Bellecourt’s seminal 1971 speech, “Custer died for your sins,” delivered at Augsburg College, offers an unflinching look at forced assimilation and the issues that prompted the Trail of Broken Treaties to begin its caravan a year later. AIM and other groups called for the ability of Native American leaders to create treaties and the abolition of the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA). Bellecourt was honest about his experiences and how the many leaders who came before ensured the survival of Native Americans, who continue to fight to this day for rights that never should’ve been taken from them.

“We feel as a movement today that we owe something in honor of these great leaders that are never recognized in your history books. We feel that we owe them something and we are going to carry out their way of life. What they believe is right and what is wrong for their people. We must do that today,” Bellecourt said in his speech, at one point adding, “We know, as a movement, as Indian people, that we have to be just as militant, just as militant as Crazy Horse, Gall, and the other great chiefs.” Bellecourt called for the involvement of youth activists who he believed would carry that torch first lit by Native American ancestors. It was something he fought for all his life and continued fighting for until prostate cancer forced him to step away from AIM in 2020.

After a dinner held with Bellecourt in 2019, current Minnesota Lt. Gov. Peggy Flanagan praised the activism that finally led to progress and opportunities for young Indigenous folks like her growing up. “I know that I am in the role of lieutenant governor because Clyde Bellecourt cleared a path for so many folks in the American Indian community,” Flanagan said in an interview with the Minneapolis Star-Tribune. She offered similar praise for Bellecourt upon the news of his passing.

Lawmakers throughout Minnesota fondly remembered Bellecourt, including Gov. Tim Waltz, District Attorney Keith Ellison, and Minnesota state Sen. Mary Kunesh, whose words deeply echo Bellecourt’s own hopes for young activists to continue building upon AIM’s work.