Arlene “Choach” Goings-Means

Arlene “Choach” Goings-Means (1950-2012) was an outgoing, straight-talking young Oglala woman from Pine Ridge. She was just 18 and in nursing school in Albuquerque, New Mexico when she heard about the occupation of Alcatraz, led by Indians of All Tribes (1969-1971). Although Goings-Means abandoned her studies to join them, her father quickly had her removed by the Coast Guard and returned to school. By the time the Wounded Knee occupation began four years later, she was an active member of AIM and living at home on Pine Ridge. Later in life, she served as an attorney at the Oglala Lakota Court System in Pine Ridge, winning many of her cases. Goings-Means also acted in several movies including Dances with Wolves, Son of the Morning Star, Skins, and Lakota Woman.

Inside Wounded Knee, Choach and Regina Brave dug the first trench. Goings-Means also worked at the medic station and helped prepare and distribute food rations for the different camps inside Wounded Knee. She often looked after the grandmas inside Wounded Knee and taxied them to nearby protests.

She recalls, “So, I am taking care of all the old ladies, driving them to the protest at Custer. I am driving Aunt Agnes (LaMont), Grandma Sally Hat and Grandma Elsie Gibbons and there was another little grandmother Nellie Red Owl that came with us. But with all the bathroom stops, and then we had to pull over to eat, it took a long time to get there. By the time we got to Custer, my brother (Milo Goings) was already handcuffed and laying on the ground. So my aunt Agnes went over and took her pillow and stuck it under his head.”