Free Peltier

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: NATIVE JUSTICE

Free Peltier

 

Now that you’ve broken new ground

Appointing a native American

To the council of the Great White Fathers *

An injustice remains to be righted

The last prisoner of the Indian wars

The last heart buried at Wounded Knee **

A man of Lakota blood and pride

Remains in a white man’s cage

Suffering the ravages of disease

Humbled by the indignities of age

Leonard Peltier cries out once again ***

With what was a young man’s rage: 

 

Let me walk once more on native soil

Let me stand once more free and brave

Admit no wrong if it pleases you

Show compassion if you will

But let me not spend another minute

For the men I did not kill

 

(* Deb Haaland was nominated to serve

in the Biden cabinet. ** The Siege of

Wounded Knee 1973. *** Imprisoned

in 1977, he is 76 today.)

 

LAKOTA MEMORIAL DAY: Remember Wounded Knee!

RANDOM JACK: WOUNDED KNEE MEMORIAL

LAKOTA MEMORIAL DAY

The 129^th Anniversary of Wounded Knee

December 29, 1890

One hundred and twenty nine years ago today, the Seventh Calvary of the United States Army opened fire on an encampment of disarmed Lakota men, women and children.  Employing the infamous Hotchkiss guns – guns that fire many bullets – they killed over 250 Lakota.  Their crime was daring to dance the forbidden Ghost Dance. 

For a hundred years the massacre was christened by the American government:  The Battle of Wounded Knee. 

Twenty-five soldiers died in the massacre and twenty were awarded the Medal of Honor.  No man and no woman of honor should ever again accept that medal until those awarded to the Wounded Knee soldiers are rescinded.  Further, the government should declare December 29^th Wounded Knee Memorial Day. 

In honor of the Ghost Dancers buried at Wounded Knee: 

NOT AT WOUNDED KNEE

In the land of the Lakota long ago

Deep in the winter of the frozen earth

The people gathered in circles

Hand in hand line after line

To dance the dance of the ancestors

I was not in the lines of dancers

I did not sing the sacred words

My spirit did not rise above the land

To look down upon this scene

I did not see the soldiers circle the camp

I did not hear the order to disarm

I did not see them mount their guns

That shower bullets

I did not hear the cry of mothers

I did not hear the thunder

I did not smell the cloud of smoke

I did not see them fall

I was not there to give my blood

My heart did not explode

My body was not pounded by bullets

Nor pierced by bayonets

I did not die at Wounded Knee

I was not buried in a common grave

But I have walked those hallowed grounds

I have mourned and shed my tears

And I have said my prayer aloud

And I have heard the buried dead

And I am sworn to heed their plea

Remember Wounded Knee

From Wasichu: The Killing Spirit: 

Wo Lakota!

How can I explain the sorrow of Wounded Knee? 

My heart has been pierced by a thousand arrows

My spirit is broken and my soul is in flames

The sorrow runs through me like a mother’s pain

And my tears flow like rivers

But it is not for the right reason

Here lies Big Foot in his dance of death

Here lie the Ghost Dancers

The followers of Crazy Horse and Sitting Bull

The keepers of the faith

Here on this sacred hill

I should have no thoughts but this:

The Ghost Dance survives!

Instead the thought that will not leave me

Is this:  It should not be this way

Here on Memorial Hill at the head of the table

Where the father should be

There is a place of worship bearing the sign: 

Sacred Heart Church

So the church of the Black Robes

Lays claim to this most sacred ground

Wo Lakota!  It should not be this way!

[Sacred Lands to Native Peoples!  Free Leonard Peltier!]

Jazz.

Prayer for Peltier: July 28, 2009

A Message for AIM: Please post for immediate release.


The American Indian Movement (AIM) and AIM-WEST of San Francisco invites you the general public for an early morning SUN RISE PRAYER VIGIL and RALLY on Tuesday, July 28, 2009 calling for the Freedom of Leonard Peltier.

