<P> Also in 1971, AIM began to highlight and protest problems with the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA), which administered programs and land trusts for Native Americans . The group briefly occupied BIA headquarters in Washington, DC . A brief arrest, reversal of charges for "unlawful entry" and a meeting with Louis Bruce, the Mohawk / Lakota BIA Commissioner, ended AIM's first event in the capital . In 1972, activists marched across country on the "Trail of Broken Treaties" and took over the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA), occupying it for several days and doing millions of dollars in damage . </P> <P> AIM developed a 20 - point list to summarize its issues with federal treaties and promises, which they publicized during their occupation in 1972 . Twelve points addressed treaty responsibilities which the protesters believed the U.S. government had failed to fulfill: </P> <Ul> <Li> Restore treaty - making (ended by Congress in 1871); </Li> <Li> Establish a treaty commission to make new treaties (with sovereign Native Nations); </Li> <Li> Provide opportunities for Indian leaders to address Congress directly; </Li> <Li> Review treaty commitments and violations; </Li> <Li> Have unratified treaties reviewed by the Senate; </Li> <Li> Ensure that all American Indians are governed by treaty relations; </Li> <Li> Provide relief to Native Nations as compensation for treaty rights violations; </Li> <Li> Recognize the right of Indians to interpret treaties; </Li> <Li> Create a Joint Congressional Committee to reconstruct relations with Indians; </Li> <Li> Restore 110 million acres (450,000 km) of land taken away from Native Nations by the United States; </Li> <Li> Restore terminated rights of Native Nations; </Li> <Li> Repeal state jurisdiction on Native Nations (Public Law 280); </Li> <Li> Provide Federal protection for offenses against Indians; </Li> <Li> Abolish the Bureau of Indian Affairs; </Li> <Li> Create a new office of Federal Indian Relations; </Li> <Li> Remedy breakdown in the constitutionally prescribed relationships between the United States and Native Nations; </Li> <Li> Ensure immunity of Native Nations from state commerce regulation, taxes, and trade restrictions; </Li> <Li> Protect Indian religious freedom and cultural integrity; </Li> <Li> Establish national Indian voting with local options; free national Indian organizations from governmental controls; and </Li> <Li> Reclaim and affirm health, housing, employment, economic development, and education for all Indian people . </Li> </Ul> <Li> Restore treaty - making (ended by Congress in 1871); </Li>

The american indian movement (aim) and the civil rights movement