🌵 Mondays with Morales: 🦅 A Call for Clemency for Leonard Peltier

Leonard Peltier’s wrongful conviction highlights systemic failures in the justice system towards Indigenous Peoples.

😽 Keepin’ It Simple Summary for Younger Readers
👧🏾✊🏾👦🏾

In the story, 🌾 Leonard Peltier is a Native American activist who has been in prison for a very long time—almost 50 years—because of a crime he didn't commit 🚫. Many people, including the president of the National Congress of American Indians 🪶, are trying to get the president to help free him because he is really old 👵 and sick 🤒. Even though the president is helping to pardon a few turkeys 🦃, many people believe that he should focus on helping someone like Leonard who has suffered so much 😔.

🗝️ Takeaways

• 🗣️ Leonard Peltier has been in prison for over 50 years for a crime he did not commit.

• 🕊️ NCAI President Mark Macarro recently implored President Biden to grant Peltier clemency during a flight.

• ⚖️ The trial that convicted Peltier was riddled with coercion and withheld evidence.

• ⏳ Peltier is now 79 years old and suffers from serious health issues, prompting urgent calls for his release.

• 🦃 Critics argue that Biden’s pardoning of turkeys undermines the pleas for justice for Peltier and others.

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🌿 Justice Delayed: The Case of Leonard Peltier

¡Qué onda, mis queridos compañeros! It's your resident Chicano commentator, Maextro Morales, back with another scorching hot take straight outta the Sonoran Desert.

This week, I'm fired up about the continued imprisonment of our Indigenous brother, Leonard Peltier - a man who has spent half a century behind bars for a crime he clearly did not commit. While President Biden was busy handing out get-out-of-jail-free cards to a couple of lucky turkeys, the desperate pleas for Peltier's release have fallen on deaf ears.

That is, until the presidente got a personal earful from none other than the president of the National Congress of American Indians (NCAI), Mark Macarro, while aboard Air Force One. As they flew to Phoenix for the president's historic apology on federal Indian boarding schools, Macarro seized the opportunity to implore Biden to finally grant clemency to Peltier.¹

Macarro recounted how he told the president that this 79-year-old Indigenous warrior, a survivor of those very same boarding school horrors, has been unjustly incarcerated for half a century. With Peltier suffering from a host of chronic health issues, the NCAI leader stressed that time is running out to right this egregious wrong.

Yet, as we all know, mis amigos, Biden's response was less than promising. The presidente merely thanked Macarro for bringing the case to his attention - a tepid acknowledgment that does little to assuage the growing outrage over this blatant injustice.

Let's dive deeper into the facts, my friends.² Peltier, a prominent leader in the American Indian Movement, was swept up in the tragic shootout on the Pine Ridge Reservation back in 1975. Despite a complete lack of direct evidence tying him to the agents' deaths, and even the prosecution conceding they don't know who actually pulled the trigger, Peltier was convicted and sentenced to two consecutive life terms. ¡Qué injusticia!

The details of his trial read like a Chicano noir novel - coerced witness testimonies, suppressed exculpatory evidence, and a judge with a clear conservative bias. Even the FBI's own ballistic experts couldn't conclusively link Peltier to the fateful shots. Yet, in the end, Lady Justice turned a blind eye to these glaring irregularities, and our compañero was left to rot in the bowels of the prison system.

And let's not forget the broader context, mis amigos. During that tumultuous period on Pine Ridge, the Feds were more than happy to look the other way as a group of violent vigilantes known as the "GOONS" terrorized traditional tribal members and AIM activists. Peltier and his comrades were simply trying to protect their people from this campaign of state-sanctioned violence. But in the eyes of the so-called "justice" system, their act of resistance was unforgivable.

So, while Biden was busy pardoning poultry and his own kin, the 79-year-old Peltier, who by all accounts should have been free long ago, remains confined to a maximum-security cell. Suffering from a host of chronic health issues, including diabetes and a life-threatening heart condition, he clings to the hope that the president will finally right this egregious wrong before his time runs out.

Enough with the turkey games, Mr. President! It's time to show some real compassion and grant clemency to this Indigenous freedom fighter. The world's leading human rights organizations have been pleading for Peltier's release for decades - from Amnesty International to Archbishop Desmond Tutu, the message is clear: justice demands his freedom.³

But alas, in the twisted calculus of American "justice," it seems that a turkey's life is worth more than an innocent man's liberty. Qué triste, no? While the privileged and powerful continue to evade accountability, our compañero Peltier languishes, his only crime being the audacity to stand up for his people.

As I stood on Alcatraz Island last Thanksgiving, surrounded by my Native hermanos y hermanas, Peltier's powerful words echoed across the waters.⁴ They serve as a stark reminder that the struggle for true justice is far from over, my friends. From the Tohono O'odham Nation to the barrios of Barrio Viejo, we continue to resist, to demand accountability, to honor the sacrifices of those who came before us.

So, to President Biden, I say this: ¡No más juegos con pavos, mi'jo! It's time to free Leonard Peltier. And to all my gente out there, keep the faith, keep the fire burning. ¡La lucha sigue!

Hasta la próxima, mis queridos compañeros. ¡Que tengan una semana llena de bendiciones!

-Maextro Morales
Escribiendo desde el corazón del Pueblo, en occupied Tohono O'odham territories

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1. Levi Rickert. “NCAI President Asks Biden on Air Force One to Free Leonard Peltier | Opinion.” Last modified December 8, 2024. Accessed December 10, 2024. https://nativenewsonline.net/opinion/ncai-president-asks-biden-on-air-force-one-to-free-leonard-peltier.

2. Free Leonard. “Leonard Peltier Case Facts.” Last modified 2024. Accessed December 10, 2024. https://freeleonard.org/case/.

3. International, Amnesty. “USA: Urge Clemency for Indigenous Activist, Leonard Peltier.” Native News Online. Last modified July 5, 2024. Accessed December 10, 2024. https://nativenewsonline.net/opinion/usa-urge-clemency-for-indigenous-activist-leonard-peltier.

4. Sonorans, Three. “AZTLAN NEWS: 🗳️ Tucson Mayor Backs Biden as Grijalva Calls for New Nominee.” Substack newsletter. Three Sonorans, July 7, 2024. Accessed December 10, 2024. https://threesonorans.substack.com/p/aztlan-news-tucson-mayor-backs-biden.

———. “Gobbling Up Injustice: Biden’s Turkey Pardons Mock Calls to Free Leonard Peltier.” Substack newsletter. Three Sonorans, November 22, 2023. Accessed December 10, 2024. https://threesonorans.substack.com/p/gobbling-up-injustice-bidens-turkey.