On Tuesday, July 28th the US Parole Commission in Lewisburg, Penn. will review the case of Leonard Peltier, held in prison for over three decades. This is the best opportunity Leonard will get during his entire period of incarceration to a fair review of his case before the US Parole Commission. The whole world is watching and waiting!

Please join with us in solidarity with Leonard, his family and relations, friends and supporters from around the world on this day and let us pray for an open mind, and to let the healing of America begin.

The general public is invited to join with us in San Francisco at the Federal Building 450 Golden Gate Avenue for an early morning SUN -RISE PRAYER VIGIL beginning at 6 am until 3 pm. All Drummers and Singers, Dancers, Community Youth and Elders, solidarity organizations and NGO’s are urged to join with us to celebrate this special occasion. Religious groups and social movements are also encouraged to attend this spiritual gathering and stand together hand in hand, burning sacred sage, being of one mind in Peace calling upon the US Parole Commission to finally release Leonard Peltier from three decades of incarceration for a crime he did not commit!

There will be special invited speakers, and the media and press are welcome to cover the event.

The public is encouraged to immediately call today the office of Congresswoman Nancy Pelosi, Speaker of the House, in SF at 415-556-4862 to remind her to write a letter to the US Parole Commission by July 14th just as she did in August 1993 to Attorney General Janet Reno (see attached) asking for a review of the circumstances behind this case in view of discrepancies in handling it’s process. Congresswoman Pelosi is also invited to address the VIGIL on July 28 in SF if she happens to be in the CITY. The SF County Board of Supervisor’s are also encouraged to come and support these efforts for Leonard’s release from prison.

This is a peaceful and non-violent gathering on behalf of Leonard and his family and to always be respectful and honorable in seeking his freedom. For more information call at 415-577-1492.

Thank You All My Relations!

Antonio Gonzales
AIM-WEST Director

eltonyg@earthlink.net
www.aimwest.info
www.aimovement.org

An Open Letter to President Obama on Behalf of Leonard Peltier

*<+>*<+>*<+>*<+>*<+>*<+>*<+>*<+>*<+>*<+>*<+>*<+>*<+>*<+>*<+>*


Dear President Obama,

On behalf of myself, friends, family and literally millions of people all across the United States and the world, I am writing you today concerning an urgent and heartfelt request: to consider the case of Leonard Peltier. For thirty-three years Mr. Peltier has been incarcerated in various American prisons for a crime that there is ample evidence to substantiate he did not commit. For thirty-three years Mr. Peltier, his lawyers and supporters have appealed to the powers that be in Washington to re-open, to re-try the case of the U.S. vs. Leonard Peltier. For thirty-three years these pleas have fallen on deaf ears. Now, at age 64, Leonard Peltier is approaching the end of his life and is in poor health, and those of us who are interested in Native American issues of social justice are trying one last time, when hope has returned to the American spirit and we have a president who espouses transparency and equanimity of policy and practice, to appeal to your sense of compassion and justice in a case that for many represents an opportunity to finally bridge the gap of broken treaties and broken trust between the First Nation peoples of this country and their government. We truly hope that with your new administration and its progressively positive attitudes of equal rights for all peoples, races, religions and economic status, that a time of reconciliation has finally arrived and some of the injustices of the past can be put right, with critical bridges crossed and war wounds healed.

Rather than laying out the long history of the case of the U.S. vs. Leonard Peltier, I prefer to point you in the direction of Mr. Peltier’s book My Life Is My Sun Dance, a book he has written that was published in 1999 to universal acclaim and rave reviews (see enclosure), and which I had the great honor to edit. This book contains his full account of the events surrounding his arrest, his trial, his incarceration and the more than twenty-three years that followed. Also, you might want to consult your colleagues Senator Inouye and Gov. Bill Richardson on this case, as they are familiar with it and are supporters of the world-wide movement to reconsider, re-try and release Leonard Peltier from his incarceration as a political prisoner, wrongly convicted.

