Tag: Leonard Peltier

Indigenous Peoples’ Day

Illegal immigration in America started on October 12, 1492 when Christopher Columbus bumped into an island in the Bahamas thinking he found the western route to India. We all know how that turned out.

The history of the treatment of Native Americans by the illegal immigrants from Europe is abominable and continues to this day. Of the over 500 treaties the United States government signed with Native American tribes, the government has broken or violated every one. That’s quite a foreign policy record.

Twenty-two years ago South Dakota renamed the second Monday in October Native American Day in honor of the indigenous people who suffered near-annihilation after Columbus opened doors to the New World. This is how Native Americans commemorate the day:

Diana King is an enrolled member of the White Earth Indian Nation in northern Minnesota. For the last 12 years, she has taught at the Waubun High School, which is located on a reservation. “Columbus Day is a chance to teach about who we once were, what has become of us since Europeans arrived on our shores and who we are today – a struggling but surviving people,” King says.

Each October, King creates a bulletin board that illustrates a rich display of indigenous life on the American continents circa 1492.[..]

“I want teachers to teach more about Indian civilization just like they do with Egyptian or European history,” she says. “Our … history did not begin with Christopher Columbus.” [..]

“Even though 70 percent of our students are Native, most of our teachers are non-Indian,” she says. “When I started here there were no Ojibwe language classes and there was no after-school program for Native students. Working with teachers to help educate them about our students about their culture and the issues they face living on the reservation is critical to promoting success.” [..]

“We should have been wiped out,” she says. “It’s a miracle Native people still exist. I have never liked the word ‘conquered.’ We are still here after 500 years. And maybe every time Columbus Day comes around, we should rethink who the real heroes are: the explorer or the survivors?”

On Columbus Day, Indigenous Urge Celebration of Native Culture & Teaching of the Americas’ Genocide

Also from Democracy Now!, Amy Goodman interviews Native American Activist Dennis Banks who shared his experiences and view about this day:

On “Columbus Day” – known to many as Indigenous Peoples Day – we’re joined by Dennis Banks, a legendary Native American activist from the Ojibwe Tribe. In 1968, he co-founded the American Indian Movement. A year later, he took part in the occupation of Alcatraz Island in California. In 1972, he assisted in AIM’s “Trail of Broken Treaties,” a caravan of numerous activist groups across the United States to Washington, D.C., to call attention to the plight of Native Americans. That same year, AIM took over the Bureau of Indian Affairs building in Washington, D.C. In early 1973, AIM members took over and occupied Wounded Knee on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation for 71 days, which some have come to call Wounded Knee II. Earlier this year, he led a cross-country walk from Alcatraz to Washington calling for the release of imprisoned Native American activist Leonard Peltier. Banks shares his thoughts about Columbus Day, the U.S. treatment of American Indians, and his own story of growing up in the BIA boarding school system.

Please sign the petition to President Barack Obama: Clemecy for Leonard Peltier.

Thanks to my friend Izzy, aka Black Eagle.

Mr. President, Ben Carnes was fasting 4 Peltier’s freedom

After this, I don’t know what to do next.


Source

It seems like someone ought to let the president know that an American Indian man fasted in front of the White House for one week. Someone ought to say this man sat on a bench in Lafayette Park, starving in a silent protest, not taking even water.

Except to briefly say –

Someone should tell the White House there was a Native American man starving for the freedom of Leonard Peltier on their front lawn.

Mr. President, Ben Carnes was fasting on the White House Lawn for Peltier’s freedom.

Peltier Now Political Prisoner of Obama

I am so, so so naive.


Since Obama was willing to have a beer with a professor and an officer of the law over racial issues, why then shouldn’t he meet with Ben Carnes to discuss freeing Leonard Peltier?

What was I thinking, that Obama would actually free Peltier on his 65th birthday, September 12th?


I Am Barack Obama’s Political Prisoner Now By LEONARD PELTIER

After releasing an original and continuing disciple of death cult leader Charles Manson who attempted to shoot President Gerald Ford, an admitted Croatian terrorist, and another attempted assassin of President Ford under the mandatory 30-year parole law, the U.S. Parole Commission deemed that my release would “promote disrespect for the law.”

Ben Carnes Fasts to Free Leonard Peltier


Source

Ben Carnes is fasting in Lafayette Park across from the White House in solidarity with freedom for Leonard Peltier. Peltier is a citizen of the Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa Indians who has been held as a political prisoner of the Government of the United States of America for over 33 years.

Freeing Peltier: Ben Carnes to Fast in Hopes of Meeting Obama

Since Obama was willing to have a beer with a professor and an officer of the law over racial issues, why then shouldn’t he meet with Ben Carnes to discuss freeing Leonard Peltier?


Source

As a result of Leonard Peltier’s recent PAROLE DENIAL, Sundance Chief Ben Carnes, a member of the Choctaw Nation, will go to Washington, D.C.to stand & Fast in front of the White House between September 5 – 12, 2009, in hopes of securing a meeting with President Obama.

I’ve been thinking about how and when Obama could pull it off, and use it as a distraction to pass the Public Option in Health Care.

“Hope For American Indians Starts With Peltier’s Freedom:” Tribal Sovereignty In The Energy Crisis

Photobucket

Why might “Change and Hope for American Indians start with Peltier’s Freedom?”

Chief Leonard Crow Dog Speaks For Leonard Peltier


Chief Leonard Crow Dog:


My Relatives,

Long, long time I come here – and during those trials. Now I’m 68 years old, can hardly walk, can hardly sing. Oh before I go, I want Leonard to be free.

Bush Denied Peltier’s Clemency

Photobucket

Blog Talk Radio: “Clemency for Political Prisoner Leonard Peltier”

Open Letter To President Obama: Free Leonard Peltier (Update)

Mr. President,

It is with a great sense of urgency that I ask you to free Leonard Peltier. Peltier was recently attacked,   was prevented from speaking to his attorney on January 23 after he was attacked, and he is now just permitted one phone call every thirty days. Honestly Mr. President, this does not surprise me. Before proceeding, I honor you for and am grateful beyond words for the immediate changes you have made.

(Update) 3 Steps to Help Leonard Peltier (Peltier Attacked)

Three things that you can do right now to help Leonard Peltier are these. One, read Brenda Norrell’s article “Leonard Peltier attacked: Appeal to Attorney General.Two, get furious. And three…

Photobucket

Copy and paste part of her article.

Petition: Obama Free Leonard Peltier

Photobucket