This is a rush transcript. Copy may not be in its final form.
AMY GOODMAN: This is Democracy Now!, democracynow.org, The War and Peace Report. I’m Amy Goodman.
There are just days left in President Biden’s term. He has made history today, granting thousands of commutations, clemency overall, pardons in his last weeks. The question is: Will he grant clemency to Leonard Peltier? Over 120 tribal leaders are calling on Biden to grant the Indigenous leader Leonard Peltier clemency as one of his final acts in office. In a letter to Biden, the tribal leaders write, quote, “Our standing in the world as a champion of freedom, justice, and human rights cannot be maintained in a system that allows Leonard Peltier to die in prison.”
Leonard Peltier recently turned 80 years old. He spent the majority of his life, nearly half a century, in prison. For decades, he and his supporters have maintained Peltier’s innocence over the 1975 killing of two FBI agents in a shootout on the Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota and say his conviction was riddled with irregularities and prosecutorial misconduct. The federal government has been repeatedly accused of failing to prove its case against Peltier.
The former U.S. Attorney James Reynolds, who was a federal prosecutor for the District of South Dakota and was involved in Peltier’s prosecution, wrote to Biden in 2021 advocating for Peltier’s release. This is Reynolds reading a portion of that letter in a recent video produced by Preston Randolph.
JAMES REYNOLDS: President Joe Biden, I write today from a position rare for a former prosecutor, to beseech you to commute the sentence of a man who I helped to put behind bars. Leonard Peltier’s conviction and continued incarceration is a testament in a time and system of justice that no longer has a place in our society. We were not able to prove that Mr. Peltier personally committed any offense on the reservation. As a result to Mr. Peltier’s conviction, now arrest, is that he was guilty of a murder simply because he was present on the reservation that day. He has served time for more than 46 years on the hands of minimal evidence, a result I strongly doubt would be upheld in any court today. I believe that a grant of executive clemency would serve the best interest of justice and the best interest of our country.
AMY GOODMAN: For more, we go to Rapid City, South Dakota, where we’re joined by Nick Tilsen, founder and CEO of NDN Collective. Tilsen is among the more than 120 tribal leaders who issued a letter to Biden earlier this month as they continue to plead for Peltier’s freedom, who’s imprisoned in Florida right now.
Nick Tilsen, we only have a few minutes. Have you met with the pardon board?
NICK TILSEN: We actually met with the pardon attorney, Liz Oyer. We met with the pardon attorney at the Department of Justice headquarters in December with tribal leaders from around the country and talked specifically about Leonard Peltier and what this would mean for Indian Country. And she was the one who was actually drafting the recommendation, because there will be a recommendation that goes from the Department of Justice to the president’s desk. And now that recommendation has been made and is sitting on the desk of the president right now. And he will make a decision in — you know, today or tomorrow, in the coming days, whether he’s going to grant clemency to Leonard Peltier. And we don’t know — we don’t know exactly what the recommendation is, but when we left that meeting, all of the tribal leaders, we felt like — we felt like she was going to bring justice to Leonard Peltier, and we felt like it was going to be a recommendation for his release. And then the decision lies on — the decision lies on the president.
AMY GOODMAN: So, what did the pardon attorney tell you?
NICK TILSEN: The pardon attorney told us that they knew the case inside and out, that they — that one of the primary focuses of this particular meeting that we were sitting in is that the section of the recommendation that she wanted to work on was what this would mean for Indian Country, what this would mean for Indian Country if Leonard Peltier was released. And we talked in depth, that the president of United States issued an apology for the boarding schools, and that it so happens to be that America’s longest-incarcerated Indigenous political prisoner in history is, in fact, a boarding school survivor, and that we need to see action from the president, and that this is also an issue that will help illuminate many of the other good things that the Biden administration has done for Indian people. And so, they confirmed — she confirmed that, in fact, there was for sure going to be a written recommendation, and it was going to for sure go on to the president of the United States, and he was going to make a decision before he leaves office.
AMY GOODMAN: What is Leonard Peltier’s condition in the Florida prison?
