From: "LPDC" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Date: Mon, 10 Sep 2001 09:31:25 -0500
To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Subject: Peltier BD press release
Dear Friends,
Below is a press release which can be forwarded to your local media. If you
are planning a local event, feel free to adapt this press release with your
event's details, and your local contact info. This release can go out as
early as today. And again, on Wednesday we will be releasing a detailed
announcement to you explaining the new cases we will be filing and reporting
on the LPDC's restructuring. Thank you for your continued in support.
In Solidarity,
LPDC
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
For Further Information
Contact: Gina Chiala or
Debra Peebles @
785-842-5774
PRESS RELEASE
Leonard Peltier's Defense Committee Reorganizes
Sets Sights on 6000 Pages Still Held by FBI
On the eve of imprisoned American Indian activist, Leonard
Peltier's birthday, September 12, the committee that has long waged the
crusade for his freedom is unveiling a restructured organization and
strategic campaign. President Clinton's failure to grant clemency in
January of 2001, in spite of documented FBI misconduct and serious questions
about Peltier's guilt, has made Peltier supporters even more determined to
rally for justice.
Peltier was tried in 1976 for the killing of two FBI agents who
with back up from a swat team-like force, chased a red pick up truck onto
the Jumping Bull residence on Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in South Dakota,
June 26, 1975. The FBI claims the day of the shoot out, they entered the
ranch in search of a young Indian man accused of stealing a used pair of
cowboy boots. Peltier, with other young American Indian Movement (AIM)
members - mostly in their teens, were on the ranch to protect Mr. and Mrs.
Jumping Bull, traditional elders of the Lakota people. The Jumping Bulls
had asked for AIM protection from a community at odds over traditional
versus contemporary values. Excessive violence against Lakota traditionals
had often been reported in the years preceding the shoot out. FBI
involvement in such action was a disturbing factor in tribal disputes over
land management and sale of reservation natural resources. As the shoot out
ensued between AIM supporters and FBI agents, the leader of Pine Ridge's
tribal council, a nontraditional, signed in secret, an agreement
transferring 1/8th of the reservation, rich in minerals and uranium over to
the federal government. The government came away with highly prized natural
resources, at the price of two FBI agents. As for the traditional Lakota,
the loss of one young Indian man - his death never investigated, and loss of
tribal lands.
Peltier's case has never come to rest satisfactorily. FBI and
prosecutor misconduct rife throughout the trial, has not moved a judicial
system that in 1985 admitted, "We can't prove who shot those agents." Some
of what is now known about that day in 1975 has been obtained by acquisition
of FBI files through the Freedom of Information Act. However, to date, the
agency refuses to release 6000 further pages of unreported documentation.
Restructuring Peltier's Defense Committee started last winter
after President Clinton's notorious list of clemencies failed to include
Peltier. The Committee includes a new Board of Directors beginning with Dr.
Michael Yellow Bird, Associate Professor of Social Work at the University of
Arizona, Glenn Marshall, Council President of the Mashpee Wampanoag tribe of
Massachusetts and Matt Hill, a Mohawk grassroots activist. Also joining the
head office in Lawrence, Kansas is Debra Peebles, a Red Lake Chippewa,
writer, media coordinator and long time activist for Native spiritual rights
in prisons, and sits on the Board of Chaplains for the Department of
Corrections in Missouri. As for strategy, the Leonard Peltier Defense
Committee plans to file a major civil rights lawsuit seeking damages and
injunctive relief for the FBI's obstruction of Peltier's clemency and parole
through the dissemination of misinformation to both key officials and the
public. Peltier's legal defense team will also file a Freedom of
Information Act lawsuit seeking the 6,000 concealed FBI documents.
Additionally, Peltier's defense team is preparing a new case which seeks to
reduce Peltier's sentence to time served.
Mr. Peltier, detained in Leavenworth Prison, Leavenworth, Kansas
says of another birthday behind bars, "Last year at this time I really
believed I would be enjoying this day with my grandchildren, but I continue
to keep faith. Today I think about how I walked in here a young man and now
I am an elder just like those people I was protecting. But really, I'm
grateful for all those people around the world who have worked hard on my
behalf, and those who have come forward with fresh energy and insight. I am
really honored by the loyalty and support, so I trust the Creator that one
day the truth will be told and I will walk out the front door."
Support Senate Hearings on Peltier Case!
Call Senator Leahy: 202-224-4242
Leonard Peltier Defense Committee
PO Box 583
Lawrence, KS 66044
785-842-5774
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