Leonard Peltier & The Gulf Coast Warriors

You know Leonard Peltier’s story is kind of similar to the oil struggle along the Gulf Coast. I am member of a few facebook communities that consist mostly of Gulf Coast residents who report and share information regarding BP and the oil spill. Some of these individuals, whom I consider leaders of the struggle, are very outspoken about how they feel regarding the mess that BP has left us with. Some are even willing to give up their freedom, in defense of their land and their families. With this in mind, I would like to share with you Leonard’s story.

In 1973 murder ran rapid on Pine Ridge Indian Reservation, in South Dakota. It was the “Corporations,” like the strip miners after uranium reserves, who divided the people on the reservation with the promise of money and jobs. Kind of like the way the oil and gas companies took advantage of the three poorest states in the South (Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama). One of these corporations called, The Tennessee Valley Authority, was government owned. Considering our government has never honored a treaty made with Native American’s, it’s kind of insulting when the FBI starts showing up on the reservation unannounced, whenever the hell they pleased. And they weren’t there to help the Indians.

Sixty people were murdered violently on this small reservation within three years. On one occasion, the FBI coroner concluded that two Native victims had committed suicide by stabbing their selves in the face repeatedly. “Hmmmm.. . . . I always said, if I was going to commit suicide, it’s gonna be a knife to the face . . . repeatedly” Yeah right! Give me a break.

So the Indians, who own the reservation (the land), and who are to be considered a sovereign nation, decide to ask the American Indian Movement (AIM) for some protection. We’re talking about protecting the women and children, and the elderly. So a young, 29 year old, Leonard Peltier, an Ojibwa French Sioux Indian, volunteered to sit with these families, in their homes, and protect them. He’s not like standing at the entrance of the res, waiving a gun and waiting to blow away people who approach the boundary line. He’s no different than those of us who wish to protect our families and our land from the oil companies.

So one sunny day, Leonard’s out on this ranch, on the res, and he’s kicking it in a tent, when he hears gunshots. No one knows who started shooting first, or why the shooting began. But two FBI agents were killed. This pissed the FBI off. And the real kick in the ass was the fact that a whole gang of them Indians got away. Including Leonard Peltier.

From that point on, it’s been proven that the FBI fabricated evidence, hid evidence, and intimidated witnesses, without any regard to Mr. Peltier’s rights as a U.S. citizen. Even admitting that they (the FBI) don’t know who killed their agents. Leonard Peltier has been a prisoner of the United States for over thirty-five years now. Even though historically he’s been a model prisoner, he’s been denied parole twice.

www.whoisleonardpeltier.info
“Silence they say, is the voice of complicity. But silence is impossible. Silence screams. Silence is a message, just as doing nothing is an act. Let who you are ring out and resonate in every word & every deed. Yes, become who you are. There’s no sidestepping your own being or your own responsibility. What you do is who you are. You are your own comeuppance. You become your own message. You are the message." - Leonard Peltier

And the reason I share this story with you today is because this man is just like one of us. One facebook group I belong to is in part called the Gulf Coast Warriors. Leonard is a warrior too; a man of honor and truth. His fight is the same as our fight - what landed him in prison is the same corporate greed protected by the same corrupt government that we are fighting today. Only the names have changed.  Because there is approximately two thousand of usook groups that I am posting this blog to, I’m asking you to spread the word and join the existing worldwide support to help Leonard Peltier break free of that prison. Please visit: