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deb haaland
'It's Finally Over, I'm Going Home': Biden Grants Commutation—But No Pardon—for Peltier
"The victory of freeing Leonard Peltier is a symbol of our collective strength—and our resistance will never stop," vowed one Indigenous organizer.
Jan 20, 2025
Just minutes before leaving office, Joe Biden on Monday commuted the life prison sentence of Leonard Peltier, the elderly American Indian Movement activist who supporters say was framed for the murder of two federal agents during a 1975 reservation shootout.
"It's finally over, I'm going home," Peltier, who is 80 years old, said in a statement released by the Indigenous-led activist group NDN Collective. "I want to show the world I'm a good person with a good heart. I want to help the people, just like my grandmother taught me."
While not the full pardon for which he and his defenders have long fought, the outgoing Democratic president's commutation will allow Peltier—who has been imprisoned for nearly a half-century—to "spend his remaining days in home confinement," according to Biden's statement, which was no longer posted on the White House website after Republican President Donald Trump took office Monday afternoon.
🚨BREAKING🚨 Leonard Peltier Granted Executive Clemency After 50 years of unjust incarceration and the tireless efforts of intergenerational grassroots organizing and advocacy, our elder and relative Leonard Peltier has been granted executive clemency.
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— NDN Collective ( @ndncollective.bsky.social) January 20, 2025 at 9:02 AM
"Tribal Nations, Nobel Peace laureates, former law enforcement officials (including the former U.S. attorney whose office oversaw Mr. Peltier's prosecution and appeal), dozens of lawmakers, and human rights organizations strongly support granting Mr. Peltier clemency, citing his advanced age, illnesses, his close ties to and leadership in the Native American community, and the substantial length of time he has already spent in prison," Biden explained.
Biden Interior Secretary Deb Haaland, the first Indigenous cabinet secretary in U.S. history, said in a statement: "I am beyond words about the commutation of Leonard Peltier. His release from prison signifies a measure of justice that has long evaded so many Native Americans for so many decades. I am grateful that Leonard can now go home to his family. I applaud President Biden for this action and understanding what this means to Indian Country."
Congressman Raúl Grijalva (D-Ariz.), who last month led 34 U.S. lawmakers in a letter urging clemency for Peltier, said in a statement that "for too long, Mr. Peltier has been denied both justice and the pursuit of a full, healthy life at the hands of the U.S. government, but today, he is finally able to go home."
"President Biden's decision is not just the right, merciful, and decent one—it is a testament to Mr. Peltier's resilience and the unwavering support of the countless global leaders, Indigenous voices, civil rights and legal experts, and so many others who have advocated so tirelessly for his release," Grijalva added. "While there is still much work to be done to fix the system that allowed this wrong and so many others against Indian Country, especially as we face the coming years, let us today celebrate Mr. Peltier's return home."
NDN Collective founder and CEO Nick Tilsen said Monday that "Leonard Peltier's freedom today is the result of 50 years of intergenerational resistance, organizing, and advocacy."
"Leonard Peltier's liberation is our liberation—we will honor him by bringing him back to his homelands to live out the rest of his days surrounded by loved ones, healing, and reconnecting with his land and culture," Tilsen continued.
"Let Leonard's freedom be a reminder that the entire so-called United States is built on the stolen lands of Indigenous people—and that Indigenous people have successfully resisted every attempt to oppress, silence, and colonize us," Tilsen added. "The victory of freeing Leonard Peltier is a symbol of our collective strength—and our resistance will never stop."
Amnesty International USA executive director Paul O'Brien said that "President Biden was right to commute the life sentence of Indigenous elder and activist Leonard Peltier given the serious human rights concerns about the fairness of his trial."
While Peltier admits to having participated in the June 26, 1975 gunfight at the Oglala Sioux Reservation at Pine Ridge, South Dakota, he denies killing Federal Bureau of Investigation agents Jack Coler and Ronald Williams.
As HuffPost senior political reporter Jennifer Bendery recapped Monday:
There was never evidence that Peltier committed a crime, and the U.S. government never did figure out who shot those agents. But federal officials needed someone to take the fall. The FBI had just lost two agents, and Peltier's co-defendants were all acquitted based on self-defense. So, Peltier became their guy.
His trial was rife with misconduct. The FBI threatened and coerced witnesses into lying. Federal prosecutors hid evidence that exonerated Peltier. A juror acknowledged on the second day of the trial that she had "prejudice against Indians," but she was kept on anyway.
The government's case fell apart after these revelations, so it simply revised its charges against Peltier to "aiding and abetting" whoever did kill the agents—based entirely on the fact that he was one of dozens of people present when the shootout took place. Peltier was convicted and sentenced to two consecutive life terms.
American Indian Movement (AIM) activist Joe Stuntz Killsright was also killed at Pine Ridge when a U.S. Bureau of Indian Affairs agent sniper shot him in the head after Coler and Williams were killed. Stuntz' death has never been investigated.
