this Allen country girl get from the reservation to infamous AIM extremist on trial for accessory to murder?
Rios appears to be as confused as anyone about the charges against her. “Everyone knew my house was safe and clean. Alcohol was never allowed in my home. My home was open to all people in need, including people of all races, religions, and ages.” She said she opened her home to the homeless, and domestic violence victims, kids off the street, and elders in need.
“I have lived this way for 40 years, Rios said. “I was even a licensed foster parent. The Department of Social Services would bring me Indian children no one could handle. Even the police department would bring people who needed help to my home.”
“That’s why I don’t understand how anyone could even think I could stand by and watch any woman be kidnapped, abused, or tied-up,” Rios said, referring to prior testimony of events leading to the murder of Aquash.
“I didn’t know Anna Mae [Aquash],” Rios stated. “I have never seen her or even met her. That reminds me of the time U. S. Marshall, Robert Eccoffey interviewed me about Anna Mae’s murder. I saw his notes and in them he noted that I showed no emotion when he showed me her picture. How was I supposed to be emotional, when I did not know her? I never want to see anything like that happen, but still I did not know her,” Rios explained.
“My life has always been about my community and my family,” Rios said as she began to explain how she was thrust into the media spotlight. “I didn’t even know AIM existed until 1972, after the flood,” Rios continued. “I knew so many people in the community, so I was asked to help identify some of the bodies. It was then I heard a group of Indians were coming to Rapid City to help. I was told they were AIM members,” Rios said.
“Then, in 1973, I was at Wounded Knee during the AIM occupation, but it was under different circumstances than most people think. I was told Indian people were gathering in Oglala to discuss the corruption going on, on the reservation. Once there, we were all told the meeting would have to be moved to Wounded Knee, because too many people came. That’s when everything happened. Later, I heard we were tricked into going to Wounded Knee,” Rios said.
“Back then it just seemed like people were asking for me to translate [from Lakota to English] for the media. I translated for AIM, but that does not mean I was a member. I translated for many people,” Rios explained.
Next Rios told the story of how she was thrust into the media spotlight at the Indian take-over of the Mount Rushmore National Memorial in 1970. Rios began, “Elder women asked me to come and help support them on Mount Rushmore. I went, and it was not long before the national television stations just started interviewing me. I did a lot of translating back then. As I was being taken to the media, I heard women saying behind me, “Why does she get to go. She’s not even full-blood.” That is the kind of treatment I have gotten all of these years, not by non-Indians, but by Indians,” Rios explained.
“I was an activist for my family and for the community ever since I came back to Rapid City when I was 15. I tried to do a lot of things for people in this city, but for some reason Indian people would undermine me at every turn. People in my neighborhood used to put flyers in our doors about community meetings. It wasn’t long before I found out they were skipping my house. I think the reason for this is I speak my mind, and I have no fear. And, the reason I have no fear is my life is based on my faith,” Rios said.
Rios spoke of her grandmother, Alice Charging Bear-Conroy, who whisked Rios away to Allen shortly after her birth in Rapid City in 1945. Rios explained, “My grandparents were strict believers in the Holy Trinity. They passed on this way of life to me. Then, I passed this way along to my children.”
“Yes, my home was open to some AIM members, just as it was open to anyone in need. When people would come to town, or are travelling through to powwows, things like that, I would go to my mother’s house while people stayed in mine. The way those AIM people lived was foreign to me like dragging their children all over the country. So, when people came, I packed up my children and went to my mother’s house,” Rios said.
“I didn’t want to expose my children to this different way of living. As a child I was never allowed to mix with other kids who drank alcohol, or did bad things in my grandparents’ view,” Rios added.
“My life has always been about my children and this community [Rapid City],” Rios said. “My daughter was born with a rare blood disease in 1970. I had been accepted at Black Hills State University around that time. I had to quit, because my daughter was sick,” she said.
