A MESSAGE TO THE PEOPLE
Many injustices are still being heaped upon our Red Nations, but the greatest outrage is "Where is justice for Leonard Peltier?" Where is justice for this indomitable warrior who is being robbed of his very life by the takers of the fat? Leonard has been in captivity for more than twenty-two years for a crime he did not commit. For many of these years he has been forced to live in a cage so small that had he been a dog, the Humane Society would have closed the prison down.
During these years, the keepers of the Iron Houses of Greed have subjected him to some of the most hideous treatment in an effort to break his will and spirit, yet his warrior heart remains strong and unyielding, serving as an inspiration to us all. Peltier is an innocent man! He has committed no crime! He is the victim of a system of injustice which operates outside the moral boundaries that just people claim to live by.
Brothers and sisters, Leonard is a Prisoner of War being unjustly held captive in his own land by the descendants of the very sea pirates who murdered his great grandmothers and great grandfathers, decimated his People, and stole Mother Earth out from under their feet. I speak of wars because war is being waged against the Indian People throughout the americas-the Slade Gorton war to end our sovereignty; the logging wars to poison our water; the war to dump their nuclear contamination on us; the war to continue denying our brothers and sisters in the Iron Houses the right to practice our religion, and on and on-and now our brother Leonard has been denied parole, and told not to come back to see the parole board until 2008. The war against him says he can't even get proper medical treatment for his jaw that has him in severe pain constantly.
I know this man is not a complainer. He will complain about the injustices being done to his People, but his pantsleg could be on fire and he wouldn't complain, so when I heard that he admitted he is in constant, severe pain it brought tears to my eyes because I know that brother is suffering.
We have got to do something! Call Warden Booker at Leavenworth and write him letters; call and write Kathleen Hawk Sawyer, the director of the Federal Bureau of Prisons. We gotta do more than we ever thought we could. We need Leonard outside the prison walls to help us win our right to exist in Clinton's america. Of course he wouldn't have to do anything but kick back and let his grandbabies swarm over him, enjoy his family, relatives and friends, and do some of the things that injustice has denied him and that he so richly deserves. Just seeing his smiling face in glorious freedom will pump new life in every struggle everywhere.
To all of you who struggle to free Leonard, I extend the left hand of my left arm which is closest to my heart. My love and strength are with you.
In the Spirit of Crazy Horse,
-STANDING DEER
Write to:
Kathleen Hawk Sawyer,
Director, Federal Bureau of Prisons,
320 First Street, NW, Washington, DC 20534,
TEL. (202) 307-3198 · FAX. (202) 514-6878
Warden Booker, USP Leavenworth,
P.O. Box 1000, KS 66048,
TEL. (913)-682-8700 · FAX. (913) 682-0041
TO RUSSIA WITH LOVE
Canadian Matthew King, 12, sends his concern for Political Prisoner Leonard Peltier to a Leonard Peltier Support Group in St. Petersburg, Russia.
Returning to Canada recently, King visits family member and friends near Elk, Texas, and is photographed in the office of the bureau chief of Huaco Press-Photographic Service (HPS), a quasi-underground wholesale media outlet in Waco.
It can be noted that the Russian people have supporters throughout the Americas. The flag is that of the Russian-American Fur Company: the Russian military headquarters flag came from Fort Ross on the North Coast of California. The Russians had cordial, friendly, pleasant relations with the American Indians they had contact with. King wears the famous Russian black mink hat with the "Freedom for Leop;nard Peltier" T-shirt. More merchandise and the newsletter The Spirit of Crazy Horse can be ordered from the Leonard Peltier Defense Committee. P.0. Box 583, Lawrence, KS 66044, (913) 842-5774.