Hunger Strike Statement, March 2, 1999
from Aileen Terra:

When I first heard that Leonard Peltier was suffering and could not eat, I began to write and ask for his treatment. It is difficult to admit that after all this time of his suffering, no one has done the right thing...here...in a place where we claim to have humanitarian ethics. Easier said than done.

Many of us have chosen to give up food to protest Leonard Peltier being denied FREE medical care from the Mayo Clinic. We join him in his hunger and we remember his pain. There are even more supporters who believe in this so strongly that our voices have joined around the world to ask for immediate treatment of our brother.

I have written to Amnesty International and they sent me a whole packet of information for they know that Leonard Peltier is an innocent man and a prisoner of conscience. They have also asked for his treatment and his release.

Only the U.S. government and the Bureau of Prisons seems to be deaf, dumb and blind in this area. It is like they want to kill Leonard Peltier. We, as people who love him, cannot stand silently by as this genocide continues.

Many, like me, have some family members that are related to Leonard and other family members who were the white invaders of this once pristine land. Once there was a real spirit in this land...forests from sea to sea while we today cut the last stand of ancient redwoods. For money. We have no spirit of this place when we can do that.

Leonard is a symbol to most of us of the injustice and the danger that this government might represent to any one if we are not diligent in protecting our legal and constitutional rights. All are created equal. Justice for all, not just some.

I offer a poem that I wrote for Leonard and for Anna Mae Aquash to express some of the sadness and respect that surrounds these two, whose loss is unspeakable.

We love you Leonard. We will never give up. Never.

Let Leonard be treated at the Mayo Clinic Now!

In The Spirit of Crazy Horse,

Heal and Free Leonard Peltier and
Never Forget Anna Mae Aquash
and All Who Have Died.

Aileen Terra aterra@mindspring.com

Two Eagles Flew

Long ago and far away

There was a peace, there was a day

When all the village people knew

That all was right, two eagles flew:

The fierce , proud eagle Peltier...

The soft, strong eagle, Anna Mae...

And while they flew no curse was heard

For each was such a sacred bird.

And then one day the thunder rang

No bird would call and no bird sang

For hunters came with arrows dark

No hoot of owl, no song of lark.

The hunter's arrows swiftly flew

Her beak went up, her heart pierced through

She fell in spirals to the ground

And feathers scattered all around...

The people felt this death and said

O no! Can Anna Mae be dead?

They looked for her but where was she?

O where, o where can this bird be?

And so the hunter sought her brother,

And would not settle for another.

They netted him in the eagle's aerie

Though his heart was sad and he was wary.

They chained him, put him in a cage,

They bound his beak, but not his rage

For his was the sky and the people too...

He missed the days when Anna Mae flew...

And so he sits until this day,

As time and life both slip away.

The people know, they found her feathers:

That all the people belong together.

They laid her gently in the ground

With sacred smoke and sacred sound

They call together night and day

For the freedom now of Peltier.

Faster's Statement, March 3,
from Dan Lockhart:

This country is filled with ignorance, greed, racism, and ultimate hate. I am only a young college student, although it did not take me a long time to figure this out. This country was in its purest form before the white man came to the land and committed genocide on the multitude of natives that nurtured the land and what belonged to it. Who is the one committing the true crime here?

I first heard about Leonard Peltier through a rock band named Rage Against the Machine back in 1994. They made a song in his honor named "Freedom," also my sister moved to Arkansas and learned from a neighbor of hers about the Peltier issue and eventually educated me moreso about his conditions and past. Since then I have tried to obtain as much information as possible about his life, people, and fight for justice. I fasted for seven days which I am proud to have done for Leonard and wish that I could have had a stronger will and fasted even longer. Currently I am trying to notify as many people as possible about Leonard's condition and what they can do, I am trying to somehow get in touch with someone affiliated with Rage Against the Machine to do a benefit concert for him as they have just done one that raised a lot of awareness about Mumia Abu-Jamal.

Since I have been on this list I have been overwhelmed with the love, support, and ultimate goodwill that all of you have displayed for Leonard and all fasters. I am truly grateful to be apart of this list and to receive the knowledge from all of you. You are all doing a great job and have my utmost respect. As you may be able to tell, I am not a native american, I am of the same color and culture as the people that have ruined this country and most of the world. Although I believe that I have the heart of the people that I am fighting for and that is far more important than skin color. The white man has not only contaminated this country environmentally, they have contaminated this country with ignorance, greed, hypocrisy, and brutality.

The Leonard Peltier case best exemplifies this. The ignorance is from the general public who are so naive that they believe the US government is creating justice. The greed is the bureau of prison and US government's ego, knowing that they don't want to admit to their guilt. The hypocrisy is everything the government does and says, they say we are in the land of the free? yea, the freedom to not stand up for what we believe in. Brutality is what the white man preaches, uses, and relies upon to get their way for over 500 years.

