Remembering the founding of the militant and inspiring American Indian Movement July 28, 1968, and expressing our anger that brother Leonard Peltier is still in prison.
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Archive for the ‘Leonard Peltier’ Category
The Founding of American Indian Movement: Not Gone, Not Silent
Posted by Mike E on July 28, 2010
Posted in AIM (Indian), Indian, Leonard Peltier, Native people | 1 Comment »
35 Years Ago: The Shootout at Oglala
Posted by Mike E on June 28, 2010
The Pine Ridge reservation
Leonard Peltier, activist and leader of the American Indian Movement, has been in prison for decades — accused in the killing of two FBI agents at Oglala on June 26, 1975.
Join Kasama in demanding freedom for Leonard Peltier– in demanding that, at long last, simple justice be done from him and the Native peoples. He has now spent his life in federal prison for dreaming of liberation — unjustly railroaded and subjected to horrific conditions behind bards.
And join with us in telling the true story of the shootout of Oglala — and the workings of this system that condemned Leonard Peltier.
I originally wrote this article twelve years ago as a contribution to the Jericho ’98 Movement. And I have updated it and reedited it repeatedly since then.
It is infuriating that, today, this freedom fighter is still locked in prison, instead of walking the streets among us.
The Railroad of Leonard Peltier
by Mike Ely
For over 36 years the Indian freedom fighter Leonard Peltier has been a target of government attack. He’s been set up by FBI Cointelpro “dirty tricks,” attacked by federal SWAT teams on Indian land, subjected to a national manhunt, illegally smuggled across international borders, railroaded with manufactured evidence, denied religious rights, targeted for assassination in prison, denied basic medical attention and tortured with extreme isolation.
Leonard Peltier has now spent 33 hard years in prison–for the “crime” of defending Indian people from violent government attack. Though it was proven that the FBI manufactured the “evidence” that convicted Leonard of the death of two FBI agents on the Pine Ridge reservation, each court appeal ended in new denials and new insults.
The U.S. government insists that there are, officially, no political prisoners in its dungeons. (Just as they insist “The U.S. does not torture.”)
The U.S. insists there are no political laws that target and punish speech, political activity, dissidents and rebels. But the truth is that the U.S. government has always targeted those who rise up against injustice — they massacred the Native people relentlessly, they assassinated key Native leaders, they have framed and persecuted those who dare to rise up and speak. And this story of Leonard Peltier is a living example of the techniques used to protect this system from exposure, resistance and revolution.
Posted in AIM (Indian), Indian, Leonard Peltier, Mike Ely, Native people, political prisoners, poverty, prison, racism | 1 Comment »
Video: U2 “Native Son”
Posted by onehundredflowers on December 6, 2009
H/T to Rowland Keshena.
The lyrics to this song were inspired by political prisoner, Leonard Peltier. According to producer Steve Lillywhite, Bono felt uncomfortable singing these lyrics in front of an audience, so the politics were stripped out, new lyrics were written, the song was re-arranged and it eventually morphed into the more familiar [and less aesthetically interesting] hit “Vertigo.”
U2 has long been regarded as a politically engaged band [Bono is really the political driving force of the band] that has previously taken stands on war in Ireland, African famine, US intervention in Central America, and more, from a combined viewpoint of pacifism and humanitarianism. In the last two decades, they have been less politically vocal in their music. They haven’t abandoned politics altogether, but their outlook hasn’t really changed.
This song may be the first recorded instance of them addressing a politically controversial issue that may have put them at odds with the US government, and perhaps some of Bono’s corporate allies in his individual political efforts. Even though they backed away from releasing this, it was a notable step.
And it rocks.
Lyrics:
Posted in >> analysis of news, AIM (Indian), Leonard Peltier, music, Native people, video | 5 Comments »
Leonard Peltier: I am Barack Obama’s Political Prisoner Now
Posted by Mike E on September 12, 2009
This article was first published on CounterPunch.org. It speaks for itself… powerfully. We have added this to our “Obama List.“ Kasama’s other coverage of Leonard Peltier — his activism, his original persecution and frame-up, and his struggle as a prisoner. (Thanks to Ka Frank for immediately notifying Kasama when this appeared.)
The Denial of My Parole
I Am Barack Obama’s Political Prisoner Now
By Leonard Peltier
The United States Department of Justice has once again made a mockery of its lofty and pretentious title.
After releasing an original and continuing disciple of death cult leader Charles Manson who attempted to shoot President Gerald Ford, an admitted Croatian terrorist, and another attempted assassin of President Ford under the mandatory 30-year parole law, the U.S. Parole Commission deemed that my release would “promote disrespect for the law.”
If only the federal government would have respected its own laws, not to mention the treaties that are, under the U.S. Constitution, the supreme law of the land, I would never have been convicted nor forced to spend more than half my life in captivity. Not to mention the fact that every law in this country was created without the consent of Native peoples and is applied unequally at our expense. If nothing else, my experience should raise serious questions about the FBI’s supposed jurisdiction in Indian Country.
