Yesterday marked a significant and uplifting moment, with some really beautiful news Native American activist and member of the American Indian Movement (AIM) Leonard Peltier is free at last after nearly 50 years of wrongful imprisonment and unjust persecution by the US government and the FBI for his leading role in the movement for Native sovereignty.
Last month President Joseph Biden commuted Peltier's life sentence to serve the remainder of his time under house arrest. This development is a testament to the power of compassion and justice.
Peltier who is 80 years old, has long maintained his innocence over the 1975 shootout that occurred on South Dakota’s Pine Ridge Indian Reservation between two FBI agents, who had entered the private property to serve arrest warrants, and members of the American Indian Movement (AIM), a cold war-era liberation group that sought to address police brutality and discrimination against Native Americans.
The group of Native American men who traded gunfire with the FBI agents included Peltier. The shootout resulted in the deaths of both agents, Jack Coler and Ronald Williams, who were shot in the head. Joseph Stuntz, a Native American, was killed, too.
Two other AIM leaders were initially charged with the agents' murders and were tried seperately, no evidence at the time was presented to link them to the killings. They were subsequently acquitted after evidence emerged about the atmosphere and intimidation on the reservation, with the conclusion that they might have been acting in self-defence. Following their acquittal, the FBI renewed its efforts to pursue Leonard Peltier, they needed a scapegoat and he was arrested on February 6th 1976.
Peltier had joined American Indian Movement (AIM) members in defending the traditional people at Pine Ridge, who were under attack from the Guardians of the Oglala Nation (GOONs). The paramilitary group was established by notoriously corrupt tribal chairman Dick Wilson, who had the backing of the FBI.
The FBI presence on Pine Ridge rose significantly after the 1973 occupation of Wounded Knee,https://teifidancer-teifidancer.blogspot.com/2023/02/remembering-occupation-of-wounded-knee.html during which the federal government constructed roadblocks and cut off access to electricity, food, and water in a brutal 71-day siege.
In the two years after Wounded Knee, known as the "reign of terror," more than 60 Indigenous people were killed on the reservation, prompting residents to call on AIM for protection.
Tensions came to a head on June 26, 1975, when gunfire broke out killing the FBI special agents, Peltier has consistently claimed that he did not shoot the agents. His supporters have long argued that prosecutors withheld critical evidence that could have supported his defense while also fabricating affidavits against him.
Peltier fled to Canada before his 1977 trial. He was eventually extradited back to the United States, found guilty and given two life sentences. Peltier, part of a movement upholding Native American treaty rights with the U.S. government, has long maintained his innocence since his conviction
For decades, Peltier's supporters, ranging from tribal leaders to figures like the Dalai Lama, Robert Redford, Nelson Mandela, Pope Francis and James H Reynolds, the US attorney who handled the prosecution and appeal of Peltier’s case, have fought for his release. Arguing he was falsely convicted in an unfair trial. A global symbol of the struggle for indigenous peoples' rights.
Prosecutors argued during trial that Peltier shot both agents in the head at point-blank range. Peltier admitted to being present and firing a gun at a distance, but he claimed that it was in self-defense. And the litany of offenses committed by the government against Peltier was lengthy. The government lied, cheated, and threw the Constitution out the window to ensure a conviction.
The U.S. government used three perjured affidavits to force Peltier’s extradition from Canada.To secure these, federal officials shamelessly threatened and intimidated Myrtle Poor Bear, the source of these affidavits.
Poor Bear later recanted their contents entirely. The jury at Peltier’s February 1976 trial in Fargo, North Dakota, was all-white; the government used racism and fear-mongering to deliberately make the jury feel vulnerable to attack,sequestering them unnecessarily, for example.
The judge, who actually had meetings with the FBI during the trial, constantly and aggressively ruled against the defense’s objections, and refused to allow Peltier’s attorneys to argue “self-defense” as his defense.
During the trial, the Assistant U.S. Attorney, Lynn Crooks, did not produce any witnesses who could identify Peltier as the one who killed the agents.
The prosecution presented false evidence regarding the murder weapon; they held that there was only one AR-15 and it belonged to Peltier. Yet there were many AR-15 rifles found at the site.
The government also withheld evidence,critical ballistic reports that showed the gun they said Peltier had been using could not be matched to the bullet casing they found near the agents who had been killed.
None of this was disputed by the U.S. government. At the appellate hearing in the 1980s, the government attorney conceded, “We had a murder, we had numerous shooters, we do not know who specifically fired what killing shots.... [W]e do not know, quote unquote, who shot the agents.”
Though the Eighth Circuit Court at this time found that the jury in Peltier’s trial might have acquitted him had the FBI not withheld certain evidence, they refused to grant him a new trial.
This is just a barebones overview of the main injustices that colored Leonard’s trial.
