Discarded message From: lpdc@idir.net (Leonard Peltier Defense Committee) Date: Tue, Feb 23, 1999, 3:38pm (PDT+1) To: White_Feather@webtv.net Subject: HELP! Dear Leonard Peltier Supporters, Along with the many positive actions that are being taken on Leonard Peltier's behalf, from legal strategizing to grass roots action, comes a need for funding in order for us to fully carry out our plans. Attorney Eric Seitz is taking charge of the legal aspects of Leonard's medical situation. Jennifer Harbury, renowned human rights activist and lawyer, is bringing in several new lawyers to fill in the gaps of Leonard's defense team. Our team is growing stronger; but while these lawyers are working pro-bono, it does not mean the work is for free--there are legal expenses that must be paid. These are to be paid by the LPDC. We really need help. Also, if we are successful and Leonard is suddenly transferred to the Mayo Clinic, we need to have an emergency fund set aside as we will need to follow him and make sure he is okay--and report this back to you. As of now, thanks to many people contributing what they can, we are covering our office over head expenses, but we are just barely squeaking by. Also, as you know, plans are under way for the Leonard Peltier Organizing Conference which is bound to be successful in strengthening our network. Again, we need help with funds as the expenses to put on such an event are quite high. A lot of these expenses must be pre paid. If there was ever a time to dig deep into those pockets and donate to the LPDC it is now. Also, with December 19th and February 6th behind us, there is time for us to organize benefits in our communities. Below are some excerpts from Leonard's upcoming book: PRISON WRITINGS, MY LIFE IS MY SUNDANCE, co-written with Harvey Arden. It will be released on June 26th, 1999. You can read these excerpts at benefits. We had a reading here in Lawrence and it went very well and people were moved by Leonard's words. Please help by donating and/or organizing benefits. Your help is appreciated and needed. Thanks to everyone for all your work! LPDC Staff Collective PRISON WRITINGS, MY LIFE IS MY SUNDANCE By Leonard Peltier, co-written by Harvey Arden: THE TIME HAS COME for me to set forth in words my personal testament-not because I'm planning to die, but because I'm planning to live.                 This is the twenty-third year of my imprisonment for a crime I didn't commit. I'm now fifty-four years old. I've been in here since I was thirty-one. I've been told I have to live out two lifetime sentences plus seven years before I get out of prison in the year Two Thousand and Forty One. By then I'll be ninety-seven. I don't think I'll make it.                 My life is an extended agony. I feel like I've lived a hundred lifetimes in prison already. But I'm prepared to live thousands more on behalf of my people. If my imprisonment does nothing more than educate an unknowing and uncaring public about the terrible conditions Indian people continue to endure, then my suffering has had--and continues to have--a purpose. My people's struggle to survive inspires my own struggle to survive. Each of us must be a survivor. I ACKNOWLEDGE my inadequacies as a spokesman, my many imperfections as a human being. And yet, as the Elders taught me, speaking out is my first duty, my first obligation to myself and to my people. To speak your mind and heart is Indian Way. In Indian Way, the political and the spiritual are one and the same. You can't believe one thing and do another. What you believe and what you do are the same thing. In Indian Way, if you see your people suffering, helping them is an absolute necessity. It's not a social act of charity or welfare assistance; it's a spiritual act, a holy deed. I HAVE NO APOLOGIES, ONLY SORROW. I can't apologize for what I haven't done. But I can grieve, and I do. Every day, every hour, I grieve for those who died at the Oglala firefight in 1975 and for their families-for the families of FBI agents Jack Coler and Ronald Williams and, yes, for the family of Joe Killsright Stuntz--a 21-year-old bravehearted Indian whose death from a bullet at Oglala that same day, like the deaths of hundreds of other Indians at Pine Ridge at that terrible time, has never been investigated. My heart aches in remembering the suffering and fear under which so many of my people were forced to live at that time, the very suffering and fear that brought me and the others to Oglala that day-to defend the defenseless.                 