Thursday, February 24, 2011

Peltier Update: Medical Treatment



The biopsy that was ordered by a physician last November was finally performed yesterday, 23 February. Leonard will receive the results in roughly 7 to 10 days. The feedback from the physician wasn't positive, however. Everyone must continue to pressure the BOP for Leonard's transfer so that he can receive timely, quality care.

Please print this letter (PDF format). Sign the letter; write your name and mailing address; and mail or fax your letter today.

Mail to: Federal Bureau of Prisons
Address: 320 1st Street, NW, Washington, DC 20534
Fax: (202) 514-6620

Sample Text

Often a handwritten heartfelt letter is quite effective. Remember to always employ a respectful tone and keep your comments brief and to the point. If you wish, you may adapt the following text.

Harley G. Lappin, Director
U.S. Bureau of Prisons
320 First Street, NW
Washington, DC 20534

Dear Mr. Lappin:

It has come to my attention that Leonard Peltier #89637-132, an inmate at the U.S. Penitentiary in Lewisburg, Pennsylvania, is in dire need of medical attention.

I believe that Mr. Peltier's medical needs are urgent. He needs to be seen by proper medical staff. Therefore, I respectfully request that Leonard Peltier be transferred to FCI-Oxford in Wisconsin or FMC-Rochester in Minnesota. Either of these facilities can adequately accommodate Mr. Peltier's medical needs.

Thank you in advance for transferring Leonard Peltier and immediately addressing his medical needs!

Sincerely,



Signature
(Print Your Name)
(Print Your Street Address)
(Print Your City/State/Zip Code)

Thank you for all you do on Leonard's behalf.

Friday, February 18, 2011

Act on behalf of Leonard Peltier and all imprisoned COINTELPRO/Civil Rights Era activists


ACT NOW! DISTRIBUTE WIDELY! ACT NOW! DISTRIBUTE WIDELY! ACT NOW!

At yesterday's White House meeting on the US's response to the UN UPR Working Group Recommendations, we were told that all comments must be submitted by close of business today. On behalf of all imprisoned COINTELPRO/Civil Rights Era activists, please

TELL White House Rep Scott Busby (ScottW.Busby@nsc.eop.gov), Legal Adviser Harold Koh (KohHH@state.gov), State Dept Rep David Sullivan (SullivanDB@state.gov), Asst. Atty General Samuel Bagenstos (samuel.bagenstos@usdoj.gov), and U.S. Atty General (AskDOJ@usdoj.gov)

1. ADOPT UPR Working Group Recommendation Numbers 92-153 and 92-154, and

2. Implement UPR Working Group Recommendation Numbers 92-153 and 92-154 by :

a. President Obama taking concrete steps and using his presidential clemency powers to commute the sentences to time served and release all COINTELRO/Civil Rights Era political activists currently held as prisoners in federal custody;

b. That he direct the Obama-Holder Department of Justice to review the convictions of all COINTELPRO/Civil Rights Era activists in federal or state custody to identify and address civil and human rights violations; and

c. That President Obama use his executive authority to create a National Truth and Reconciliation Commission, for release and compensation of all COINTELPRO/Civil Rights ERA political activists currently held in federal and state facilities.

Tuesday, February 15, 2011

Thursday, February 17: COINTELPRO 101 Screening in Boulder, CO

Rocky Mountain Peace & Justice Center
The Freedom Archives
& the Leonard Peltier Defense Offense Committee

Students for Peace & Justice
Popcorner Film Series

Present

Thurs. Feb. 17th,
8-10pm
Naropa University Main Campus
Goldfarb Student Center
(2130 Arapahoe Ave.)
Boulder, Colorado

"Injustice anywhere is a threat to Justice Everywhere."
Martin Luther King Jr.

During the Civil Rights era of the 50s, 60s and 70s, the F.B.I, under the leadership of J. Edgar Hoover, waged a covert war against minority peoples and progressive movements referred to as, COINTELPRO.

COINTELPRO represents the state’s strategy to prevent movements and communities from overturning white supremacy and creating racial justice. COINTELPRO is both a formal program of the FBI and a term frequently used to describe a conspiracy among government agencies—local, state, and federal—to destroy movements for self-determination and liberation for Black, Brown, Asian, and Indigenous struggles, as well as mount an institutionalized attack against allies of these movements and other progressive organizations.

