Written and delivered By Inila-Wakan A.K.A. Keith Janis
DEAR MR. PRESIDENT:
Thank you for the prompt reply regarding Mr. Peltier's case. I'm
sure you're
aware that action has been taken in response to the issue you
raised regarding
Executive Clemency. Apparently, the letter I received from Mr.
Nussbaum was sent
out to a number of individuals, including former Attorney General
--Ramsey
Clark(Mr. Peltier's current lawyer). The result has been an
immediate and
consolidated national petition drive. Through which, millions of
signatures will
be collected to accompany the petition for Executive Clemency.
Maybe sometime
before Christmas?
Mr. President, I know that you're equally as concerned about
human rights as we
are. So I trust that you will respond to this appeal for Clemency
with utmost
discretion and intelligence. You have an opportunity to
accomplish what so many
have labored so long for.You have an opportunity to crush
forever, the general
assumption in many Indigenous communities --"that the American
democratic system
is inherently flawed and rotten to it's core."
I hope you will excuse the harshness of that statement, because
there are no
other words that are descriptive enough to convey the deep
resentment to the U.S.
government that many of these communities share.
Having spent most of my life on the reservation, I offer a living
account of the
horrible violence and terror that dominated the lives of the
Lakota people during
the years 1973-1976. Things were so bad that a continuum of anger
and hate
developed, and years of invisible justice, government misconduct,
and corporate
adventurism, cost the lives of so many people that...there just
is no way that
you can fully comprehend, or understand, the pain and suffering
that so many of
us endured. I feel strongly that the only way to guarantee an
intelligent
judgement on your part,is if you have the actual reports from the
Lakota people
themselves. It would please me greatly if we were able to finally
resolve the
many problems that are outlined here, and close the pages of this
horrible
history and injustice.
There are so many instances of extreme racism and systematic
terror, that weeks,
and perhaps even years, could be spent trying to understand the
rational of the
actors behind them. The only thing that became clear to me was
the fact that
there were many individuals from the government, the
multi-national
corporations,even the military, operating on the reservation. All
with an
interest in keeping things stirred up, and all with an interest
in maintaining
instability.
I was a child of only ten years when the American Indian Movement
was founded,
but I remember how the people felt when they first appeared in
public. There was
a renewed sense of community and hope that seemed to surround all
of our
communities. For the first time in nearly one-hundred years,
people began to
value their heritage again. (Keep in mind that at one time, the
free expression
of our culture and spirituality was a punishable"Indian
Offense"). Many of our
spiritual leaders were murdered or assassinated trying to keep
our culture alive.
Being a victim of the missions, I personally can attest to the
extreme abuses and
human rights violations that many endured undergoing the
assimilation process.
Many of the children I saw beaten, didn't know what "Don't speak
Sioux! Speak
English!" --meant.
I apologize if I seem to be running off on a tangent. I hope you
can understand
how difficult it is for me to describe events in my memory, that
left so many
people emotionally and physically wounded, or dead. I want to
know why? And I
want to know what's going to be done about it?
The day agents Jack Coler and Ronald Williams were shot and
killed on the Pine
Ridge Indian Reservation, there were a lot of mixed emotions.
Mostly anger and
fear. You have to ask yourself,why were these two men even on the
reservation,
and what legal right did they have trying to enforce a state
misdemeanor? What
right did they have to arbitrarily pick people up off the streets
and harass them
with death threats, or bloody pictures of people that had been
violently
murdered? My children's aunt --Anna Mae Aquash was found dead on
the reservation
with a bullet through her head. I believe that the F.B.I. had a
lot to do with
it. Despite reports of death threats that were made against her by
special agent
David Price, her death remains a mystery.
When Anna Mae was arrested in September of 1975 at Crow Dog's
paradise on the
Rosebud Indian Reservation, she was approached by agent Price.
Price told her
that "I want to know who killed my agents, If you don't cooperate
I will
personally see to your death before the years out. After this
conversation with
Price,Anna Mae was released. In late February of the following
year,her badly
decomposed body was found face down in a ditch, with a bullet
wound to the back
of the head. Even though the area agents knew who Anna Mae was,
they severed her
hands from her body and ruled her dead from exposure. (She was
labelled an
unknown by the F.B.I. which suggests a cover-up). An independent
autopsy revealed
the bullet still in her head. And it appears that special agent
Price held good
on his word, that she'd be dead before the years end...
No matter how justified the F.B.I. felt they were in creating an
atmosphere of
violence on the reservation; their conduct to me is completely
inexcusable. No
human being should ever have to carry such horrible memories like
these.
Mr. President, I sympathize with the families of agents; Jack
Coler and Ronald
Williams. But the justification for the Bureau's activities on
the Pine Ridge
Reservation simply did not exist.There never was a direct threat
to overthrow the
government. The American Indian Movement primarily existed to do
four things;
1. To find justice for the gross civil and human rights
violations being waged
against so many of America's Indigenous communities.