And I'm filled with an aching sorrow, too, for the loss to my own family because, in a very real way, I also died that day. I died to my family, to my children, to my grandchildren, to myself. I've lived out my own death for nearly a quarter of a century now.                 Those who put me here and keep me here knowing of my innocence can take grim satisfaction in their sure reward--which is being who and what they are. That's as terrible a reward as any I could imagine.                 I know who and what I am. I am an Indian--an Indian who dared to stand up to defend his people. I am an innocent man who never murdered anyone nor wanted to. And, yes, I am a Sun Dancer. That, too, is my identity. If I am to suffer as a symbol of my people, then I suffer proudly. I will never yield. IF YOU, THE LOVED ONES of the agents who died at the Jumping Bull property that day, get some salve of satisfaction out of my being here, then at least I can give you that, even though innocent of their blood. I feel your loss as my own. Like you, I suffer that loss every day, every hour. And so does my family. We know that inconsolable grief. We Indians are born, live and die with inconsolable grief. We've shared our common grief for twenty-three years now, your families and mine, so how can we possibly be enemies anymore? Maybe it's with you and with us that the healing can start. You, the agents' families, certainly weren't at fault that day in1975, any more than my family was, and yet you and they have suffered as much as, even more than, anyone there. It seems it's always the innocent who pay the highest price for injustice. It's seemed that way all my life. To the still-grieving Coler and Williams families I send my prayers if you will have them. I hope you will. They are the prayers of an entire people, not just my own. We have many dead of our own to pray for, and we join our prayers of sorrow to yours. Let our common grief be our bond. I state to you absolutely that, if I could possibly have prevented what happened that day, your menfolk would not have died. I would have died myself before knowingly permitting what happened to happen. And I certainly never pulled the trigger that did it. May the Creator strike me dead this moment if I lie. I cannot see how my being here, torn from my own grandchildren, can possibly mend your loss. I swear to you, I am guilty only of being an Indian. That's why I'm here.                 Being who I am, being who you are--that's Aboriginal Sin. NO DOUBT, MY NAME will soon be among the list of our Indian dead. At least I'll have good company--for no finer, kinder, braver, wiser, worthier men and women have ever walked this Earth than those who have already died for being Indian.                 Our dead keep coming at us, a long, long line of dead, ever-growing, never-ending. To list all their names would be impossible, for the great majority died unknown, unacknowledged. Yes, the roll call of our Indian dead needs to be cried out, to be shouted from every hilltop in order to shatter the terrible silence that tries to erase the fact that we ever existed.                 I would like to see a redstone wall like the blackstone wall of the Vietnam War Memorial. Yes, right there on the Mall in Washington, D.C. And on that redstone wall--pigmented with the living blood of our people (and I would happily be the first to donate that blood)--would be the names of all the Indians who ever died for being Indian. It would be dozens of times longer than the Vietnam Memorial, which celebrates the deaths of fewer than 60,000 brave lost souls. The number of our brave lost souls reaches into the many millions, and every one of them remains unquiet until this day.                 Yes, the voices of Sitting Bull and Crazy Horse, of Buddy Lamont and Frank Clearwater, of Joe Stuntz and Dallas Thundershield, of Wesley Bad Heart Bull and Raymond Yellow Thunder, of Bobby Garcia and Anna Mae Aquash... those and so, so many others. Their stilled voices cry out at us and demand to be heard. PEOPLE OFTEN ASK ME what my position is, or was, in AIM--the American Indian Movement. That requires an explanation.                 