Statement from the White House [gone already]
Leonard Peltier
Leonard Peltier Denied Clemency
International Leonard Peltier Defense Committee Report to U.N. Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination
Rep. Mary Bono Mack Calls Opponent’s Participation in Indian Protest of Thanksgiving as “Radical”
Rep. Mary Bono Mack opened herself up to questions on her Indian record after her criticism of her opponent’s participation in a Native American protest of Thanksgiving as “radical” and anti/un American. See http://www.marybono.com/bono-mack-campaign-releases-new-radio-ad-thanksgiving/
Radio ad here.
She’s apparently not a fan of the Peltier people either.
Leonard Peltier Denied Parole
From the NYTs:
The American Indian activist Leonard Peltier, imprisoned since 1977 for the killing of two F.B.I. agents, was denied parole after officials decided that releasing him would diminish the seriousness of his crime, a federal prosecutor in Bismarck said. Mr. Peltier, 64, who says the F.B.I. framed him, will not be eligible for parole again until 2024.
If anyone has the United States Attorney’s 17 page letter, please send it along.
Leonard Peltier Loses Document Case in Eighth Circuit
From How Appealing:
“Court rules against Peltier in documents case”: The Associated Press has a report that begins, “Imprisoned American Indian activist Leonard Peltier has lost another round in court in his effort to compel the FBI to disclose about 10,500 pages of documents about his case.” You can access today’s ruling of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit at this link.
Open Letter from Leonard Peltier to Barack Obama
Not entirely sure we should post something from Leonard Peltier, but he important to many people in Indian Country. And since we posted on Russell Means’ declaration of independence earlier this year, why not?
But remember, even Clinton didn’t pardon him. Incidentally, after the break, it stops being about Barack Obama to become more about Leonard Peltier….
An Open Letter to Barack Obama
Symbolism Alone Will Not Bring Change
By LEONARD PELTIER
I have watched with keen interest and renewed hope as your campaign has mobilized millions of Americans behind your message of changing a political system that serves a small economic elite at the expense of the peoples of the United States and the world. Your election as president of the United States, where slaves and Indians were long considered less than human under the law, will undoubtedly constitute a historic moment in race relations in the United States.
Yet symbolism alone will not bring about change. Our young people, black and Native alike, suffer from police brutality and racial profiling, underfunded schools, and discrimination in employment and housing. I sincerely hope your campaign will inspire some hope among our youth to struggle for a better future. I am, however, concerned that your recent statement on the Sean Bell verdict, in which the New York police officers who fired 50 shots at a young man on the eve of his wedding were acquitted of criminal charges, displays a rather myopic view of the law. Until the law is harnessed to protect the victims of state violence and racism, it will serve as an instrument of repression, just as the slave codes functioned to sustain and legitimize an inhuman institution.
Continue reading
AIM: Movement or Mafia?
Interesting program hosted by MSU students, featuring Joseph and John Trimbauch, and Tim Giago. Commentary about Wounded Knee, “Incident at Oglala,” Leonard Peltier, Russell Means, and others. April 23 at the Kellogg Center.
Turtle Talk 
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