I would hope that the campaign to have him freed will succeed. I certainly support it very passionately and am willing to do whatever it is that might be necessary to help. Because it is a blot on the judicial system of this country that ought to be corrected as quickly as possible.

Desmond Tutu, April 19, 1999

Desmond Tutu, the former Archbishop of Capetown, South Africa, was speaking of Leonard Peltier. Tutu had come to Lawrence, Kan., to give an address at the university there but took time to phone Leonard Peltier, who for the past 23 years has been an inmate at Leavenworth Penitentiary. Like so many thousands of others around the world, Tutu has come to regard Leonard Peltier as a true political prisoner, a person held captive for no reason other than the fact that he embarrasses the government and embodies the hope of an oppressed minority.

To understand Peltier's case it is necessary to step back
into a moment of history that our judicial system has sought to erase. The time was June 26, 1975. The place was the Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota. Over 150 FBI agents, state troopers, SWAT team members, and U.S. Marshals descended on a small section of the reservation known as the Jumping Bull ranch. They were there to eradicate the presence of the American Indian Movement (AIM) from the reservation. Like the Black Panthers, AIM was targeted as a "radical" organization. Its membership was harassed. Its phones tapped. Its mail opened and read. Its leaders hunted.

Leonard Peltier was one of those leaders. Along with national figures such as Dennis Banks and Russell Means, Peltier was an outspoken proponent of Native American rights. On that June day he was gathered with other AIM members, including women and children, trying to survive the onslaught of a military presence which included helicopters and armored personnel carriers. As might have been predicted (or even planned) an exchange of gunfire occurred as two FBI agents chased a mysterious red pick-up truck onto the Jumping Bull property. When the dust settled, the two agents were dead and the pick-up had vanished.

Later trials attempted to fix the blame on AIM members, but failed in court.
The government's case was outrageous in its doctoring of evidence and dependence on phony affidavits. Finally Leonard Peltier was the last defendant, the last hope of the FBI for revenge in the murder of two of its own. The details of the trial are far too complex to recite here (a full account is given in Peter Matthiessen's powerful book In the Spirit of Crazy Horse) but the end result was Leonard Peltier's conviction in 1977 and his sentencing to two consecutive life terms. The evidence against him was so obviously manufactured that in April of 1999 Amnesty International once again called for his "immediate and unconditional release." At the 50th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in Paris, Leonard Peltier was recognized as a human rights defender and the assembly called for his release.

The time has come to free Leonard Peltier. In fact, the time is 23 years overdue. As of this writing, Peltier's health raises serious concern for his family and friends. If we are going to act with any sense of justice for this innocent man, then we must act quickly.

This November, thousands of Native American people and their supporters
will be in Washington, D.C. for a month-long effort to galvanize attention and action on Peltier's behalf. They will be asking President Clinton to end this national shame and release Leonard Peltier through an act of executive clemency. I am asking all persons of good conscience to please help in this effort. Please get in touch with the Leonard Peltier Defense Committee right away to learn more, to offer financial support, and to plan for ways to be involved. At the very least, I ask you to join me in writing to President Clinton and your other national representatives, urging them to free Leonard Peltier this November.

My appeal, like that of Desmond Tutu and Amnesty International, is a cry for justice. Simple human justice. Therefore, I speak directly to every bishop in our church: Please, do not sit down this November to a table overflowing with the bounty of our nation without remembering Leonard Peltier. We cannot be thankful for our privilege while ignoring his sacrifice.