Here is a quote from Sitting Bear that moved me from "In the Spirit of Crazy Horse"

"What treaty that the whites have kept has the red man broken? Not one. What treaty that the white man ever made with us have they kept? Not one. When I was a boy the Sioux owned the world; the sun rose and set on their land; they sent ten thousand men to battle. Where are the warriors today? Who slew them? Where are our lands? Who owns them? What white man can say I ever stole his land or a penny of his money? Yet, they say I am a thief. What white woman, however lonely, was ever captive or insulted by me? Yet they say I am a bad Indian. What white man has ever seen me drunk? Who has ever come to me hungry and unfed? Who has ever seen me beat my wives or abuse my children? What law have I broken? Is it wrong for me to love my own? Is it wicked for me because my skin is red? Because I am Lakota, because I was born where my father died, because I would die for my people and my country?"

Keep up the great work everyone, I am proud of you all, and I love you all, I have learned a lot from each and every one of you.

Dan Lockhart Dan44GT@aol.com
"when ignorance reigns life is lost"

Faster's Statement
From quwahia.whisperingfire:

Dear Ms. Hawk;
 
    I am feeling stronger now, not weaker, on this 26th day of fasting. I have decided to take another approach to reaching your heart in this struggle to get Leonard Peltier the medical attention he so desperately needs. I have thought to start re-educating you about the oppressed history of our people. If you can understand where we are coming at you, from a historical and factual point of view...it just might awaken your denial, or your blindness to what you are participating in. So the next couple of letters will be to educate you, or whom ever reading this letter.

    We have always been here. The earth is our mother. We respect and love her. She takes care of us. We are taught not to do any thing to harm her. We respect all life, including yours.

    While your people were struggling in the Dark ages in Europe, our people created a Golden Age (Mayan Indians), lasting five centuries. They constructed stadiums, built towers and observatories to study the stars. They were the first to develop a calendar more accurate and complex, than any modern one today. Then one day... suddenly, they left the great cities they had built, and went back to living in the forest, where their ancestors had lived. Many still live deep in the tropical jungle today, your people are chopping their home lands away. Why did they leave the cities, the structure of progressive civilization?

    Because of the same disease you suffer today...the over crowded cities have a way of consuming your essence, you nature, your ability to love one another. You ability to respect nature and all life. It's no wonder you don't seem to care about Leonard Peltier...you have lost the ability to care what happens to anything. You are a witness to the everyday destruction of the land, and our environment...not to mention the elderly and the children. You are not only a witness, you are a participant because of your silence. How much longer will you be silent Kathleen?

    There is no hard evidence to deprive Leonard Peltier his freedom. There is no evidence that you are acting in the best interest of anyone. Only out of your own ignorance and fear of losing power and control over those you want to make inferior. We will never be inferior to people like you.

    One thing for certain,... 'We have always been here. We were created from the earth and her waters, and we will be here.

The Great Circle of Life cannot be broken by you.
                      You can not destroy us.'
 
" A Ripple in still waters "
Quwahia Whisperingfire quwahia.whisperingfire@cwix.com
 
Please allow immediate medical treatment for Leonard Peltier
In the Spirit of Crazy Horse
In the Spirit of Humanity
...Don't allow Leonard Peltier to Die !
'First Nations People...Our voice shall be heard!'

From Aileen Terra:

<deep, deep sigh>
 
26 Days of People who love Leonard Peltier fasting and counting!!!
 
Counting until the wind doesn't blow and the rivers don't flow...Isn't that what each and EVERY treaty said? Exactly how many useless pieces of paper WAS that?
 
I suppose that if a few of us start dying you'll feel that your enemies are dwindling, but you would be wrong! Your enemies will only grow in numbers and strength from now on.
 
I am convinced that the great heart of life is with what we do here. You have no such conviction for you publish lies on the Internet and I have seen them. Leonard Peltier talks to his friends. He is suffering and cannot eat. He has been offered free treatment from the Mayo Clinic. We know of his suffering. You cannot deceive us. We will never stop.
 
We have a great love and hope in our hearts and none of us will give it up to the likes of you! The BOP Internet disclaimer is unacceptable and lies in part or in toto in this activist's opinion. Ask Amnesty International! They don't lie unlike all of you!!!
 
How can we believe a thing you say? How can we respect a thing you do when this is what we get?
 
If you don't give Leonard Peltier the medical attention he needs NOW - not tomorrow!!! - we will never stop out pursuit of justice because you are ALL proving to us each and every day of our lives that you are simply NOT UP TO IT.
 
Sadly and with deep and heartfelt prayers for Leonard...may you be out of pain soon, dear brother, may your innocent sacrifice end...
 
While guilty ones roam free...
 
 
 
You have failed us, failed us, failed us. If you do not give him treatment I am going to appeal to the Justice Department and the United Nations and Amnesty International. For if you fail in this, you are never to be trusted. The word is out.
 
Duck and Cover.
 
Aileen Terra aterra@mindspring.com
 
Terra for Earth - Respect it and all upon it or leave it!

