Eddie Benton-Banai, co-founder of American Indian Movement, dies aged 89

Benton-Banai spent his life connecting American Indians with their spirituality and promoting sovereignty in wake of alleged police brutality

Eddie Benton-Banai, who helped found the American Indian Movement partly in response to alleged police brutality against Indigenous people, has died. He was 89.

He died Monday at a care center in Hayward, Wisconsin, where he had been staying for months, according to family friend Dorene Day. Day said Benton-Banai had several health issues and had been hospitalized multiple times in recent years.