SOCIETY
Leonard Peltier
statement after Parole Denial The United States Department of Justice has once again made a mockery of its lofty and pretentious title.
If only the federal government would have respected its own laws, not to mention the treaties that are, under the U.S. Constitution, the supreme law of the land, I would never have been convicted nor forced to spend more than half my life in captivity. Not to men− tion the fact that every law in this country was created without the consent of Native peoples and is applied unequally at our expense. If nothing else, my experience should raise serious questions about the FBI's sup− posed jurisdiction in Indian Country. The parole commission's phrase was lifted from soon−to−be former U.S. Attorney Drew Wrigley, who apparently hopes to ride with the FBI cavalry into the office of North Dakota governor. In this Wrigley is follow− ing in the footsteps of William Janklow, who built his political career on his reputation as an Indian fighter, moving on up from trib− al attorney (and alleged rapist of a Native minor) to state attorney general, South Dakota governor, and U.S. Senator. Some might recall that Janklow claimed responsibility for dissuading President Clinton from par− doning me before he was convicted of manslaughter. Janklow's historical predeces− sor, George Armstrong Custer, similarly hoped that a glorious massacre of the Sioux would propel him to the White House, and we all know what happened to him. Unlike the barbarians that bay for my blood in the corridors of power, however, Native people are true humanitarians who pray for our enemies. Yet we must be realistic enough to organize for our own freedom and equali− ty as nations. We constitute 5% of the popu− lation of North Dakota and 10% of South Dakota and we could utilize that influence 12 - Treating Yourself, Issue 19 - 2009
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After releasing an original and continuing disciple of death cult leader Charles Manson who attempted to shoot President Gerald Ford, an admitted Croatian terrorist, and another attempted assassins of President Ford under the mandatory 30−year parole law, the U.S. Parole Commission deemed that my release would “promote disrespect for the law.”
to promote our own power on the reservations, where our focus should be. If we organized as a voting bloc, we could defeat the entire premise of the competition between the Dakotas as to which is the most racist. In the 1970s we were forced to take up arms to affirm our right to survival and self− defense, but today the war is one of ideas. We must now stand up to armed oppression and colonization with our bodies and our minds. International law is on our side. Given the complexion of the three reformed parolees, it might seem that my greatest crime was being Indian. But the truth is that my gravest offense is my innocence. In Iran, political prisoners are occasionally released if they confess to the ridiculous charges on which they are dragged into court, in order to discredit and intimidate them and other like−minded citizens. The FBI and its mouthpieces have suggested the same, as did the parole commission in 1993, when it ruled that my refusal to confess was grounds for denial of parole. To claim innocence is to suggest that the government is wrong, if not guilty itself. The American judicial system is set up so that