In 1993 Peltier became eligible for parole, but was denied several times over the next 32 years. He served 46 years total in prison.
In recent years, James H Reynolds has written to various presidents, asking them to grant Peltier clemency and calling his prosecution “unjust”.
In a letter to Biden in 2021, Reynolds stated that Peltier’s continued incarceration reflected a flawed justice system. Peltier’s “conviction and continued incarceration is a testament to a time and a system of justice that no longer has a place in our society”, he wrote. Peltier was denied parole as recently as July and was not eligible to be considered for it again until 2026.
The commutation, granted by Biden on his last day in office, was long opposed by the FBI. Former agency Director Christopher Wray called Peltier a "remorseless killer." His supporters say prosecutors withheld critical evidence that would have been favorable to Peltier and fabricated affidavits that painted him as guilty.
Peltier was freed from a federal detention center in Coleman, North Florida at around 9 a.m. (1400 GMT), according to a Reuters witness. He departed in a car which was part of a motorcade, and did not speak to supporters or media.
“Today I am finally free! They may have imprisoned me but they never took my spirit!” Peltier said in a statement provided by the NDN Collective activist group. “I am finally going home. I look forward to seeing my friends, my family, and my community. It’s a good day today.”
Peltier, a member of the Turtle Mountain Chippewa tribe, is partially blind and in poor health, suffering from diabetes and heart trouble. The 80-year-old will be allowed to live under house arrest.
A homecoming celebration is planned for Peltier today at the Turtle Mountain Reservation in Belcourt, North Dakota.
“Just as his wrongful incarceration represented the oppression of Indigenous Peoples everywhere, his release today is a symbol of our collective power and inherent freedom,” Nick Tilsen, NDN Collective Founder and CEO, said in the release.
Outgoing U.S. Secretary of the Interior Deb Halaand said in a statement that she believes Peltier’s commutation was a step toward justice and that it was a long-awaited moment for supporters.
“I am beyond words about the commutation of Leonard Peltier. His release from prison signifies a measure of justice that has long evaded so many Native Americans for so many decades,” Haaland said. “I am grateful that Leonard can now go home to his family. I applaud President Biden for this action and understanding what this means to Indian Country.”
Amnesty International USA, one of the largest and oldest human rights organizations in the country, is one of the grassroots movements that advocated for Peltier’s release. The global movement has millions of members and has provided support for Peltier by organizing an online petition and mobilizing others to write letters of solidarity during his sentence.
In a statement from Amnesty International USA Executive Director Paul O’Brien, the organization continues to stand firm on their position that Peltier should have been granted clemency a long time ago.
“President Biden was right to commute the life sentence of Indigenous elder and activist Leonard Peltier given the serious human rights concerns about the fairness of his trial,” O’Brien said. “Amnesty International has advocated for the U.S. government to grant Leonard Peltier clemency for years, following the leadership of Tribal Nations and Indigenous Peoples.”
The National Congress of American Indians celebrated the commutation, calling it “historic” and adding that the case “has long symbolized the systemic injustices faced by Indigenous Peoples”.
“We never thought he would get out,” Ray St Clair, a member of the White Earth Band of the Minnesota Chippewa Tribe, said shortly before Peltier’s release. “It shows you should never give up hope. We can take this repairing the damage that was done. This is a start.”
A hero to many Leonard Peltier was one of American society’s longest serving political prisoners. His prosecution and conviction were driven solely by his participation in the American Indian Movement, and Leonard Peltier has been a victim, time and time again, of the racism that is embedded in the U.S. criminal justice system.
But Leonard Peltier is not simply a victim. He is a fighter, writer, activist, grandfather, Nobel Peace Prize nominee, and was the presidential candidate for the Peace and Freedom Party in 2004.In 1982, from Marion Federal Prison, Leonard Peltier wrote with "uncompromising solidarity" to the Palestinian and Lebanese resistance, fighting back the genocidal invasion of Lebanon by zionists.
In the years since his conviction, millions upon millions of people around the world have come to learn of his case, agree that he is innocent, and demand his freedom. This is in part due to the famous documentary, Incident at Oglala, directed by Michael Apted and narrated by Robert Redford, and the bestselling book that everyone from the FBI to former South Dakota governor Bill Janklow tried to block from publication—Peter Matthiessen’s In the Spirit of Crazy Horse.
This tremendous victory, though it has to be said that he should not be restricted to home confinement but given his total freedom is a result of decades of tireless struggle for Leonard's freedom by people and movements across the country, .and marks Leonard Peltier's Journey, which is a triumph of Spirit and Justice.
Times are looking bleak and it's hard to feel optimistic about the future, but Leonard Peltier is free and that’s something to celebrate. He can finally see the sky again Because Peltier is free, we are all a little more freer too. Salute to the legend that is Leonard Peltier.
