November 1999 Leonard Peltier Freedom Month in Washington DC—Calendar

Over view:

Saturday, October 30

Freedom Run begins (9:00am) in Philadelphia at the Liberty Bell

Monday, November 1

OPENING—Leonard Peltier Freedom Month: Survivors of the reign of terror, members of the Peltier family, Congressional reps, cultural activities, and more TBA

Wednesday, November 3

Public honoring of Native Lives. A symbolic and spiritual honoring for those who gave their lives during Wounded Knee I, Wounded Knee II, and the reign of terror on Pine Ridge—Descendants from Wounded Knee I, Veterans from Wounded Knee II, and survivors of the Reign of Terror, including Rosaline Jumping Bull will speak.

Saturday, November 6

Solidarity with the peoples of Guatemala. Day of the Dead ceremonies in honor of all Indigenous Peoples killed since the arrival of Columbus.

Sunday, November 7

Solidarity with the peoples of Mexico. Day of the Dead ceremonies in honor of all Indigenous Peoples killed since the arrival of Columbus.

Monday, November 8, 1999

Big Mountain Solidarity
Roberta Blackgoat and grandchildren

Tuesday, November 9, 1999

Youth For Justice—Hip-Hop, punk, and speakers—Perfomers-Natay, Blackfire, Shadow Wise and more TBA—speakers—OJ from the Gustafsen Lake stand off and more TBA

Wednesday, November 10, 1999

Honoring for Ingrid Washinawatok, Laheenae Gay, and Terence Freitas

Thursday, November 11, 1999

Veterans for Justice Sponsored by Veterans for Peace—speakers, reading by James Rayle and moreTBA

Saturday, November 13

Unity Day

Free all political prisoners, stop racism, stop police brutality, respect the earth, dignity and respect for all life---Come listen to speakers from different organizations and movements who are coming together to help gain freedom for Leonard Peltier

6:30 a.m Sunrise Ceremony (Ellipse Park)

Gathering: Lafayette Square

10a.m. Thunder Alliance caravan arrives Lafayette Park

10:30 a.m. - 4 p.m.

Speakers:

(Lafayette Park): Ramona Africa, representative for the MOVE 9 and the International Concerned Friends and Family of Mumia Abu-Jamal; Janice Christensen, Amnesty International –USA; Leslie Feinberg, National People’s Campaign; Jaime Guttierez, Ramsey Muniz Defense Committee; Frank Velgara, National Outreach Coordinator Vieques Campaign, Working Group on Puerto Rico, Pro-Libertad Campaign; Mike Amitey, Washington Kurdish Institute; Melissa Copeland, Anti-Racist Action; Graham Russell, Committee to Free Lori Berenson; Representative for political prisoner Fred Hampton; Representative for the Industrial Workers of the World; Bahktiar Amin, Director of the Human Rights Alliance (not confirmed)

MUSIC:

Shadowyze is a rap artist of Cherokee and Creek descent and a member of the Santa Rosa County Creek Tribe in Northwest Florida who writes music exposing injustices against indigenous peoples of the Americas. He was recently featured in Aboriginal Voices and News from Indian Country.

Seeds of Wisdom is a hip hop group made up of young MOVE members, some of whom are children of political prisoners (The Move 9). Their politically and spiritually motivated lyrics express their vision of a better world.

Sovereign Nation Singers, Native American Drum Group

Sunday, November 14

Reading from Leonard Peltier’s new book, My Life Is My Sun Dance—Suzanne Harjo, Harvey Arden, and more TBA.  Indoor location to be announced

Schedule 6:30 a.m: MY LIFE IS MY SUNDANCE Sunrise Ceremony (Ellipse Park) 12:00 - 4 p.m. Book reading from Leonard Peltier's recently released book Prison Writings: My Life Is My Sundance Readers - Harvey Arden, is the editor of Leonard Peltier's new book, Prison Writings: My Life Is My Sundance. He is also the author of Wisdom Keepers and Travels in a Stone Canoe. - Susan Harjo, is a Cheyenne writer and the director of the Morning Star Institute - Scott Momaday, (invited but not confirmed) is a Pulitzer Prize winning author and the founder and chairman of the Buffalo Trust - Jimmy Santiago Baca, (invited but not confirmed) is a Chicano poet who is the author of Immigrants In Our Own Land, and Working in the Dark: Reflections of a Poet of the Barrio - Sherman Alexie (invited but not confirmed) is Coeur d'Alene author who was the writer for the movie Smoke Signals. He is also the author of the best sellers Reservation Blues and Indian Killer Traditional Cultural Presentations: - Sovereign Nation Singers - Presensia Latina, Taino Dance LPDC lpdc@idir.net