FASTER'S STATEMENT of Tina Evans
PLEASE POST WIDELY

brothers and sisters -

As you read these words I feel sure that a strange look will draw across your faces. These will not be the kind of words that I have spoken in the past to you. These are the words that Creator has sent to me... not a vision, but a clarification of the mind's eye.

     On this eve before i begin my second fast I have done much reading. I have read great words from many wise people in order to remind myself of my heritage. I see now that Creator has not chosen for my path to "fork." There is no path for me but a straight one that only leads back to the Mother. My path as a child began as a white road. As I grew older my path became spotted with red. Each time that the Great Mystery sees I am ready he lets me go a little farther down my road.

     Several months ago when I began my fight for the Mendota Mdewakanton Dakota people, and my newsletter, my path no longer was white; but rather red with spots of white. Now Creator has opened my mind's eye a bit further. My road is nothing but red. A deep, dark red the color of the Earth from wence we came. I did not have the privilage of growing with my heritage, but rather have had to scramble to learn what i can in a very short time, without the teachings of anyone but the Grandfather. I learn as I walk my path. And it has lead me here... to the Circle.

     I have learned many things in this very short time, though I have much left to learn. It is OUR duty to preserve what the Grandfather's have learned... to pass along to the next generation. To preserve our children's future, and the future of our First Peoples.

     I have no doubt that you all know the story of the White Buffalo Calf Woman. But do you remember her words?

     "So long as you believe in this pipe and worship the Mystery as I have taught you, so long will you prosper; you will have food in plenty; you will increase and be powerful as a nation. But when you, as a people, cease to reverence the pipe, then will you cease to be a nation." When all become one - not as a nation, but as a race - only then will we overcome the hardships that the western world has brought upon us. We are the circle that will show our First Peoples the way to the pipe.

     When Joe Chasing Horse opened the sacred pipe bundle at the end of the buffalo walk he said, "Expect miracles." Those two words speak volumes. Our brother will again walk free in the Paha Sapa...

     To Leonard: Brother I give my heart and my spirit to you so that yours will no longer be lonely. Keep this with you. When you have retuned to your home, only then will I need it back.

In the Struggle for ALL Nations,
In Solidarity,
Tina Evans
DevHawkWi@aol.com

Saquuiyona's fast statement:
5 March 1999

Many people from many different places began fasting 4 weeks ago today. Every one of those people had committed themselves to a man many if not most of them had never met – to Leonard Peltier.

The fasting continues.

Fasters continue to go hungry, to feel weakness, to faint, and to walk a path together. Some brothers and sisters have followed that path to hospitals. Some may still. But the fast continues. The fasters´ commitment to this man – to Leonard Peltier – has never weakened. It never will.

In fact – that commitment grows more powerful ever day. This fast will not end until Leonard Peltier has been given what we asked for when we began. We asked for humane care for a man who suffered horrible pain. We asked for competent medical care for a man we have come to love even though we haven´t met him. We are still asking for – NO we are demanding – that Leonard Peltier be given the same basic rights anyone who is going through pain deserves. We are demanding with our hunger, our own pain, our weakness, and our love that the United States government and the federal Bureau of Prisons treat Leonard Peltier as a human being.

I ask this question …

Why ?

Why has Leonard been kept in Ms Hawk´s iron house for 23 years ?

Why won´t the Federal Bureau of Prisons allow Leonard to receive the care every being in this Creation deserves ?

Why ?

I showed a film in my classroom today. It was titled "The Education of Little Tree." The film portrayed how a loving Tsalagi child was torn from his family´s care. Little Tree had his name taken away. He had his hair shaved off. His clothes were thrown in a trash can. He was forbidden to speak the few words of Tsalagi his grandmother had taught him. He was beaten by teachers though he had never been struck in his life. Little Tree lost everything that connected him to his own people so he could become a good American. I wept openly in the classroom where I was showing the film.

Leonard has been jailed for 23 years for Little Tree´s pain and the pain of every Red brother and sister on Turtle Island. Leonard stood in the way of our names, and our culture, and our connection to the bones of our Mother being taken from us.

Leonard is a threat to America´s status quo. Leonard is a threat to American´s fantasy about themselves as the world´s last good guys. Leonard dared to stand in the way of the Black Hills being raped. He stood between Federal agents and Lakota children they were shooting at.

So Leonard Peltier sits – an innocent man – in Hawk´s iron house at Leavenworth.

Leonard sits in pain guilty only of loving children more than uranium hunters poised to destroy the bones of our Mother.

Leonard sits – an imprisoned warrior – guilty of fighting for every Red person on this land.

And so …

This fast will not end.

We will not give up until Leonard Peltier:

        1) Is treated as a human being in horrible pain and is taken to Mayo Clinic to be given decent & appropriate medical care.

        2) Is free.

Ron Dunning wlbear@northnet.org

from Ron Dunning, March 9:

Circle
 
My Onondoga sister Alice started fasting on Saturday which means she's into her 3rd fast day.
 