To this end I would like to ask of you a favor by granting an audience to Chief Arvol Looking Horse, 19th-Generation Keeper of the Sacred White Buffalo Pipe of the Great Lakota Nation, and myself, that we may deliver a message to you on behalf of all those concerned people around the world who have worked--by marching in protest, by contacting their representatives in government, by signing petitions, by writing letters, by working for his legal defense--so hard for Mr. Peltier’s freedom. We would be happy to meet with you, Vice President Biden, Sec. Hillary Clinton, Gov. Bill Richardson, Sen. Inouye, Jodi Archambault Gillette from the Office of Inter-governmental Affairs and anyone else you feel would appropriately need to be involved in such a meeting and any discussions that might occur to shed a brighter light on this matter. Such a meeting, we believe, would not only be a true sign of your willingness to begin a dialogue with Native peoples on issues of overlooked urgency and importance, but would go a long way, in good faith, to showing us that Democracy and Justice still have a meaning in America.

Mr. President, it is with great hope and great expectations that my colleagues and I await your word in response to this letter of inquiry and appeal. Not only does the future of Leonard Peltier depend upon it, but also our hopes for a greater nation where there is truly liberty and justice for all peoples, including First Nation peoples.
Respectfully yours,

Harvey Arden
Washington, DC
with assistance from
Thomas Rain Crow
newnativepress@hotmail.com

Please send a copy of this to http://www.whitehouse.gov/contact/

MESSAGE FROM LEONARD PELTIER

(From Harvey Arden)

NO DOUBT, MY NAME will soon be among the list of our Indian dead. At least I will have good company--for no finer, kinder, braver, wiser, worthier men and women have ever walked this Earth than those who have already died for being Indian.

Our dead keep coming at us, a long, long line of dead, ever-growing and never-ending. To list all their names would be impossible, for the great, great majority of us have died unknown, unacknowledged. Yes, even our dead have been stolen from us, uprooted from our memory just as the bones of our honored ancestors have been dishonored by being dug up from their graves and shipped to museums to be boxed and catalogued and hidden away in file-drawers, denied that final request and right of every human being: a decent burial in Mother Earth and proper ceremonies of remembrance to light the way to the Afterworld.

Yes, the roll call of our Indian dead needs to be cried out, to be shouted from every hilltop in order to shatter the terrible silence that tries to erase the fact that we ever existed.

I would like to see a redstone wall like the blackstone wall of the Vietnam War Memorial. Yes, right there on the Mall in Washington, D.C. And on that redstone wall--pigmented with the living blood of our people (and I would happily be the first to donate that blood)--would be the names of all the Indians who ever died for being Indian. It would be hundreds of times longer than the Vietnam Memorial, which commemorates the deaths of fewer than 60,000 brave lost souls. The number of our brave lost souls reaches into the many millions, and every one of them remains unquiet until this day.

Yes, the voices of Sitting Bull and Crazy Horse, of Buddy Lamont and Frank Clearwater, of Joe Stuntz and Dallas Thundershield, of Wesley Bad Heart Bull and Raymond Yellow Thunder, of Bobby Garcia and Anna Mae Aquash... those and so, so many others. Their stilled voices cry out at us and demand to be heard.

*
It's strange.

Here I am,
locked in my own shadow for nearly a quarter of a century,
and yet I can reach my hand through stone and steel and razor-wire
and touch the heart of the world. Yes, even your heart, my enemy, my
friend.

Mitakuye Oyasin, my Lakota brethren say.
We are all related. We are One.

*
Sometimes.

Sometimes in the shadowed night
I become spirit.
The walls, the bars, the gratings dissolve into light
and I unloose my soul
and fly through the inner darkness of my being.

I become transparent,
a bright shadow,
a bird of dreams singing from the tree of life.

http://www.amazon.com/Prison-Writings-Life-Sun-Dance/dp/0312263805/ref=sr_1_
2/002-2151140-2027237?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1183932409&sr=1-2

http://www.leonardpeltier.net
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aM5iNVIWuX0
http://cdbaby.com/harveyarden

A Call to Warriors: Stand up for Leonard Peltier!