Monday, November 15

Indigenous Voices Arvol Looking Horse, Bear Lincoln, Billy Tayac, Suzanne Harjo and many more (TBA) will come to talk about the history and current issues facing Native Peoples

Wednesday, November 17

Victims of FBI abuses: Come here testimony from people from all walks of life who will retell their harrowing experiences with FBI abuses and misconduct—

Schedule:

6:30 am Sunrise Ceremony (Ellipse Park)

6:30 pm-9:30 pm Plymouth Congregational Church, 5301, North

Capitol St. (at Riggs Rd.) Washington DC

• Geronimo Ji Jaga (Pratt) was a former Minister of Defense of the Black Panther Party. He is a former political prisoner who was victimized by the FBI’s COINTELPRO. After 27 years in prison in California institutions for a crime he did not commit and a long legal battle, Geronimo was finally released because his defense proved that the only so-called witness they had against him was in fact a FBI informer. Since his release, Geronimo continues his fight against the racism and injustice. He has committed himself to fight for the release of all political prisoners in the US, especially Mumia Abu Jamal and Leonard Peltier. - Safiya Bukari is a former member of the Black Panther Party. She was a former political prisoner targeted by the FBI for her activities with the Black Liberation Army. While incarcerated, she helped found Mothers/Men inside Loving Kids (MILK), a group dedicated to bridging the gap between parents serving long sentences and their children. She is co-coordinator of the New York based Free Mumia Abu Jamal Coalition and of the Jericho Movement, a national campaign to gain recognition and amnesty for all political prisoners in the United States. - David Thibodeau survived the 1993 Waco catastrophe. Current documentation proves that the FBI gave falsified testimony in regard to the use of explosive tear gas canisters whose use could have contributed to the fatal fire. Survivors insist that it was the FBI’s over reaction and wrong doings that lead to the death of the community members.
• Jean Ann Day, of the Ho-Chunk Nation, moved to Oglala in 1975 to support and protect the traditional people who had requested help from the American Indian Movement. She witnessed the shoot out aftermath on Pine Ridge, and survived the reign of terror. She is a National spokesperson for the Leonard Peltier Defense Committee. - Representative from Earth First! (Daryl Cherney or Karen Pickett) Daryl Cherney and Judi Bari, effective labor and environmental activists of Earth First!, were the victims of an explosion which occurred as the result of a bomb that was planted in their car. FBI and police falsified key evidence which covered up their possible involvement in the planting of the bomb. Judi Bari was permanently paralyzed and recently died of cancer. - Ward Churchill is the author of Agents of Repression, The FBI’s Secret Wars Against the Black Panther Party and the American Indian Movement and the COINTELPRO Papers. He is a Professor of Political Science and he is the Director of the Educational Development Program at the University of Colorado/Boulder. Along with Glenn Morris, he coordinates the Colorado chapter of the American Indian Movement. He also works with Winona LaDuke to coordinate the Institute for Natural Progress. - Attorney Bruce Ellison, has represented Leonard Peltier since his trial in 1977. He was a member of the Wounded Knee Legal Defense/Offense Committee and he witnessed the reign of terror on the Pine Ridge Reservation during the 70’s. He is well versed in the FBI’s secret war against the American Indian Movement. He is a National Spokesperson for the LPDC (invited-but not yet confirmed). - Ramona Africa is the sole adult survivor of the 1985 MOVE bombing in which 6 children and 5 adults were killed. The Philadelphia police in conjunction with the FBI, dropped a fire bomb from a helicopter on the MOVE home after they refused to come out. They then allowed the fire to burn down every house on the entire block.

