"Freedom for Leonard Peltier"

"Freedom for Leonard Peltier" Guest - Wanbli is the group leader for the Central Texas Branch Support Group and the co coordinator for branch support groups nationally. The Leonard Peltier Defense Offense Committee (LP DOC) is campaigning to raise awareness and educate the public about Leonard Peltier for the purpose of mobilizing people to take actions to set him free. September 12th marked the 64th birthday of Leonard Peltier, an American Indian male convicted to two life sentences based on fabricated testimony and circumstantial evidence. Many of us see this as the typical injustice perpetuated against American Indians in the legal system that exists through today. Mr. Peltier, a citizen of the Anishinabe and Lakota Nations, is a father, a grandfather, an artist, a writer, and an Indigenous rights activist. He has spent more than thirty-three years in prison for a crime he did not commit. Amnesty International considers him a "political prisoner" who should be "immediately and unconditionally released." Leonard Peltier was born in Grand Forks, North Dakota. He came from a large family of 13 brothers and sisters. He grew up in poverty, and survived many traumatic experiences resulting from U.S. government policies aimed to assimilate Native Peoples. At the age of eight he was taken from his family and sent to a residential boarding school for Native people run by the US Government. In the late 1960's and early 1970's Leonard Peltier began traveling to different Native communities. He spent a lot of time in Washington and Wisconsin and was working as a welder, carpenter, and community counselor for Native people. In the course of his work he became involved with the American Indian Movement (AIM) and eventually joined the Denver Colorado chapter. In Denver, he worked as a community counselor confronting unemployment, alcohol problems and poor housing. He became strongly involved in the spiritual and traditional programs of AIM.