His name is Leonard Peltier. Born and raised at the Turtle Mountain Reservation, Leonard is a committed member of the American Indian Movement who has spent his entire lifetime fighting for the freedom of indigenous people in a country that has robbed them of their land.
Ever since 1977, the year that he was incarcerated following a shootout at the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation, Leonard Peltier is now the longest-serving political prisoner in the United States of America, held hostage in America for his leadership in Indigenous liberation. Calls for his freedom have been echoed nationally and worldwide, including from the Dalai Lama, Nelson Mandela, and the recently deceased Desmond Tutu.
On January 28, 2022, Leonard tested positive for COVID-19. In their recent press release, the International Leonard Peltier Defense Committee explained that Leonard has many co-morbidities that make him vulnerable to the Coronavirus and therefore in need of a booster shot. His medical conditions include “diabetes, hypertension, heart condition, and an aortic aneurysm,” all of which make Leonard eligible to be released under the requirements of the Department of Justice. His conditions in USP Coleman I penitentiary have been described as a ‘torture chamber’ by Leonard himself.
But in spite of those facts, Leonard has not received a booster shot yet, and he is still behind bars rather than with back his family on the Turtle Mountain Reservation. In other words, the federal government is choosing to keep up their grievances against Leonard rather than following through with health protocols to guarantee his safety. Their negligence of him unfortunately speaks to the continuous abuses of human rights rife with the prison system in the United States. He is and remains a political prisoner, collateral damage from the FBI’s COINTELPRO program to systematically undermine movements for social change.
Now more than ever, Leonard needs the care and protection of his community. Leonard, of course, is not alone. He is one of the millions of prisoners in the United States who are subject to horrible mistreatment across the board amidst the COVID-19 pandemic. As we call on our comrades in solidarity to help free Leonard, we must also bring attention to the fact that prisons must be abolished here and now if prisoners are to have any solace or respite from the Coronavirus.
We demand that Leonard be free, and we also demand the freedom of other political prisoners like Mumia Abu-Jamal. We demand that all prisons be abolished in order to suspend their historic tyranny against people from all walks of life, especially black and indigenous people. We demand freedom now. Join us by calling the White House hotline: 202-456-1111 and telling them you support #LeonardPeltier’s COVID-19 release & the commutation of #LeonardPeltier’s sentence. He’s held at USP-Coleman I in FL. Register number 89637-132. Join us by signing the change.org online petition. Join us by emailing and calling your Reps and Senators. Find them here. And if you have the means, please consider a donation to the International Leonard Peltier Defense Committee.