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Beiträge, die mit leonardpeltier getaggt sind
The AIM Song of Anguish
"Though my family was skeptical of, and kept AIM at a distance, I grew up singing the AIM song. I've sung it at actions throughout the world, my grandma Roberta would always want to sing it, her barely audible voice at the drum belying her fierce power, I've sung it with both #RussellMeans (confronting the racist #ColumbusDay parade in Denver) and with #DennisBanks (too many times to recall) and faceless and nameless warriors on many frontlines. Though its provenance is not known, the story I recall that it was spiritual gift to rally AIM warrior during the liberation of #WoundedKnee.
"In analyzing #IndigenousPower and #DirectAction, it's vital to examine the context of strategies, tactics, and State repression that comprises the ongoing legality of #IndigenousResistance, particularly with the historically vital force of the American Indian Movement (AIM).
"Though there are many examples, #LeonardPeltier's false imprisonment for the alleged murder of two #FBI agents in 1975 and the clouded assassination of #AnnaMaePictouAquash are important markers.
"Anna Mae Pictou-Aquash, a strong #Mikmaq warrior with AIM, was found murderd in 1974 in Wanblee on the #PineRidge reservation in 'South Dakota'. Pictou-Aquash is also a symbol of the Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women [#MMIW], Girls, Trans, and #TwoSpirit movement today.
"Accusations of her murder first pointed to the FBI and later, as AIM members revealed how paranoia of infiltrators had gripped the leadership intensely, rumors surfaced that AIM had her killed. This was a time when bad-jacking (making someone look like a snitch or informant even though they aren't) tactics by feds as part of #COINTELPRO was proving to be an effective tactic against revelutionary groups."
Pages 179-180, #KleeBenally, #NoSpiritualSurrender
#IndigenousAnarchy
#Ecosystem
#DefendTheSacred
#CorporateColonialism #FreeLeonardPeltier #AnnaMaePictouAquash #AnnaMaeAquash #ACAB
https://www.blackagendareport.com/statement-julia-wright-liaising-mumia-abu-jamal-international-collectives-leonard-peltier-official
#FreeMumiaAbuJamal #FreeLeonardPeltier #FreeThemAll
Mike Baughman July 20, 2016
"So much time has passed that many Americans have forgotten, if they ever knew, what happened to an American Indian named Leonard Peltier, who has spent more than 40 years confined in various federal penitentiaries. This summer, a group of his family members and friends are traveling the country in an attempt to salvage what remains of his life, and to remind us all that no statute of limitations pertains to the application of justice.
"Peltier’s ordeal began when two FBI agents, Ron Williams and Jack Coler, were shot to death on South Dakota’s Pine Ridge Reservation in 1975. No one familiar with the details of the case believes that Leonard committed the murders, and Peter Matthiessen explored this miscarriage of justice in his 1983 book In the Spirit of Crazy Horse. Dee Brown, author of Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee, called Matthiessen’s book 'the first solidly documented account of the U.S. government’s renewed assault upon American Indians that began in the 1970s.'
"The plain truth is that with two FBI agents shot dead on an Indian reservation, the government needed a conviction. At Peltier’s trial before an all-white jury, prosecutors used false testimony against him, some of it obtained through torture. One particularly repugnant example: The FBI produced affidavits by a woman named Mabel Poor Bear, who said she was Leonard’s girlfriend and claimed to have seen him shoot Williams and Coler at close range. But Poor Bear had never met Leonard, didn’t even know what he looked like, and was proved to have been nowhere near the scene of the murders. When she tried to recant her testimony, claiming that the FBI had threatened to take her child away if she didn’t sign the affidavit, the judge refused to hear her testimony.
"Amnesty International classifies Leonard as a political prisoner. Some of his other defenders include Nelson Mandela, the Dalai Lama, Archbishop Desmond Tutu, and Robert Cantuar, a former archbishop of Canterbury. Michael Apted produced an acclaimed documentary film exploring the case, Incident at Oglala, which was narrated by Robert Redford.