To All Indigenous People. To AIM. To Leonard's Sisters, Brothers, Friends and Supporters

"Where are the warriors?" Remember? These words of the past motivated The Movement and are still pertinent today. Have we forgotten how to be active and strong?

I'm calling out to all women, the children. I'm calling out to the Warriors who carry the honor of their fathers' and grandfathers' and great-grandfathers' names. Stand up for your people. Call yourselves out. Show yourselves to Creator and present yourself, with pride, to the world.

Stand up until the seats in the UN represent every nation of people in Turtle Island.

Stand up and call for protection of Mother Earth.

Save Bear Butte and All Sacred sites.

Stand up for all nations and all peoples,

Stand alone together forever.

Where are the warriors?

I am making a plea to all AIM leaders and members and to all Native peoples, especially the young people. I am making a plea to all of Leonard's friends and supporters. Gather this June 26th in Oglala and show Indigenous support for our brother Leonard Peltier. His parole hearing is one short year away.

Stand up. Stand up for The People. Stand up for Leonard Peltier.

Where are the warriors?

Contact www.oglalacommemoration.com.>

Be in Oglala on June 26th.

In Peace,

Keith Rabin - rockartist1@earthlink.net

On Behalf of Leonard Peltier

[Note: This comes from the desk of Wisdomkeeper, Harvey Arden.]

~A PLEA TO CONSCIENCE~
On behalf of Leonard Peltier

Firstly to the FBI,
secondly to the President,
thirdly to the American People

VENGEANCE IS YOURS, and you have certainly extracted it from Leonard Peltier and from his People, the indigenous Original People of this Land. After Thirty-One Years of continuing imprisonment on charges that you and we all know are false—and, please, this is long past argument—we ask mercy for, and release from confinement of, our brother Leonard Peltier. We ask only one thing for Leonard: Freedom. We request that the President sign a BLANKET PARDON for ALL acts committed by ALL PERSONS during the so-called “Reign of Terror” three decades ago on the Pine Ridge Reservation, during the years 1972-76. This includes Leonard Peltier, of course, and all other members (at that time) of AIM—the American Indian Movement—as well as members (at that time), most of them now retired, of the FBI, the BIA and other Federal and State governmental agencies, and ALL OTHER PERSONS involved in the dark events of those times. No acknowledgements of guilt or innocence, no admissions, no confessions need be made by any living person on this matter. The President of the United States hereby pardons ALL living persons for ANY crimes whatsoever committed at that place in those dark times. So we, the Undersigned, ask him to write, ending this sad matter. Let the historians figure out in decades ahead who did what to whom in those days. Let Leonard be released and returned to his People, and let this old oozing wound be healed to a scar in all our hearts so that we can turn our collective energies to the Future of our Living Children. Let it be so.

SIGNERS OF THIS PLEA TO CONSCIENCE
#1 Harvey Arden, Washington, DC
#2
#3
#4
ETC

[IF YOU WANT YOUR NAME & CITY/LOCATION ADDED TO THIS PUBLIC PLEA, REPLY TO HARVEYARDEN@STARPOWER.NET WITH “ADD ME” ON THE SUBJECT LINE & PUT YOUR NAME & CITY/LOCATION IN THE BODY OF THE TEXT. I’LL DO MY BEST TO MAKE A SINGLE LIST OUT OF THEM ALL. /HARVEY]

UPDATE FROM LEONARD PELTIER

(From the International Peltier Forum)

July 30, 2005

Aho my relations,

As I sit here in my solitary confinement cell at USP Terre Haute, and reflect over the past month’s events, I can’t help but feel an overwhelming sense of love and gratitude for each and every one of you who have so diligently stood by me in this time of crisis. As you already know by now, on June 30, 2005, I was transferred from Leavenworth Facility, to Terre Haute USP. The reason for my transfer, according to the Federal Bureau of Prisons Administrative staff was that the Leavenworth Facility was downgraded from maximum security level to medium, and therefore I could not remain at Leavenworth due to my illegal sentencing and consequent maximum security rank.