AIM is not an organization. AIM, as its name clearly says, is a movement. Within that movement organizations come and go. No one person or special group of people runs AIM. Don't confuse AIM with any particular individual or individuals who march under its banner--however worthy or unworthy they may be. AIM is the People. AIM will be there when every one of us living today is gone. AIM will raise new leaders in every generation. Crazy Horse belonged to AIM. Sitting Bull belonged to AIM. They belong to us still, and we belong to them. They're with us now.                 One other point I want to make about AIM. There are no followers in AIM. We are all leaders. We are each an army of one, working for the survival of our people and of the Earth, our Mother. This isn't rhetoric. This is commitment. This is who we are.                 Yes, we can each be an army of one. One good man or one good woman can change the world, can push back the evil, and their work can be a beacon for millions, for billions. Are you that man or woman? If so, may the Great Spirit bless you. If not, why not? We must each of us be that person. That will transform the world overnight. That would be a miracle, yes, but a miracle within our power, our healing power. Leonard Peltier Defense Committee PO Box 583 Lawrence, KS 66044 785-842-5774 fax 785-842-5796 http://members.xoom.com/freepeltier/index.html To subscribe, send a blank message to < lpdc-on@mail-list.com > To unsubscribe, send a blank message to < lpdc-off@mail-list.com > To change your email address, send a message to < lpdc-change@mail-list.com with your old address in the Subject line ----------------------------------------------

   Discarded message From: amanecer@aa.net (PRENSA NUEVO AMANECER) Date: Sat, May 22, 1999, 10:32pm (PDT+7) To: White_Feather@webtv.net (White Feather) Subject: Re: Friends Are Like Angels Dear Sister White Feather:           I have treassured your note and wnated to reply but was away from e-mial for a little while to give my back a rest, I am much better now. I wanted to send this article on the visit of Madame Medirrand to brother Leonard, that we translated and distribed to our readers in Mexico, Latin America and Spain. I though you would enjoy a copy to send it to brother Leonard's family.             I too keep you close in prayer, and I have a sense that we will meet in person soon. Please keep us posted on your struggles and anything you feel would help to get othr countries to know, we are very happy to support and send out.             My heart is with you and your people. a hug, Susana From:             "PRENSA NUEVO AMANECER" Organization:     PRENSA NUEVO AMANECER To:               "Prensa Nuevo Amanecer" Date sent:       Sat, 22 May 1999 17:53:13 +0000 Subject:         REPORTE SOBRE LA MISION DE DANIELLE MITTERAND Send reply to:   amanecer@aa.net Copies to:       chiapas-l@burn.ucsd.edu Priority:         normal ORIGINAL EN INGLES PUBLICDO POR EL COMITE PARA LA DEFENSA DE LEONARD PELTIER TRADUCCION DE TANALIS PADILLA PARA PRENSA NUEVO AMANECER **********************************************   REPORTE SOBRE LA MISION DE DANIELLE MITTERAND PARA BUSCAR INFORMACION SOBRE LEONARD PELTIER Gracias a los esfuerzos conjuntos del ComitTheta de Defensa a Leonard Peltier, el grupo de Apoyo a Leonard Peltier Francia, y los Familiares y Amigos Preocupados por Mumia Abu-Jamal, la ex-primera dama de Francia, y presidenta de la ONG, France LibertThetas vino a los Estados Unidos en una misi Una prensa en apoyo al trabajo en defensa de los DDHH. ********************************************** NUEVO AMANECER PRESS-PRENSA NUEVO AMANECER-N.A.P. To know us visit our web page in Spanish in Mexico at: http://www.nap.cuhm.mx/nap0.htm E-mail: A Press in support of the work in defense of Human Rights **********************************************

