‘My fight for freedom is not over’

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. ...