WALK TO JUSTICE for Leonard Peltier: March, Rally, and Prayer in Washington, D.C.

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Beyond Nuclear stood in solidarity with the American Indian Movement (AIM) and International Leonard Peltier Defense Committee on Sunday, November 13, 2022. The day marked the 50th anniversary of the beginning of the Trail of Broken Treaties occupation of the U.S. Bureau of Indian Affairs.

See the event flier here:

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The rally marked the culmination of a spiritual march and run from Minneapolis, MN to Washington, D.C.

Peltier has been incarcerated for 47 years, the longest held Indigenous political prisoner in the U.S. A former U.S. Attorney, and a former federal district judge, were among those who spoke out at the rally on behalf of Peltier’s clemency. The event took place at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C., Piscataway land.

As documented in the film “Incident at Ogalala,” on the day of the shootout between AIM and FBI agents on the Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota, Ogallala Sioux tribal chairman Dickie Wilson signed a lease agreement allowing uranium mining on 1/8th of the reservation. There is a theory that the FBI raid on the Jumping Bull Ranch — where AIM members including Peltier were protecting Lakota traditionals from Wilson’s GOON (Guardians of the Ogallala Nation) death squads and their reign of terror that murdered dozens of AIM members and traditionals in just a few years time — was intended as a distraction from the uranium lease agreement.

How was it that 200 FBI agents descended on the very remote rural location a very short time after the shootout took place? Why were they already pre-deployed in the area?

Two FBI agents and a young Native American, Joe Stuntz, died that day. Stuntz death from an FBI bullet has never been adequately investigated, nor has justice been done in his case.

Others charged with the same alleged crimes as Peltier were found innocent by reason of self defense. But the FBI went judge shopping, and found one in Fargo, ND infamous for his hatred of Indians. Peliter was sentenced to two life terms for the deaths of the FBI agents, even though there is no evidence he pulled the trigger that killed them.

For more information about Peltier’s story, see Peter Matthiesen’s In the Spirit of Crazy Horse, and Peltier’s own Prison Writings: My Life Is My Sun Dance.

And please contact President Biden, urging clemency for Peltier.

 

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