A Leader in Exile
Leonard Peltier has served 14 years for fear. White man's
fear. He sits in the darkness of Kansas' Leavenworth prison
patiently painting the life he wants and deserves to live.
Peltier is dangerous. He's dangerous because he represents
an image of Native solidarity, Native pride and Native fortitude.
It's an image governments on both sides of the 49th parallel have
constantly tried to deflect, deny and denounce. Safer to have the
Indians painted as divided, humbled and dependent. It makes
anachronistic policies much easier to slip by the unsuspecting and
all-to-naive eyes of the country.
In 1977 Peltier was sentenced to two consecutive life terms
for the shooting deaths of two FBI agents in June 1975 on the Pine
Ridge reservation in South Dakota. Curiously, the two co-accused,
arrested and tried on the same information, were found not guilty
because of inconclusive evidence.
Earlier, after having fled to Canada, Peltier was
extradited to the U.S. to face the charges based on evidence
provided by the FBI. The agency provided an affidavit from a
witness who claimed to have seen Peltier shoot the agent at close
range. The witness, a psychologically unstable woman named Myrtle
Poor Bear, said the FBI used threats against her to elicit the
testimony. Despite the overwhelming outcry from Native supporters,
both parliamentary and public, Canada refused to challenge the
extradition and Peltier was tried and convicted.
After a lengthy appeal process, Peltier's case was
dismissed in 1987. Throughout the course of the proceedings he
claimed innocence and evidence provided by the FBI was constantly
challenged for its shallowness and inconsistency. A newly filed
write of habeas corpus in Fargo, S.D. holds some promise for
renewal of proceeding but Peltier supporters aren't exactly buoyed
by optimism after 14 years of wrangling.
What may help considerably is the re-release of Peter
Matthiessen book, In the Spirit of Crazy Horse. Initially
published in 1983, the book denounced Peltier's imprisonment and
called for a new trial. Two months after its appearances it was
pulled from the shelves because of a pair of lawsuits file against
both Matthiessen and his publisher, Viking Press.
Former South Dakota Governor William Janklow and FBI
special agent David Price claimed the book defamed them. The two
suits totalled $49 million and made the action the most expensive
libel suit in publishing history.
Janklow's suit was dismissed in 1984, a subsequent appeal
was dismissed and Price's suit was dropped in 1990. When Janklow
failed to respond to the 90-day appeal limit in October 1990, the
door was opened for a reissue of In the Spirit of Crazy Horse.
Matthiessen has written an epilogue to the original text. It
outlines conversations with a certain Mr. X who claims to be the
agents' real killer. Mr. X's confession is collaborated by
Peltier's co-accused Bob Robideau who saw the killing take place.
Both Peltier and Robideau have known all along who the real killer
is, but have refused to identify him.
As it stands, Mr. X is not going to come forward and
confess to the slayings. Peltier supporters feel that to do so
would simply result in his death or imprisonment right alongside
Peltier, who wouldn't gain his freedom, either.
Conveniently, Peltier's convictions were for aiding and
abetting in the murders since inconclusive evidence couldn't
pinpoint him as the actual killer. Mr. X's confession would not,
therefore, change his status.
The book, however does point to the garbled manner in which
both Canadian and U.S. justice systems have denied Peltier his
legal rights. It outlines the rigors of resistance and details the
emergence and growth of the American Indian Movement as a peoples'
movement.
And that's why Peltier is dangerous. To free him is
tantamount to admitting wrongdoing and recognizing the solidarity
of Native groups across North America that have fought long and
hard to see justice implemented.
They've kept him as a leader in exile long enough for the
legend to form, Leonard Peltier defense committees in Canada and
the U.S. have focused international attention on his plight and the
pressure for a resolution to the situation increase with the years.
In the Spirit of Crazy Horse is an enraging book. Leonard
Peltier was set up as a fall guy by the FBI that has never been
able to establish either his guilt or its rightful presence on the
Pine Ridge reservation that summer morning in 1975.
It's on bookshelves now and should be read by anyone
interested in how governments and justice systems confront Native
people strong enough to stand up for their rights.
Eagle Feathers: to author Peter Mathiessen for the perservance
through eight years of adversity.
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Michele Lord * Walk in Peace with
(milo@scicom.alphacdc.com) * our Mother Earth
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