DAY OF SHAME : WE MUST STAY TOGETHER AND KEEP ON FIGHTING FOR JUSTICE FOR LEONARD
January 20, 2001
Dear Friends,
Today is a grim and shameful day. We must confirm that President Clinton, despite all his good words this week about racial unity, "One America", and healing historical injustices, has denied clemency to Leonard Peltier. We do not know why. Yet disturbing questions are obviously raised by the last minute "deal" on the Monica Lewinsky perjury issue.
Leonard himself has asked that we thank each and every one of you for your phenomenal efforts on his behalf during the last year. Towards the end the world support had turned into a literal human rights tidal wave, with every high level leader and organization calling or writing to President Clinton on Leonard's behalf. Yet somehow it was not enough to outweigh the outright terror the FBI was able to instill in our government leadership.
We are all hurting badly just now, and we ask that you turn your prayers and thoughts towards Leonard himself today. Send him letters of support and stay with us. We must remain tightly organized.
We will be in a huddle with lawyers and organizers for the next several days working on new plans and proposals. We will have to work out a very new strategy, as President Bush's government will be quite different from Clinton's.(or perhaps not so different after all). Bear with us while we reorganize and do some new thinking.and of course send us your ideas and thoughts as well.
We know you want to keep up the fight and we know that this must be done. The future of our society depends on our point blank insistence on justice for all.
Please watch our web site and keep checking in. We will have some new strategies and battle plans ready to go very soon. We must never leave Leonard behind, but we can only bring him home if we keep working together.
This network has grown to amazing new levels of strength and commitment this year. We must take a breather now but we must not fall apart or give up. Leonard is depending on us. If he can keep up his sacrificing then so must we.
In Solidarity, LPDC
(Here is a statement for the press which you can forward to local media if you'd like.)
LEONARD PELTIER DEFENSE COMMITTEE
PUBLIC STATEMENT REGARDING DENIAL OF CLEMENCY : "DAY OF SHAME"
We were both shocked and saddened by President Clinton's decision to deny executive clemency to Leonard Peltier. During the last few days world support for the immediate and unconditional release of Mr. Peltier had reached remarkable levels, with calls and letters arriving from such renowned human rights and religious leaders as Coretta Scott King, the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, Amnesty International, Nobel Laureate Rigoberta Menchu and the Archbishop Desmond Tutu, amongst many others. Grassroots support from people across the country had swamped the White House phone and fax lines for months. Native nations and organizations made their support known again and again in powerful messages. Thousands of concerned citizens walked and prayed in the streets of New York on International Human Rights Day. Yet somehow none of this was enough.
Why? The question remains for William Clinton to answer. The fact that so light a penalty attached to the perjury charge in the Monica Lewinsky case raises disturbing issues. We would like an explanation.
For many weeks now President Clinton had called for national reconciliation and racial unity in this country. He has called for "One America" and emphasized the great racial disparity and discrimination so evident in our criminal justice system. He has called again and again for respect and equality for all races. He has stressed the need for righting historical injustices and healing long festering wounds inflicted upon people of color. He has insisted that the United States take its place as a world leader of human rights affairs. He has personally visited Pine Ridge Reservation, the site of the tragic shoot out at Oglala a long and bitter quarter of a century ago, and called for greater respect and justice for our first citizens.
Yet in this last and most critical test , President Clinton has betrayed his own goals and ideals. Again we must ask why?
Leonard Peltier has been imprisoned for 25 years without ever receiving the benefit of a fair trial. The FBI forced Myrtle Poor Bear to sign a false affidavit, then committed fraud upon the Canadian government by presenting her statement to their courts of law. Three teenaged boys were terrorized and coerced into giving false testimonies to the grand jury and at his trial. A ballistics test reflecting his innocence was concealed from the defense and the FBI expert gave distorted testimony to the jury. No consequences for these illegal acts have ever attached. Today even the United States Attorneys admit that no one knows who fired the fatal shots. Yet Leonard Peltier was denied a new trial on a technicality, with the judge admitting that a strong doubt was cast on the prosecution's case. Even that judge now supports clemency . Meanwhile Mr. Peltier himself is long overdue for parole and receives human rights awards for the remarkable human rights work he carries out from behind bars. He is now in failing health.
Most disturbing still is the fact that Leonard's highly controversial conviction is deeply rooted in one of the most grim chapters of recent American civil rights history, specifically the Pine Ridge Reign of Terror. Between 1973 and 1976 , FBI backed vigilantes terrorized, battered and assaulted scores of Lakota traditionalists and AIM supporters throughout the reservation. Houses burned and entire families were wounded in drive by shootings. While the FBI stood by, some 64 AIM members and supporters were murdered, their deaths never properly investigated or vindicated. Civil rights organizations excoriated FBI abuses again and again.
It can hardly be gainsaid that the history of our government's dealings with the first citizens of this country have been tragic at best, and oftentimes shameful. It is difficult to imagine a case more crucial to national reconciliation and healing that the case of Leonard Peltier. Yet a door, instead of opening , has been slammed and locked. Our society will pay the price.
Today will be remembered as but another day of U.S. government shame and betrayal of Native people.
Leonard Peltier Defense
Committee PO Box 583
Lawrence, KS 66044
785-842-5774
www.freepeltier.org
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