For those of you interested in the Leonard Peltier Case

[Bobbieo]

and the American Indian Movement of the '70s go to

http://www.indiancountry.com

scroll down to Special Focus and click on "Still Confronting". Interview with John Trudell.

Still a very controversial and complicated issue!!!!

[Shakespeare]

1. Trudell's interview in no way intimates what you suggested earlier....

...which is that Trudell and others in the American Indian community somehow doubt Peltier's innocence. Quite the opposite is true, in fact--Trudell is speaking directly about the operative who helped railroad Peltier, and suggests that the reason Peltier hasn't been granted a new trial is that he--and others who might be called to testify--know too much about the cointelpro as it concerns AIM and will embarrass the government.

So, I fail to understand either your point or your reason for posting this, based on what you said in the earlier thread.

[Bobbieo]

3. Shakespeare - who the hell do you think you are -

I don't have to answer to you!!!This interview is not over yet and this is just Trudell's opinion. This controversy has been going on for yewrs and it's is still not over!!!

[Shakespeare]

5. You post this in a public forum, and you're taking offense at my response?

YOU are the one who posted earlier that Peltier's innocence and the fact that the US Government railroaded him might possibly be doubted by the American Indian community. I wasn't asking you a question, merely pointing out that the interview you posted in NO way supports your earlier statement.

[liberalhistorian]

7. Then you obviously don't know shit about it,

and should listen to those of us who've actually been close to the situation. I've met hundreds of Lakota this past year and worked with many more, especially on Pine Ridge, and almost EVERY SINGLE ONE OF THEM would disagree with you. I've known maybe one or two Indians in the past thirty years who would agree that Peltier was guilty and hadn't been railroaded. Everyone else knows the truth. The only "controversy" is that he was railroaded by the FBI and the federal government and has been wrongly jailed for thirty years.

Peltier never should have been arrested in the first place, let alone jailed for the past thirty years. And you might want to tone down the insults and learn to spell basic words like "years", if you want to actually be taken seriously.

[liberalhistorian]

4. Having spent the past year working closely

with the Lakota in both Rapid City and on Pine Ridge, I totally agree with you here. There is almost total belief in Peltier's innocence, and the bitterness remains palpable even today and even among those who weren't even born at the time. As one lawyer at the legal aid office I worked at told me "it's amazing what the FBI was allowed to get away with." I've never doubted Peltier's innocence, it still infuriates me that he's still jailed, and I don't doubt it's for the reasons you describe. And people wonder why Indians are still so distrustful of the federal government and especially law enforcement such as the FBI.

[Shakespeare]

6. Thanks, LH.

This one's kinda personal to me, too, and I was outraged at the suggestion that the American Indian community isn't behind Peltier and doesn't believe in his innocence (when I know that to be complete and unadulterated bullshit).

[Shakespeare]

10. one more thing....

In the most recent interview I saw with Dennis Banks, Banks, too, spoke of the operative Trudell mentions. The impression I get from the article posted in this thread is that Trudell doesn't yet know who the operative is; Banks said he DID know (but, obviously, wouldn't mention the name), and that he also suspected Anna Mae may have been a very low-level operative who was more or less a pawn of whomever the unnamed operative is.

This is still such a dirty case that could--and should--have huge repercussions for the federal law enforcement officials who were connected with it. I hope they all see justice some day.

[liberalhistorian]

11. I hope they all see justice some day, too,

but, knowing the history of the FBI's harassment of and operations against American Indians, especially the Lakota Sioux in the whole state of SD, and its successful whitewashes and cover-ups, I'm really not holding my breath. Clinton could have done something substantial about it and pardoned Peltier as he'd promised, but he turned out to be too damned chickenshit in the end, when it really counted. I hope there's an especially hot place in hell for those who've deliberately kept Peltier imprisoned all these years.

[madrchsod]

2. i remember this when it happened

yes it is still complicated and in these following years tribal politics have changed as well. today i wonder if he would have meant the same fate only sooner....

[walldude]

8. Peltier is the reason Clinton lost my support

he promised to pardon him and reneged.

[liberalhistorian]

9. I know, I was sooooooo angry with him

over that, and bitterly disappointed. If any man ever deserved a pardon, it was Peltier.

The contrast between what SD whites, particularly those near Pine Ridge in Hot Springs and (where I moved last year) Rapid City, believe in this matter and what Indians believe is almost unbridgeable. The problem is, my fellow whites just don't wanna hear anything at all that doesn't fit in with their preconceived notions about it; many actually wanted and still want Peltier executed. It's disgusting, infuriating and sad.

[Annces]

12. Even if a person is not an expert on a subject

they should still be able to discuss it here on DU. This is a great place to be introduced to subjects that other people know quite a lot about.