Native Activist Leonard Peltier Calls for Clemency Support

9.7.16

Native Activist Leonard Peltier Calls for Clemency Support: [activistpost.com] For the last 50 years, AIM has led the charge in the “Red Power” movement that calls attention to the injustices and oppression taking place against Native communities. AIM established itself as a force to be reckoned with through a series of protests and occupations during the late 1960s and 1970s. These actions included the 19-month occupation of Alcatraz Island, the 1972 “Trail of Broken Treaties” and occupation of the Bureau of Indian Affairs building, the 1973 Wounded Knee Incident, the occupation of Mount Rushmore, the Longest Walk, and the gunfight on the Pine Ridge reservation.

Although Peltier was convicted of first degree murder in 1977, and subsequently sentenced to two consecutive life sentences, his role in the murders has been the subject of controversy since the very beginning. Special Agents Coler and Williams originally came to the Pine Ridge Reservation in search of a man named Jimmy Eagle who was wanted for questioning in an assault and robbery case. The two agents were driving separate unmarked vehicles while following a red pick-up truck which matched a description of Jimmy Eagle. Williams and Coler would later report that they were under fire from occupants of the truck and unable to return fire. The men radioed that they would likely be killed if reinforcements did not arrive.