Leonard Peltier - Serving Two Term Paper

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By then I'll be ninety-seven. I don't think I'll make it. My life is an extended agony. I feel like I've lived a hundred lifetimes in prison already. But I'm prepared to live thousands more on behalf of my people. If my imprisonment does nothing than educate an unknowing and uncaring public about the terrible conditions Indian people continue to endure, then my suffering has had - and continues to have - a purpose.

Peltier, who was sentenced to the two concurrent life terms in 1977, has produced some critically acclaimed oil paintings while at Leavenworth, according to an article in the journal the Progressive (July, 2001). "Painting is a way to examine the world in ways denied to me by the United States Justice system, a way to travel beyond the walls and bars of the penitentiary," Peltier is quoted as saying.

Meanwhile, on page 17 of his book, Peltier share some of his Indian philosophy of life, and also, he insists that he is not guilty of the crimes he was sent to prison for:

Speaking out is my first duty, my first obligation to myself and to my people. To speak your mind and heart is Indian Way. In Indian Way, the political and the spiritual are one and the same.

You can't believe one thing and do another. What you believe and what you do are the same thing. In Indian Way, if you see your people suffering, helping them is an absolute necessity. it's not a social act of charity or welfare assistance; it's a spiritual act, a holy deed. I know who and what I am. I am an Indian - an Indian who dared to stand up and to defend his people. I am an innocent man who never murdered anyone nor wanted to...To the still- grieving Coler and Williams families [the FBI agents' families] send my prayers if you will have them. I hope you will..

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.we have many dead of our own to pray for, and we join our prayers of sorrow to yours. Let our common grief be our bond. I state to you absolutely that, if I could possibly have prevented what happened that day, your menfolk would not have died...And I certainly never pulled the trigger that did it. May the Creator strike me dead this moment if I lie...I swear to you, I am guilty only of being an Indian. That's why I'm here.

Conclusion

There are those, such as Federal Judge Gerald W. Heaney, Court of Appeals of the Eighth Circuit, who believe the U.S. Government was out of line in their approach to the Pine Ridge Reservation. Heaney actually petitioned the White House to "commute Peltier's sentence," according to L.A. Times and PBS reporter, Kevin McKiernan (McKiernan, 2001). "Heaney stated in a letter that the FBI shared the blame for the two agents and one Indian killed" in the shootout, McKiernan continued. Heaney claimed that the government "overreacted' to the 1973 occupation of Wounded Knee... [and] instead of 'carefully considering the legitimate grievances of Native Americans' he said 'the response was essentially a military one that culminated in a deadly firefight on June 26, 1975'."

With these revelations, and the other facts and circumstances presented in the paper, there would appear to be ample evidence to allow Leonard Peltier to go free, rather than spend the rest of his life imprisoned for a crime he may not have, and likely did not, commit. But in this age of terrorism and the Patriot Act, it's not likely that Peltier will ever go free, and that is as un-American as the crimes he was falsely accused of......

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