LPDC" Subject:    Peltier's case back in court! Date:    Tue, Jun 22, 1999, 7:00pm (PDT+2) X-Unsubscribe:    send a blank message to lpdc-off@mail-list.com To:    White_Feather@webtv.net Dear Peltier supporters, Here is another press release. Please fax it to your local media and pass it on to other supporters. It is extremely important we prepare to mobilize and fill the court room as soon as there is news of a hearing. We will let you know what is happening every step of the way! ---LPDC staff collective FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE, June 22, 1999 FORMER U.S. ATTORNEY GENERAL CHALLENGES THE U.S. PAROLE COMMISSION ON BEHALF OF NATIVE AMERICAN POLITICAL PRISONER, LEONARD PELTIER Conact: Contact: Gina Chiala Lawrence Schilling The Leonard Peltier Defense Committee               Law Office-Ramsey Clark 785-842-5774 212-475-3232   For the first time in any court, a habeas corpus petition challenging the denial by the U.S. Parole Commission of Leonard Peltier's substantive and procedural parole rights has been filed in federal district court in Topeka, Kansas. This is the first attempt to enter Peltier's case into the courts since he last appealed his conviction in 1993. Peltier, who is considered to be a political prisoner by Amnesty International who insists he be immediately and unconditionally released, has become a notorious symbol of injustice against Indigenous Peoples of the Americas. Peltier was originally convicted in 1977 for the first degree murders of FBI agents, Jack Coler and Ronald Williams. The petition was filed by former Attorney General and lawyer, Ramsey Clark with attorneys Carl Nadler and Lawrence Schilling. It was filed on June 4, 1999 and challenges as illegal, clearly erroneous, arbitrary, capricious, and unconstitutional, the Commission's denial of parole to Peltier and its decision to schedule Peltier's next parole release hearing in December 2008 -- 15 years in the future, 17 years in excess of the Commission's applicable guidelines and 6 years after the date set by Congress for the total abolition of the Parole Commission itself. Peltier's petition also charges that as a result of changes in federal parole laws, practices and procedures since 1975, Peltier has been imprisoned longer than the law then authorized in violation of the Constitution's ex post facto clause, as well as Peltier's right to due process and equal protection of the laws. The Parole Commission is required to substantiate its reasons for denying a prisoner parole beyond the guidelines. Peltier claims the Commission's stated reasons have been based on discriminatory and erroneous reasoning.. Additionally, the petition points to the dismantling process of the federal parole commission since the Comprehensive Crime Control Act was passed in 1984 and ties this process to the denial of parole to prisoners like Peltier for reasons of self interest.   Also challenged is the Commission's refusal to acknowledge Peltier's current health condition as a substantial reason to consider his release. Peltier is currently suffering from a condition that, according to prison officials, causes his jaw to be frozen open 13 millimeters. Although government prosecutors have openly stated that there was not enough evidence to prove that Peltier was responsible for the deaths of the two agents killed during the 1975 shoot out on the Lakota Reservation, the Commission has ignored this and repeatedly refused to reconsider parole, stating that Peltier has not yet taken criminal responsibility for the deaths. After a December 1995 Interim Parole Hearing Review, the Commission stated in its subsequent decision, "The Commission recognizes that the prosecution has conceded the lack of any direct evidence that you personally participated in the executions of the two FBI agents. . . .   Later in the decision they stated that they would not reconsider parole for Peltier because of his, "evident decision not to accept criminal responsibility." Peltier, who has always maintained his innocence, is now spending his twenty-fouth year in prison. Leonard Peltier Defense Committee PO Box 583 Lawrence, KS 66044 785-842-5774

   Message From: lpdc@idir.net (LPDC) Date: Wed, Jul 14, 1999, 10:02pm (PDT+2) To: White_Feather@webtv.net Subject: PELTIER'S HEALTH CONDITION DETERIORATING PELTIER'S HEALTH CONDITION DETERIORATING Prison Officials Deny Current x-rays and Refuse Outside Opinion Political Prisoner Leonard Peltier, who is suffering from a severe medical condition which causes his jaw to be frozen open 13 millimeters, requested current x-rays from prison authorities on May 25, 1999. The x-rays would help Maxillofacial expert, Dr. Eugene Keller of the Mayo Clinic, to determine what can be done to treat Peltier. Because prison authorities are not allowing Peltier to be transferred to the Rochester Medical Facility