I was transferred without notification to my attorney, Barry Bachrach, and my family. Upon my arrival to Terre Haute I was placed in solitary confinement and was told that I would remain in solitary confinement until my personal file arrived. My personal file arrived, but I remain in solitary confinement allegedly for security reasons. I am confined to a cell that is 8’X 8’, it has a window that is covered from the outside with an elaborate shield that allows me to see 2-3 inches of the sky out of the top and 2-3 inches of the ground. All prisoners are supposed to get at least one hour of sunlight or outdoors and so I am taken from my cell to what is called a Recreation Room (Rec Cage), and the only sun or outdoors that I see is from some windows high up in this large room with a few air holes in them. I am able to walk up and down and this fulfills the one hour of sunlight or outdoors recreation time.

Whatever the system’s logic is, it seems that I won’t stay in Terre Haute for much longer and will be transferred again. I do not know when and where, nor do I know if this cruel game will be over after another transfer. After all, removal and relocation have been used to break our people from the beginning of this country’s history. This keeps my Defense Committee from taking the necessary steps to re-establish an office, but they are doing everything they can to help me in this most precarious and uncertain situation.

Before this situation developed, I asked Russ Redner to be the National/International Executive Director of the LPDC. Russ is a brother from our original Northwest AIM crew, a long time ally, and one of the original founders of the LPDC. I have trusted Russ with my life many times and he’s proven himself at every turn. I want him to be the last person I ever have to ask to guide the LPDC, and as such I have given him full authority to do whatever is necessary to prevent problems that have plagued us in the past from ever surfacing again. He and his wife, Paula, bring a renewed energy to the LPDC. It is essential that Russ, Barry Bachrach, Mike Kuzma, and the new team at the LPDC be supported so they can work most effectively to achieve my freedom and accomplish the things that need to be done for my people. I have confidence that all of you who truly support me will extend your vote of confidence to Russ and my new team.

A month in solitary is beginning to take a toll on me but your letters give me much hope and encouragement. Many of you have written, e-mailed and called USP Terre Haute, and other organizations. This has brought some improvement to my solitary confinement. I am now getting my medications on a daily basis, I can write out, I am receiving my mail, and I am allowed one phone call a month. I am allowed contact visits for those persons authorized on my visiting list. The contact visit is restricted to a two hour period, and is conducted through a glass pane and a phone. I am allowed to visit with my attorney without those restrictions.

At this time I am asking that you continue to call/write/e-mail the contacts below requesting that my security level be downgraded to medium due to my health, age and good behavior and that I be transferred to a medium security institution with all my hard earned prisoner privileges restored. In case I am transferred please add the new facility (keep checking our official website: http://www.leonardpeltier.org) to your contact list and ask them to respect my human rights and prisoner privileges. Again, I thank you for your support and prayers and hope that I may one day soon be among you.

In the Spirit of Crazy Horse,

Leonard Peltier

*-*-*-*

CONTACT LIST:

U.S. Penitentiary
4700 Bureau Road South
Terre Haute, IN 47802
Phone-812-244-4400
Fax----812-244-4789
THP/EXECASSISTANT@BOP.GOV

Federal Bureau of Prisons
320 First Street NW
Washington, DC 20534
202-307-3198
info@bop.gov

Amnesty International
5 Penn Plaza – 14th Floor
New York, NY 10001
Phone: 212-807-8400
Fax: 212-463-9193 / 212-627-1451
admin-us@aiusa.org

Human Rights Watch
350 Fifth Avenue, 34th floor
New York, NY 10118-3299
Tel: 1-(212) 290-4700
Fax: 1-(212) 736-1300
hrwnyc@hrw.org


Senate Judiciary Committee:

* Arlen Specter, Chairman
711 Hart Building
Washington, DC 20510
Tel: 202-224-4254