This is particularly brave of Alice -- or some would hold foolish -- she had a rough case of pneumonia at the end of February. If she hadn't been sick she would have been fasting then.
 
Alice does not have a pc, but she has a voice & is telling everyone she sees about the solidarity fast.
 
She has written letters for years to the Bureau of Prisons. She has talked to her family -- most of them traditionals -- too. Now Alice has elected to say ...
 
Take care of Leonard Peltier. Ms Hawk do the right thing.
 
Alice is praying for you, Ms Hawk, as she is Leonard & all those who are fasting to give Leonard his life & his health.
 
much love
Yona

STATEMENT FROM XANTI GARIJO -SALHAKETA (BASQUE COUNTRY)

The reason that took me today to fast in solidarity of Leonard Peltier is to demand the proper medical treatment and assistance to him.

The personal reason to join this campaign was, between many others, that I absolutly condemn the existence of prisons (as they are understood today, as very instruments of repression, revenge and genocide, for a very well defined group of population) and the love, respect and afinity I feel with the Native American People, a very deep feeling inside of me, from who I have learned all tha things that now are important in my life, the love for Mother Earth and nature, the feeling of freedom, the fight for your own believes and the peace reflected in the Spirit. In my own way, I feel like an Indian and it makes me very proud.

Hoka Hey!
Xanti Garijo

CATHIE AND YONA: PLEASE INCLUDE THIS LETTER IN THE PACKAGE FOR TORONTO.

Hi, dear fellow countrywoman:

I write before of time, maybe in contradiction after the time owed. And I really mean owed, because many are the things I have to tell you, many the events that have happened in my life, but...(this but seems insistent this BUT in my contingency, in my history) only wanted to tell you today that I read your message and I couldn't avoid to feel some of my life in it.

Yes, some of my beloved Anita's life when she was in prison and she was privated of medical care, fact which caused her death 3 months ago. Tell the people who wrote you, who posted this message that today you share with us, that I'm by his side and that I'm sorry for what is happening.

I apologize for I didn't write sooner. I owe you a long letter with a lot of information about what we are doing here. I hope I will send it to you soon. I want to ask forgiveness because of my lack of hability to put my life in order again, every two or three years it changes a lot, now I have to face a new one with Alfonsito.

Receive our love, greetings to all people in Refugio, we hope someday we could know that free land, that was one of Ana's dreams and in fact we'll do it someday.

Your fellow countryman and friend

Rodolfo Noriega.

from Bill Boemmels:

Hau my brothers and sisters,

Our sister TseLa has been in trouble healthwise again.

She was admitted to the hospital on Monday afternoon after trying very hard to ignore the symptoms of Pneumonia. It took me hours of some pretty tough dialog to get her to go. She also was unwilling to give up her fast without a great deal of convincing. She ate "a couple of crackers" on Sunday but told me she was unable to keep them down.

She is still in the hospital, diagnosed with double pneumonia and although she is showing some signs of improvement she is far from out of the woods. She is on a machine that helps her breathe and on Thursday when the took her off the machine she could not breathe on her own and to complicate things, one of her lungs collapsed. They keep her sedated pretty heavily. They are feeding her intravenously.

Please offer up some special prayers for her. She could very well have become the first of us to cross over due to the ignorance and belligerence of our "friends" at the BOP.

Kathleen Hawk take notice...if she dies we will all hold you and your organization personally responsible.

In solidarity and Rage!!!

Bill Boemmels

In the spirit of Crazy Horse!!!
Remember Anna Mae and Joe Stuntz Killright!!

from Quwahia Whisperingfire:

O'siyo,
 
    I will offer prayers 5 times a day for our sister TseLa to return to her health quickly. We need her in this life.
                          She is apart of us.
 
This prayer is from the heart of all our suffering people:
 
O Great Mystery,
take my prayers with my tears
into the place where the eagle is sleeping.
Into the rock where the river was born.
Into the Earth where old sacred bones
are crumbling.
Make our weaken blood strong and whole.
We stand united in the
red and yellow and blue flames
of hope.
For as long as it burns in our hearts
we will exist.
We hold the fire and our hands do not burn.
But our faces have an amber glow
illuminated from within.
The battle rages on
and no one seems to be winning.
The enemy is without heart
speaks lies and pretends
that we are not worthy of life.
But we continue to fight for freedom
across this wounded land,
we continue walking on crippled legs
and broken wings
and bleeding hearts...
Up to the mesa tops
and along the Great River
refusing to lay down and die.
Our strength comes from the
Corn Mother.
She is in the heart of TseLa,
she will create for her a new song of life.
And help her to grow back into
the beautiful woman she is.
I have seen this
within the fragments of
my dreams.
Our spirits will not be broken.
Our passion will not die.
The earth will hear our prayers for TseLa
and for life
and for freedom
and justice for Leonard Peltier.
Thank you, O' Great Spirit,
Thank you.

