AIM Takeover of Fairchild Camera and Instrument Corporation (1975)

such as a reporter Jim Tarazas, in this case. It's cut three George Roberts' aim-spokesman about March 13th or 14th. This is a portion of a letter which is addressed to Mars Thompson, Bureau of Indian Affairs Washington, D.C. The employment situation in the Navajo Nation is a disgrace and an indictment of the U.S. government's management of Indian Affairs. We cannot, should not, force Fairchild to reopen the plant to continue illegal subsidy payments, which liken the performance to one of Fairchild's overseas operations. Instead, the Bureau and the tribe have an unusual opportunity. Currently, there are 1700 trained assembly workers at Shiprock. The tribe owns the land, building, and fixtures. Fairchild may own some equipment, but much may have been supplied G.F.E. under Department of Defense and Government contracts. We feel that the plant should be reopened by the tribe with the government's direct assistance in providing management consultants to train Indian management personnel. All Department of Defense or government contracts with Fairchild should be redirected to the Navajo plant immediately,

thereby opening a direct economic base for plant operation. Failure to take the initiative in this urgent situation will only answer the suffering of the Navajo people. Okay, this is a true-dell press conference. It was about a day or two after the Indians left the Fairchild plant. But we have to have issues with the reporting box. We have to have objective journalism against this issue. We don't have to have a press for just to save the haven't implemented it. We can't avoid the image and the stereotype of the American Indian people. We're not talking about stereotype. We're talking about issues. We didn't go into Fairchild because we were a bunch of militants. We went into the Fairchild Corporation because the Fairchild Corporation has been exploiting its Navajo employees and the Navajo tribe in general. We can prove it. All right? There are officials, there are people that have documents in their hands at this time that are going to take action on it.

All the coverage I see on this whole thing at this point is aim gets amnesty. Well, let's clear this. Aim did not ask for him. This was never one of our issues or one of our demands. The issues were at the beginning and they remained Fairchild and the exploitation of the Navajo tribe.