Humanity Rising Day 459: Leonard Peltier Leonard Peltier and the American Indian Movement of the 70s

Leonard Peltier and the Early Years in the American Indian Movement of the 70s

Leonard Peltier, American Indian Movement activist, was convicted of being an accomplice to murder of two FBI agents in 1975. He was eligible for parole in 1993 and has consistently been denied despite an overwhelming global campaign for his release. 

Leonard Peltier, born September 12, 1944, is a Native American activist and mainstay member of the American Indian Movement who, following a controversial trial, was convicted of aiding and abetting murder and has been imprisoned since 1977. He was sentenced to two consecutive terms of life imprisonment for aiding and abetting resulting in the death of two FBI agents in a June 26, 1975 shooting on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in South Dakota.
In his 1999 memoir Prison Writings: My Life Is My Sun Dance, Peltier admitted to participating in the shootout but said he did not kill the FBI agents. Human rights watchdogs such as Amnesty International and political figures including Nelson Mandela, Mother Teresa, and the Dalai Lama have campaigned for clemency for Peltier in recent decades.

At the time of the shootout, Peltier was an active member of the American Indian Movement, an indigenous rights advocacy group that worked to combat the racism and police brutality experienced by American Indians. Peltier is incarcerated in a Federal Penitentiary in Florida. Peltier became eligible for parole in 1993. He is of Lakota, Dakota and French descent. He is an enrolled member of the Turtle Mountain Chippewa.


Presenters
Sheron Wyant-Leonard was born in the heart of the Jim Crow south in Montgomery, Alabama, to an Army Airborne Ranger and a mother who worked for the Department of Defense. Drawn to the arts at a young age, she worked in the American theatre with legendary director Adrian Hall and studied with renowned playwright, Donald Freed. Her play about the AIDS Quilt, titled In Stitches, was an early indication of her serious talent. She takes on the hard issues of Human Rights and the human struggles that have often evolved unfairly in American society. Her stories examine the heart, written with the clever hand of a dramatist. Her characters understand both the humor and the profound sadness born of a poverty not of one’s own making.


Has known Leonard Peltier since 1977 and has worked as a writer, producer and member of his legal team over many years. He has also been a writer, campaigner and producer for Human Rights Action Center and has known Jack Healey for several decades.
Suggested reading
I WILL by Sheron Wyant-Leonard    
Prison Writings by Leonard Peltier and Harvey Arden  
In the Spirit of Crazy Horse by Peter Matthiessen.  
Leonard Peltier  Art Behind Bars-Dreams of Freedom by Tsipi Ben-Haim et al
Create your future A Memoir  John G. Jack Healey. 
Co-convener:
Jim Garrison, President, Ubiquity University


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