" A Ripple in still waters "
Quwahia Whisperingfire
 
Please allow immediate medical treatment for Leonard Peltier
In the Spirit of Crazy Horse
In the Spirit of Humanity
...Don't allow Leonard Peltier to Die !
'First Nations People...Our voice shall be heard!'

From: "LPDC" <lpdc@idir.net>
Date: Sunday, March 14, 1999
Subject: Peltier update

Dear Leonard Peltier friends and supporters,

Hello everyone. Our email is back and running. Sorry for the complications we may have caused you with the "Happy 99" virus. We know how to avoid it now!

We have just gotten word that one of the hunger strikers, TseLa, who has been pressuring the BOP to transfer Leonard to the Mayo Clinic, has been hospitalized. Leonard wants to encourage her to give up the strike as he does not want anyone to be hurt on her behalf. However, we should support her efforts by emailing the BOP to express our outrage and concern that they have allowed the strike to go on this far without giving anyone a real response. As a matter of fact, according to a response received from Senator John Kerry upon inquiring through the BOP about Leonard's health condition, they have even begun to release outright lies and misinformation to government officials regarding this manner. Below is this information as well as Leonard's personal response. Email: swolfson@bop.gov Also, contact your congress and senate people. Let us know if you want petitions. Thanks.

This is the response a supporter received from Senator John Kerry about LP's medical condition:

Dear Mr. . . .

Per our discussion, I checked with the Federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP) about the enclosed statement.

According the (sic) BOP's Office of Congressional Affairs, Leonard Peltier worked with the executive assistant to the warden of USP Leavenworth in preparing the statement. I was also informed that Mr. Peltier approved the content of the statement. It should be noted that the BOP could not legally release the statement without Mr. Peltier's prior approval (ref: Privacy Act of 1974.)

In addition, I have enclosed for your information the BOP response I forwarded to another constituent last December regarding this matter. I hope you find this information useful.

Sincerely,

Jim Shaer
Assistant to Senator John Kerry

here is the statement which was enclosed:

STATEMENT OF THE FEDERAL BUREAU OF PRISONS
(Inmate Leonard Peltier has given his consent to release the following information.)

Inmate Peltier has never requested nor submitted any administrative appeal forms concerning his medical condition. Moreover, inmate Peltier has neither requested to see any doctor at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota, nor filed an official complaint with Disciplinary Hearing Officer at the United States Penitentiary (USP), Leavenworth, Kansas as to his medical care.

In regards to USP Leavenworth, the facility has been certified to provide appropriate medical care by the Joint Commission for Accreditation of Health Care Organizations.

Inmate Peltier, currently has a projected release date of October 11, 2040, with a parole hearing tentatively scheduled for May of 2000.

Here is Leonard's personal response to the above:

Dear Senator John Kerry and Jim Shaer,
I am well aware that the BOP, LVN, officials will not hesitate to lie to an inmate, but I was in complete shock to learn upon reading this letter that they would lie to a US Senator, I never had even as much as a conversation with anyone here in LVN, about any statement. I am seen regularly (every 6 months) by the medical staff here and not once had I not made a complaint or request for medical treatment on my jaw. In fact I know there are a few medical staff who are sympathetic and would not hesitate to testify that they are ordered not to speak or give any medication related to my jaw problem.

Thank you.

Leonard Peltier

LPDC note:
Leonard has not made an official, administrative complaint asking to go to the Mayo Clinic because many other prisoners who he knows, have done this and as a result, were whisked off to Springfield. By making an administrative complaint, he risks being sent to Springfield again. also, Leonard has informed the medical staff at LVN that he wants to be treated at the Mayo clinic by Dr. Keller. Only the Warden and/or the BOP have the authority to transfer him.

Leonard Peltier Defense Committee
PO Box 583
Lawrence, KS 66044
785-842-5774

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From Arthur:

  IT HAS BEEN A LONG JOURNEY, BUT THE STRUGGLE
     MUST CONTINUE!
     
   For Leonard, in honoring those that have sacrificed and in thinking about and with much hope for TseLa, the second round of my hunger strike starts today.
  Through all the foregone ages, the struggling of the people for what is right and just has gone on. For those that have suffered so much, for those that have died before us. For that long journey continues.

  Through all the foregone ages. The children, our grandmothers and grandfathers, our sisters and brothers of the ages, suffering and dieing. For they have been as we are now no more than the people living to be who they were and who they are.

  Through all the foregone ages. Those that have stood their ground for the people and paid such a high price. For Crazy Horse, Sitting Bull, Kintpuash, the Haymarket Martyrs, Joe Hill, Frank Little, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr, Malcolm X, Fred Hampton, Buddy Lamont, Joe Stuntz Killsright, Anne Mae Aquash, Ingrid Washinawatok, Lahe'ena'e Gay, Terrance Frietas and for all the others some known and some unknown. The journey will continue, and their spirit will never be lost.

  For Leonard Peltier, who has taken to the full impact of the corrupted social system of greed and oppression. For his long years in prison away from his family, people and home. The struggle shall continue for as long as it takes.

