Free Leonard Peltier!

The American Indian Movement or A.I.M. was formed in 1968 by Native Americans so that they could fight for freedoms and for a different way of life. Native people were tired of having their kids being taken away and sent to boarding schools where they were indoctrinated in the white man's ways, and they were tired of over 300 years of lies, and broken promises. These people wanted their own rights to choose and to live the way they wished to live, on their land.

Leonard Peltier was born on September 12^th, 1944 in Grand Forks North Dakota. He is a member of the American Indian Movement and has been incarcerated now for over 38 years. Leonard Peltier is being charged with the deaths of two F.B.I. agents during a shootout on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation on June 26^th 1975. If you study the case you will see that their are many serious violations and that Mr. Leonard Peltier did not get a fair trial, and that there are many things that just don't make sense.

What where those F.B.I. Agents doing on the reservation in plain clothes and unmarked cars chasing a car matching one belonging to a man named Jimmy Eagle? The whole affair is said to be regarding some alledged stolen cowboy boots. This man Jimmy Eagle could have easily mistaken the men chasing him for someone out to hurt him.

One thing to keep in mind is that there had been many shootings on the reservation at Pine Ridge , and they were being carried out by the reservations Elected Tribal Leader Richard (Dickie) Wilson's Goons (Guardians of Oglala Nation) who had been shooting up the homes of American Indian Movement members and other native people who they thought were affiliated with the group, or helping them in any way. Sixty people had died at the hands of the GOONS.

Soon after shooting broke out, and after the shooting had stopped, American Indian Movement member Joe Stuntz and two F.B.I. Agents Ronald A. Williams and Jack R. Coler had been killed.

It is tragic that anyone died on that sad day. I think it is tragic that we cannot live in peace, I would like to send my condolences to the families of the men who lost their lives on that day. I also believe that Mr. Peltier did not get a fair trial and that he has been in jail way too long. I feel that he should be let out immediately so he can be reunited with his family and friends.

On a personal note, I really do not like jails, I do not like what they do to people, and I really do not like what they do to the families of the incarcerated beings. I have personally seen people I love taken away, and put into jail. I have personally seen people crying out due to the pain the separation from their loved one is causing them. I think that we need to find a better way. I think that many men in jail are innocent or are there for some non sense reasons, and people may also be incarcerated for having been tried by racist juries, and not their peers, or being pressured into signing plea bargain agreements that trick them into pleeding guilty even when they are innocent. I think this is an attack against the poor and the colored.

Contact Leonard Peltier:

LEONARD PELTIER #89637-132

USP COLEMAN I
P.O. BOX 1033
COLEMAN, FL 33521