* Senator Patrick Leahy, Ranking Member
433 Russell Senate Office Bldg
Washington, DC 20510
(202) 224-4242
senator_leahy@leahy.senate.gov

* Senator Edward Kennedy
317 Russell Senate Office Building
Washington, DC 20510
202/224-4543
FAX: 202/224-2417

* Senator Joseph Biden
201 Russell Senate Office Building
Washington, D.C. 20510
Phone: 202-224-5042
Fax: 202-224-0139

* Senator Dianne Feinstein
United States Senate
331 Hart Senate Office Building
Washington, DC 20510
Phone: (202) 224-3841
Fax: (202) 228-3954

* Senator Richard Durbin
332 Dirksen Senate Bldg.
Washington, DC 20510
Phone: (202) 224-2152
Fax: (202) 228-0400

* Senator Herb Kohl
330 Hart Senate Office Building
United States Senate
Washington, D.C. 20510
Phone: (202) 224-5653
Fax: (202) 224-9787

* Sen. Charles E. Schumer
313 Hart Senate Building
Washington, DC 20510
Phone: 202-224-6542
Fax: 202-228-3027
TDD: 202-224-0420


Congressional Judiciary Committee:

* Honorable John Conyers, Jr.
2426 Rayburn Building
Washington, DC 20515
(202) 225-5126
John.Conyers@mail.house.gov

* Honorable Robert C. Scott
1201 Longworth House Office Building
Washington, DC 20515
Phone: (202) 225-8351
Fax: (202) 225-8354
bobby.scott@mail.house.gov

* Honorable Sheila Jackson Lee
2435 Rayburn Building
Washington, DC 20515
(202) 225-3816

* Honorable Maxine Waters
2344 Rayburn House Office Building
Washington, D.C. 20515
202-225-2201 phone
202-225-7854 fax

* Honorable Martin Meehan
2229 Rayburn House Office Building
Washington, DC 20515
Phone: (202) 225-3411
Fax: (202) 226-0771
TTY: (202) 225-1904

* Honorable Bill Delahunt
2454 Rayburn House Office Building
Washington, DC 20515
Phone: (202) 225-3111
Fax: (202) 225-5658
William.Delahunt@mail.house.gov

* Honorable Anthony Weiner
1122 Longworth House Office Building
Washington DC 20515
(202) 225-6616
weiner@mail.house.gov


United Nations:

Louise Arbour, U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights
United Nations Office at Geneva
1211 Geneva 10
Switzerland
Fax: 41-22-917-9022
E-mail: tb-petitions@ohchr.org

U.N. Working Group on Indigenous Populations
United Nations Office at Geneva
1211 Geneva 10
Switzerland
Email: WGindigenous@ohchr.org
Fax: 41-22-917-9008

The Special Rapporteur on human rights and fundamental freedoms of
indigenous peoples: Mr. Rodolfo Stavenhagen
His contact person is: Pablo Espiniella, Human Rights Officer
Tel. 41-22-917-9413
Fax 41-22-917-9008
email: indigenous@ohchr.org

U.N. Working Group on Arbitrary Detentions
c/o Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights
CH-1211, Geneva 10
Switzerland
Fax: 41-22- 917-9006

=+=+= FREE LEONARD PELTIER NOW! =+=+=

From: International Peltier Forum [mailto:kolahq@skynet.be]
Sent: Thursday, August 04, 2005 2:50 PM
To: IPF
Subject: [LP Forum News] Update from Leonard Peltier

=+=+= INTERNATIONAL FORUM of VIPs for PELTIER =+=+=
August 4th 2005 :
10772 days of WRONGFUL IMPRISONMENT!
=+=+=+=+=+=

ONLINE PETITION FOR EXECUTIVE CLEMENCY
http://users.skynet.be/kola/lppet.htm

ONLINE PETITION FOR PAROLE
http://campaign-pyramid.com/kola/leonard/

=+=+=+=+=+=

LEONARD PELTIER IN SOLITARY CONFINEMENT

San Francisco Bay Area Independent Media Center
--------------------------------------------
As Americans celebrate their myth of freedom and justice for all, Leonard Peltier is moved without warning or notification to Terre Haute, Indiana, USP and is held in solitary confinement at least through the long holiday weekend.

