To Marc Steiner
From Harvey Arden
On behalf of Leonard Peltier

December 23, 2000
Dear Marc;
I have just returned to Germany from a visit on Thursday to Auschwitz in southwest Poland, where the Nazis slaughtered a million and half of my Jewish brethren, killing each of them with a special vengeance for the crime of being innocent;the same crime for which Leonard Peltier has been imprisoned this past quarter century.  The day was appropriately bleak, the sky a grimy white, the air sulphurous with the fumes of Soviet-era factories that even today make Poland's air almost unbreatheable.  As I walked through the barracks where the innocents were tortured and murdered with such malignant glee during that Holocaust of the human spirit, I felt Leonard walking with me,and I pondered the ways of men toward their fellow men. 
 I wondered, What is the use of prayer?  For most of those who died here 
prayed with the most intense passion and profound belief  every morning, noon and evening of their lives.  I pondered what is the use of Justice, when it is so selectively dispensed by the Unjust? 
I asked myself what is the use of Love, when those who love their families and friends and country, as the Nazis did, have such hatred in their hearts as to obliterate the very meaning of Love.  As I walked through those ghost-filled barracks, I thought not only of these hallowed ones, but of my brother Leonard, languishing in his 5-by-9-foot cell at Leavenworth, and also of President Clinton, who now holds Leonard's fate in his hands, and, yes, of the FBI agents Ron Williams and Jack Coler;whose portraits sat above my desk for three years as I edited Leonard's book.  I thought of the thousands of FBI agents who today put their lives on the line to protect every one of us, yet wish to see an innocent man die in prison for standing up for the rights of his People,  I thought of all the Holocaust-deniers, who would have it that no Holocaust ever occurred, just as the FBI pretends the Reign of Terror it instigated at Pine Ridge in the 1970's never occurred, I think now of Mr. Janklow, a man who has played Goebbels to the Indian People for more than generation, sitting in the Oval Office even as I was visiting Aushwitz and doing his best to convince our unknowing President to deny clemency to Leonard Peltier,and I wonder, what is the use of Truth, when it can be so violated as to obliterate all Truth?

Marc, you ask me what I can say that could be passed on to convince President Clinton to give our brother Leonard clemency,  Ask him, please, to give a half-hour audience to me and Chief Arvol Looking Horse, 19th-Generation Keeper of the Sacred White Buffalo Pipe of the Great Sioux Nation, so that we may deliver a message on behalf of the tens of millions of people around the world who plead for Leonard's freedom, who see Leonard's freedom as The Sign that Democracy and Justice and Love and Prayer still have a meaning in America.  I want to read to Mr. Clinton from Leonard's book PRISON WRITINGS MY LIFE IS MY SUN DANCE.  I welcome the presence of President-elect Bush and Mr. Cheney and Mrs. Clinton and Ms. Reno and Mr. Freeh and any others the President cares to have on hand, even Mr. Janklow;for he, too, I know, loves his family and his friends and his country, and his soul, too, is redeemable, as are all of ours.  Tell Mr. Clinton I also ask to have Leonard Peltier standing beside me in the Oval Office as I read his words;words Leonard would read himself if his locked jaw would allow him to.

I ask no more than that, make no plea beyond that.  The decision is President Clinton's.

Marc, I hope you can get this message to the President.  May Spirit guide it on its way.

In the Spirit of Crazy Horse and Leonard Peltier,

              /Harvey Arden
 

PRISON WRITINGS MY LIFE IS MY SUNDANCE by LEONARD PELTIER  is available at the Leonard Peltier Defense Committee

Poacher Guilty; Abandons Religion Defense,
Caught poaching deer  out of season the Mormon "psychologist" who lost his license for having sex with patients in the past abandoned the defense he was practicing the spiritual ways of Mexico's Huichol Indians.  READ THE ARTICLE..

VICTORIA, British Columbia -- A Vancouver Island Indian group is seeking the right to hunt whales in treaty negotiations.
Gray and humpback whales are included in a list of marine creatures that could be taken for "food, ceremonial and economic needs" under the 
Nuu-chah-nulth Tribal Council's proposal to the provincial and federal 
governments....READ THE ARTICLE...

Mexican Indians starving to death from drought _ fear worst coming,
For nine years, a drought in northern Mexico has been slowly starving the
reclusive Tarahumara Indians in the Sierra Madre of Chihuahua, an 800-mile range famed for the mile-deep gorges of Copper Canyon.
Many people fear the coming year may even worse...
READ THE ARTICLE...
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Vieques: Press Release - Viequenses stop Navy  construction project, 
Vieques Libre
Thursday, December 21st around 900 AM, several members of the Peace and Justice Camp in Vieques stopped a US Navy construction project on civilian land adjacent to the Camp García military fence. Carlos Cruz, Nilda Medina and Robert Rabin, placed themselves in front of the enormous Navy tractors and other heavy equipment to block what they described as an ‘illegal movement of land in property of the Puerto Rican people.’...READ THE RELEASE...

Test of Indian Sovereignty and Government  Resolve,
NYTIMES
Jerry Meninick, the vice chairman of the tribal council of the
Yakama Nation, which oversees the vast central Washington
reservation in which Harrah and other towns lie, said he wanted the
federal government to start enforcing a long-ignored alcohol ban,
however unpopular it may be among non-Indians. ..
READ THE ARTICLE...

