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As the notable 80-year-old American Indian Movement leader Leonard Peltier walks free from Florida’s Coleman Penitentiary, Native American activists are reflecting on the nearly five-decade push to get to this point. Seven presidents passed up the opportunity to free Peltier, until President Joe Biden commuted his sentence to house arrest in the final moments of his term. We’ll explore Native direct action from its militant beginnings to its current role in changing both legal outcomes and public opinion. What does Peltier’s release mean to you?
You can watch the NDN Collective’s video of Leonard Peltier’s public appearance after his release here.
GUESTS
Dr. Robert Warrior (Osage), Hall Distinguished Professor of American Literature and Culture at the University of Kansas
Lisa Bellanger (Leech Lake Ojibwe), executive director of the American Indian Movement and chair of AIM’s Grand Governing Council
Ruth Buffalo (Mandan, Hidatsa, and Arikara Nation and Chiricahua Apache descent), former president of the National Native American Boarding School Healing Coalition
Janene Yazzie (Navajo), director of policy and advocacy for the NDN Collective
Break 1 Music: Freedom (song) Rage Against the Machine (artist) Self-titled (album)
Break 2 Music: Burn A Smudge (song) Trent Agecoutay (artist) Uncle Trent and Friends (album)
Thanks for the sacrifice, Mr. Peltier.
Thanks for the song, Chanupa.
Thanks for the NAC archive about this (Feb. 2023).
Key point from guest on safety:
“As Indigenous Peoples, we are facing some of the most tremendous threats against our land, against our peoples, against our cultures, our ways of life . . . and all of the rights that we have fought so hard for over decades.”
Yes to Dr. Warrior from Lawrence, KS re: profound tragedies, profound injustice.
Long Live John Brown’s work in Kansas – another hero who experienced an unfair trial, and who stood up for the Indigenous people’s who were already here.
Great last question. Great answer.