The parole commission’s phrase was lifted from soon-to-be former U.S. Attorney Drew Wrigley, who apparently hopes to ride with the FBI cavalry into the office of North Dakota governor. In this Wrigley is following in the footsteps of William Janklow, who built his political career on his reputation as an Indian fighter, moving on up from tribal attorney (and alleged rapist of a Native minor) to state attorney general, South Dakota governor, and U.S. Congressman. Some might recall that Janklow claimed responsibility for dissuading President Clinton from pardoning me before he was convicted of manslaughter. Janklow’s historical predecessor, George Armstrong Custer, similarly hoped that a glorious massacre of the Sioux would propel him to the White House, and we all know what happened to him.
Unlike the barbarians that bay for my blood in the corridors of power, however, Native people are true humanitarians who pray for our enemies. Yet we must be realistic enough to organize for our own freedom and equality as nations. We constitute 5% of the population of North Dakota and 10% of South Dakota and we could utilize that influence to promote our own power on the reservations, where our focus should be. If we organized as a voting bloc, we could defeat the entire premise of the competition between the Dakotas as to which is the most racist. In the 1970s we were forced to take up arms to affirm our right to survival and self-defense, but today the war is one of ideas. We must now stand up to armed oppression and colonization with our bodies and our minds. International law is on our side.
Posted in >> analysis of news, Barack Obama, Barack Obama, Indian, Leonard Peltier, Native people, organizing, political prisoners, prison, racism | 1 Comment »
Friends of Peltier: Now Waiting After Leonard’s Hearing
Posted by Mike E on July 30, 2009
Free Leonard Peltier
Miles Ahead suggested posting the following report from Friends of Peltier:
Greetings from Lewisburg, PA.
As you know, Leonard’s parole hearing was today. The attorney Eric Seitz is very hopeful about the outcome of the hearing.
The government brought nothing new to the table and made it clear that their position is that Leonard should never be released despite his being eligible for parole. That, of course, is about nothing but revenge.
Peter Matthiessen (“In the Spirit of Crazy Horse“) was a witness today. He’s attended many of the hearings, appeals, etc., over the years. He felt the examiner was attentive and open to what was being said on Leonard’s behalf. He’s also feeling positive.
We’re also told Leonard handled the Q&A (for about 45 minutes) very well.
Posted in Leonard Peltier, Native people, political prisoners, prison, racism | Leave a Comment »
Leonard Peltier’s Parole Hearing
Posted by Mike E on July 30, 2009
Ka Frank suggested the following on the parole hearing and the demonstration outside it (from The Daily Item). Leonard Peltier is a prominent and much beloved political prisoner who just faced his first possibility of parole in many years.
Rally calls for justice for Leonard Peltier
By Brett R. Crossley
LEWISBURG July 28, 2009 – Protesters lined the southwest corner of Route 15 and William Penn Drive to fight for the release of Leonard Peltier as his second parole hearing was held Tuesday afternoon.
“The reason we are here is to bring attention to the illegal, immoral and unjust incarceration of Leonard Peltier that has been going on for 35 years,” said Dave Hill, organizer of the protest. “Today, there is a parole hearing, and he could be freed this time. We are here in solidarity with the people trying to free him, and we are here in solidarity with Leonard Peltier.”
Peltier, who is serving two life sentences for the deaths of two FBI agents during a 1975 standoff in South Dakota’s Pine Ridge Indian Reservation, is being held in the Lewisburg Penitentiary. William Penn Drive leads to the institution in Kelly Township, Union County.
Posted in Leonard Peltier, Native people, political prisoners, prison | 3 Comments »
Mumia Abu Jamal: Free Leonard Peltier
Posted by Mike E on July 30, 2009
A statement from Mumia, who is himself on death row in Pennsylvania. It was given as Leonard’s parole hearing approached.
Posted in Human rights, Leonard Peltier, Native people, police, political prisoners, prison, racism, video | 3 Comments »
Video: Renaud’s “Liberté Pour Léonard Peltier”
Posted by Mike E on July 30, 2009
Chanson pour tous les prisonniers politique (en francaise)
Posted in Human rights, Indian, Leonard Peltier, music, Native people, political prisoners, prison, racism, video | Leave a Comment »
Video: Buggin Malone’s “The Beat Goes on…Tribute to Leonard Peltier”
Posted by Mike E on July 30, 2009
Created and performed by Buggin Malone
Posted in civil liberties, Human rights, Indian, Leonard Peltier, music, Native people, political prisoners, prison, racism, video | Leave a Comment »
Parole Hearing: Free Leonard Peltier!
Posted by John Steele on July 25, 2009
Leonard Peltier, the political prisoner imprisoned for more than 30 years, will have his first parole hearing in 15 years this Tuesday, on July 28.
For more information the several sites devoted to this miliant of the Native peoples struggle, his political life, his outrageous persecution and frameup (here and here, and on Kasama.
The parole hearing will be held in Lewisburg, Pennsylvania, and this will also be the site of a protest and vigil. More informartion here.
A sunrise prayer vigil and rally will also be held in San Francisco, at the Federal Building 450 Golden Gate Avenue, beginning at 6am and continuing until 3pm.
* * * * * *
Following is a letter recently written by Leonard Peltier to friends and supporters.
Greetings my friends and relatives,
I want to start off this statement or speech or whatever you want to call it by saying again as I’ve said before thank you thank you thank you from the bottom of my heart for supporting me and for standing up for right wherever you are. I can’t express to you in words how extremely grateful I am not just to the people of America but to the people all over the world who have supported the cause of Indian people and myself.
Posted in >> analysis of news, AIM (Indian), Human rights, Indian, Leonard Peltier, political prisoners | 10 Comments »
Mike Ely: The Railroad of Leonard Peltier
Posted by Mike E on June 15, 2009
Cheyenne Assimilation, painted by Linda D., 1993
Join Kasama in demanding freedom for Leonard Peltier– in demanding that, at long last, simple justice be done from him and the Native peoples. Write the Parole Board and sign this petition urging his release.Remember: the forces opposed to his freedom are also mobilizing.
Petitions are also being circulated urging clemency and urging Congress to investigate FBI misconduct on Pine Ridge and the “reign of terror” that existed between 1973 and 1976.
This article was written ten years ago as part of the Jericho ’98 Movement. It is infuriating that, today, more than ten years later, this freedom fighter is still locked in prison, instead of walking the streets among us. (Originally published in the Revolutionary Worker, issue #949. It has been updated and reedited by the author.)
The Railroad of Leonard Peltier
by Mike Ely
For over 36 years the Indian freedom fighter Leonard Peltier has been a target of government attack. He’s been set up by FBI Cointelpro “dirty tricks,” attacked by federal SWAT teams on Indian land, subjected to a national manhunt, illegally smuggled across international borders, railroaded with manufactured evidence, denied religious rights, targeted for assassination in prison, denied basic medical attention and tortured with extreme isolation.
Leonard Peltier has now spent 33 hard years in prison–for the “crime” of defending Indian people from violent government attack. Though it was proven that the FBI manufactured the “evidence” that convicted Leonard of the death of two FBI agents on the Pine Ridge reservation, each court appeal ended in new denials and new insults.
The U.S. government insists that there are, officially, no political prisoners in its dungeons. (Just as they insist “The U.S. does not torture.”)
The U.S. insists there are no political laws that target and punish speech, political activity, dissidents and rebels. But the truth is that the U.S. government has always targeted those who rise up against injustice — they massacred the Native people relentlessly, they assassinated key Native leaders, they have framed and persecuted those who dare to rise up and speak. And this story of Leonard Peltier is a living example of the techniques used to protect this system from exposure, resistance and revolution.
Posted in >> analysis of news, AIM (Indian), civil liberties, cointelpro, Indian, Leonard Peltier, Mike Ely, military, Native people, police, political prisoners, prison | 13 Comments »
Leonard Peltier: 1994 Interview from Leavenworth Prison
Posted by Mike E on June 14, 2009
Leonard Peltier
In 1994, Mike Ely interviewed Leonard Peltier by telephone from the federal prison at Leavenworth, Kansas. Leonard had been serving two life sentences–railroaded for the killing of two FBI agents in the famous 1975 Oglala shootout between American Indian Movement activists and federal authorities on the Pine Ridge Reservation. Prison authorities limit Leonard Peltier’s calls to 15 minutes, so we had to talk fast.
This interview was first published as a Revolutionary Worker Interview on June 26, 1994. It is painful, and infuriating, to read his thoughts after his 1993 parole hearing — which denied him freedom. He is now, fifteen years later, facing his next parole hearing — still in federal prison 33 years after the outrageous legal railroad.
In the intervening years, Leonard and his tireless supporters had hoped that he would receive release from the Clinton administration — especially as they granted the traditional clemencies when they left office. It was a bitter disappointment then too, when Bill Clinton pardoned some political prisoners and some of his own political cronies but left Leonard Peltier to rot in prison.
Now Leonard is facing a new parole hearing on July 27, 2009. We urge you to actively support his efforts for freedom.
Tomorrow we will post Mike Ely’s piece “The Railroad of Leonard Peltier.”
*****
Leonard Peltier: Hi. This is Leonard Peltier.
Mike Ely: Glad to hear your voice, man. How are you doing?
Leonard Peltier: Alright, bro.
Mike Ely: I guess we have to get right down to work.
Leonard Peltier: Yes, please. I only have fifteen minutes.
Mike Ely: Last November and December [1993] the Parole Board put you and your legal team through quite a circus. Would you like to tell us about that?
Leonard Peltier: On December 14, 1993 I made my first appearance before the Parole Board here in Leavenworth United States Penitentiary. In a four-hour hearing we presented our side. They first tried typical illegal tactics by attempting to have an FBI agent present. My attorney Ramsey Clark demanded that he leave the room.
But the end result was that they’d already made their minds up. They gave me a fifteen-year hit — said I would not be reviewed for another fifteen years. In other words, the eighteen years that I already have spent in prison is not enough. And in fact, they have even stolen another year of that–so they are only giving me credit for seventeen years.
Posted in Leonard Peltier, Mike Ely, Native people, political prisoners, prison | 4 Comments »