Chinook Battle to Retain Once-Held Tribal Status
    "Some Chinook people came along in a canoe and helped them out and
continued to trade food with them and help them make it through the winter."
   These days, as the nation gears up for the 200th anniversary of the
overland survey by Meriwether Lewis and William Clark that opened the westto white settlement, the Chinook are battling for recognition by the U.S.government.
    At the same time, they are being asked -- "almost on a daily basis,"
Johnson said -- to participate in commemoration activities...
READ THE ARTICLE...
Related news:
Tribes Have a Different View of Lewis and Clark Bicentennial,

Mexican Company Offers to Buy State  Cement Plant:
Rapid City Journal,  READ THE ARTICLE...

Past counts show state's quirks, bias,
DENVER
...Nine years later, during Colorado's first census, only "civilized Indians" were counted. They numbered 180 in 1870 but had slipped to 107 by 1890.
    Glenn Morris, American Indian Movement leader, said the term was used to identify Indians who had earned certificates of competency that allowed them to hold title to land and leave reservations.
The certificates were based on how well they had assimilated into American society....
READ THE ARTICLE...

American Indian Art: The Buckskin Ceiling and Its Discontents
NYTIMES
By KEN SHULMAN

THE buckskin ceiling is what some American Indian artists call the
invisible barrier that keeps them from rising to the top of their
field. Not everyone agrees on its definition, or its origins. Some
people even deny that such a barrier exists. But those Indian
artists who claim to have bumped their heads against it blame the
buckskin ceiling for keeping them out of major museum and gallery
shows, and out of positions of power in the art establishment. For
them, the buckskin ceiling is an art- world bias that makes space
for traditional beadwork, buckskins and trading-post blankets, and
ignores almost everything else.

 "The buckskin ceiling is that beyond which native people cannot
rise in the art world," Suzan Shown Harjo said. Ms. Harjo, a
Cheyenne and Muscogee Indian, is president of the Morning Star
Institute, an American Indian legislative group based in
Washington. She spoke at the Smithsonian National Museum of the
American Indian in New York during a recent Atlatl Native Arts
Network conference. Atlatl, which takes its name from the Aztec
word for a wooden device used to catapult spears in battle, is a
national service organization for Indian artists. The Atlatl
conference ran parallel to "Who Stole the Tee Pee?," an exhibition
at the museum through Jan. 21....
READ THE ARTICLE...

PELTIER COVERAGE a railroad job is a railroad job -  once the destination has been predetermined, the process becomes one  of simply laying down the tracks so that the train can get to the  predetermined place it was meant to go ..Interlochen..a Peltier supporter LIST OF 62 GRANTED CLEMENCY Peltier not among pardons   http://web.northscape.com/ AP  WASHINGTON -- President Clinton was making decisions on Friday about granting clemency to some of the scores of convicted Americans seeking presidential pardons or lighter punishment, but did not mention American Indian activist Leonard Peltier, convicted 25 years ago in North Dakota for killing two FBI agents. ... ...A spokesman said the president was expected to make more clemency announcements before Jan. 20.   READ THE ARTICLE...   Clinton To Act on Clemency Requests, Peltier backers wait, hope for presidential pardon PA Attorney General Fisher Urges President Clinton to Deny ClemencyTo Convicted   LPDC Web site updates LPDC Web Site Update..Dec 22 http://www.freepeltier.org/ The following audio clips recorded from the "NYC Leonard Peltier Walk and Rally for Freedom" are available from the main page of the LPDC web site: Jennifer Harbury, Peltier Attorney and Human Rights Activist [6:32] http://www.freepeltier.org/jenniferharbury.mp3 Ramsey Clark, Former U.S. Attorney General [5:55] http://www.freepeltier.org/ramseyclark.mp3   Dec 19 Current and Past Supporters of Clemency for Leonard Peltier Click here for complete listing in PDF format {translated for the PDF challenged here} Letter from Congressman Don Edwards, Former FBI Agent PDF Format Letter from NCAI PDF Format Letter signed by World Renowned Human Rights Leaders PDF format {translated for the PDF challenged here} Go to More Support Statements SUGGESTED TALKING POINTS -=<+>=-ARTICLES-=<+>=- Clemency for Peltier Likely to Fail..Dec 21  By ERIC LICHTBLAU,  Times Staff Writer   Pleas: Clinton is leaning toward rejecting a pardon for the killer of two FBI agents, officials say. Case underscores the rift between the president and Freeh. READ THE STORY... URGENT NOTICE: FROM THE LPDC Letter to the Editor/Peltier..Catherine Davids Dec 20 Ottawa Sun - Editorial - Clemency Dec 19 FBI marching same as Uniformed Soldiers protesting  Reconciliation with Viet Nam...Interlochen  Dec 18 The FBI [active and retired] in truth marched in opposition to the  War on American Indians coming to an end with the release of one the POW's, Leonard. Since when do the "soldiers" dictate to  the "leaders"? READ THE ARTICLE... Clemency: Letter.....urgent..Bonnie Winona Dec 18 Extradition based on false evidence, Peltier inquiry says  PREVIOUS ARTICLES

WATCH FOR NEWS FROM THE LEONARD PELTIER RALLIES!! WHITE HOUSE PRAYER VIGIL DEC 19...mike mc,Scott Tippets PRAGUE COVERAGE...DEC 17 Bushka PERSONAL OBSERVATION DEC 15 ... antoinette

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