(202) 728-1600
misc.headlines@igc.org, conf!talk.politics.misc@igc.org
Subject: ACTION: Free U.S. Political Prisoner Peltier
Original Sender: math.cornell.edu!harelb (misc.activism.progressive
co-moderator)
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"AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL has declared Leonard a prisoner of consci-
ence. Nelson Mandela, Bishop Desmond Tutu, Mother Teresa, Ben
Chavis, Andre Sakharov and other religious and political figures
have acted in support of Peltier. Fifty five congressmembers
signed an Amicus Brief for a new trial in 1985."
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
"The Leonard Peltier Freedom Campaign has begun another offensive
for his freedom...[and] are URGING ALL WHO ARE INTERESTED IN
JUSTICE TO SEND MESSAGES by letter, fax or phone [or email -- see
below] TO THE WHITE HOUSE."
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Background article enclosed; addresses, tels, EMAIL, to write to, near
bottom. -- Harel Barzilai, co-moderator, misc.activism.progressive (MAP)
[I can't read all the newsgroups this is posted to; inquiries by email pls.]
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T h e C o n t i n u i n g I n d i a n W a r s :
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T h e C a s e o f L e o n a r d P e l t i e r
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by Tony Del Plato
From 14850 Magazine -- more info at bottom
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Gwarthee Lass, a.k.a. Leonard Peltier, a Lakota, Anishnabe and Cree,
is America's most famous political prisoner. He is in jail because of
his race and political beliefs. According to Ward Churchill,
Creek/Cherokee Metis historian, "Leonard Peltier is and has been a
member of the American Indian Movement and may thus rightly be
considered as subject to purely political repression on the part of
the U.S. government. First and foremost, however, he is Akacita, a
Lakota warrior, pledged to the perpetual defense of his people against
any and all transgression, whether internally or externally generated.
It is within this context that his story has unfolded and that he and
his circumstances may be best understood." [from the preface to The
Trial of Leonard Peltier by Jim Messerschmidt (South End Press,
1983)].
The Lakota people are suffering continued injustice: land thefts,
forced sterilization of women, rural poverty considered the worst in
the United States, and the highest suicide rate of teenagers in the
nation. This is a case that will not go away.
Peltier has been denied three appeals and the Supreme Court has
refused to hear his case. He has gone through almost every alley of a
legal maze through which the most determined attorney would have been
shaken and discouraged. However, William Kunstler, Bruce Ellison,
Vine Deloria, Jr., Lew Gurwitz, and many other lawyers and volunteers
over the years have, through the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), de
fended the innocence of Leonard Peltier.
Since the Wounded Knee firefight on July 26, 1975 on the Pine Ridge
Oglala Reservation, South Dakota, they have challenged the federal
government's attempts to cover up the fabrication of evidence,
intimidation of witnesses and illegal paramilitary activity by the
Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI). Despite the passage of time,
the issues that caused the firefight and the issues raised in the
aftermath have not been resolved. The issues include treaty rights,
religious freedom, uranium mining and violations of the constitution.
These are the keys to understan ding a case that will not be
forgotten.
On a hot summer day, in what is officially the poorest community in
the United States, two F.B.I. agents and a Native American man were
killed when shooting erupted between the two agents and members of the
American Indian Movement. The tension had been mounting on the
reservation for two years since the Wounded Knee Uprising of 1973,
when about 300 traditional Lakotas and AIM supporters occupied the
village of Wounded Knee to protest tactics of Chairman Richard Wilson
and the self proclaimed GOON (Guardians of the Oglala Nation) squad.
The FBI was training SWAT teams and generally supporting the
oppressive tribal council leader Dick Wilson.
The tension climaxed on June 26, 1975, when Agents Ron Williams and
Jack Coler entered the Jumping Bull Ranch and started to shoot.
American Indians said the agents shot first. The FBI said it is
inconclusive who fired the first shot. Some observers have suggested
that the agents fired the first shot as a signal of a botched raid on
the ranch. Both agents and a Native American, Joe Stuntz, were
killed. Within an hour, the reservation was surrounded and occupied
by the FBI and other law enforcement agencies. The largest manhunt in
U.S. history took place. Despite being surrounded, the men involved
in the firefight escape d.
In November 1976, four men were indicted in the death of the two
agents. Joe Stuntz's death was never investigated. Leonard Peltier,
Jimmy Eagle, Bob Robideau and Dino Butler were charged for the murder
of Agents Williams and Collier. While Butler, Eagle and Robideau were
arrested, Peltier fled to Canada. Of the four, Butler and Robideau
were acquitted and the charges against Eagle were dropped. In a memo
obtained through the Freedom of Information Act, it was revealed that
an Assistant U.S. attorney and members of the prosecution team decided
to drop the charges on Eagle "...in order to direct the full weight of
the prosecution on Peltier." This was the beginning of a concerted
effort by members o f the judicial system and the FBI to extradite,
convict and jail Peltier.
Butler and Robideau pleaded self defense and were acquitted. After
losing this case, the FBI "shopped" for a more sympathetic judge.
They found Federal Judge Paul Benson, who would go along with their
plans for the suppression of evidence favorable to Peltier, and the
muffling of the defense in its attempts to present evidence it had.