COINTELPRO 101 is an educational film that will open the door to understanding this history. This documentary will introduce viewers new to this history to the basics and direct them to other resources where they can learn more. The intended audiences are the generations that did not experience the social justice movements of the sixties and seventies.





Interviews in the video include:

Muhammad Ahmad (Max Stanford)—Founder of Revolutionary Action Movement and professor at Temple University.
Bob Boyle—Attorney representing many activists and political prisoners targeted by COINTELPRO.
Kathleen Cleaver—former leader of the Black Panther Party, now Professor of Law at Emory and Yale Universities and an expert on COINTELPRO.
Ward Churchill—just-removed Professor at the University of Colorado who has written extensively about COINTELPRO.
Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz—Long-time Native American activist and educator.
Priscilla Falcon—Long-time Mexicana activist and professor whose husband was assassinated for his leadership in the Chicano struggle.
Geronimo Ji-Jaga Pratt—former leader of the Black Panther Party who was falsely imprisoned for 27 years in a COINTELPRO case.
Jose Lopez—Director of the Puerto Rican Cultural Center in Chicago and long-time advocate of Puerto Rican independence.
Francisco 'Kiko' Martinez—long-time Chicano/Mexicano activist and attorney.
Lucy Rodriguez—Puerto Rican Independentista and former Political Prisoner.
Ricardo Romero—long-time Chicano/Mexicano activist and Grand Jury resister
Akinyele Umoja—African American History scholar at Georgia State University.
Laura Whitehorn—radical activist and former political prisoner who was targeted by the federal government.


*Film will be followed by a discussion lead by participants in the film, Ricardo Romero (Chicano/Mexicano Activist) and Ward Churchill (Native American Author & Professor).

"We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness." - Declaration of Independence

"America, when will you live up to your own principles?" - Leonard Peltier

For more info: www.freedomarchives.org or www.whoisleonardpeltier.info

Contact: silentbear55@yahoo.com or sfpjpopcorner@gmail.com

Friday, February 4, 2011

Medical Alert: A Call to Action for Leonard Peltier


At this time, Mr. Peltier's most pressing need is proper medical care. His only hope of being seen by qualified physicians and receiving care that complies with standard medical protocols is to be immediately transferred to another facility. (See the background information here.)

You can help. Please print this letter (PDF format). Sign the letter; write your name and mailing address; and mail or fax your letter today.

Mail to: Federal Bureau of Prisons
Address: 320 1st Street, NW, Washington, DC 20534
Fax: (202) 514-6620

Sample Text

Often a handwritten heartfelt letter is quite effective. Remember to always employ a respectful tone and keep your comments brief and to the point. If you wish, you may adapt the following text.

Harley G. Lappin, Director
U.S. Bureau of Prisons
320 First Street, NW
Washington, DC 20534

Dear Mr. Lappin:

It has come to my attention that Leonard Peltier #89637-132, an inmate at the U.S. Penitentiary in Lewisburg, Pennsylvania, is in dire need of medical attention.

I believe that Mr. Peltier's medical needs are urgent. He needs to be seen by proper medical staff. Therefore, I respectfully request that Leonard Peltier be transferred to FCI-Oxford in Wisconsin or FMC-Rochester in Minnesota. Either of these facilities can adequately accommodate Mr. Peltier's medical needs.

Thank you in advance for transferring Leonard Peltier and immediately addressing his medical needs!

Sincerely,



Signature
(Print Your Name)
(Print Your Street Address)
(Print Your City/State/Zip Code)

Thank you for all you do on Leonard's behalf.

Thursday, February 3, 2011

From "Free Leonard Peltier": Immortal Technique





Free Leonard Peltier: Hip Hop's Contribution to the Freedom Campaign
Purchase CD - $15.00 (USD)
Shop Now

Or download at

CDBaby
.


Also available for download on iTunes,
Amazon, and more!



A Piece for Peltier from
a Panther Cub
- Chairman Fred Hampton



Right This Wrong -
Rakaa (Dilated Peoples) & 2Mex



Hold Your Head Up
- M1 (dead prez) & Dj Child



Political Prisoner
- Immortal Technique



When I Rhyme -
Skyzoo, Talib Kweli & Reks



On Leonard Peltier
- T-K.A.S.H.