Some Indigenous activists welcomed Peltier's commutation while also remembering Annie Mae Pictou Aquash, an Mi'kmaq activist who was kidnapped and murdered at Pine Ridge in December 1975 by her fellow AIM members. Some of Aquash's defenders believe her killing to be an assassination ordered by AIM leaders who feared she was an FBI informant.
Before leaving office, Biden issued a flurry of eleventh-hour preemptive pardons meant to protect numerous relatives and government officials whom Trump and his allies have threatened with politically motivated legal action.
However, the outgoing president dashed the hopes of figures including Steven Donziger, Charles Littlejohn, and descendants of Ethel Rosenberg, who were
seeking last-minute pardons or commutations.
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Tribes, Green Groups Applaud Biden's Creation of New National Monuments
The move stands in stark contrast with Republican President-elect Donald Trump's first-term record of shrinking national monuments and opening public lands to environmentally and culturally destructive extraction.
Jan 07, 2025
U.S. President Joe Biden is set to sign proclamations Tuesday establishing two new national monuments in California, a move the White House said will protect the environment and honor Indigenous peoples in a state where they suffered one of the worst genocides in the nation's history.
Biden's creation of the Chuckwalla National Monument in the Colorado Desert and the Sáttítla Highlands National Monument in the Cascade Range "will protect 848,000 acres of lands in California of scientific, cultural, ecological, and historical importance," the White House said in a statement. The national monument designations—which were authorized under the Antiquities Act—mean new drilling, mining, and other development will be banned on the protected lands.
"In addition to setting the high-water mark for most lands and waters conserved in a presidential administration, establishing the Chuckwalla National Monument in southern California is President Biden's capstone action to create the largest corridor of protected lands in the continental United States, covering nearly 18 million acres stretching approximately 600 miles," the White House said.
"This new Moab to Mojave Conservation Corridor protects wildlife habitat and a wide range of natural and cultural resources along the Colorado River, across the Colorado Plateau, and into the deserts of California," Biden's office added. "It is a vitally important cultural and spiritual landscape that has been inhabited and traveled by tribal nations and Indigenous peoples since time immemorial."
🌟 Historic news! President Biden designated two new national monuments—Chuckwalla National Monument and Sáttítla Highlands National Monument —protecting over 848,000 acres of ecologically & culturally significant lands! 🏜️🌲 Read more: bit.ly/3Pral7m
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— Sierra Club (@sierraclub.bsky.social) January 7, 2025 at 8:07 AM
The Chuckwalla National Monument spans over 624,000 acres in southern California near Joshua Tree National Park and includes the ancestral homelands of the Cahuilla, Chemehuevi, Mojave, Quechan, Serrano, and other Indigenous peoples.
The Sáttítla Highlands National Monument covers more than 224,000 acres in northern California on the ancestral lands of the Karuk, Klamath, Modoc, Pit River, Shasta, Siletz, Wintu, and Yana.
U.S. Interior Secretary Deb Haaland, who is a member of the Laguna Pueblo tribe, said in a statement Tuesday that "President Biden's action today will protect important spiritual and cultural values tied to the land and wildlife. I am so grateful that future generations will have the opportunity to experience what makes this area so unique."
Biden's designation follows calls from Indigenous tribes and green groups, and legislation introduced last April by U.S. Sen. Alex Padilla (D-Calif.), then-Sen. Laphonza Butler (D-Calif.), and Congressman Raul Ruiz (D-Calif.) to create the monuments.
"This historic announcement accelerates our state's crucial efforts to fight the climate crisis, protect our iconic wildlife, preserve sacred tribal sites, and promote clean energy while expanding equitable access to nature for millions of Californians," Padilla said in response to the president's move.
"This designation reflects years of tireless work from tribal leaders to protect these sacred desert landscapes," he added. "President Biden has joined California leaders in championing our treasured natural wonders, and I applaud him for further cementing his strong public lands legacy."
The Tribal Council of the Fort Yuma Quechan Indian Tribe said: "The protection of the Chuckwalla National Monument brings the Quechan people an overwhelming sense of peace and joy. This national monument designation cements into history our solidarity and collective vision for our peoples."
"The essence of who we are lies in the landscapes of Chuckwalla and Avi Kwa Ame," the council added. "Every trail, every living being, and every story in these places is connected to a rich history and heritage that runs in our DNA. That is why we look forward to the day when we can celebrate adding the proposed Kw'tsán National Monument for protection as well."
Sierra Club executive director Ben Jealous said in a statement: "Our public lands tell the history of America. They must be protected for us to learn from, and to be enjoyed and explored, for this generation and those to come. Throughout his time in office, President Biden has not only recognized that, he has acted with urgency."
Jealous continued:
From the ecologically rich Chuckwalla deserts in the south to the primordial network of Sáttítla aquifers in the north to the fragile habitats and ecosystems of the Southwest, communities and wildlife will continue to benefit from the clean water, protected landscape, and more equitable access to nature these monuments preserve.
