Indigenous activist Leonard Peltier welcomed home after release from prison
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Native American activist Leonard Peltier traveled to Belcourt, N.D., on Tuesday after being released from a Florida prison.
Ron Leith watched as Peltier arrived in Belcourt to the Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa Reservation. Leith, an Ojibwe writer and activist, said, “As many people as possible came from the reservation and made this welcoming committee.”
Leith said there was a procession of cars, including the one with Peltier inside, that drove onto the reservation while the welcoming committee gathered along the sides of the road.
“From the boundary, for about a mile onto the reservation, there were cars and people and signs, and on both sides of the highway for a long time, long ways. And it was just a magnificent sight,” said Leith.
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Nick Tilsen, founder and CEO of the Indigenous-led organization NDN Collective, was by Peltier’s side as they drove to the reservation. NDN Collective, among other partners, were significant advocates for Peltier’s release. The organization also arranged Peltier’s travel and housing.
Tilsen said of the welcome, “It was so beautiful. And [Peltier] looked at me and he's like, ‘I did not expect any of this.’”
“Even though it was cold, he kept his window down the entire time and acknowledged and waved at every single person,” said Tilsen. The temperature at the time was below zero degrees.
Tuesday evening, a crowd of Peltier’s supporters and family members came together for a welcome dinner at the Sky Dancer Casino & Resort.
Leith was at the celebration and he estimated at least 300 people were in attendance, with more arriving. Though Leith said that Peltier was not in attendance.
“He went home, you know. He's had quite the day.”
In 1977, Peltier was convicted of two counts of first-degree murder in the deaths of two FBI agents. Though not a pardon, former President Joe Biden granted him clemency as one of his final official acts. Peltier’s sentence commutation announcement came minutes before Biden left office.
Peltier is an enrolled member of the Turtle Mountain Band and will serve the remainder of his sentence in home confinement on his tribal homelands at Turtle Mountain.
For years, activists and supporters had been petitioning for the release of the 80-year-old, whom they say had been wrongly convicted of killing FBI agents Jack Coler and Ronald Williams in 1975.
In a news release from NDN Collective on Tuesday morning, Peltier said, “Today I am finally free! They may have imprisoned me, but they never took my spirit!”
In the news release, Peltier thanked his supporters all over the world who helped fight for his freedom. “I am finally going home. I look forward to seeing my friends, my family, and my community. It’s a good day today.”
“Leonard Peltier is free! He never gave up fighting for his freedom so we never gave up fighting for him. Today our elder Leonard Peltier walks into the open arms of his people,” said Tilsen in Tuesday’s statement.
“Peltier’s liberation is invaluable in and of itself — yet just as his wrongful incarceration represented the oppression of Indigenous Peoples everywhere, his release today is a symbol of our collective power and inherent freedom.”
The festivities continued Wednesday at the Sky Dancer Casino & Resort event center on the Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa Reservation. NDN Collective assisted Peltier with travel and lodging arrangements and hosted the event.
The large event space was set up with a tipi in the middle. The welcome started with a song from a drum group, while Peltier was brought into the room. People spoke to the crowd, a prayer was offered, and Peltier was gifted a traditional star quilt.
Korina Barry, the action managing director of NDN Collective, helped lead the welcoming. She has also been a part of the efforts to bring Peltier home.
“Incarcerated people, too often, that reentry back into community is not supported. Often prisons just open the door, give them their bag of stuff and send them on their way. And we’re not going to let that happen to our elder,” she said.
Some relatives whom he has yet to meet were there in celebration.
Robin Clauthier said she is one of those relatives. She grew up learning stories about him, believing in his innocence. Now, she says she looks forward to getting to know Peltier.
“I think he’s going to do good. And I feel like all of this will be, it’s worth something. It’s meaning is more than life,” Clauthier said.
Peltier spoke Wednesday afternoon, as well. He shared personal anecdotes of his time in prison, and the significance of the Indigenous community in their efforts leading up to his release.
“I want to also mention that from the day one, from the first hour I was arrested, Indian people came to my rescue from all over the country ... and they’ve been behind me ever since,” Peltier said. “It was worth it for me to be able to sacrifice for you.”
“I want to say thank you. Thank you very, very much for showing me this. Much pride in being this important. It was surprising. It was a total shock. It was surprising to see all of you lined up there and welcoming me home.”
Peltier then spent some time greeting many of the folks in the room, shaking hands, smiling and getting acquainted with his community and family. He also signed a few autographs.
In January, over 120 tribal leaders across the U.S., including more than a dozen from Minnesota, called on Biden to grant clemency to Peltier.
“For the majority of his life, Leonard Peltier has been serving a sentence based on a conviction that would not hold up in court today and for a crime that the government has admitted it could not prove. Mr. Peltier’s continued incarceration is a symbol to Native Americans of the systemic inequities of the criminal justice system in America,” said the letter published to NDN Collective’s website.
Attorney Kevin Sharp, who was on Peltier’s legal team for five years, echoed the need for justice. He said, “This isn't just about Leonard Peltier and this one case. This kind of injustice, I hate to say it, happens way too often, right?”
Not everyone supported the commutation. Former FBI Director Christopher Wray expressed criticism in a January letter to Biden, stating that granting “Peltier any relief from his conviction or sentence is wholly unjustified and would be an affront to the rule of law.”
U.S. Rep. Dusty Johnson, R-South Dakota, said in a written statement in January, “This commutation was another unfortunate mistake by the Biden Administration, and I asked the White House not to do this.”
“More than twenty federal judges and Biden’s own FBI Director agree — Peltier’s convictions and sentence must stand.”
Peltier is a member of the grassroots Native American organization the American Indian Movement, or AIM, which was formed in Minneapolis in the late 1960s during a nationwide struggle for civil rights.
In 1975, FBI agents were attempting to serve an arrest warrant for another individual on the Pine Ridge reservation in Oglala, S.D. They spotted and followed a pickup truck in which Peltier and a few other men were inside traveling back to their campsite where fellow AIM members were located. A shootout ensued.
Peltier and others were charged with two counts of first-degree murder of the FBI agents and aiding and abetting. With an already outstanding warrant, Peltier fled to Canada. Later, he was extradited back to the U.S. in 1976 where he faced charges of two counts of first-degree murder. The other men were tried acquitted on the grounds of self-defense.
Peltier was found guilty in 1977 and has been serving two consecutive life sentences. He has acknowledged his presence and shooting a firearm at a distance but maintains his innocence in the killing of agents Coler and Williams.
Peltier’s release marks an end to what he and others have said is his fight for justice. But through it all, Tilsen said he walked out of prison with dignity.
"He walked through the doors, and he shook the hands of all the corrections officers and the transition team over there," Tilsen said. "All of them, you know, respected him and he respected all of them and they were all happy for him to go home."