At a time when this country seeks understanding for its obvious wrongs around the planet and cannot understand why the global village mistrusts it, the U.S. government is mistreating and using extraordinary domestic rendition upon the most beloved contemporary Native American warrior. Leonard Peltier, whom - again in defiance of the global opinion - this country refuses to acknowledge as a political prisoner, today sits in a tiny cell without windows and human contact as the American people prepare to celebrate their myth of justice and freedom for all.

After twenty nine years in prison for a crime he didn't commit he was moved without rhyme or reason, and without notification to his family and attorney, from Leavenworth USP to Terre Haute Indiana USP. He was immediately placed in solitary confinement, "the hole". Leonard is sixty years old, he suffers from arthritis, bone spurs, all the discomforts associated with diabetes, and recently had a stroke.

The Bureau of Prisons may argue that placing a transferred prisoner in solitary confinement is a routine procedure until all the appropriate paperwork is processed, but the timing of this action adds to its cruelty since it was carried out right before the long weekend preceding this 4th of July. In addition, this development comes at a time when Peltier’s legal team is successfully arguing very important motions and the US Courts might be obligated to release him. It is no too far fetched to imagine that to prevent his release, he is subjected to this psychological and physical torture in hope that it will break his body and spirit, and literally kill him.

As seen in the world stage today, the U.S. concepts of freedom fighters, terrorists, illegal combatants, murders, and battle casualties, are relative at their best, and duplicitous, deceptive, and capricious in their application. The same government that manipulated Canadian sovereignty and false affidavits to obtain the extradition of Leonard Peltier, our freedom fighter, today protects Jose Posada Carriles, a real terrorist, and denies his extradition to Venezuela where he was involved in the bombing of a Cuban airliner resulting in the murder of all its passengers. On the other hand, the “crime scene” in which they have framed Peltier is a battle in which armed and trained US government combatants, illegally entered non-US territory, and attacked a group of armed civilians defending their land and families, and they, as well as one of those civilians (Joe Stuntz), became casualties of war. Why must then Peltier pay with his life?

Does the FBI feel any remorse for any of its victims: Joe Stuntz, Buddy Lamont, or Frank Clearwater? How about Pedro Bissonette or the Jimmy Little Incident? Both murdered by US backed forces, using deadly force, and bludgeoning Jimmy Little in front of his family. His son Jimmy, Jr. witnessed this terrible act and when he reached 21 committed suicide--a note revealed that he missed his Dad and saw no reason to live. Jimmy, Jr was an Olympic cross-country talent when he was at Loneman School as a 7th grader. He was the next Billy Mills but the trauma of the US invasion and its violence killed him before he had a chance to mature, he really was dead before he lived.

Who pays for our dead? Or are our lives still as worthless to the American people as when they would pay money for our skins red with our blood (hence the term redskins so celebrated by this culture). Our wounds are deep, and the torment that created them is unforgettable. We know we cannot go back in time, but what can be done today is to put an end to the assault on indigenous people, that has been taking place without reprieve since the beginning of this country. Enough is enough America! Basta ya! Honor our treaties, stop taking and destroying our land and resources, respect our sovereignty and our culture, rectify the language of your history, and free our warriors! Free Peltier!

Wanbli Watakpe aka Russ Redner
Executive Director, LPDC
Paula Ostrovsky
Media PR Officer, LPDC

leonardpeltier.org

RALLY FOR LEONARD PELTIER

Contact: Coordinator, Lakota Student Alliance > lakotastudentalliance@yahoo.com (605) 441-9453 (ph)

The 6th Annual Oglala Commemoration Event set to begin on June 26, 2005 at the Jumping Bull Property south of Oglala South Dakota marks the 30th anniversary of the Incident at Oglala. The event is free to the public, and begins at Noon (MST).