  For the fasters who have sacrificed so much for something far more than just a cause, but rather of the life of our people and the spirit of Leonard Peltier.

  For this journey is down the long road of struggle, and it is hard to travel. But travel we must, for there is only hope and possibilities in our actions. Doing nothing is not an option.

  For all these reasons and more, starting today, March 15th, I will be restarting my fast/hunger strike. This will be my second round. My first round went on for 23 days. I have regained my health and strenght, so I am ready to regain once again the spirit of my actions.

  I believe that we can overcome anything if we maintain our struggle. And we must let the corrupt government know that our spirit cannot be broken and we will not go away. Leonard is our brother and we will stand for him as he has stood for us.

  For all these reasons, for all these sacrifices I am commited. And for the honoring of Mother Earth, and for the future of my young son, my daughter, my grandchildren and all the future generations too, this journey I must continue. Arthur J. Miller

from the LPDC, March 16, 1999:

The Springfield FEDERAL BUREAU OF PRISONS medical staff confirms that they are unable to help Leonard Peltier at the Springfield Medical Facility.

Leonard Peltier was taken to meet with Federal Bureau of Prisons medical personnel this morning. From 7:55 AM to about 8:30 AM today (March 16, 1999 ) Bureau of Prisons Springfield Doctor Thomas Collins and Springfield administrator McDermott spoke to prisoner Leonard Peltier by way of a video conferencing phone from the Springfield Medical Facility. Director of the Leavenworth Prison Medical Facility, Dr. Hill and Doctors Jackson and Thrapp were also present..

Doctor Collins was the one who did Leonard´s two surgeries at Springfield MO in 1996. He told everyone present that there was nothing they could do to relieve Leonard´s pain and that they could do nothing more to help his medical condition at Springfield. This action by the BOP supports Leonard´s position. It is now more important than ever that we work to have Leonard treated by Doctor Keller or any other qualified specialist at the Mayo Clinic.

Please continue contacting your congress people, the Federal Bureau of Prisons the Deputy Attorney General and the President of the United States.

HEALTH
Kathleen Hawk Sawyer´s supervisor
Deputy Attorney General Mr. Eric Holder
Ref: Leonard Peltier #89637-132
950 Pennsylvania Avenue NW
Washington DC 20530
Phone (202) 514-2000
Fax (202) 514-0467

Ms. Kathleen Hawk Sawyer
Director, Bureau of Prisons
Ref: Leonard Peltier #89637-132
320 First St. NW
Washington, DC 20534
FAX: (202) 514-6878
Phone: (202)307-3198

Warden Booker
Ref: Leonard Peltier #89637-132
Leavenworth Federal Prison
Box 1000
Leavenworth, KS 66048

EXTRADITION REPORT
The Honorable Anne Mc Clellan, Member of Parliament
Minister of Justice
Ref: Leonard Peltier #89637-132
The House of Commons
Ottawa, Canada K1A 0A6
Phone: (613)992-4524
FAX: (613) 996-4516

CONGRESSIONAL INVESTIGATIONS
Congressman John Conyers
2426 Rayburn House Office Building SW
Washington DC 20510
Phone: (202)225-5126

Senator Paul Wellstone
136 Hart Senate Office Building NE
Washington, D.C. 20510
Phone: (202) 224-5641

CLEMENCY:
President Bill Clinton
1600 Pennsylvania Ave. NW
Washington DC 20500
202-456-1111

CC your clemency letters to:
US Pardon Attorney Roger C Adams
Ref: Leonard Peltier #89637-132
500 First Street NW Suite 400
Washington DC 20530
202-616-6070
Charles Ruff
G1
725 17th St. NW
Washington DC 20503

Write to Leonard Peltier:
USPL
Leonard Peltier
#89637-132
PO Box 1000
Leavenworth, KS 66048

Leonard Peltier Defense Committee
PO Box 583
Lawrence, KS 66044
Phone: 785-842-5774

Posted by Ron Dunning:

The following is my sistwer Alice's fast statement. Since it is after midnight she is now about to enter into day 11 of her fast for Leonard.
 
Though I was happy she had committed herself to this action when she began I soon realized that her health was precarious & I questioned her strongly about continuing. I insisted medical martyrs were not going to win over the BOP. She disagreed with me as is obvious in her statement.
 
In one way or another she has been working for Leonard for a very long time. She wouldnt listen to anyone who would try to take that right away from her.
 
This is is Alice's statement:
 
Wednesday, March 17
 
I am on my tenth fasting day.
 
I have Crohn's disease which causes my medicines to pass through my body
faster than they can heal me.
Liquids only make them pass through that much quicker.
My friends tell me that I am as white as a Wasichu
& that maybe I should think about giving up my fast.
 
But Leonard has been in prison for 23 years
& now he's sipping his meals through a straw.
He also says he's come too far now to give up
until his people are free.
 
I believe in Leonard & in all our people,
so, why should I stop fasting just to think of myself
while all our people still suffer ?
 
Should any of us ?
 