Raid My Home - The
Dime



Release Me -
Arievolution & iamani i. ameni



Never Forget Joe
Stuntz
- Eseibio



Do It Movin' -
Bicasso (Living Legends) & DJ Fresh



Trail of Tears -
Mama Wisdom




Peltier's Beat Goes On
- Buggin Malone



Right This Wrong
(Instrumental) - DeeSkee



Demand that Obama Adopt UPR Recommendation to Release Peltier and All U.S. Political Prisoners


IMMEDIATE RELEASE - PLEASE DISTRIBUTE WIDELY
February 3, 2011


CALL TO ACTION:
Demand Obama Administration Respect UPR Process,
Adopt UN UPR Recommendation to Release U.S. Political Prisoners

Atlanta, GA, - The U.S. Human Rights Network Political Prisoner/State Repression Working Group (USHRN PP/SR Wkg Grp) today demands the Obama Administration adopt the UN Human Rights Council’s Universal Periodic Review (UPR) recommendations to release COINTELPRO/Civil Rights Era political activists held in U.S. prisons, some more than 40 years.

"The UPR shed global light on the United States' dirty little open secret and propelled to the forefront the unfinished business of the modern U.S. Civil/Human Rights movement. “We are working with activists across the country to put America’s political prisoners on the global human rights priority list alongside other atrocities like the death penalty, racial discrimination, the absence of treaty ratification and the lack of a national institution monitoring domestic human rights practices” Efia Nwangaza said.

Harold Hongju Koh, Legal Adviser to the United States Department of State dismissed the significance of the recommendations made by the Human Rights Council Working Group on the Universal Periodic Review in generally and, specifically, the call for the release of long imprisoned political activists. Harold Koh, put the more than 230 recommendations into "3 categories:

1) Some in line with US policies

2) Some political provocation not to be taken seriously

3) Some to be considered.

Koh promised "all recommendations will be considered and taken back to branches for consideration before March, 2011. Further Koh remarked, “A small set of comments do not make bona fide recommendations for the UPR. These statements, those styled as “recommendations,” are actually political criticisms of U.S. policies or polemical comments about judicial cases, based on unsubstantiated or false allegations, which refer to individual matters that are either ongoing or already completed under court proceedings conducted under due process of law."

1. We call on President Obama to use his presidential powers to grant clemency and commute the sentences to time served and release all COINTELPRO/Civil Rights Era political activists criminalized and held in federal custody.

2. We call on President Obama to direct U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder and the U.S. Department of Justice to review the convictions of all COINTELPRO/Civil Rights Era activists in federal or state custody to identify and address civil and human rights violations perpetrated.

3. We call on the Obama Administration to create a national Truth and Reconciliation Commission for the release and compensation of all COINTELPRO/Civil Rights Era activists in federal or state custody.

Demand the Obama Administration Respect the UPR Process and Adopt UN UPR Recommendation to Release U.S. Political Prisoners (Recommendations Numbers 92.153 and 92.154). Please call, fax, write, e-mail, the U.S. UPR Delegation and the Obama Administration to Invite family, friends, neighbors, faith communities, social and professional organizations and elected and appointed officials to join this emergency campaign.

Contact information:

Michael H. Posner, Asst. Secretary of State (Democracy, Human Rights and Labor) T: 202-647-2126/F:202-647-5283/E: PosnerMH@state.gov

Esther Brimmer, Asst. Secretary of State (T:202-647-4000)

Harold Koh, Legal Adviser to State Department (T:202-647-4000)

Samuel Bagenstos, Principal Deputy Asst. Attorney General (Civil Rights Division) T:202-353-9065/F:202-3072572/E: samuel.bagenstos@usdoj.gov

Eric Holder, U.S. Attorney General (T: 202-514-2001/E: AskDOJ@usdoj.gov)

President Barack Obama (T:202-456-1414/ 202-456-1111 /F: 202-456-2461/E: http://www.whitehouse.gov/contact)

The US Human Rights Network formed to promote US accountability to universal human rights standards by building linkages between organizations and individuals. We strive to build a human rights culture in the United States that puts those directly affected by such violations, with a special emphasis on grassroots organizations and social movements, in central leadership roles. The Network is further committed to uniting the US human rights movement with the broader social justice movements both in the U.S. and globally. See U.S. Human Rights Network Reports to the UPR Working Group of the UN Human Rights Council: http://www.ushrnetwork.org/upr_reports.

