At the very beginning stages of Amnesty International, the most important cause behind which its members rallied was that of “prisoners of conscience” (POC). This term, coined by AI, refers to anyone imprisoned as a result of their personal beliefs, race, gender, etc. The organization has spread to new territories in its struggle for human rights, but that original cause must not be forgotten.
Now, more than ever, people must keep in mind those who risk their freedom for their beliefs. In this period of the United States, when individual freedoms could easily be trampled, these POCs not only stand for their own freedom, but for the freedom of all people.
Leonard Peltier, a very influential POC, is a Native American activist who has been imprisoned. He is a citizen of the Anishinabe and Lakota Nations. Peltier was convicted for the murder of two FBI agents and sentenced to double life sentences in 1976. AI believes that he is a political prisoner who should be “immediately and unconditionally released.”
Peltier is a member of the American Indian Movement (AIM). AIM began during the 1960s as an organization committed to helping fellow Native Americans who were living in poverty. However, AIM soon grew into a powerful political and social movement. Its members wanted to defend Native Americans against increasing pressure from the government to assimilate and leave their land. AIM wanted to protect the treaty rights of all Native Americans.
The treaties signed by the US government which allotted specific lands to Indian Nations in the 19th century had been infringed upon and simply ignored, when much of the land of the Great Sioux Nation was opened up for homesteading. Originally, the Great Sioux reservation stretched 60 million acres. However, it was subsequently divided into five parts and much of the land was taken from them. The Pine Ridge Reservation is one of these sections, covering 2.8 million acres.
For the people of Pine Ridge, struggles with the government are not part of history. They are continuous and devastating to the Native Americans involved. In his book, “Loud Hawk: the United States versus the American Indian Movement,” Kenneth Stern describes the level of poverty he found in an area of Pine Ridge called Oglala. “Shacks were made of tarpaper and old road signs. Junked cars were dressed with torn curtains…I wondered how they slept, inside, in homes smaller than a garage.” This area has one of the highest infant mortality rates in the western hemisphere. Alcoholism runs rampant and life expectancy is very low. Stern spoke to many locals. He writes in the words of Sam Loud Hawk, “Nothing’s changed here. The GOONs and the FBI keep after us. People are still getting shot every day.”
In 1972, the FBI gave tribal president Dick Wilson’s followers, who called themselves Guardians of the Oglala Nation (GOONs) military assault rifles. These GOONs never really connected to the rest of the Lakota Nation. They had little affection for the traditional native values, and to this day terrorize citizens of the reservation. They are held accountable by Lakota citizens for the murders of over 60 AIM members and sympathizers. According to Paul Wolf, who made a presentation about the FBI’s operations to the U.N., the FBI itself launched a secret operation against the reservations and the threat it saw in AIM members there. He said that it issued a document called “FBI Paramilitary Operations in Indian Country,” which encouraged the use of “neutralization,” defined as “Shooting to kill.” At this time, the area had a higher murder rate (per capita) than any city in the country. One FBI document from 1973 stated that they were worried AIM would soon try to prevent the exploitation of resources (uranium) from the reservation. Wilson was working with the FBI for favors and he became very corrupt.
The incident resulting in the death of two FBI agents (Ronald Williams and Jack Coler) and one AIM member (Joseph Stuntz) occurred on the Jumping Bull ranch at Pine Ridge. Peltier and other members of AIM had been called by chief councils to help protect those on the reservation from GOONs and rogue officers who had been killing locals. The two agents followed a pickup truck in unmarked cars to the ranch. It is unclear who started shooting, but eventually both men were wounded. Then, according to the FBI, a group of AIM members, including Peltier, shot the agents in the head in an execution style. However, Peltier states that he tried to leave in another car, when he saw a group in a pickup truck pull up near the two wounded agents and shoot them in the head.
Once Peltier had been caught, he was charged with the murders, along with Jimmy Eagle, Bob Robideau, and Darrell Butler. They claimed that the agents never identified themselves. The other three defendants were acquitted on the basis of self-defense, but Peltier was tried by a different judge and was found guilty. Much of the evidence used in his trial has since been found unreliable.
According to Jim Messerschmidt, one of Peltier’s attorneys, the FBI had at not originally included an AR-15 rifle with the possible murder weapons, but later claimed that it was. However Messerschmidt said, “This AR-15 did not match with the .223 shell found in Coler’s trunk.” The FBI then changed their story to Peltier having aided the murderer (who is unknown), thereby being guilty himself. On top of much other misleading evidence, many of the witnesses who testified against Peltier have since come forward and said that they had been threatened and pressured into testifying by the FBI.
To this day, there is no conclusive evidence that Peltier murdered the agents or aided in their murder, but he was imprisoned while his comrades walked. According to Paul Wolf, after the incident, the FBI tried to demonize Peltier in the media. The U.S. Commission on Civil Rights stated, “It is patently clear that many of the statements released to the media regarding the incident are either false, unsubstantiated, or directly misleading.” Many people, however, have realized the injustice in Peltier’s case and have decided to inform others for help. Among those who have appealed for his release are, The Dalai Lama, Nelson Mandela, Kennedy Memorial Center for Human Rights, Archbishop Desmond Tutu, Rev. Jesse Jackson, European Parliament, and U.N. High Commissioner on Human Rights Rigoberta Menchu.
Peltier is a model inmate who has helped others in issues of drugs and alcohol. He has helped reconcile differences between hostile Indian tribes using non-violent methods. He was even nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize, yet, at this moment, he is locked inside Leavenworth Penitentiary.
For more information on Leonard Peltier’s struggle for freedom or to write him a letter, visit freepeltier.org or leonardpeltier.net •
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