Peltier, Leonard (1944-)

Leonard Peltier is a Native American who was born on the Anishinabe Turtle Mountain Reservation in North Dakota. An Indigenous rights activist who spent many years providing community service to other Native Americans, Peltier has been incarcerated for more than 27 years due to his conviction for the murder of two agents from the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) during a 1975 shootout on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation. Since his conviction, there has been a great deal of debate regarding Peltier's guilt. Peltier has a number of supporters who, along with a few organizations such as Amnesty International, consider him to be a political prisoner. Despite support for Peltier, the numerous appeals filed on his behalf have been unsuccessful, and he remains incarcerated at Leavenworth Penitentiary in Leavenworth, Kansas.

Although his ability to continue providing community service is limited by his incarceration, Peltier remains active by helping to establish scholarships and special programs for Native American youth. He has also served on the advisory board of the Rosenberg Fund for Children, sponsored children in Central America, donated to battered women's shelters, organized the annual Christmas drive for the people at Pine Ridge Reservation, and promoted prisoner art programs since his incarceration. This entry describes Peltier's life as an Indigenous rights activist, as well as the crime for which he was convicted and the current status of his case.

Peltier was exposed to political activism early in his life. As a teenager, he lived on the Turtle Mountain Reservation with his father and witnessed protests and demonstrations by tribal members in response to U.S. termination policy, which forced Native Americans off their reservations and into cities. The termination policy withdrew federal assistance, including food, from those Native Americans who chose to remain on their land. When the Bureau of Indian Affairs came to investigate the situation, Peltier accompanied a social worker to each of the homes on the reservation to warn residents to hide what little food remained. At each home, Peltier learned that there was no food to hide. It was this incident, as well as his travels to many reservations as a migrant farm worker with his father, which made him realize that the policies of relocation, poverty, and racism were widespread issues affecting tribes across the United States.

Peltier moved to Seattle in 1965 and worked as part-owner of an auto body shop, which he used to employ Native People and to provide cheap automobile repairs for those in need. During this time, he was active in the founding of a Native American [Page 618]halfway house for ex-prisoners. Peltier also became involved in Native Land Claim issues, alcohol counseling, and protests concerning the preservation of Native land in the city of Seattle. During the late 1960s and early 1970s, Peltier continued providing community service to Natives through his work as a welder, carpenter, and community counselor. In the course of this work, he became involved with the American Indian Movement (AIM) and eventually joined the Denver chapter. While working as a community counselor in Denver, Peltier became highly involved in the spiritual and traditional programs of the AIM. Peltier's membership in the AIM led him to become involved in a number of protests and rights movements, including the 1972 Trail of Broken Treaties. Eventually, Peltier's involvement in the AIM brought him to help the Oglala Lakota People of the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in South Dakota in the mid-1970s. Peltier assisted the people of Pine Ridge to plan community activities, religious ceremonies, programs for self-sufficiency, and the improvement of living conditions. Peltier also participated in the organization of security for the people of Pine Ridge. It was here that the shootout that resulted in Peltier's conviction occurred on June 26, 1975.

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