Birthday message from Peltier
‘My fight for freedom is not over’
Published Sep 15, 2010 4:42 PM
Editor’s note: Following are excerpts from a statement issued by
Leonard Peltier on the occasion of his 66th birthday on Sept. 12. Peltier, who
was framed up by the FBI for the shooting of two agents at Pine Ridge
Reservation in South Dakota in 1975, has been unjustly imprisoned since 1976.
Sisters, brothers, friends and supporters,
... Thinking back to those days on Pine Ridge, what I remember is the funerals.
There were so many funerals. ... So many families lost loved ones.
There was a powerful force at work on the reservation back then, one with a
single purpose — to stamp out the last resistance of the Lakota
people.
We (the Oglala traditionals and members of the American Indian Movement) stood
up because we were trying to defend our People. It was the right thing to do.
We had — have — the right to survive.
The land was being stolen, too ... used for mining mostly. No thought was given
to the disposal of toxic waste. The rivers were full of poisons. Not much has
changed, I hear. ...
In those days, though, the reservation was torn apart by a tribal dispute and
the federal government armed one group against another. The result was a long
line of tragedies for the People of Pine Ridge ... and for the People who were
there that day in June 1975.
I honestly understand the pain and anguish suffered by all concerned and I have
been part of that suffering.
I have watched people lie on the witness stand countless times. ...
I have heard judges admonish prosecutors for allowing false evidence in and, in
some cases, for participating in the falsification itself.
The government hid evidence, too. Or manufactured it.
... if the American standard of justice is still “beyond a reasonable
doubt,” why am I still here?
Last year, as you know, my parole was denied. That was a disappointment, but I
am not defeated. My fight for freedom — for my People and myself —
is not over. I am a pipe carrier and a Sundancer. Abandoning The Struggle is
not — never will be — a consideration. ...
When I look back over all the years, I remember all the good people who have
stood up for me, for a day or a decade. Of course, many have stayed with me all
along the way. I think of the hundreds of thousands of people around the world
who have signed petitions for me, too ... people on the poorest of reservations
to the highest of political offices.
As we have learned over these many years, my freedom won’t come quickly
or easily. To succeed, the coming battle will have to be hard fought. Please
continue to help my Committee and legal team as you have always done. Your
support is more important now than ever before. When freedom comes, it will be
due in no small part to the actions you take on my behalf. ...
Doksha (Later),
Leonard Peltier
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