There is so much right now to feel grief and fear and anguish about—wildfires decimating an area in LA nearly the size of Brooklyn, a new president who is a wildfire all his own, a fragile ceasefire coming only after 1 in 50 people in Gaza are dead.
This apocalyptic context made yesterday’s news all the sweeter—after 47 years as a political prisoner of our government, Leonard Peltier is going home. Listen to his reaction to the news.
Leonard is a citizen of the Anishinabe and Dakota/Lakota Nations who was active with the American Indian Movement, a group fighting for the rights of Indigenous peoples and protesting police violence. After the death of two FBI agents in 1975, he was unjustly sentenced to two consecutive life sentences, but Indigenous leaders have always maintained that the case was full of discrepancies and Leonard was wrongfully convicted. Amnesty International considered him a political prisoner, and Tribal Nations, Nelson Mandela, Mother Theresa, the 14th Dalai Lama, Archbishop Desmond Tutu, various Nobel Peace Laureates, former FBI agents, and even the former U.S. Attorney, James Reynolds, whose office handled the prosecution, have all called for his release.
Throughout his time in prison, Leonard has written many public statements. For this past National Day of Mourning, he wrote: “We. Will. Endure. They cannot take the sacred fire we carry. … Perhaps they hate us because we exist within the forces of Nature. They have no dominion over the wind."
Over the last few weeks, our members have joined the call for Peltier’s release, demanding that former president Biden grant him clemency. It is an honor to be a small part of this victory, and to stand beside five decades of Indigenous and allied organizers who made it possible to bring Leonard home. “While home confinement is not complete freedom, we will honor him by bringing him back to his homelands to live out the rest of his days surrounded by loved ones, healing, and reconnecting with his land and culture,” said Nick Tilsen, NDN Collective Founder and CEO.
To hear more from Leonard and other Indigenous organizers, register for this zoom webinar on Saturday, January 25th.
Amidst all the chaos and danger we’re facing, we hope this news is the bright spot of hope for you that it is for us. May there be many more victories for Indigenous organizing, and may we all have the honor of contributing to them.
In solidarity,
SURJ NYC