Leonard Peltier
Leonard Peltier
Leonard Peltieris a Native American activist and member of the American Indian Movement. In 1977 he was convicted and sentenced to two consecutive terms of life imprisonment for first degree murder in the shooting of two Federal Bureau of Investigationagents during a 1975 conflict on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation...
ProfessionActivist
Date of Birth12 September 1944
course demanding granted millions nations passed people states supporting tribal united
Over 150 tribal nations have passed resolutions demanding that I be granted clemency. And of course millions of people just in the United States alone, and multi-millions around the world, have been supporting me.
children real heart
To heal will require real effort, and a change of heart, from all of us. To heal means that we will begin to look upon one another with respect and tolerance instead of prejudice, distrust and hatred. We will have to teach our children-as well as ourselves-to love the diversity of humanity....We can do it. Yes, you and I and all of us together. Now is the time. Now is the only possible time. Let the Great Healing begin.
mistake past compassion
I don’t know how to save the world. I don’t have the answers or The Answer. I hold no secret knowledge as to how to fix the mistakes of generations past and present. I only know that without compassion and respect for all of Earth’s inhabitants, none of us will survive—nor will we deserve to.
party rights justice
Justice is not a flexible tool. Unless we all do our part to ensure that justice is applied equally to all human beings, we are a party to its abuse. We must stand together to protect the rights of others.
innocence guilty
We each begin in innocence. We all become guilty.
fighting rights people
A political prisoner is someone who is out fighting for his or her people's rights and freedom and is imprisoned for that alone.
wall writing men
If you look at Iraq and Afghanistan's situations, they are quickly becoming much like our reservations. They will have puppet governments funded and controlled by a U.S. Government that siphoned off their resources. You don't have to be an English major to read the writing on the wall; I am in here as a warning to others, just like those men who are in Guantanamo are a warning to others - if you stand up to us you face these same consequences.
government constitution-of-the-united-states innocence
The United States government can indict you on something, and now you've got to prove your innocence. And that's not the Constitution of the United States.
illegal probation unfortunate
In them days, it was just still not illegal to kill an Indian. If you killed an Indian, you'd be very unfortunate if you got probation - most of them were released immediately.
government bigs fbi
The FBI has always supported big business and big government.
responsibility government land
During that time period all of our tribes were suffering extremely from poverty and neglect. And the reason I say neglect is because the U.S. Government was neglecting its true responsibilities they agreed to in exchange for our land and resources. What I and others attempted to do, and in essence we did, was bring attention to our sovereign rights, the rights we had retained when the treaties were made.
native-american rights looks
If you look at the statistics regarding Native Americans, you will see that most of the tribes since the 70s have improved their economic situation in some form. And this has been brought about by their aggressive assertion of their sovereign treaty rights.
senior educational law
There are tribes, I should say nations, which prior to the AIM movement had only ten or fifteen employees, and now have upwards of 2000. There are educational programs that didn't exist before, there are housing programs, health programs, senior citizen programs, cultural programs and the list goes on. It's all because some people stood up and said sovereignty is our right by treaty and the constitution says treaty law is the supreme law of the land.
father home men
What I am is a father, a grandfather, a great grandfather, and an artist. I am a man who loves his people and wants to go home.