By Saeed Shabazz
Mr. Peltier was sentenced to two consecutive life terms in 1977 for the shooting of two FBI agents during an altercation on the Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota in 1975.
“The basis for Leonard Peltier's Nobel nominations has been his remarkable success in furthering the causes of peace and human rights,” stated the release from his support group.
The AIM website mentions several projects that Mr. Peltier has worked on since being incarcerated some 33 years ago such as playing a role in getting people from different tribes to come together as he advocates for peaceful resolution of all issues.
The Leonard Peltier Health Care Reform package has been said to have fundamentally changed health care delivery on reservations in the U.S.; and he has put forth proposals to stimulate reservation-based economics and investment. In 1992, Mr. Peltier established a scholarship at New York University for Native American students seeking a law degree; and every Christmas he sends gifts to the children on the Pine Ridge reservation.
It is also estimated that Mr. Peltier has raised millions for charities through sales of his art work.
The other reasons are more legitimate...but hundreds of thousands of people must've done similar things. I doubt Peltier has done anything that makes him uniquely qualified for the award.
For more on the subject, see Peace Prize for Prisoner?
9 comments:
Not unless trying to kill a cop and then killing two feds counts as 'unique.' Let the shitheel die in prison.
Peltier's supporters claim he was framed and didn't get a fair trial.
More to the point, he did all his peace-loving things after he was imprisoned. If you don't believe in rehabilitation, the Nobel Peace Prize Committee may.
Peltier could win the award and still die in prison, you know. The two things aren't mutually exclusive.
By the way, keeping elderly prisoners past the usual pardon date may feel good, but it costs the taxpayers money. Releasing them to die at their own expense is more economical.
Are you willing to pay more in taxes for your "tough on crime" attitude? I'm guessing not.
What tough on crime attitude? You're projecting just a tad, I simply don't believe the 'he was framed' crap I've examined the evidence and I remain convinced that he's guilty.
"By the way, keeping elderly prisoners past the usual pardon date may feel good, but it costs the taxpayers money. Releasing them to die at their own expense is more economical."
True, I was a tad angry when I typed that (someone who actually deserves it should get the prize).
This discussion is sick. Even the government has admitted that they don't know who killed the agents. Leonard is innocent. The case has been reexamined ad nauseam by innumerable investigators, journalists, social justice organizations and lawyers. The vast, overwhelming majority consider Leonard to be innocent *and* a political prisoner.
The fact that he has endured this injustice and refused to give in to cynicism and hatred, serving Native people and communities even from the confines of his cell is what has earned him Nobel Peace Prize nominations.
Attitudes toward Leonard like that which we see from Stephen are the same as those coming from the last few holdout white supremacists who maintain that Nelson Mandela is a common criminal who should have died in prison.
Repugnant and sad.
That might change a lot if the government really admitted that they did not know who killed the agents (i.e. those who prosecuted and imprison him saying it is a mistake). Do you have a link or quote on this?
I checked Wikipedia and found no such quote, and they make it clear that the controversy is far from being as cut and dried as you say it is.
As for Stephen and Mandela, I'd not jump to conclusions until I knew what he had to say about Mandela.
dmarks you say: "I checked Wikipedia and found no such quote"
and that somehow is authoritative?
You barely deserve a response yourself, but since others commenting here seem to have trouble thinking, I'll point out a few things:
try a google search for the many pages that describe the case files of "Leonard Peltier"??
# Following the discovery of new evidence obtained through a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit, Mr. Peltier sought a new trial. The Eighth Circuit ruled, “There is a possibility that the jury would have acquitted Leonard Peltier had the records and data improperly withheld from the defense been available to him in order to better exploit and reinforce the inconsistencies casting strong doubts upon the government's case." Yet, the court denied Mr. Peltier a new trial.
# During oral argument, the government attorney conceded that the government does not know who shot the agents, stating that Mr. Peltier is equally guilty whether he shot the agents at point-blank range, or participated in the shoot-out from a distance. Mr. Peltier’s co-defendants participated in the shoot-out from a distance, but were acquitted.
to be clear, the FBI and Dick Wilson's squad of self-proclaimed Goons, are the guilty parties for the MANY other killings that occurred during the early 70s.
To ask that Peltier admit criminal guilt in the matter is just another example of a truly warped US gov. genocidal culture.
I guess you are not "worthy of a response" and not a thinker since you actually did not provide evidence to support the controversial idea that the "government really admitted that they did not know who killed the agents"
Not only is it not in Wikipedia, but it isn't in your summaries.
Mr. Peltier has been a model prisoner and has shown no predilection for repeat offenses. He has already served a long time for the crimes he committed. These are good reasons for parole or early release. Flimsy "cases" that he is innocent are not.
To make it more clear, your oral argument summary is not clear:
"the government attorney conceded that the government does not know who shot the agents, stating that Mr. Peltier is equally guilty whether he shot the agents at point-blank range"
The part after the "state" is like a paraphrase or quote. In which the government attorney states that Mr. Peltier shot the agents (which of course means that the government knew he did it).
The "conceded" part of your statement contradicts this, and I wonder if it is a real quote, or someone's willful misinterepretation of the government saying it knew Peltier did it.
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