"Despite the FBI’s fraudulent evidence and perjured testimony, Peltier remains in federal prison. He went in as a 31-year-old and is now 71. He’s been transferred often, from Leavenworth, Kansas, to Terre Haute, Indiana, to Lewisburg, Pennsylvania, to Canaan, Pennsylvania, back to Lewisburg, and finally to Florida. Everywhere he’s been, inmates have jumped and beaten him, likely with the collusion of guards. Now he is going blind from diabetes, suffers from kidney failure and is susceptible to strokes. Ed Little Crow, a Lakota living in Oregon, says that all Peltier wants 'is a chance to see his family and work on old cars. If that dignified black man who’s president doesn’t pardon him, he’ll die in prison. This is his last chance.'
"When Peltier was sentenced, the applicable law stated that an inmate with a good record should, after 30 years, be released. His record was good, but, instead of freedom, his parole board gave him another 15-year sentence. His next hearing is scheduled for 2024.
"Before his second term ended, President Bill Clinton, under pressure from Hawaii Sen. Daniel Inouye and billionaire philanthropist David Geffen, among others, was expected to grant executive clemency. But after several hundred FBI agents, along with the dead agents’ family members, demonstrated outside the White House, Clinton on his last day in office pardoned a financier named Marc Rich instead. Rich had been indicted for tax evasion and illegal oil deals, including a purchase of $200 million worth of oil from Ayatollah Khomeini’s Iran while 53 Americans were being held hostage there, and selling oil to the apartheid regime in South Africa despite a U.N. embargo. Geffen called Rich’s pardon 'a sign of corrupted values.'
"On my last trip to South Dakota, I visited the Pine Ridge Reservation. In the town of Pine Ridge, I talked to the man I’d come to see and then drove north to Wounded Knee, where I spent the long afternoon alone. There was a pleasantly cool north wind and a clear blue sky. I walked and thought. This quiet place was where, in 1890, the U.S. 7th Cavalry surrounded an encampment of Lakotas, and for no justifiable reason opened fire. By some estimates, as many as 300 Indian men, women and children were slaughtered by the time the firing finally stopped. To make a foul deed even worse, at least 20 of the soldiers who participated in this senseless massacre were awarded the Medal of Honor.
"There’s nothing anyone can ever do about what happened at Wounded Knee. But, though very belatedly, something can still be done about Leonard Peltier. I hope President Obama sets this man free. "
Original article:
https://www.hcn.org/issues/48-12/how-leonard-peltier-has-unjustly-spent-forty-years-in-prison-and-why-its-time-to-change-that/
Archived version:
https://archive.ph/NPKLS
#FreeLeonardPeltier #MabelPoorBear #PineRidge #WoundedKnee #PineRidgeReservation #FBI #ACAB #BuryMyHeartAtWoundedKnee #InTheSpiritOfCrazyHorse #PoliticalPrisoner #AIM #PerjuredTestimony
Dec. 18, 2024
"CODEPINK calls for the pardon of several political prisoners, activists, lawyers and other individuals who faced targeted prosecution or unjust imprisonment. President Biden has just over 30 days left in the Oval Office where he can exercise his pardon power. In recent weeks, he pardoned his own son, fraudsters, and a former judge who took millions in kickbacks to send children to prison under false charges. We demand President Biden issue pardons to whistleblowers, truth tellers, activists, and land-defenders such as:
#LeonardPeltier
#StevenDonziger
#AssataShakur
#MumiaAbu-Jamal
#JulianAssange
#EdwardSnowden
#JohnKiriakou
#JamilAlAmin
#KamauSadiki
#ShukriAbuBaker
#GhassanElashi
"CODEPINK believes that to build a more just and peaceful world, we have to protect the people and our planet. The United States has a long history of repression, unjust prosecution, and wrongful imprisonment of activists who strive to make the world a better place.