“That is why it is very hurtful when people print lies about me. I was busy raising my children and caring for other family members, along with sitting on or chairing boards for the community. I had no time for anything else,” Rios stated.
In referring to a recent article written by David Seals, entitled “Interviews with Thelma Rios” dated January 10, 2004, Rios responded, “It’s all lies.”
Seals’ article was brought to Rios’ attention by her daughter. After she read it, Rios debunked everything in it. “The first lie is he [Seals] never interviewed me,” Rios responded. He came to my home to visit one time. At the time I believed he was working with elders on the Bear Butte Council. Now I know he was just trying to make money off of me with his lies,” Rios said.
“I worked with powerful, non-Native people in positions of status over the years,” Rios said. “It was for my community for both Native and non-Native people.”
Part 2
RAPID CITY, S.D. – Two shocked and outraged elder Rapid City women are calling for all Lakota to speak up for Thelma Rios and send prayers to help her.
Lakota women, Maryann Highcrane and Rita Rodgers-Breese called Native Sun News for an interview after reading Part I of this story. Richard Bald Eagle Bear of Rapid City called in response to reports by another news agency.
All three people reported being stunned as the media covered Rios’ arrest on murder charges in connection with the 1975 murder of Anna Mae Aquash.
“I just could not believe it when I saw Thelma was arrested last year,” Highcrane said. “Thelma has done nothing but help people,” Breese added.
Highcrane told how she had been helped by Rios. “It was the late ‘80s. I was sitting on a bench in Roosevelt Park. I had been sitting there all day with nothing to eat. I was homeless and my son, too. I was disabled and had no help. After I was sitting there for hours a brown car pulled up and Thelma came to me saying, “I’ve been looking for you.” She took me to her home. I remember she had foster children there. Later, she bought a perm and cut my hair and fixed it,” Highcrane recalled.
“I put Thelma’s name in at St. Mathews Church. They are all praying for her,” Highcrane said. Breese then said she would put Rios’ name in at a church, also. After exchanging information, both women realized that churches all over the country are praying for Rios.
“I don’t think she was involved in this American Indian Movement,” Breese said. “There were a lot of us that were not involved. We grew up here and we worked and followed the rules,” Breese said of both women.
“This city needed someone like Thelma; someone who would speak up for Indians. My mom, Marie Rodgers, always said good things about Thelma. She used to tell me the Indians need all the help they can get,” Breese said.
Richard Bald Eagle Bear of Rapid City said he is a long-time friend to Rios. He too had called feeling the need to support his friend.
Bald Eagle Bear said he was a live-in boyfriend to Rios from approximately 1978 to 1982. He began, “She was working for the American Indian Service Council. When I would come home from work there were always different people sitting at the kitchen table. At anytime there could be Washington officials, the mayor, elders, and homeless people. I never knew who would be there when I got home.”
Her business was hers and mine was mine. We did manage a relationship for awhile.
With regard to the murder charges, Bald Eagle Bear said, “It was a real surprise to me. Thelma comes from real God-fearing Christian folk. And, that’s the kind of life we lived.”
“Thelma was always disputing electric companies, employment offices, and Lakota Homes to help Indians. There wasn’t time for a relationship,” Bald Eagle Bear explained.
“We are still good friends, and I want to say one more thing. If a person knows Thelma for one day, they know her,” Bald Eagle Bear said.
Rios said her highest grade completed is a GED. She claims to have been accepted at a law college through the United Sioux Tribe, years ago. However, she could not go, because she had a very sick child at the time. She says she is responsible for shutting down a slum lord near Canyon Lake, among many other community accomplishments.
Thelma Conroy-Rios was indicted 09/09/09 on one count of felony murder in relation to kidnapping and one count of premeditated murder in connection to the 1975 slaying of American Indian Movement member, Anna Mae Aquash (according to a press release issued by the South Dakota Office of the Attorney General). Her trial is currently scheduled for November.
– Part one of this story appeared in the Sept. 17 issue of the Native American Times.