Why Peltier should be freed
Excerpts from a talk by San Diego ANSWER leader Carl
Muhammad at a meeting in Los Angeles on political
prisoners.
Free Leonard Peltier! This great person is a
citizen of the Anishinabe and Lakota nations, a father, a
grandfather, an artist, a writer and an Indigenous rights
activist. He has spent the last 27 years in prison for a crime
he did not commit.
Schoolteachers, activists, congresspersons, dip lomats,
actors, musicians, laborers and housewives have come out in
support of him and call his incarceration a grave miscarriage
of justice.
His humanity and love for his people led him to assist the
Oglala Lakota people of the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in
South Dakota in the mid-1970s. Members of the American Indian
Movement, along with local traditionalists, carried out a
72-day occupation of Wounded Knee to protest injustices against
their tribes, violations of the many treaties, and current
abuses and repression against their people.
After a government-sponsored military-style assault against
the protesters, various officials promised hearings on local
conditions and treaty violations. These hearings were never
convened.
The next three years came to be known as the "Reign of
Terror." The FBI carried out repeated arrests, harassment and
legal proceedings against AIM leaders and supporters, with the
collaboration of tribal chairperson Dick Wilson. At least 64
local Native people were brutally murdered. Three hundred were
harassed, beaten or otherwise abused. All the victims were
either affiliated with AIM or allies.
In May 1975, disputes were building on Pine Ridge over the
Black Hills and strip-mining. Multinational corporations wanted
to pro spect for uranium. Dick Wilson supported the efforts,
but traditionalists were very much opposed.
On June 26, 1975, two FBI agents entered the Jumping Bull
ranch, allegedly to arrest a young Native American, Jimmy
Eagle. No one knows who began shooting first, AIM supporters or
the agents, but when the skirmish ended, the two agents and a
Native man were dead.
Today, the U.S. attorney admits that no one knows who fired
the fatal shots. Freedom of Information Act documents show that
the FBI attack had apparently been planned.
Leonard Peltier was one of several high-level AIM leaders
present during the shootout. Murder charges were brought
against him, Dino Butler, Bob Robideau and Jimmy Eagle. Butler
and Robideau stood trial separately from Peltier, who fled to
Canada. At the trial of Butler, the jury found both men not
guilty on grounds of self-defense.
Leonard was extradited from Canada. On April 18, 1977, after
a trial filled with inconsistencies, Leonard was convicted of
murder and later was sentenced to two consecutive life
terms.
From behind bars he has helped estabish scholarships for
Native students and special programs for Indigenous youth. He
has served on the advisory board of the Rosenberg Fund for
Children, and has sponsored children in Central America. He has
donated to battered women's shelters, organized the annual
Chris tmas drive for the people of Pine Ridge Reservation, and
promoted prisoner art programs.
Recently he wrote a letter of solidarity to Cuba and its
revolutionary leader Fidel Castro, calling for an end to
subversion and aggression against the Cuban government and
people.
He has accepted the California Peace and Freedom Party
nomination to run for president of the United States in
2004.
Reprinted from the Dec. 4, 2003, issue of
Workers World newspaper
This article is copyright under a Creative
Commons License.
Workers World, 55 W. 17 St., NY, NY 10011
Email: ww@workers.org
Subscribe wwnews-subscribe@workersworld.net
Support independent news http://www.workers.org/orders/donate.php)
HOME
:: U.S. NEWS ::
WORLD NEWS ::
EDITORIALS ::
SUBSCRIBE ::
DONATE
Email
this article
Printable
page