"It's a time for healing and prayers to remember those warriors who lost their freedom and their lives during the Reign of Terror on Pine Ridge. Hopefully the healing emphasis will prevent another bloody civil war from happening again on the sacred land of the Lakota Nation," said Event coordinator Robert Quiver Jr. Quiver, a student at Oglala Lakota College, is co-founder of the Lakota Student Alliance, a grassroots group on Pine Ridge Reservation. The Lakota Student Alliance and Oglala Commemoration Committee jointly sponsor the event to honor and remember the lives lost during the 1970s civil conflict on the reservation and to also raise awareness toward the unjust imprisonment of AIM member Leonard Peltier, currently jailed in Leavenworth Kansas. Peltier's imprisonment resulted from a shooting Incident between AIM members and Federal Agents at the Jumping Bull property which was precipitated by numerous unjust deaths of AIM supporters during a tumultuous 1970s Civil War on Pine Ridge Reservation known as the "Reign of Terror."

"Leonard Peltier needs to be set free," said Commemoration Committee member Rosalyn Jumping Bull of Oglala. Rosalyn remembers the year the FBI ransacked and shot at her elder mothers home following the deaths of two FBI agents. It's those kind of days that Rosalyn does not wish upon the future generations of Lakota people who will be living on the reservation.

Annually, normal activities scheduled for this event include a traditional Lakota ceremonial prayer service near the gravesites of AIM members Jun Little and Joe Stuntz (Little Family cemetary). A memorial walk for justice follows from the gravesites to the Jumping Bull Property. This is followed by a special memorial and giveaway for deceased relatives, coordinated by the Jumping Bull Family. Finally, a concert for youth awareness is held, concluding this special day. Speakers for the 2004 event include important figures that played a vital role in the justice movement for Peltier's freedom. They include: Vernon Bellecourt, principle spokesperson for American Indian Movement; Rosalyn Jumping Bull of Oglala; Harvey Arden, an Author and Advocate for Peltier's release; Members of the Leonard Peltier Defense Committee; Members of Leonard Peltier's Legal Team, and International Guests as well. Special Entertainment Performances from: Lakota Hoopdancer Clem Holy Eagle, Nammy Award Winner Wayquay, Oglala Hiphop artists Native Era, Muscogee Hiphop artist Julian B., Spyderzback, Pop Rocker Darren Geffre and more to be announced. Oglala Commemoration Committee members Wayquay (2000 Native American Music Award Winner), and Andy Mader will co-emcee this year's event. We invite the public to this free event. For more information on this event you can visit the website at http://www.oglalacommemoration.com

Lakota Student Alliance (LaStAlli) PO Box 225 Kyle, SD 57752 > http://www.geocities.com/lakotastudentalliance/index.html

FREE LEONARD PELTIER!

A message from The Dreamkeeper...

A SINGLE AFTERNOON

There shall soon be a day when
We, the People of America,
will stand up together as One
on a Single Afternoon
--yes, a Single Afternoon--
and shake these criminals from our national life
as a dog shakes off its fleas.

We will show then compassion as human beings--as they never did to us--
but the leash of power will never be put back in their bloodied hands again.

Yes, in a Single Afternoon.

It CAN be DONE!!

We CAN do it!

Rise shoulder-to-shoulder
and heart-to-heart and soul-to-soul
and physically occupy the corridors of power
in every town, every city, every state, every corporation.

Yes, on a Single Afternoon.

Leave the comfort of your home and join the People
in the peaceful retrieval of our own Power
and in the re-establishment of the Constitution of the United States.

Yes, on a Single Afternoon it can be done.

By ALL & EACH of us.

AMERICA WILL BE AMERICA AGAIN!!

-Harvey Arden

Mitakuye Oyasin--We are ALL related

~FREE LEONARD PELTIER~ (And we WILL!!)