2. To get the U.S. Government to honor it's many broken treaties.
3. To gain free access to traditional/religious rites and sacred
sites.
4. To have our rights to Sovereignty and Self-determination
recognized.
At the time of the incident, people were being beaten and
harassed for not
wanting to sign their land rights away. TheF.B.I., the B.I.A.,
and the Tribal
police, all had a hand in the victimization of women, children,
and elderly on
Pine Ridge. The same trio also intimidated and persecuted anybody
that even
appeared to be traditional. I can only speculate as to how and
why, the
government viewed us as such a threat. Was it because we came and
helped people
feel proud of their culture? Was it because we believed in
Grassroots Democracy
and encouraged direct participation in the Tribal governments?
Was it because we
believed in social justice and accountability from unresponsive
governments. Or
was it because accountability meant the disclosure of a secret
land transfer in
which 1/8 of the reservation was illegally signed away to the
Department Of The
Interior. Land which incidentally contains heavy deposits
of uranium.
As a matter of fact, when the U.S. launched it's assault on
theJumping Bull Ranch
in Oglala, South Dakota on June 26, 1975; The then Tribal
chairman --Dick Wilson,
happened to be in Washington,D.C. signing away the before
mentioned land.
Ironically, the land in question ( The Sheep Mountain Section Of
The Aerial
Gunnery Range), is the same land that had been taken away by the
government once
before during World War II. This action caused much hardship and
suffering.
People were forced to endure sub-zero winters, living inside of
makeshift shacks,
armytents, even in caves. My Grandmother (Ellen Janis), lobbied
in Washington for
twenty-six years to recover that land. And none of the families
agreed to give
it up, and definitely not without an honest fight.
I firmly believe that Leonard Peltier, and all the other people
that lived on the
Jumping Bull Ranch, were the innocent victims of a pre-meditated,
poorly
orchestrated plot, to divert attention away from the illegal
transference of a
significant portion of our Tribal land-base. In fact, just prior
to the shooting,
there was a massive military mobilization at strategic locations
near the ranch.
Thus, one can easily conclude that they didn't overžstep their
jurisdiction to
arrest someone with a phony arrest warrant (which has never been
produced), over
a pair of cowboyboots. They went there to terrorize and kill
anyone, or anything
that moved. In an attempt to topple the American Indian
Movement,and frame or
neutralize it's leaders and members.
The Lakota people of the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation sought
justice from the
murder and violence that reached into every home and community.
Despite
overwhelming evidence and eye witness accounts of these violent
assaults that
occurred all over the reservation. Despite repeated requests to
the Justice
Department to investigate these occurrences, there's never been
an inquiry.
Now I ask you Mr. President... " Where, and who does one turn
to,when the B.I.A.,
the Tribal Police, and the F.B.I. turn their cheeks in the face
of gross civil
injustice and extreme human rights violations?"
I remember the sadness that the people felt when Pedro Bissonette
was murdered
for standing up in the name of Justice! I remember the grief that
people felt
when Byron Desersa was gunned down on a lonely road, leaving
behind a wife and
kids! I remember the fear and pain we felt when Anna Mae was
found face down in
a ditch! I remember the deep sense of isolation and loneliness
that the people
felt when Joe Stuntz was murdered on the Jumping Bull Ranch! And
I remember how
alienated we became when Leonard Peltier was maliciously
extradited from Canada,
tried and convicted on the basis of fabricated evidence, and
sentenced to two
life terms for the murder of agents Coler and Williams.
There's no justice in leaving such a valued member of our
community to waste away
in prison for a crime he did not commit.At Leonard's last appeal,
U.S. Prosecutor
--Lynn Crook--admitted to the reviewing court , " We don't know
who killed the
agents." Yet Leonard remains in prison.
We need to take genuine steps to begin the healing process in the
name of "True
Justice", and correct the wrong that has been done to the
traditional people of
the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation.It is with deep regret that so
many innocent
people had to die struggling for their basic rights and freedom.
The Lakota communities find comfort in knowing that so many
prominent
individuals, institutions, and organizations are in support of
their quest for
justice. Many members of Congress,Amnesty International, The
National Association
Of CriminalDefense Lawyers, The National Association Of
Christians And Jews,78
World religious leaders, including Bishop Desmond Tutu and Nelson
Mandella of
South Africa, as well as the Archbishop Of Canterbury, all seek
Leonard's freedom.
On behalf of The Caravan/March For Social Justice, we add our
name to the over
twenty-million people worldwide who have written to urge freedom
and justice for
Leonard Peltier. Proven F.B.I.misconduct in Peltier's trial,
including
suppression of key evidence and forthright perjury, make
continued imprisonment
a national disgrace.
In conclusion, it's with great hope that you will do the "right
thing". and grant
Leonard Peltier the freedom he so richly deserves.
MR. PRESIDENT, WE URGE YOU TO FREE LEONARD PELTIER.