Thursday, November 18

Still No Justice: Thousands of petitions and letters of support to be delivered to the Clinton Administration

Location:

Justice Department

Schedule:

6:30 am Sunrise Ceremony (Ellipse Park)

8 am Demonstration/Honoring for the people/victims of the Pine Ridge Reign of Terror (in front of the Justice Department)

Drum: EAGLE HEART SINGERS

Friday, November 19, 1999

INFORMATION DISTRIBUTION

Schedule:

6:30 am Sunrise Ceremony (Ellipse Park)

Entire Day: Information table and distribution of literature (Lafayette Square) Drum: EAGLE HEART SINGERS

Saturday, November 20, 1999

INFORMATION DISTRIBUTION

Schedule:

6:30 am Sunrise Ceremony (Ellipse Park)

Entire Day: Information table and distribution of literature Lafayette Square) Drum: SOVEREIGN NATIONS SINGERS

Noon, Lafayette Park/White House

Elders for Leonard Peltier

Elders for Leonard has been organized by the Gray Panthers of Metro Washington in response to a call for action from the Leonard Peltier Defense Committee for a month of action in Washington, D.C., demanding the release of Native American activist and political prisoner Leonard Peltier.

Leonard Peltier is a Native American leader who has been unjustly incarcerated by the United States government for 23 years. Critical ballistic evidence establishing his innocence was withheld from the defense and witnesses were terrorized into giving false testimonies against him. Amnesty International has recognized him as a political prisoner, and demanded his immediate and unconditional release. Human rights organizations world-wide recognize Leonard Peltier as the symbol of Indigenous Rights, and through the U.N. and numerous other governing bodies have passed resolutions in support of his freedom. Detained 23 years, with failing health, he deserves his immediate freedom from this cruel and arbitrary miscarriage of justice. "Leonard Peltier is part of a long history of Americans jailed on false charges, the real reason being their defiance of the government, their persistent battle for equal rights that demand this country live up to its promise of genuine democracy. Every day that he has been imprisoned has shamed us before the world, and the time is long overdue to set him free," said Howard Zinn, author of A Peoples’ Histoty of the United States.

Speakers List (In Formation):

• Carter Camp- Founding Member of American Indian Movement
• Louise Franklin-Ramirez- Women Strike for Peace
• Walda Katz-Fishman- Project South & Comm. Indigenous Solidarity
• Nia Kuumba- Mothers On The Move Spiritually(MOMS)
• Ellen Thomas- Proposition 1 Campaign
• Abe Bloom- Gray Panthers Montgomery County
• Dave Chief- Pine Ridge Spiritual Leader
• Marilyn Preston Killingham- Republic of New Africa
• Ayo Handy- Director, African American Holiday Association

Contact John Steinbach, Gray Panthers of Metro Washington, 703-369-7427 jsteinbach@igc.org

Sunday, November 21

People of Faith for Justice Churches show support for Leonard Peltier

Schedule:

6:30 am Sunrise Ceremony Ellipse Park) Gathering (Lafayette Park)

Speakers:

Sammi Toineeta, National Council of Churches

Thom Whitewolf Fassett, United Methodist Church Episcopal Bishop Charleston (More to be announced)

Drum: SOVEREIGN NATIONS SINGERS

Monday, November 22, 1999

INFORMATION DISTRIBUTION

Schedule:

6:30 am Sunrise Ceremony (Ellipse Park)

Entire Day: Information table and distribution of literature Lafayette Square)

Tuesday, November 23

Women for Justice The Indigenous Women’s Network, Rigoberta Menchu, the Colorado Sisters, Jennifer Harbury, Jean Day, Pemina Yellow Bird, and more (TBA) come to speak and show support for Leonard Peltier

WOMEN FOR JUSTICE Schedule:

6:30 am Sunrise Ceremony (Ellipse Park)

10:00 am-4:00 pm Gathering (Lafayette Square)

Speakers:

