Leonard Peltier, a Chippewa man and member of the American Indian Movement (AIM), has been incarcerated for 49 years, serving two consecutive life terms for the murder of FBI agents Jack Coler and Ronald Williams. Both were shot at close range during a shootout at Pine Ridge that also left Coeur d’Alene tribal member Joe Stuntz dead. Peltier admitted to being part of the firefight, but has always denied the execution-style killings of the agents.
Many people then and now believe Peltier is a wrongfully convicted political prisoner. And while calls for his release began immediately after he was sentenced, he has been denied clemency since the Carter administration. The nearly 50 year long “Free Peltier” movement has inspired fiction and nonfiction films, music, articles, books, and decades of political art including murals, posters, bumper stickers, t-shirts, and buttons dating back to when John Lennon was still alive.
The long list of notable advocates for Peltier’s release includes the National Lawyers Guild, the American Association of Jurists, Noam Chomsky, Angela Davis, the late Coretta Scott-King, Dr. Helen Caldicott, and Nobel laureates such as the Dalai Lama, Mother Teresa, Nelson Mandela, and Bishop Desmond Tutu.
But Kennedy’s commitment to Peltier’s release should not be construed as merely a play for Native support. Although couched as a case of compassionate release (Peltier is 79 years old), it is noteworthy because the FBI remains absolutely opposed to Peltier ever living one day as a free man. Which means that in advance of the election, Kennedy is quietly signaling something about how that agency will be run in the future.
Should Kennedy find himself in the position to unlock the prison door and “Free Peltier,” that would illustrate a significant shift in how the federal government treats Native Americans. As portrayed in the recent film Killers of the Flower Moon, the relationship between the FBI and Natives goes back to the formation of that agency. And at times – like during the “reign of terror” and the siege at Wounded Knee that precipitated the tensions leading to the shootout that left three men dead – it has been extremely violent.