No, or we would be like the Wasichu.
 
If we give up now, the robbers & thieves & murderers will have won again
-- just as they did a hundred years ago
& a hundred years before that.
 
I -- for one -- am not ready to give up so easily.
 
Alice

Statement from Ron Dunning
March 16, 1999

I am on day 38 of fasting.
 
I began fasting believing that the US gov't would listen to our voices. According to word received only today the Bureau of Prisons may in fact have listened to some -- if not to us then maybe they heard the voice of the Creator.
 
Let me tell you a story.
 
I spent 3 days this last weekend in Toronto with 2 other fasters.
 
I had probably the best time I ever had in my life while I was there.
 
But Saturday night something happened to me that underlined strongly for me the reason we carry on this fight.
 
I decided to take Waabnongkwe's wolf-dog for a walk to get out & about & to see the big city. I'm a country boy & big cities just aren't something I see every day. I'm not sure they're something I want to see either -- but Toronto on Saturday night was spell-binding. We walked & walked -- we also had to come home in a taxi cab because we got lost, but that's another story. I told you I was a country boy.
 
At one point walking somewhere on downtown Toronto's Yonge Street the wolf dog & I passed what first looked like a pile of rags.
 
It wasn't a pile of rags though. It was a little Indian girl sitting on the sidewalk. She was hunkered up next to a McDonald's sign to keep out of the wind.
 
I walked back up to her, & the wolf-dog & I sat down.
 
I asked her why she was there ...
 
She said, "Panning."
 
I wanted to know why.
 
She told me she wanted to get a bus ticket because she lived in Sudbury & that she was Objibway -- Sudbury's a long way from Yonge Street in Toronto. She told me she wanted to see her mom.
 
Maybe she scammed me.
 
Maybe not.
 
I slipped her 5 bucks & wished I could take her home with us -- but since we were lost that was unlikely.
 
I'll never know what happened to that little Objibway girl last Saturday night. But I do know that her face will haunt me for a long time.
 
I also know that little girls like that street kid & grandparents on reservations & moms fighting the courts to recover lost babies & teenagers with no hope & nothing to do but get drunk -- I know because I was one of them -- need leaders to show them the way out of the mess that Eurocentric history has pushed Red people into.
 
I know that in the 60's & 70's AIM produced leaders like the ones we as Red people need now. Leonard Peltier is one of those leaders.
 
Leonard & Russell Means & Dennis Banks & many AIM wars gave hope to people who had been forced to become a third world presence on their own land.
 
Leonard is paying with his life & his pain the price of daring to protect & for being presumptuous enough to try to lead his people out of that BIA, CIA, FBI, BOP induced nightmare. Leonard has paid that price with 23 of his years.
 
So, I fast.
 
I fast & will continue fasting until Leonard Peltier is in the Mayo Clinic. Maybe then I'll go back to Toronto to find that little street kid & buy her a bus ticket home to Sudbury where her mother is waiting for her.
 
Saquuiyona

From Dale Allen Pheiffer:

Why is Leonard sitting in prison, and who is keeping him there. The real culprits are the monied interests who have profited once again from the rape of Indian land. And they sit on the story--and Leonard--least anyone discover how they have reaped billions in profits. These are the monied interests who own our government, who own the fbi, the prison system and the stock market.

If we are to help Leonard, then this is our opposition--not Miss Hawk, director of the BOP, not the FBI, not the politicians. And it is the monied interests that we must target. What are the corporations which profited from the Lakota lands which were stolen in the 1970´s? Who are their major stock holders, and who is on their board of directors? What are the details of the agreement which signed away 133,000 acres of Lakota land?

These are heavy questions, but they are the questions which we must answer if we are to help Leonard. By even asking these questions, we will make the monied interests very uneasy. If we are persistent enough, then they will back off Leonard for fear that otherwise all of their dirty secrets might come out.

Is Leonard being imprisoned and denied medical treatment because of politics, or in an attempt to cover up fbi bumbling? Certainly not. Did the American Indians suffer 500 years of oppression due to evil minded people? Has the earth been exploited to the point of ruination for the creation of modern society? Has the working class of this and every country been chained to the tressle of industry simply for the sake of progress? No, of course not.

The reason for all these things is simply money.

If we want to get Leonard into the Mayo Clinic, if we want to get him out of prison, then we must follow the trail of money which has kept him locked up these 23 years now. And we must ask the questions which will disturb the monied interests which have prospered from the exploitation of Lakota lands.

Who are these corporations? Where are their charters? Where is the agreement whereby they raped 133,00 acres of Lakota land?

Do we have the guts to pursue these questions? If not then we are just fooling ourselves.

Let´s get this show on the road.

In a cold wind, I hear the sound
of a man crying for freedom.
We are the army to set him free.
(In a warm wind, I hear the sound
of the Earth crying for love.
We are the physicians to heal her.)