Peter Matthiessen's In the Spirit of Crazy Horse (Viking, 1980) tells
a long and winding story behind Leonard's life and arrest. Through
the FOIA, it was learned that evidence had been fabricated in the
extradition of Peltier from Canada. The FBI coerced Myrtle Poor Bear
into signing three false aff idavits stating she was Peltier's lover
and witnessed him kill the agents. She later testified that she did
not know Peltier and was not at the Jumping Bull Ranch the day of the
firefight.
The reign of terror by Dick Wilson and his GOONS continued at Pine
Ridge through 1976-7. And while the arrests and intimidation of
traditional Indians was going on, Wilson signed away to the Department
of the Interior one eighth of the Pine Ridge Reservation which
contained uranium, gas, oil and gravel. At the heart of the Lakota
struggle is the protection of Paha Sapa, the Sacred Black Hills. This
area was guaranteed to the Sioux "...for as long as the grass is
green," in the 1868 Treaty of Fort Laramie, the last treaty the U.S.
government entered into with an indigenous nation. Vine Deloria Jr.
and other legal scholars and historians believe that the treaty making
process was a tactic in the policy of conques t, broken before they
were drawn up.
In 1984, seven years after the original trial, an evidentiary hearing
was held. The shadow over the hearings was Judge Paul Benson. Benson
was responsible for having denied Leonard a fair trial on two previous
occasions.
The firing pin test on an AK 15 alleged to be Leonard's was negative.
The FBI withheld the results, knowing this would have cast doubt on
the government's case against Peltier in 1977. Agent Evan Hodge, a
weapons expert, was caught contradicting his own testimony. After
heated questioning and a brief adjournment, Hodge admitted that
another agent made notes in the margins of his ballistics tests. It
appeared that Leonard might finally be given a new trial. It didn't
happen. Despite the evidence, the doors of justice were again slammed
i n Leonard's face.
There has been a tremendous amount of support for Peltier. Support
groups have sprung up throughout the world. Amnesty International has
declared Leonard a prisoner of consci ence. Nelson Mandela, Bishop
Desmond Tutu, Mother Teresa, Ben Chavis, Andre Sakharov and other
religious and political figures have acted in support of Peltier.
Fifty five congressmembers signed an Amicus Brief for a new trial in
1985. Reps. Don Edwards and Ron Dellums (CA), Sens. Daniel Inouye
(HI) and Brock Adams (WA) have been some of the strongest voices in
both houses supporting a new trial for Peltier .
Two movies by director Michael Apted, one a documentary and the other
fiction, were released in the late 1980s. Incident at Oglala is a
straightforward documentary which details the events and actions which
led to the shootout on June 26, 1975. Thunderheart , also by Apted,
is a fictional recre ation of the incident and offers some insights
into what happened at the Jumping Bull Ranch.
In The Nation magazine (May 13, 1991), Peter Matthiessen had shed
glaring new light on the Peltier c ase. In a story entitled "Who
Really Killed the FBI Men," Matthiessen interviewed "Mr. X" who
admitted to killing the two agents in self defense. Bob Robideau, who
was a witness to the shooting, had set up the meeting. According to
Mr. X, though the agents were wounded, one of them started shooting at
him. He believed no crime was committed. The shooting was in self
defense, the argument which led to the acquittal of Robideau and
Butler.
On July 7, 1993, Judge Daniel Friedman, writing for the Eighth
Circuit Court of Appeals, denied Leonard's appeal, ignoring the facts
and past circuit findings. A former Senior judge on the Eighth
Circuit Court, Gerald Heaney, scolded the FBI and prosecutor for
improper tactics on the reservation, but would not overturn the
convictions. In a letter to Sen. Inouye, Judge Heaney had suggested
that mitigating circumstances could be considered for a presidential
pardon for Peltier. Sen. Brock Adams (WA), in a June 1992 statement,
asked President Bush for executive cleme ncy. This request was never
answered.
The holiday season and new year are traditional times world wide for
political leaders to grant a commutation of a prisoner's sentence in
the spirit of reco nciliation and justice.
The Leonard Peltier Freedom Campaign has begun another offensive for
his freedom. From November 21st to December 24th, 1993, Leonard's
family and friends are urging all who are interested in justice to
send messages by letter, fax or phone to the White House. The
[It's important that even now after Dec 24th we keep the pressure on!
[Please write (address below) or email: president@whitehouse.gov --HB]
messages should urge the President to grant executive clemency to
Leonard Peltier. As well as the letters, resolutions, declarations
and proclamations from tribal councils, unions, churches, schools,
city councils and diverse community groups will be sent to President
Clinton.
Send original letters and resolutions directly to:
President William Clinton
The White House
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue
Washington, DC 20500
[Or email to: president@whitehouse.gov --HB]
Please mail copies to:
The Leonard Peltier Defense Committee
PO Box 583
Lawrence, Kansas 66044.
These copies will be delivered to the President by a delegation of
celebrities, attorneys, spiritual and tribal leaders to be sure that
he hears from everyone.
Today, as native nations within the United States struggle to
decolonize their lives, they must face issues concerning education,
cultural identity and economic development for their communities, as
well as racism, gambling, mining and toxic waste dumps. Justice
demands that the United States government honor its treaties and its
words that there is justice for all in America.
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Tony Del Plato is a long time supporter of the rights of indigenous
peoples and was formerly a member of the Tompkins County (NY) Human
Rights Commission.
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Reprinted with permission from _14850_ Magazine (named after the
Ithaca NY area zip code...). For more information about 14850:
Email: x14850@aol.com
Snail: 104 N. Aurora St., Ithaca, NY 14850
Yearly sub.: $18
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