"Figures like Julian Assange, Edward Snowden, John Kiriakou and other whistleblowers who faced prosecution for telling the world the truth about the US military, CIA torture, or the US surveillance apparatus have done the people of the world a great service. Their bravery and great personal sacrifice shed a light on grave injustices that were being carried out in the name of the American people without their knowledge.
"Indigenous activists like Leonard Peltier who’s case was riddled with recanted statements from key witnesses and other due process issues, is serving two consecutive life sentences at the age of 80. He’s been in prison since 1976 and maintains his innocence.
"Steven Donziger, a lawyer that fought on behalf of the indigenous people of the Ecuadorian amazon against Chevron’s harm to their land, faced prosecution as a retaliation from the Chevron company. Activists defending our earth and our rights and individuals shedding light on injustice play a vital role in our mission to educate on war and imperialism. We send them our solidarity.
"We also recognize the prison system in the United States as a tool of the war economy that disproportionately prosecutes and locks-up poor people and people of color. As an organization, we teach that the war industry, prison industry, and all oppressive systems in the U.S. are interlinked.
"Free all political prisoners, end repression of peace and justice advocates!"
https://www.codepink.org/pardonpoliticalprisoners
#USPol #FreeAssange #FreeLeonardPeltier #FreeMumia #FreeStephenDonziger #ClimateActivists #PeaceAndJusticeActivists #AmericanIndianMovement #MOVE #ACAB #SilencingDissent
#FreeLeonardPeltier
#FreeThemAll
Free Leonard Peltier.
https://act.amnestyusa.org/page/96017/action/1
#LeonardPeltier
Clemency for Native American Elder Leonard Peltier
Native American activist Leonard Peltier has been imprisoned in the USA for over 46 years, despite critical concerns over the fairness of his trial.act.amnestyusa.org
by Pauly Denetclaw
Thu, December 5, 2024
"Hawai’i Sen. #BrianSchatz chair of the Senate Indian Affairs Committee, made a plea to President Joe Biden on behalf of Leonard Peltier on Dec. 4. In a less than four-minute speech on the Senate floor, he asked that Biden grant clemency to Peltier.
"Biden on Sunday evening pardoned his son, Hunter Biden, for 'offenses against the United States which he has committed or may have committed or taken part in during the period from January 1, 2014 through December 1, 2024, including but not limited to all offenses charged or prosecuted (including any that have resulted in convictions) by Special Counsel David C. Weiss,' according to a statement by Biden.
"Schatz noted the alleged violation of Peltier’s constitutional rights to a fair trial during the 1977 murder trial of two FBI agents.
"'The process that led to his conviction had major issues and inaccuracies from the start,' Schatz said. 'For example, one witness whose statements were used at trial said she was told to lie and say that she was in a relationship with Peltier and that she had witnessed him shoot the agents. She later recanted that statement, saying, ‘I was forced into this, and I feel very awful. I just wish that Leonard Peltier would get out of prison.’”
"He also talked about one of the jurors in the case who allegedly admitted to being racist toward Native Americans, but was still allowed to remain on the jury that would convict Peltier of two first-degree murder charges.
"Peltier would be sentenced to two life sentences. He has maintained his innocence.
"In July, the Assembly of First Nations, representing over 600 Indigenous leaders in Canada, rescinded their nearly 40 year support of Peltier because of his alleged role in the murder of Anna Mae Pictou Aquash, Mik’maq, by American Indian Movement members. Peltier denies he had any involvement. [See my posts about #AnnaMaePictouAquash]
"#AmnestyInternational, United Nations’ Working Group on Arbitrary Detention, three tribal nations, National Congress of American Indians, #NDNCollective and the Native American Rights Fund have all urged Biden to grant Peltier clemency.