for federal prisoners, a facility where Dr. Keller could examine and if warranted, treat Peltier, Pelitier's defense team decided to attempt bringing Keller to Peltier instead. Keller is willing to examine Peltier at Leavenworth Penitentiary where Peltier is currently imprisoned, however, he must have current x-rays before making the trip. Prison authorities have not x-rayed Peltier's jaw since 1996. Despite this, prison authorities are not allowing Peltier to receive current x-rays. As of now, the LPDC has received two different responses from two different departments of the Bureau of Prisons regarding the request. The first response is from Phillip S. Wise, Assistant Director of the Health Services Division of the Bureau of Prisons (BOP) in Washington D.C. In this May 28, 1999 response letter to Senator Wellstone, Mr. Wise states that Dr. Keller is not authorized to receive x-rays of Peltier because he is not contracted with the Federal Bureau of Prisons. He goes on to say that, "there is no clinical indication for a second opinion by Dr. Keller." To the contrary, Warden Booker says in his June 8, 1999 direct response to Peltier, "Please be advised that you are free to provide Dr. Keller with copies of records which are contained in your Bureau of Prison's Medical file." However, he completely neglects to address Peltier's request which was for current x-rays. Amnesty International, France Libertes', Physicians for Human Rights, several members of the European Parliament, and many more human rights groups and concerned individuals have written to Warden Booker in support of Peltier's request for current x-rays of his jaw. Up until March of this year, prison authorities were willing to transfer Peltier to the Springfield Medical Facility for a third surgery. Because Peltier had already undergone two unsuccessful surgeries that worsened his condition in 1996 at this same facility, he refused to go. Prison authorities are now confident that Peltier's condition cannot be treated at all. Interestingly, prison authorities made this conclusion without the use of current x-rays. Alarmingly, Phillip S. Wise of the Federal Bureau of Prisons also stated in his response letter that Peltier is suffering from, "diabetes, a cardiac condition, and hyperlipedemia." The prison has not yet begun blending Peltier's food, and because he cannot bite or chew his food, he must eat mostly soft, starchy foods making it difficult for him to control his diet. This may be a contribution to these conditions which prison authorities say he is suffering from. Leonard has had a stroke before and the above conditions are life threatening making his condition even more urgent. Please include the above mentioned serious health conditions when writing and speaking to governmental officials about Leonard Peltier's plight. Additionally, please continue to write and ask others to write Warden Booker and the BOP in support of Leonard's request for x-rays. Attorney Eric Seitz is taking steps to ensure that Leonard receives the treatment he needs, but urges you to help. He also wants us to note that when speaking about Leonard's medical, it is important we use only accurate information In Solidarity, The LPDC HEALTH Ms. Kathleen Hawk Director, Bureau of Prisons 320 First St. NW Washington, DC 20534 Fax: (202) 514-6878 Phone: (202)307-3198 Warden Booker Leavenworth Federal Prison Box 1000 Leavenworth, KS 66048 SAMPLE LETTER IN SUPPORT OF X-RAY REQUEST: Dear Warden Booker, I am a concerned citizen and supporter of inmate, Leonard Peltier, #89637-132. I am aware that Mr. Peltier is suffering from a jaw condition which causes him great discomfort and difficulty in eating. I have been made aware that Mr. Peltier has made a request for current radiographs and C-T scans which will allow Dr. Keller of the Mayo Clinic to determine whether his condition warrants treatment which Dr. Keller would be willing to give Mr. Peltier upon determining he is the right doctor to do so. I understand that these x-rays can be obtained in close vicinity to USPL which will cost the prison and tax payers such as myself, very little. I hope that these x-rays will be taken in an expeditious manner so that Mr. Peltier's suffering can be alleviated. Thank you for your time. Sincerely, Leonard Peltier Defense Committee PO Box 583 Lawrence, KS 66044 785-842-5774