Political Matters: Native Issues in the Halls of Government

Free Peltier!

Relatives of imprisoned American Indian Movement (AIM) activist Leonard Peltier have launched a new effort to gain his freedom. Peltier's sister, Betty Ann Peltier-Solano, and niece, Kari Ann Cowan, have revived the Peltier defense group and renamed it the Leonard Peltier Defense Offense Committee, according to a recent Associated Press story.  (The new Peltier Defense website can be found at:www.whoisleonardpeltier.info.)

Peltier, 64, who is serving two consecutive life sentences for the murder of two FBI agents during a 1975 shootout on the Pine Ridge reservation in South Dakota, has been behind bars now for nearly 33 years. He is being held in the federal prison at Lewisburg, Penn. In a case rife with legal misconduct by the FBI and other law enforcement and judicial authorities, it is time for Peltier to be released. In a letter sent to his supporters on Nov. 5, Peltier joined in the hope that the incoming Obama administration will facilitate progressive social change in America. He also noted that he is eligible for parole under the "30-year law" of the parole guidelines that were in effect when he was imprisoned.

Peltier had hopes for a commutation of his sentence when Bill Clinton left office in 2001; however, Clinton bowed to pressure from the FBI and former South Dakota governor Bill Janklow and took no action regarding Peltier.

Regarding the new defense committee structure, Peltier wrote: "I had to turn to my sister and niece to help me rebuild my defense committee from scratch. We had no files, records, and merchandise. We have not been able to make contact with the former coordinator of the LPDC. We are still hoping to resolve this issue, but until then we needed to keep moving with the campaign."

On Nov. 28, several dozen Peltier supporters gathered in front of the federal courthouse in Fargo, North Dakota, where Peltier was convicted by a jury 31 years ago. Among those who addressed the crowd was Russell Means, who said that he spoke with Peltier recently by phone. "You can tell how lonesome he is. He didn't want to get off the phone. It teared me up," Means told those at the demonstration, according to an AP report.

Peltier concluded his Nov. 5 letter by expressing the hope that people will learn about his case and work for his freedom. He wrote: "If there really is a change in the air, we will need each other to bring about change in so many other areas. For me it has been about our culture and right to be who we are, but foremost it has been the children and the next generation. We were supposed to leave a better world behind for them and how much have we accomplished? I know that somehow and some way my sacrifice will not be in vain, and that the years I've endured this pain of loneliness and suffering in confinement will make a better world for those children and coming generations."

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