NICK TILSEN: Leonard is 80% blind in one eye. He has type 2 diabetes. He’s in a walker. He has an aortic aneurysm. His health is deteriorating. And that facility, quite frankly, doesn’t even have the capability to meet his medical needs. And so, it’s absolutely a dire situation. And we need to get Leonard out of that prison, back home and able to see a doctor almost immediately upon his release.
AMY GOODMAN: Can you tell me if the first-ever U.S. cabinet — Native American cabinet member, Deb Haaland, the former congressmember from New Mexico, has weighed in?
NICK TILSEN: She has weighed in directly to the president. On Air Force One from Washington, D.C., to Arizona, when the announcement was going to be made for the apology for the boarding schools, she weighed in then. She’s weighed in several times. And at this point in time, the president of the United States needs to listen to this matriarch and needs to listen to Secretary Deb Haaland, and because this is a priority for Indian Country. And this is a perfect opportunity for the president of the United States to listen to the honorable Secretary Haaland. And she has weighed in. She has not weighed in publicly, but she has weighed in directly to the president as the secretary of the Department of Interior.
AMY GOODMAN: I wanted to play a clip from — oh, it was over 10 years ago, when I talked to Leonard Peltier in prison on the phone at the time. It was President Obama who was in office.
AMY GOODMAN: Leonard, this is Amy Goodman from Democracy Now! I was —
LEONARD PELTIER: Oh, hi, Amy. How are you?
AMY GOODMAN: Hi. I’m good. I was wondering if you have a message for President Obama?
LEONARD PELTIER: I just hope he can, you know, stop the wars that are going on in this world, and stop getting — killing all those people getting killed, and, you know, give the Black Hills back to my people, and turn me loose.
AMY GOODMAN: It was very interesting, Nick Tilsen, as we break away from that interview — people can hear the whole interview at democracynow.org — that when I asked him to comment, he didn’t comment first on his own case. He talked about stopping the wars. If you can, in this last 30 seconds that we have, talk about what it would mean for Native America, for Indian Country, for this country overall, for Leonard Peltier to be granted clemency?
NICK TILSEN: You know, all throughout, the history of the treatment of Indian people by the United States government has been one of injustice. And the reality is, how Leonard Peltier was treated in his prosecution and incarceration is consistent with how this country has treated Indian people. And that’s why all of us see a little bit of ourselves in Leonard Peltier, and that’s why we fight so hard for him. So this is about Leonard’s freedom, but this is about justice for Indian people everywhere. This is about human rights for people everywhere. This is about paving a path forward that gives us the opportunity to have justice and begin to heal the relationship between the United States government and Indian people. And so, this decision is massive. And I really hope that the president of United States weighs this decision. If he releases Leonard Peltier, he will be forever known the president who did that. And American —
AMY GOODMAN: Native American activist Nick Tilsen, we’re going to leave it there, founder and CEO of NDN Collective. Thank you so much. That does it for our show. Democracy Now! produced with Renée Feltz, Anjali Kamat, Mike Burke. I’m Amy Goodman.
Since his conviction, Peltier has maintained his innocence and been a symbol of Native American resistance and perseverance. Indigenous leaders across the country have been calling on President Biden to grant clemency to Peltier, arguing that he is a political prisoner who has been unjustly incarcerated for decades.
As Peltier’s health deteriorates in prison, supporters fear that he may die behind bars if action is not taken soon. In a recent letter to President Biden, leaders of the National Congress of American Indians urged him to “correct this historic wrong and grant clemency to Mr. Peltier before it is too late.”
The case of Leonard Peltier has long been a point of contention and controversy, with many believing that he did not receive a fair trial and that his continued imprisonment is a grave injustice. As calls for clemency grow louder, the ball is now in President Biden’s court. Will he heed the pleas of Indigenous leaders and grant Leonard Peltier the freedom he has been fighting for? Only time will tell.
Tags:
Biden administration, Leonard Peltier, clemency, Indigenous leaders, prison, plea for justice, Native American rights, political activism, human rights, presidential pardon
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