Dale Allen Pfeiffer

from Dale Allen Pfeiffer:

Why is Leonard sitting in prison, and who is keeping him there. The real culprits are the monied interests who have profited once again from the rape of Indian land. And they sit on the story--and Leonard--least anyone discover how they have reaped billions in profits. These are the monied interests who own our government, who own the fbi, the prison system and the stock market.

If we are to help Leonard, then this is our opposition--not Miss Hawk, director of the BOP, not the FBI, not the politicians. And it is the monied interests that we must target. What are the corporations which profited from the Lakota lands which were stolen in the 1970´s? Who are their major stock holders, and who is on their board of directors? What are the details of the agreement which signed away 133,000 acres of Lakota land?

These are heavy questions, but they are the questions which we must answer if we are to help Leonard. By even asking these questions, we will make the monied interests very uneasy. If we are persistent enough, then they will back off Leonard for fear that otherwise all of their dirty secrets might come out.

Is Leonard being imprisoned and denied medical treatment because of politics, or in an attempt to cover up fbi bumbling? Certainly not. Did the American Indians suffer 500 years of oppression due to evil minded people? Has the earth been exploited to the point of ruination for the creation of modern society? Has the working class of this and every country been chained to the tressle of industry simply for the sake of progress? No, of course not.

The reason for all these things is simply money.

If we want to get Leonard into the Mayo Clinic, if we want to get him out of prison, then we must follow the trail of money which has kept him locked up these 23 years now. And we must ask the questions which will disturb the monied interests which have prospered from the exploitation of Lakota lands.

Who are these corporations? Where are their charters? Where is the agreement whereby they raped 133,00 acres of Lakota land?

Do we have the guts to pursue these questions? If not then we are just fooling ourselves.

Let´s get this show on the road.

In a cold wind, I hear the sound
of a man crying for freedom.
We are the army to set him free.
(In a warm wind, I hear the sound
of the Earth crying for love.
We are the physicians to heal her.)

Dale Allen Pfeiffer

Quwahia Whisperingfire:

Please Post Widely Mr. President; and all the Oppressors and Predators:

Our teaching is that everything we do
should be done so that we leave a better world
as far into the future as possible, so
I pray for all of you, for all of us.
I pray for my children as well as yours.
The teaching of our Elders prophesied your arrival
and the echo of these prophecies are reaffirmed today...
you are weaving an ugly web...and
the Native Americans are victims tangled in
your lies and designed destruction for all that is.
You have become like greedy flies
congregating on the wounded land...
reckless swarms, copulating and feeding slowly
on our deaths...scavengers who make no distinction
between what is waste and what is sacred...
Leonard Peltier is one amongst thousands affected by your
hideous plans of genocide.
All the races and tribes in the world are special
they are like different colored flowers in the meadows of life.
All are beautiful...Everything is made by the Creator...
You think you have captured us, you think you can kill us
but you cannot...
As the earth is, so are we...and she is sick,
almost in her final stages of a great illness.
The illness is YOU,...and humanity itself.
When you hurt one of us, you hurt all of us...and yourself.
We are all dying by our own hands.
The earth is speaking to us through fire, earthquakes, tornadoes, and climate changes...global warming.
Your projectile weapons are useless against
new germs and killer viruses that are becoming smarter while your drugs are failing you...while you are over weight
you are still malnourished due to your unnatural processed food.
How long do you think we can live without clean water, clean air,
 and nourishing food?
What you are letting happen to Leonard Peltier will one day happen to you, guaranteed.
This is your wake up call !
What has happened we cannot change, but we can change what will happen tomorrow...Leonard's life is in danger,
Native Americans
and other minorities are in danger,
The earth itself is in danger...stop this genocide now.
We have endured much, and the situation is deteriorating...
Stop bulldozing our homes, our land, our cemeteries and sacred sites...this is in violation to our religious rights as well as our human rights!!!!
The time to change is Now! Quwahia Whisperingfire
 
Please allow immediate medical treatment for Leonard Peltier
In the Spirit of Crazy Horse
In the Spirit of Humanity
...Don't allow Leonard Peltier to Die !
'First Nations People...Our voice shall be heard!'

A Few Links:

Write to Kathleen Hawk at the Bureau of Prisons:
swolfson@bop.gov and also try:
khawk@bop.gov
or by snail-mail: Ms. Kathleen Hawk
Director, Bureau of Prisons
320 First St. NW
Washington, DC 20534
Fax: (202)514-6878
Phone: (202)307-3198

NORTHWEST LEONARD PELTIER SUPPORT NETWORK
P.O. BOX 5464
TACOMA, WA 98415-0464 USA
(253) 383-9108
http://members.aol.com/TurquoisWm/JusticeforLeonardPeltier.html e-mail: bayou@blarg.net

The Leonard Peltier Defense Committee,
P.O. Box 583,
Lawrence, KS 66044
Tel: 785-842-5774, Fax: 5796, e-mail lpdc@idir.net
http://www.freepeltier.org

Write to Leonard:
USPL Leonard Peltier
#89637-132
PO Box 1000
Leavenworth, KS 66048

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