[Pnews] More than 30 Arrested in Washington, D.C. at Leonard Peltier Demonstration Darren Thompson - September 12, 2023

[Prisoner News]

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than 30 Arrested in Washington, D.C. at Leonard Peltier Demonstration
Darren Thompson - September 12, 2023

More than 30 people were arrested and cited by local police in Washington,
D.C. for blocking a sidewalk during a demonstration in front of the White
House demanding the release of 79-year-old federal prisoner Leonard
Peltier, who is currently serving two consecutive life sentences for the
murder of two FBI agents on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation. (Photo/NDN
Collective Livestream)

Today, 35 people were arrested and cited for violations in Washington,
D.C., during a planned demonstration near the White House advocating for
the release of Leonard Peltier from federal prison.

The organized demonstration took place near Lafayette Square, a public park
just north of the White House, bringing hundreds of supporters to push an
organized message to President Biden to free Peltier from prison on his
79th birthday.

“For 79 years, this warrior, a relative, our elder, walked these lands with
purpose, with a fire, and with a calling, a special calling upon his life,
and he has galvanized a movement for justice in the United States,” said
NCAI President Fawn Sharp at Tuesday’s rally
<https://www.facebook.com/ndncol/videos/1329749791250585> in front of the
White House. “I want to stand here with you, as we celebrate, our Elder, as
we celebrate the sacred day he was born.”

Among those arrested were “Reservation Dogs” actor Dallas Goldtooth, NDN
Collective CEO Nick Tilson, National Congress of American Indians President
Fawn Sharp, Amnesty International USA Executive Director Paul O’Brien,
Chris White Eagle, and Hermus Betteyoun for blocking a sidewalk. The
arrests all came with a $50 citation and no one was taken to jail.

“Getting arrested today, I’m resisting; I’m dissenting against the 48 years
that Leonard Peltier has been illegally incarcerated by the United States
government,” Tilsen said  in a statement. “I’m dissenting against the
system, white supremacy, the police state and the system of incarceration
and we’re doing it in solidarity with Leonard Peltier.”

NDN Collective and Amnesty International USA organized an event in
Washington to increase awareness and pressure on releasing Peltier, 79,
Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa citizen from North Dakota.
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Peltier was convicted for two counts of first-degree murder of two Federal
Bureau of Investigation officers on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation on
June 26, 1975. In 1977, he was later sentenced after a trial, and other
legal proceedings, including his extradition from Canada after the
shootout, that supporters have said unjustly convicted and sentenced
Peltier. He is serving two consecutive life sentences.

Peltier wrote a statement to be read in front of the White House saying
that he hopes to breath free air before he dies. “There is a lot of work
left to do,” Peltier wrote. “I’d like to get out there to join you in doing
it.”

Peltier’s supporters have said that he has been unjustly incarcerated for
nearly 50 years. He is currently being held at United States Penitentiary
Coleman, a maximum-security prison in Coleman, Florida.

“We’re asking President Joe Biden for Executive Clemency,” Tilsen said. “We
will keep coming back to the White House, and we’ll be pressuring all parts
of the government until we see justice for Leonard Peltier and see him come
back with his family, community and people.”

Amnesty International considers Peltier to be a political prisoner and many
Indigenous leaders consider him to be the longest-serving Indigenous
political prisoner in the U.S. Peltier has exhausted all post-conviction
remedies available to him, including all parole requests, and former
President Barack Obama denied a clemency request by Peltier in 2017.

Then, former FBI agent Ed Woods, a long-time opponent of Peltier, issued a
statement thanking former President Obama, saying, “We are collectively
grateful, and humbled, that you chose not to grant commutation to Leonard
Peltier,” Woods said in a statement. “His brutal attack and murder of two
young FBI Agents and his remorseless public statements support that justice
should continue as he serves the remainder of his lawful conviction and
sentence.”

The Washington, D.C., rally was the last stop of a caravan that began at
the location of the 1975 shootout in Oglala, South Dakota on the Pine Ridge
Indian Reservation and traveled through Rapid City, Minneapolis, Chicago,
and Pittsburgh.

Renowned Native American activist Suzan Harjo, who is the President of the
Morning Star Institute, former leader of the National Congress of American
Indians, a founding trustee of the National Museum of the American Indian
and a Presidential Medal of Freedom recipient, urged Biden to release
Peltier in a letter on Tuesday.

“It is with deep appreciation for all you have done to uplift Native
Peoples that I write to urge that you use your constitutional power to
allow Leonard Peltier to live out his remaining years as a free man,” Harjo
wrote. “Now in his 47th year of incarceration, he has served a longer
sentence than most principals in murder convictions, nearly two-thirds of
his life thus far. The gross injustice of Mr. Peltier’s long incarceration
has been recognized by both federal prosecutors who handled his case and
the most prominent human rights voices in the world.”

Although the Democratic National Committee unanimously approved a
resolution in September 2022 asking President Biden to consider clemency
for Peltier, the administration has been tight-lipped about any decisions
regarding clemency. Deb Haaland, the current Secretary of the Interior, has
previously advocated for Peltier’s release, but as a Congresswoman. She has
not issued any statements regarding his release as the Secretary of the
Interior.

*This article has been updated to include an excerpt from a letter written
to President Biden by Suzan Harjo.*
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