• Pemina Yellow Bird, of the Hidatsa and Arikara tribes(from the three affiliated tribes-Mandan, Hidatsa, and Arikara Nation of the Berthold Reservation in North Dakota), has been a reburial activist for 15 years and is one of her tribe’s NAGPRA representatives. She has played a significant role in the fight for Native burial rights and in doing so, she has contributed to major changes in legislative policies. She has four children and four grandchildren and is married to Michael Yellow Bird. -
• Kahn-Tineta Horn is a long time Mohawk activist from Kahnawake territory in Canada. She took part in the 78 days stand off at Kanesatake/Oka in 1990. She is the Director of the Canadian Alliance in Solidarity with Native Peoples and she coordinated the Free Wolverine Campaign. -
• Jean Ann Day, of the Ho-Chunk Nation, moved to Oglala in 1975 to support and protect the traditional people who had requested help from the American Indian Movement. She witnessed the shoot out aftermath on Pine Ridge, and survived the reign of terror. She is a National spokesperson for the Leonard Peltier Defense Committee. -
• Jennifer Harbury is a Harvard trained lawyer. She is the author of "Bridge of Courage" and "Searching for Everardo." She has done extensive human rights work with Indigenous peoples of Guatemala and through out the world. Her husband was a Commandante of the guerrilla in Guatemala who was disappeared and later killed by the Guatemalan government in conjunction with the CIA. In a desperate search to find her missing husband, Jennifer launched a major grass roots political campaign in order to get answers from the Guatemalan and United States government. She has gained immense and invaluable experience through her efforts and she has now dedicated herself to seeking freedom for Leonard Peltier. -
• Representative of the Indigenous Women’s Network (invited). The Indigenous Women’s Network (IWN) was created to further the empowerment of Indigenous women, their families, Communities, and Nations within the Americas and the Pacific Basin. IWN will educate and advocate for revitalization of Indigenous languages and cultures, protection of religious and cultural practices, land recovery, and environmental protection, in the hope of eliminating all forms of oppression, attaining self-sufficiency and protecting Mother Earth. -
• Deborah Peebles (Red Lake Chippewa Nation, Minnesota), is an artist and a strong advocate for Native American Prisoners. She works with the United Tribes Cultural Group in Leavenworth Penitentiary where she is helping Native inmates to keep their indigenous spirituality. She is a public speaker on Native spirituality and healing. She is a freelance writer and produces a weekly radio show. She is the director of "Native America Corrections Project" and of "Operation Morningstar", a non-profit Native assistance program. -
• Minne Two Shoes is a journalist free lance writer and a former AIM member. She is a member of the Native American Journalist Association (NAJA). Traditional/Cultural presentation: -
• Deer Chaser is a Native American-Lakota dance troupe who do an educationally based stage production, which consists of Native American children 5 to 18 years of age from various bands of the Lakota Tribe’s located throughout South Dakota. The production is under the direction of Marvin Clifford Sr., who is from the Oglala band of the Lakota. The nature of the program is both historical and contemporary, featuring specialty dances and songs that are inspired by ancient Native American traditions and philosophies. As each dancer performs, a narrator will guide the audience through the program to enhance their enjoyment and understanding, by interpreting the meanings of the dances, songs and regalia. Marvin Clifford has prepared a very special program to honor Indigenous women and Leonard Peltier for this event. -
• Wayquay is an Anishinabe musical artist who blends hip hop, traditional music, blues, and poetry into an original sound and style. She has been nominated for five Native American Music Awards and will be a featured performer at the awards ceremony in November. -
• The Colorado Sisters are Mayan from Mexico who do political satire with spoken word. Their animated and expressionate performances raise awareness about issues facing Indigenous Peoples with humor and dramatic impressions. They will be performing on the behalf of Leonard Peltier and speaking on the behalf of the Indigenous peoples of Chiapas.

Wednesday, November 24

Gathering of the Drums—Call to all Indigenous drum groups

6:30 am Sunrise Ceremony (Ellipse Park)

All Day drumming (Lafayette Square)

Thursday, November 25

CLOSING—Leonard Peltier Freedom Month—Vigil and closing prayer ceremony 5pm-8pm—come thank the fasters and show solidarity during the "Thanksgiving" holiday. (Meanwhile—Plymouth Rock—Day of Mourning sponsored by United American Indians of New England.)

CLOSING OF THE LEONARD PELTIER FREEDOM MONTH

Location Lafayette Square

Schedule:

6:30 am Sunrise Ceremony (Ellipse Park)

5pm - 8pm Vigil and Closing Prayer Ceremony (Lafayette Square)

NOTE: The dates listed inside of the asterisks are important days to mobilize crowds. If you are able to come to DC during any part of November, please include one or more of these days in your schedule if possible, and bring your friends. Every day of November will include a morning prayer ceremony lead by David Chief, drumming, singing, and various other cultural activities. Every evening a candlelight vigil will be held unless other activities are being conducted at night. All activities listed will be conducted at the Ellipse Park (behind the White House), the Lafayette Park (In front of the White House), or at an indoor location close by.

We will release the times, speakers, exact locations and performers as plans develop—contact the LPDC for any questions or for more information. Alcohol and drugs will be prohibited.

Leonard Peltier Defense Committee
PO Box 583
Lawrence, KS 66044
785-842-5774