Contact ushrnpp@gmail.com and firestormpp@gmail.com to report the number of e-mails and letters mailed/faxed. Many thanks. FREE ALL U.S. POLITICAL PRISONERS, NOW!

Shane's Campaign to Free Leonard Peltier

Shane's Campaign to Free Leonard Peltier
http://www.eastbayexpress.com/ebx/shanes-campaign-to-free-leonard-peltier/Content?oid=2414202
For years, Shane Gray has been on a singular quest to raise awareness of the jailed Indian activist. But now his ubiquitous signs are drawing the ire of local law enforcement.
By John Geluardi


Stephen Loewinsohn Shane Gray has made thousands of posters since learning about Peltier in 1999.


Just past 5 p.m. on a widy January day, Shane Gray rides onto the Central Avenue catwalk that stretches across Interstate 80. He leans his battered bicycle against the fencing, puts a red-tailed hawk feather in his mouth, and begins waving a bright-red placard that reads "Free Leonard" at evening commuters.

Some drivers honk their horns in support even though many don't know that "Leonard" refers to imprisoned Indian activist Leonard Peltier, who was controversially sentenced to life in federal prison in 1977 for the shooting deaths of two FBI agents on the Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota.

"It's good when they honk," Gray says cheerfully as a chilly wind tosses his thinning blonde hair, "because then the people who don't know who Leonard is will take notice.... They'll ask, 'Who's this Leonard guy, anyway?'"

About twelve years ago, Gray's "Free Leonard" signs with their distinctive red lettering began appearing on freeway fences, abandoned billboards, neighborhood lampposts, and high in treetops. The signs, sometimes augmented with images of a medicine wheel and arrow, have become such a regular feature on the landscape that they have achieved a quasi-iconic status for the hundreds of thousands of people who have seen them as they drive the area bounded by Oakland, Richmond, and the Carquinez Strait.

While Gray's placards are instantly recognizable, Gray himself has remained little more than a hazy figure blurred by the gossamer of freeway safety fences. But in the past year, the Richmond resident has begun to gain recognition — and not all of it good. To some, Gray is a folk hero who risks arrest and personal injury to rail against the unsympathetic goliath of federal government. Supporters have even purchased his signs as folksy artwork. To others, Gray is a public nuisance who should be stopped from littering the landscape with his lost cause. He avoids posting the placards on private property, preferring fences, poles, and trees that are publicly owned and within view of freeways. Nonetheless, after years of friendly warnings, law enforcement has begun to take a hard line.
On a recent rainy afternoon, Gray sits at a table at the Catahoula Coffee Company in Richmond. At 42, he has an athletic build, and his face is tanned from working outdoors as a landscaper, laborer, and house painter. He wraps his calloused hands around a warm mug of coffee and his light-blue eyes brighten as he talks about his commitment to Peltier's case. "I'm not doing this for myself," Gray said. "I do it because Peltier's incarceration is wrong. It's unjust."

Gray committed to Peltier's cause in 1999 after he attended a powwow in Berkeley held in honor of the imprisoned activist. Gray was moved by the stories of poverty and violent oppression on the Pine Ridge Reservation in the 1970s. He was also deeply moved by the persistent questions surrounding the evidence used to convict Peltier as the sole person responsible for killing two FBI agents during a shootout that at least forty Native Americans participated in, according to FBI documents.

The day after the powwow, Gray made his first placard from a discarded cardboard box and paint leftover at a job site. Now, twelve years later, he has painted and posted thousands of signs and says he continues to make each new sign with the same enthusiasm and determination as he did his first. The campaign has become the central theme of his life and he says he's not quite sure what he'd do without it. "I don't know why I got involved in the Leonard Peltier case," Gray said. "I have never been involved in any other activism before or since."

Occasionally, Gray borrows tree-climbing gear from a friend to post the signs high in treetops. They can be hard to see, but have a bigger impact once noticed. "People are surprised to see the signs sixty feet up a eucalyptus tree and that really gets their attention," Gray said.

His biggest coup, he says, was an abandoned billboard just off of Interstate 580 in Richmond. He painted the billboard white, and in his unique cursive painted "Free Leonard" in four-foot-high letters. Taggers would regularly spray paint over his message with their own. For months, Gray returned several times a week to re-paint until Caltrans finally tore the billboard down.

