February the 6th, 2021 marked 46 years of unjust imprisonment for Leonard Peltier. We want to remember his story once again. Maybe some people already know it, but for those who still do not know it, we want you to discover this shame. And let’s pay him homage.

Thanks Leonard to resist. “I’ll fight a little longer … forever” (Leonard Peltier)

On February the 6th, 1976, Leonard Peltier, a Native American activist for the rights of his people with the American Indian Movement, entered the jail on charges of participating in the killing of two FBI agents. After a trial in which irregularities and discrimination were on the agenda, he was convicted by a jury made up of whites alone, in Fargo, a city known for anti-Indian sentiments, and by a judge known for his racism. Discordant testimonies were used. He was always denied the review of the trial, despite the fact that new testimonies and evidence exonerated him.

Today, after forty-five years of hard prison and long periods of isolation, Leonard Peltier continues to suffer the injustice of being denied his freedom because of his being a native American, of having fought for the rights of the people to which he belongs, of not having renounced his struggles. A proud people who has been massacred, brutalized, humiliated and reduced by the “progress” brought by the “whites” and their capitalist society to survive in the absence of rights and without a future worthy of its name. Leonard Peltier is the symbol of discrimination and racism that are still characteristics rooted in the US society. This proves that human rights are not respected in that country, which is also considered an example of democracy and Western civilization and wants to impose its model on the whole world.

The injustice suffered by Leonard Peltier is the product of a mentality that is typical of those who think to be “masters of the world”, of that cruel superiority that leads the United States (and its vassals) to “exporting democracy” with imperial wars that serve to subjugate those who do not follow their model and create millions of deaths.

Leonard Peltier today is a man of 77 years who has lived in prison for 45 years, because he was born in the wrong part of the world and because of his courage to fight for the redemption of his people. This is his real fault. And that’s why every sincere democrat should raise his voice and ask, or even demand, his immediate release. The democrats must claim it by breaking down the wall of indifference, the wall of silence that surrounds his history in order to not lose the residue of humanity and justice that still exists and for which it is always necessary to fight.

Leonard Peltier was not weakened by that frightening power that stole his freedom because he wanted to live head-on. Leonard Peltier has remained a free man because he’s never been bent and, even if they have tried in every way to humiliate him, he has maintained the ideals of his youth. He’s a free man because he still has the invincible will to fight for the rights of his people in spite of all that he had to suffer and still suffers. He is a free man because he has never been defeated.

Leonard Peltier has always lived with dignity and without submitting to  those who wanted him anihilated. He’s the living example that we must  never give up unjustice. We can’t remain indifferent in front of his  struggle. And precisely because they have tried to erase his  intelligence and his integrity by stealing his freedom, we must cling to  his side and shout loudly “FreeLeonardPeltier”.

For more information www.whoisleonardpeltier.info

Incident at Oglala (1992)

This film describes the events surrounding a 1975 shootout at the Pine Ridge reservation in S. Dakota where two FBI agents were killed

http://indigenous-tairp.com/movies/incident-at-oglala-the-leonard-peltier-story