Indians in the Curriculum:
20 Handouts for Middle and High School
History and Social Studies
By Kerry Dunne

Handout 20 Resources: Leonard Peltier, An American Political Prisoner

Background:

By Philip Martin in Rethinking Columbus: The Next 500 Years, p. 151, edited by Bill Bigelow and Bob Peterson, 2nd edition, Rethinking Schools, http://www.rethinkingschools.org/, Milwaukee, 1998, 189 pp.

Leonard Peltier, An American Political Prisoner

What do Desmond Tutu, Rigoberta Menchú, Jesse Jackson, Nelson Mandela, the late Mother Theresa, and the Canadian and European Parliaments all have in common?

They urge that Leonard Peltier be set free.

Many people around the world understand that Leonard Peltier is a political prisoner, imprisoned by the U.S. government for his presence at the 1973 occupation of Wounded Knee and a later shoot-out in 1975 between the FBI and members of the American Indian Movement (AIM) on South Dakota's Pine Ridge Reservation.

In the several years after Wounded Knee, violence had escalated on the Pine Ridge reservation, targeting those who opposed the federally-supported, corrupt tribal government. In just over two years, 60 murders had taken place, homes had been shot up, and many people assaulted. In 1975, traditional elders requested that AIM send men to Pine Ridge to protect them.

That summer, on June 26,1975, the FBI arrived in two unmarked cars at the AIM encampment at the home of Harry Jumping Bull, and a shoot-out en-sued. The crossfire resulted in the deaths of one Indian man, Joe Stuntz, and FBI agents Ron Williams and Jack Coler. No one was ever charged with the murder of Stuntz.

Leonard Peltier, present in the Jumping Bull home with others, escaped to Canada. Two other AIM members were caught and tried, but were found innocent, having acted in self-defense in the shoot-out.

The U.S. government now focused on Peltier. He had been arrested in Canada, and in 1976 was extradited to the United States to stand trial. Determined not to lose this second trial, the federal prosecution used every means in its power to ensure that Peltier was convicted of murder for the deaths of the two FBI agents.

Nearly 10 years later, in 1986, a U.S. Circuit Court reviewed the case and found that witnesses had been coerced, evidence fabricated, favorable evidence suppressed. The U.S. government admitted it used fraudulent documents to illegally extradite Peltier from Canada. A federal prosecutor admitted that they did not actually know who shot the two agents - there was no direct evidence that one individual or another one pulled the trigger.

Yet despite the known false testimony and faked evidence, Peltier has not been allowed an appeal, and has remained in federal prison for over 20 years, steadfastly maintaining his innocence of the crime. All requests for a retrial or parole have been refused. And support for his release has steadily grown around the world.

Former Attorney General, Ramsey Clark, calls the "evidence" against Peltier "fabricated, circumstantial ... mis-used, concealed, and perverted." He is part of a large coalition working to achieve Peltier's freedom.

Messages asking for a presidential pardon for Peltier can be sent to the White House by calling (202) 456-1111, writing to the President at The White House, Washington, DC 20500, or by e-mailing at president@whitehouse.gov.

Activities 20: Leonard Peltier, An American Political Prisoner