Gray also brings his placards to the scene of major media events in the hopes of getting his message serendipitously picked up by television cameras. He avoids events where there has been tragedy such as the loss of life or injury, but when a massive sinkhole opened up in Richmond last April, swallowing two cars and attracting a fleet of television news vans, Gray was in the background quietly holding one of his placards. During the 2010 World Series, Gray was a regular feature outside AT&T Park, even paddling a kayak covered with "Free Leonard" signs into the home-run waters of McCovey Cove just over the right-field wall.

Hollywood and recording artists made Peltier's case widely known through the 1980s and 1990s. His cause reached the apex of its popularity in 1992 with the release of the Robert Redford-produced documentary Incident at Oglala and the Michael Apted movie Thunderheart, which is based on the Pine Ridge shootout and stars Val Kilmer and Sam Shepard. Musicians such as U2, Buffy Sainte-Marie, Robbie Robertson, and Rage Against the Machine have recorded songs calling for Peltier's release. His case became an international controversy in the early-1990s when the Italian, Belgian, and European parliaments approved resolutions in support of a Peltier pardon.

But Peltier's cause began to lose momentum in 2000. Attorneys had exhausted all of his appeals, and despite expectations, President Bill Clinton refused to give Peltier a presidential pardon as he left office. Hollywood stopped making films and Peltier's name slowly began to disappear from the headlines. Peltier is now 66 and in declining health. In 2009, a parole commission turned him down in his first hearing in fifteen years, and hope that he might win his freedom diminishes with each passing year.

Gray is not politically savvy nor does he understand the intricacies of the United States Court of Appeals. But the disappointing nuances of Peltier's quest for parole have not lessened Gray's commitment. His signs have served as much needed motivation for Bay Area activists. Aaron "A-Ron" Mirmalek, who produced the 2010 Free Leonard Peltier album, a compilation of hip-hop tracks calling attention to Peltier's case, says Gray is an inspiration. "Shane was at the album release party and I gave him special recognition because he has worked so hard and his commitment over the years has had a huge positive effect," said Mirmalek, who is related to Peltier. "Seeing him on the freeways waving his signs always inspires me."

Supporters regularly offer Gray contributions for paint and other materials. Besides accepting one $20 donation from an acquaintance, he says he has always refused to accept money. But in the past year, there has been some interest in his signs as artwork. Richmond resident Scott Guitteau bought a "Free Leonard" placard for its artistic value. "It's like street-art-meets-folk-art," Guitteau said. "It's more simple as opposed to the urban street work of well-known artists like Banksy or Shepard Fairey. Gray's signs are rural, innocent."

But not everyone thinks so. In years past, Gray was on friendly terms with sheriff's deputies, local police, and CHP officers, many who know him by name. For years they had given him gentle warnings about posting signs in certain areas or waving placards when traffic is particularly heavy. Gray says he has always complied and there was never a serious problem. Typically, he uses any contact with the authorities to promote his cause. "Anytime the police stop me, I ask, 'Are you familiar with the most prominent political prisoner in the United States fraudulently convicted by the FBI?'" Gray said rotely. "And when they say, 'no,' I say, 'Well, that's the reason he's still in prison.'"

But lately, the authorities have not been so friendly. Last summer, the California Highway Patrol arrested Gray near an Interstate 80 onramp, and the evening before Thanksgiving, two Contra Costa County sheriff's deputies showed up at his Richmond apartment and booked him into the county jail in Martinez. He was released with no charges at 1 a.m. though he was twenty miles from his home with no transportation and buses had long stopped running. Contra Costa County Sheriff's spokesman Jimmy Lee says Gray was arrested because of a citizen complaint, and if he doesn't stop putting up placards, he will eventually face charges.

The arrests have given Gray some pause. Since Thanksgiving he has thought more about retiring, though discussing the idea visibly unsettles him. He gets quiet and looks out the cafe window for a long time. "Or I could expand my territory .... I bet the signs would get a good response in Marin. People there know about Leonard," he said, his eyes brightening. "What I really want to do is find the perfect location for a really big sign. It will be really high ... higher than I've ever put anything before."
Enhanced by Zemanta