Debra White Plume
Debra White Plume (, August 20, 1954 – November 10, 2020) was a Lakota political activist and water protector. She fought to protect the traditional Oglala Lakota way of life. Biography White Plume was born and raised on the Pine Ridge Reservation and was a member of the Oglala Lakota tribe. Her father was John Baptiste Reshaw, and her mother was Bernice Ione (Swallow) Stone. In 1973, she was one of the first persons to join the American Indian Movement's Wounded Knee Occupation, which took place on her reservation in southwest South Dakota. White Plume founded Owe Aku (Bring Back the Way) in 1999, an advocacy group dedicated to cultural preservation and protecting Lakota treaty rights through nonviolent direct action. She was the executive director of the group until her death. Her group also advocated for sobriety amongst Native Americans with the controversial slogan, "Sober Indian, Dangerous Indian," which she describes as the empowerment of oneself through traditional teachings with "a mind free of manipulation, and clear thinking that creates an Indian who dares to stand up for the rights of his or her people and the rights of Mother Earth." In 2011, she was arrested outside the White House