NEW YORK (FinalCall.com)�June has been tabbed
"Leonard Peltier Awareness Month" around the world. Leonard Peltier, 56,
has served 25 years for the killing of two FBI agents.
On June 26, 1975, there was a shootout between Native
American members of the Pine Ridge Reservation and the Federal Bureau of
Investigation. A Native American died that evening, but 25 years later
no one has been charged for his death.
However, on June 1, 1977 Mr. Peltier received two
consecutive life sentences for the killing of the FBI agents.
There is one more date in June to remember. Almost a
century before the Pine Ridge shootout�on June 25, 1876�the Lakota
defeated General George Custer at the Battle of Little Big Horn. The
Lakota lived on the Pine Ridge Reservation in 1975, and many continue to
live there today.
In December 2000, there was a worldwide outpouring of
support for a presidential pardon for Mr. Peltier, which then-President
Bill Clinton ignored.
"The FBI demonstrated in front of the White House
against freeing Leonard, and the president listened to them and did not
view the facts," charged Vernon Bellecourt, head of the American Indian
Movement (AIM).
Activists have been calling for the government to
release some 6,000 FBI documents that many believe may prove that
someone else killed the two FBI agents. Mr. Peltier comes up for parole
again in 2002, but his supporters say it is important to get him free
before then.
"His health is failing, so time is very important,"
Mr. Bellecourt told The Final Call.
The international activities started on June 23 in
Edmonton, in Canada�s Alberta Province, where the Industrial Workers of
the World held a Leonard Peltier teach-in. On June 26, the anniversary
date of the shootout, a picket line will form in front of the Federal
Building in New York City; and a demonstration will be held in San
Francisco.
A June 27 vigil is planned in Paris, France, in front
of the U.S. Consulate. And on June 30, the Florida AIM will hold a
demonstration in front of the Federal Office Building in Orlando.
Mr. Peltier has played an active role in raising the
consciousness of the world community concerning the struggle of
indigenous people and all oppressed people, said Mr. Bellecourt,
reflecting over the past 25 years. Still, some activists note the
problems that Indians faced in 1975�such as poverty�are still present
today.
"While very little has changed in terms of the social
issues that Leonard was fighting at the time of the shootout, there has
existed on the reservation an atmosphere of fear for speaking out. But
now for some reason people who were there that night are coming
forward," said Gina Chiala of the Free Leonard Peltier Committee located
in Kansas.
Census figures show there are more than two million
Native Americans, including Native Alas-
