Truly good news to brighten the day!
So very overdue
The ailing Native American rights activist has been in prison for nearly 50 years
#Peltier has been in prison ever since the federal government accused him of murdering two FBI agents in a 1975 shoot-out on Pine Ridge Reservation in #SouthDakota.
There was never evidence that Peltier committed a crime, and the U.S. government never did figure out who shot those agents.
1/4
What a chicken-shit, 11th hour move from Biden. Instead of pardoning #LeonardPeltier for a crime that his own prosecutor said he didn't do, #Peltier's sentence was commuted to house-arrest for the rest of his life (to surely avoid the ire of the FBI). DJT was getting sworn in within the hour--how difficult to change the word "commute" to "pardon"?
https://thehill.com/policy/energy-environment/5095591-biden-commutes-leonard-peltier-sentence/
While this is surely one of the happiest days that #Leonard and his family have had in a long time, this isn't justice.
The last-minute #Biden #pardons were officially announced on the White House web site. A few minutes after noon all the URLs were dead.
I only had time to check one, the Leonard #Peltier commutation, and it had NOT been captured by the #InternetArchive (@internetarchive).
https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/statements-releases/2025/01/20/statement-from-president-joe-biden-16/
At the same time the #Trump tech team launched this page of announcements. So far there's just a fawning trailer and no announcements.
https://www.whitehouse.gov/news/
#LeonardPeltier is going home. Biden has commuted his sentence to home confinement.
"“It’s finally over – I’m going home. I want to show the world I’m a good person with a good heart. I want to help the people, just like my grandmother taught me.” - #Peltier on news of his release from prison.
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/jan/20/biden-commutation-leonard-peltier
Moments before leaving office, President Joe Biden commuted the life sentence of Indigenous activist #Leonard #Peltier, who was convicted in the 1975 killings of two FBI agents.
Peltier was denied parole as recently as July and wasn’t eligible for parole again until 2026. He was serving life in prison for the deaths of the agents during a standoff on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in South Dakota.
He will transition to home confinement, Biden said in a statement.
Bureau of Prisons spokesperson Emery Nelson said after Biden’s commutation that Peltier remained incarcerated Monday at USP Coleman, a high-security prison in Florida.
The fight for Peltier’s freedom is entangled with the Indigenous rights movements.
Nearly half a century later, his name remains a rallying cry.
An enrolled member of the Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa in North Dakota, Peltier was active in the American Indian Movement,
which began in the 1960s as a local organization in Minneapolis that grappled with issues of police brutality and discrimination against Native Americans. It quickly became a national force.
The movement grabbed headlines in 1973 when it took over the village of Wounded Knee on Pine Ridge
— the Oglala Lakota Nation’s reservation
— leading to a 71-day standoff with federal agents.
Tensions between the movement and the government remained high for years.
On June 26, 1975, agents went to Pine Ridge to serve arrest warrants amid battles over Native treaty rights and self-determination.
After being injured in a shootout, agents Jack Coler and Ronald Williams were shot in the head at close range, the FBI said.
American Indian Movement member Joseph Stuntz was also killed in the shootout.
Two other movement members and Peltier’s co-defendants, Robert Robideau and Dino Butler, were acquitted of killing Coler and Williams.
After fleeing to Canada and being extradited to the United States, Peltier was convicted of two counts of first-degree murder and was sentenced in 1977 to life in prison, despite defense claims that evidence against him had been falsified.
Biden’s action Monday followed decades of lobbying and protests on Peltier’s behalf by Native American leaders, human rights activists, liberal lawmakers and celebrities who maintain he was wrongfully convicted.
Amnesty International has long considered Peltier a political prisoner.
Advocates for his release have included Archbishop Desmond Tutu, civil rights icon Coretta Scott King, actor and director Robert Redford and musicians Pete Seeger, Harry Belafonte and Jackson Browne.
https://apnews.com/article/leonard-peltier-biden-pardons-eba525b713f2ec739b84aa4426366775
#Breaking President Joe #Biden has commuted the life sentence of Indigenous activist Leonard #Peltier who was convicted in the 1975 killings of two FBI agents. Peltier will transition to home confinement, Biden said in a statement.
https://apnews.com/article/leonard-peltier-biden-pardons-eba525b713f2ec739b84aa4426366775
Note, Biden has *commuted* Peltier, not pardoned him. From Biden's own statement:
"The President is commuting the life sentence imposed on Leonard Peltier so that he serves the remainder of his sentence in home confinement. He is now 80 years old, suffers from severe health ailments, and has spent the majority of his life (nearly half a century) in prison. This commutation will enable Mr. Peltier to spend his remaining days in home confinement but will not pardon him for his underlying crimes."
