Robert Redford and a host of celebrities have organized a
two-day art exhibit and benefit to raise legal funds for the
upcoming battle to free Native American activist Leonard Peltier.
Jane Fonda and Bonnie Raitt are also among the 14 entertainment
industry artists rallying behind Peltier's 28-year battle with the
FBI. The exhibit, entitled "The Warrior's Eye -- In the Spirit of
Crazy Horse," will feature paintings from Peltier's latest works.
"It is very strong Native American art and it spoke to my
heart," says producer-director Robert Greenwald, co-founder of
Artists United. "I realized that there was an opportunity to
recognize him as an artist and to raise some desperately needed
money for upcoming court battles."
Leonard Peltier, a member of the Oglala Lakota tribe, has
gained worldwide status as a political prisoner and attracted the
support of Amnesty International and many other organizations. He
has been the subject of a CBS 60 Minutes segment, a Robert Redford
documentary and a book, Peter Matheson's, "In the Spirit of Crazy
Horse."
Taking AIM
Peltier has played a major role in the American Indian
Movement (AIM). In 1970, he participated in a dispute over the
occupation of Fort Lawton, Oregon. The property was located on
federal land designated as "surplus," however; Indians had first
right to it under the law. Peltier and his group won that round
against the feds with the establishment of an Indian cultural
center.
Participation in the 1972 occupation of the Bureau of Indian
Affairs (BIA) drew the attention of the FBI. Shortly after the BIA
incident, Peltier was threatened with a gun in a Milwaukee
restaurant by two assailants who turned out to be plainclothes
policemen. Testimony from witnesses supported Peltier's assertion
of a set up, and a former girlfriend of one of the police officers
testified that he had told her about plans of "catching a big one
for the FBI." Peltier was arrested for attempted murder and spent
five months in jail at high bail; eventually he went underground
before his pre-trial hearing.
In March 1975, amid unrest between the Oglala Tribal Council
and traditional Oglala elders, an AIM spiritual group established a
camp on the property of the elders, near the village of Oglala on
the Pine Ridge Reservation. In June, two FBI agents entered the
property without a warrant or jurisdiction, allegedly to arrest an
Indian man accused of stealing a pair of cowboy boots. An all-out
firefight ensued, with 150 FBI and government agents responding to
the scene. Five hours later, one AIM member and two FBI agents were
dead.
Peltier and three other men were indicted for the murder of
the FBI agents. Peltier was extradited from Canada based on an
affidavit tainted by what would eventually be proven as fraudulent
testimony from a woman claiming to be Peltier's girlfriend.
Peltier's attorneys say the affidavit was never produced during the
extradition hearings and was concealed from them.
In the trial that followed, the original judge excused
himself without explanation, and the court location was moved to a
town with strong anti-Indian sentiment. Peltier's defense team
charges that it was denied critical cross-examinations in its
efforts to prove FBI misconduct and was prevented from presenting
key defense witnesses. In a different trial, a jury acquitted two
of the other defendants, but Peltier's judge excluded the use of
their evidence in his trial.
Peltier's attorneys also presented evidence showing that the
prosecution produced false testimonies obtained under FBI coercion,
perjured testimonies by FBI agents, and withheld a crucial
exculpatory ballistic test document. In 1977, Peltier was sentenced
to two consecutive life terms and entered a federal penitentiary in
Marion, Illinois.
A Long Battle
In 1979, the Supreme Court refused to review Peltier's case,
and he was transferred to Lompoc Federal Correctional Institution
in California. A known thug of the Oglala Tribal Council appeared
amid rumors of an assignation plot, and fearing for his life,
Peltier managed to escape prison. He was captured and seven years
was added to his sentence.
Through the '80s, defense attorneys obtained 12,000 pages of
declassified FBI documents under the Freedom of Information Act.
Yet, the bureau refused to release an additional 6,000 pages,
classifying them "in the interest of national defense or foreign
policy." Into the '90s, new defense motions came and went, each
frustrated in some way by the government. In 1993, Attorney Ramsey
Clark even filed an Executive Clemency request with the White
House.
In a different strategy, attorneys filed a civil rights suit
in April 2002 against the FBI and other government officials for
false and misleading statements. According to attorney Bernard
Kleinman, the FBI evaded the service of their summons, employing a
"classic FBI obstruction."
Today Peltier attorneys are pursuing an appeal of the recent
denial of Peltier's 1999 Habeas Corpus petition. They seek to
overturn the U.S. Parole Commission's denial of parole
consideration until December 2008. Parole Commission guidelines for
prisoners convicted of homicide offenses is 200-plus months served.
By those standards, Peltier should have been freed more than a
decade ago. However, the Commission refuses to consider setting a
parole date until 2008 -- when Peltier will have served almost
double the normal time.
Transcendent Art
The years of incarceration and poor medical treatment have
taken their toll on his health. During 27 years in prison, Peltier
suffered a stroke, leaving him partially blind in one eye. Now 58,
Peltier suffers from diabetes, high blood pressure and a heart
condition.
Yet through it all, Peltier has managed to persevere and
create a body of artwork that transcends his incarceration. Robert
Greenwald visited Peltier at Leavenworth Federal Penitentiary a few
months ago and despite concerns about his health, he has high hopes
for the appeal, and the community's efforts to help. Say Greenwald:
"This is where the progressive community can work together, and
it's very encouraging."
"The Warrior's Eye: In the Spirit of Crazy Horse" opens Aug.
1, 6-9pm, at Frumkin Gallery in Santa Monica, Calif. Admission $100
(may be applied toward the purchase of artwork). For more info or
to RSVP call (310) 288-7338.
Ed Ritchie is a Los Angeles-based freelance writer.
