COMMENTARY

A Summer Irony: Attorney General at Wounded Knee; Leonard Peltier in the Hole in Lewisburg

Levi Rickert, editor-in-chief in Native Condition. Discussion »

It is almost ironic, the Attorney General of the United States showing up at Wounded Knee to lay a wreath at the memorial there for the 175 Lakota who were massacred there during Christmas week 1890 and 1,500 miles away Leonard Peltier sitting in the hole in Lewisburg during the sweltering heat of the summer of 2011.

Wounded Knee, South Dakota

Where is the justice?

It is almost the same old thing: Blood versus bones. People pay more attention to the dead Indians than they do about the live ones with blood running their veins today. Leonard Peltier is suffering today in a hot prison cell.

While the gesture to stop at Wounded Knee from the summit with tribal leaders and US Attorneys at Rapid City, South Dakota, his stop there did not go far enough to correct the ills perpetrated against American Indians by the United States.

As head of the US Justice Department, Mr. Holder should be all about justice.

He should assign a team to investigate why thousands of American Indians and non-Indians want Leonard Peltier given justice.

Peltier, Lakota, has been in prison for the past 35 years. He was convicted of killing two FBI agents who showed up on June 25, 1975 at a private residence in Oglala, South Dakota.

A former US Attorney, Ramsey Clark, is embarrassed by the mishandling of Mr. Peltier's case by the FBI and justice system.

Many American Indians and others around the world view Peltier as a political prisoner. Through the years, Peltier's supporters have included the Dalai Lama, Mother Teresa and Bishop Desmond Tutu, among other prominent names.

Enough is enough… it is time to get Leonard Peltier out of solitary confinement and time for Attorney General Holder to show true justice to Leonard Peltier.

posted August 3, 2011 7:30 pm edt

A note from: CANADA... 
I would just love to hear what former U.S. Attorney Ramsey Clark has to say about the mishandling of Leonard's case by the F.B.I... and the TWISTED justice...

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I have written President Obama on several occasions about Leonard's plight. Sorry to say, but not surprising, I have heard nothing back. If he would only...