#NDNCollective Rallies in front of White House Calling for Executive #Clemency for #LeonardPeltier
For Immediate Release: September 18, 2024
Washington, DC – "NDN Collective rallied in front of the White House today and called for executive clemency for Leonard Peltier. At 80 years old, #Peltier has been incarcerated for nearly 50 years and is now in very poor health. Time is of the essence to release Leonard Peltier, the longest held #Indigenous political prisoner in U.S. history.
"On April 19, 2024, Peltier’s request for a compassionate release was denied by the Bureau of Prisons. On July 2, 2024, Peltier was denied parole after a full parole hearing was held on June 10, 2024. Peltier will not be eligible for another hearing for 15 years, when he will be 94. As a result of this denial and Peltier’s age, #ExecutiveClemency is his best opportunity to be released.
"NDN Collective is spending the week in Washington to meet with elected officials, calling upon representatives and federal officials to take action on a number of issues including supporting the release of Leonard Pelteir. The following statements were shared on behalf of the organization:
"'President Biden now has the opportunity to solidify his already extraordinary legacy in Indian Country as the U.S. president that granted clemency to Leonard Peltier and finally right a grave #injustice,' said Holly Cook Macarro, Government Affairs for NDN Collective. 'In the next few months we are going to organize our many allies in Congress and around the world to unite their voices and support the call for clemency from President #Biden.
"'America’s longest living and incarcerated Indigenous political prisoner, Leonard Peltier, is a #BoardingSchool survivor,' said Nick Tilsen, NDN Collective President and CEO. 'He lived through the atrocities of those schools and while this country is reckoning with the traumas inflicted on our people by these institutions, it’s important to lift up all our elders who survived boarding schools, Leonard included.'
"'The fact that Leonard is still behind bars is the result of a longstanding campaign against him by the #FBI,' said Janene Yazzie, Director of Policy and Advocacy for NDN Collective. 'Despite the plethora of evidence that shows the system injustices that led to his incarceration, the narrative of the FBI continues to paint Leonard as a murderer. As we move forward, we need to look at all the research and good work done by our partners and other #HumanRights organizations on Leonard’s case to keep ourselves informed.'
"To support Leonard’s freedom, NDN Collective is asking people to:
- Call senators and urge them to support executive clemency for Leonard Peltier
- Watch the latest #RedNationMovement podcast on Leonard’s case
- Download the toolkit at freeleonard-peltier.com
- Text FREELEONARD to 50302 for more updates"
Source and FMI:
https://ndncollective.org/ndn-collective-rallies-in-front-of-white-house-calling-for-executive-clemency-for-leonard-peltier/
#LeonardPeltier awaits decision in high-stakes parole bid on anniversary of #PineRidge shootout
Story by Kaitlyn Kennedy
June 26, 2024
"Demands for justice for #Indigenous #FreedomGighter Leonard #Peltier are expected to resound loudly on the anniversary of the infamous June 26, 1975, shootout on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in so-called South Dakota.
"A member of the #TurtleMountainBand of #Chippewa, Peltier was taken into US custody after he was convicted of killing FBI special agents Jack Coler and Ronald Williams.
"The killing of an Indigenous man, #JosephStuntz, during the shootout was never investigated, nor have any charges ever been issued.
"Now 79 years old, Peltier is incarcerated in a maximum-security facility in Coleman, Florida. He has spent over 48 years behind bars.
"Peltier was granted a parole hearing in early June in order that he might once again make his case for release.
"#NDNCollective President and CEO Nick Tilsen was one of only two witnesses allowed to testify in the hearing. 'How Leonard was treated during his prosecution and during his continued incarceration is consistent with how they have treated Indian people throughout history,' he said in a webinar earlier this month.
"During the hearing, Tilsen also spoke to Peltier's legacy, explaining how he and the #AmericanIndianMovement contributed to the revitalization of #IndigenousLanguages, #ceremonies, and #culture.
"'We didn't have to do our #ceremonies in hiding anymore because people fought for those rights,' he said during the webinar. 'They made it okay for us to be proud of who we are.'"
#Peltier deserves to live out the remainder of his life in dignity, alongside his family on his ancestral lands.
Public pressure on President Biden is the only way to restore #LeonardPeltier 's freedom.
ok, let s do the basic "finding friends" ... if any of these terms appeal to you, pls let me know:
#cactus ... #polnareff ... #doom ... #sirpalane ... #biking ... #gibson #sonex ... #dorstenia ... #peltier .... #lorawan ... #kora ..... #socotra ....
(tbc)
ok, let s do the basic "finding friends" ... if any of these terms appeal to you, pls let me know:
#cactus ... #polnareff ... #doom ... #sirpalane ... #biking ... #gibson #sonex ... #dorstenia ... #peltier .... #lorawan ... #kora ..... #socotra ....
(tbc)