“"'ccording to reporting, a juror who on day two of the trial professed her prejudice against Native Americans, was allowed to remain on the panel,' Schatz said. 'If that wasn't enough, take it from the very U.S. attorney who tried the case. The prosecutor who tried the case, James Reynolds, who said (in a letter that) Peltier had served his sentence on ‘the basis of minimal evidence, a result that I strongly doubt would be upheld in any court today.'
"Schatz read excerpts from a 2021 letter that James Reynolds sent to Biden to ask for Peltier’s clemency.
"Peltier’s health has been declining over the last few years. He has repeatedly been denied commuted sentencing, parole, pardon, clemency, and compassionate release.
"'Peltier is now 80 years old and has been in prison for 50 years, he is in declining health, experiencing vision loss and other illnesses. In spite of all that, earlier this year, federal officials denied his request for compassionate release and parole,' Schatz said. 'So even if you believe that he did in fact commit the crime, surely the time is now to let him spend whatever remaining days he has at home to die with his family. He's done his time. He's of old age and in poor health. This is what clemency is for. This is what mercy is for. He poses little threat to society.'
"Biden’s last day in office is January 20, 2025. In his last administration, President-elect Donald Trump took no action on Peltier’s request for clemency. On his last full day in office, former President Barack Obama denied clemency for Peltier."
https://news.yahoo.com/news/leonard-peltier-mercy-165336810.html
#FreeLeonardPeltier #AmnestyForLeonardPeltier #ClemencyForLeonardPeltier #AIM #FBI #ACAB
Leonard Peltier: ‘This is what mercy is for’
Chair of the Senate Indian Affairs Committee, U.S. Sen. Brian Schatz made a plea to President Joe Biden on behalf of Leonard Peltier asking that Biden grant ...Pauly Denetclaw (Yahoo News)
#FreeLeonardPeltier #AmnestyForLeonardPeltier #ClemencyForLeonardPeltier
by #BrendaNorrell, #CensoredNews
December 1, 2024
"During a day of revealing the genocide and slavery that the United States government is founded on, those gathered at the National Day of Mourning at Plymouth Rock urged release of Leonard Peltier, America's longest incarcerated political prisoner.
"'Peltier is a political prisoner in a country that denies it has political prisoners,' Chali'Naru Dones, Massachusetts representative for the United Confederation of Taino People, told hundreds of people gathered in the rain on Thursday to oppose the myth of the pilgrim's thanksgiving.
"'Leonard Peltier is now 80 years old. For nearly five decades Indigenous activists organizers and allies have rallied behind the fight to free Leonard Peltier,' Dones said.
"'Numerous constitutional violations took place throughout Leonard Peltier's trial, during which he experienced obvious racism. He has had ongoing health concerns and his status as an elder is fragile. He should have been released years ago.'
"'It's hard to fathom and grasp how we're all once again in Plymouth for another year advocating for his release, at another National Day of Mourning.'
"'A member of the Turtle Mountain Band of Ojibwe, Peltier is a political prisoner in a country that denies it has political prisoners. He has been incarcerated since his arrest in 1976.'
"'Leonard has dedicated his life to standing up for and defending Native people. After a shootout occurred on Pine Ridge Indian reservation in 1975, Leonard Peltier was framed up for the deaths of two FBI agents there.'
"'There it has long been known that the prosecutors of his case engaged in misconduct, including the fact that the prosecutors, the FBI concealed ballistics reports, that showed Leonard's gun did not fire those shots.'
"'This miscarriage of justice is why there are prosecutors -- including former US Attorney James Reynolds, who have asked President Biden to free Leonard.'
"'Reynolds was the lead prosecuting attorney on Leonard's trial and appeal and even he came to understand that the trial and conviction were unjust and racist.'"
Read more:
https://bsnorrell.blogspot.com/2024/12/freedom-for-leonard-peltier-urged-at.html
#FreeLeonardPeltier #DayOfMourning #UnitedAmericanIndiansOfNewEngland #UAINE #Solidarity #ReaderSupportedNews