An Open Letter to President-elect Barack Obama on Leonard Peltier

Dear President-elect Obama:

A Great Act of Mercy by you can help heal the still raw wounds of Indian people and their continuing confrontation with the 'Dominant Society' of the United States. I don’t know if you know the Leonard Peltier case personally; nor will I argue it here. Please talk to Secretary Bill Richardson and Sen. Inouye about this great injustice now in its 33rd year; they both know it well. Leonard was 31 when he was framed; he's now 64. A poll a couple of years ago asked thousands of people, "Who Is the Greatest American Indian in History?" The winner, yes, was Leonard Peltier ...

Mr. President-elect, I ask from my deepest heart that you grant a brief audience to me and Chief Arvol Looking Horse, 19th-Generation Keeper of the Sacred White Buffalo Pipe of the Great Lakota Nation, so that we may deliver a message to you on behalf of millions of good souls around the earth who plead for Leonard’s freedom, who see Leonard’s freedom as The Sign that Democracy and Love and Prayer and Justice still have a meaning in America.

I ask to read to you from Leonard’s book PRISON WRITINGS: MY LIFE IS MY SUN DANCE, of which I am privileged to be the editor. A wondrous stage play MY LIFE IS MY SUN DANCE has been produced from Leonard's words to rave audiences, and we will be delighted to bring the soon-to-tour words-and-music production to the venue of your choice, for you to experience the power and poetry and compassion of it. It wrings the soul.

I would welcome the presence of VP-elect Biden, Sec.-designate Hillary Clinton (and Bill, of course), Gov. Bill Richardson, Sen. Inouye, your new FBI director and any other persons you'd like to be on hand. I also ask to have Leonard Peltier himself standing beside me in the Oval Office as I read his words—words Leonard would read to you himself if his locked jaw would allow him to. Leonard also asks me to invite Mumia Abu Jamal--another political prisoner, to whom we also ask you to grant executive clemency. Freeing these two men would be an act of intrinsic greatness, I daresay a Holy Act.

Mr. President-elect, we await your strong hand in bringing these enormous and glaring injustices to an end.

Respectfully,

Harvey Arden

Washington, DC

12/23/2008

http://www.nativevillage.org/Messages%20from%20the%20People/Lenoard%20Peltier%20Area/Harven%20Arden%20Open%20Letter%20to%20Barack%20Obama%20Regarding%20Leonard%20Peltier.htm