Anyone still know/care about Leonard Peltier?

[Protagoras]

I think all this discussion of Gitmo and political prisoners got my memory working a bit and I remembered this one that I'd let slip down my own memory hole.

Leonard Peltier...I remember watching the Documentary "Incident at Ogalala" and I just found that there are a few well developed web pages dedicated to his cause still out there. Honestly...I was suprised he was still alive.

I've never fully known what to believe in this case...but it's a good home grown case of a discussion about political vs Criminal imprisonment that I think has been quietly swept away in the eternal state of ADD induced by the NEWER SHINIER FASTER BRIGHTER MSM!

http://www.freepeltier.org/index.htm

Any LP experts or followers out there that can catch us up some?

[Kolesar]

1. There was a hint that President Clinton might pardon him

...in one of his last acts while leaving the presidency. The "law enforcement community" stepped up their pressure dramatically when that trial balloon was released.

[Protagoras]

2. and that was 6 years ago now...

so since Clinton didn't pardon the entire issue has just poofed away? That's pretty scary...if one supposes there is truth to the claims about this being a political setup anyway.

[supernova]

3. To my knowledge, he's still sitting there

I don't know what to think about that case, to be honest.

My real thinking is, he's both, if that makes any sense.

[lebkuchen]

6. He should have been pardoned

but Clinton was probably concerned about his legacy. He should have known, when you're dealing with fascist thugs, you throw caution to the wind and do what you know is right.

[RedCloud]

4. He inspired me to give up my career.

I was a youthful Anthropologist, anxious to start things that would eventually allow people to talk about peoples in positive ways and cease attending religion as the only outlet to view humanity on the weekends.

But alas, Peltier had said that Anthropologists are simply caring out the white man's dream of desecrating ancient sacred burial grounds which were often ancient because of genocide. Later that day from the Humboldt excavation the workers on the digs brought back some remains of those they reverently referred to as "muertos" <dead>. I checked the remains and found they had all been shot in the back of their heads. Those Native Americans who had not so much as made one weapon and apparently lived off the idyllic and abundant plant life and fish were brutally killed.

My dreams had died that day too. My request to dig up the ancient portion of the national cemetery in Caracas in pursuit of the last vestiges of Neanderthal traits was viewed as mad. Peltier stood correct on that issue. If it had not been of European ancestry and instead Native American I would have gotten another good to dig.

I never named the inhabitants of Lago de Valencia. I saw how they buried their young with such devotion and love. I saw their three pointed objects they made. One great day while I was following the ancient trail they had made, it had gotten late. The temperatures were changing. The rumazon (cloud embankment) of the side of the lake began to be pumped out of the lake right at me! It followed the ancient trail over the highland where I was, out to the Caribbean Sea.
I was so astonished I sat down and looked straight up and saw the first visible constellation. It had three stars, exactly in the shape I had found on so many of their artifacts. I had a sense of oneness with those people.

I resigned not too long after that as Peltier's words of reason came stinging to my eyes. I probably was cut out to be an Anthropologist. But not until all people are treated fairly.

[EFerrari]

5. He was charged with the murder of two Federal agents and

the prosecution couldn't even place him at the scene. Wasn't that the issue in a nutshell?

There was a good book on the whole shameful deal but last time I looked (in the mid 80s) it had been banned in the United States. I think it was "In the Spirit of Crazy Horse".

[H2O Man]

8. In the Spirit of Crazy Horse

was kept from publication for about 8 years by a series of court cases that were brought by a state official and several federal officials.

Actually, Leonard was admittedly at the scene of the shoot-out on that fateful day. He never denied being at the AIM camp that came under attack by the two FBI agents. However, he was not one of the small group that approached the agents after they were wounded, and he was not the individual who killed them near the automobile.

For a period of time, he was "on the run." When a couple others, including Dino Butler, were tried, they were found not guilty. This resulted in the federal government's going "all out" to convict Leonard when he was finally captured. In doing so, they hid the evidence that showed he was not the gunman, and manufactored other evidence.

In the time since then, the actual gunman has become fairly well known. 60 Minutes did a piece with his identity disguised. Anyone who reads Peter Matthiesson's book (In the Spirit..) can figure it out if they examine the description of events he provides.

Leonard is getting up there in age, and his health is poor. People around the world are familiar with his case -- except in the United States. He is a decent man. People interested in his case can find the support groups on the internet.

The FBI is extremely hostile towards his case, because most of them are convinced he did kill the two agents. They lobbied strongly against the proposed pardon that Clinton had indicated he was seriously considering. I'm opposed to violence, and don't think it is good to shoot anybody. I do understand that from the AIM point of view, they were minding their own business when the agents came and started shooting.

The person who shot the agents remains free. Leonard remains in prison.

[Protagoras]

9. Thank you for the update

I've had lots of confusion and mixed feelings about this back in the day myself.

I think what disturbed me the most was...realizing I hadn't thought about it in so long. Makes me think that someone is doing their job too well...and I'm not doing mine nearly well enough.

I hope discussions like this never go away.

[H2O Man]

11. It has some similiarities

with the Rubin "Hurricane" Carter case. And Rubin has visited Leonard, and worked on his case. One of the things that is similar is that when there is a case where one or two law enforcement officials are convinced that a person is guilty, and then manufactor evidence, the rest of the police will come to a conclusion based largely on that faked evidence. So from the giddy-up, they are convinced that a Peltier or a Carter are guilty .... and resent that anyone questions that.

I am 100% in favor of Leonard being released. I don't care for what the FBI agents were doing that day. I also sickened by the execution of the agents. They were disabled, and killing them was brutal. The man who did it should have the decency to come forward.

[EFerrari]

10. Thanks for the clarification. But, am I wrong in remembering

that Leonard could not be placed at the scene? That is different than whether he was there or whether he admitted at some point to being there. It's been twenty years since I read that work, and have long since handed my copy to other readers.

[H2O Man]

12. I'm not sure what you mean

by at the scene. He admits being at the Jumping Bull property. He can't be placed at the spot the agents were executed, because he was not there. The government "placed" him near the agents' cars by faking the forensic evidence (the bullets, which they falsely claimed came from the gun Leonard had that day). Leonard was one of the ones who lead the group away from the Jumping Bull property, though, and there is no dispute that he was there.

[EFerrari]

13. Ah, I see. Yes, I remember now knowing who Matthiesson

implicated indirectly, and I recall being around Movement people in Berkeley when we were fighting against the U.S. intrusion in Nicaragua. The world is a very small place.

[midnight armadillo]

7. To be honest

My thoughts run hot and cold on the subject.

[Mairead]

14. He's a political prisoner, and that's the bottom line

The evidence was shabby (to put it as mildly as possible) and anyone else would already have been parolled, if not set free altogether.