For years, tribes and Indigenous voices have called for these landscapes to be protected. As he has throughout his presidency, President Biden answered those calls. Each new national monument adds a chapter to the story our public lands tell. We must continue the work to expand that story, protect the lands and waters that make this country special, and preserve the historical, cultural, and spiritual connections the original stewards of these landscapes continue to have with these places.
Trust for Public Land CEO Carrie Besnette Hauser noted that "national monuments like Chuckwalla and Sáttítla play a vital role in addressing historical injustices and ensuring a fuller, more inclusive telling of America's story. They stand alongside recent landmark designations—such as the Emmett Till and Mamie Till-Mobley National Monument and Baaj Nwaavjo I'tah Kukveni-Ancestral Footprints of the Grand Canyon—as reflections of our nation's diverse heritage and shared values."
California's Indigenous peoples suffered one of the worst genocides in North America. The state's Native American population plummeted from around 150,000 in 1848—the year gold was discovered at Sutter's Mill—to roughly 16,000 at the turn of the 20th century. The second half of the 19th century was a period of state-sponsored genocidal extermination, enslavement, and dispossession of California's more than 100 Indigenous tribes.
The national monuments designation comes a day after Biden permanently banned offshore oil drilling across 625 million acres of U.S. coastal territory.
Biden's national monument expansion stands in stark contrast with Republican President-elect Donald Trump's record during his first administration, which saw a major contraction of national monuments in service of opening public lands to mining, fossil fuel extraction, and other environmentally and culturally destructive intrusions.
"During his first term, Trump made his hostility toward public lands clear as he reduced national monuments and rolled back regulations on fossil fuel extraction," High Country News contributing editor Jonathan Thompson recently wrote. "This time, he promises a repeat performance, backed by a GOP-dominated Congress, a conservative-leaning Supreme Court, and an army of professional ideologues who have been eagerly preparing for this moment for the last four years."
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Sioux Tribes Want US to Come Clean on Treaty Deceit
"For centuries, the U.S. government has broken every promise it's made to Native tribes," says Standing Rock Sioux Chair Janet Alkire. "It's time for that to stop."
Nov 22, 2023
Leaders of the Standing Rock and Oglala Sioux said Wednesday that the two Native American tribes are joining forces in an effort to pressure the Biden administration into a reckoning over a dubious 19th-century treaty that—like just about every other one signed between the U.S. and Indigenous peoples—was broken by Washington.
The two tribes are seeking nation-to-nation consultations between U.S. Interior Secretary Deb Haaland and Assistant Indian Affairs Secretary Bryan Newland—both Native Americans—and the remaining signatory tribes to the Fort Laramie Treaty.
"This is about correcting an injustice," Standing Rock Chair Janet Alkire said. "For centuries, the U.S. government has broken every promise it's made to Native tribes. It's time for that to stop."
"Furthermore," she added, "we're calling on the Biden-Harris administration to take active steps to correct the record."
Treaty rights remain a critical point of contention for the Sioux, who in recent years have fought against violations of their land, water, and sovereignty, including the Dakota Access and Keystone XL pipelines—the latter of which was canceled by President Joe Biden.
"We'd like the current government to take an honest look at what happened."
In the 1860s, fierce Indigenous resistance to Euro-American encroachment on the Great Plains and an Army already weakened by the Civil War resulted in a series of U.S. defeats, including a December 1866 ambush led by Lakota, Cheyenne, and Arapaho warriors that killed all 81 soldiers under the command of Capt. William Fetterman during the Powder River War. It was the worst defeat of U.S. forces on the Great Plains until Little Bighorn a decade later.
In 1868, the U.S. signed the Fort Laramie Treaty with the Arapaho and the Dakota, Lakota, and Nakota Sioux. The treaty established the Great Sioux Reservation and designated the Black Hills as "unceded Indian territory" to be "set apart for the absolute and undisturbed use and occupation" of Indigenous peoples.
However, the tribes claim U.S. officials subsequently—and surreptitiously—added language to the treaty stating that the Indians "relinquish all claims or rights" to lands outside the designated reservation. The U.S. then blatantly abrogated the treaty following the discovery of gold in the Black Hills of South Dakota and, when Indians fought back, unleashed a fresh wave of genocidal violence against them.
"U.S. treaty negotiators snuck the relinquishment language into Article II of the treaty after it was signed by the Sioux chiefs to end the Powder River War," said Oglala Sioux Tribe President Frank Star Comes Out. "We'd like the current government to take an honest look at what happened."
The Indian Claims Commission, a judicial relations arbiter between the U.S. government and Indigenous tribes, concluded in 1976 that the treaty "effectuated a vast cession of land contrary to the understanding and intent of the Sioux."
In 1980, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that the United States had illegally taken the Black Hills and awarded over $100 million in reparations to the Sioux Nation, which refused the money—now worth over $1 billion—on the grounds that the tribe never wanted to part with its lands in the first place.
"The Black Hills are not for sale," Alkire said Wednesday, "and they never were."
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