Dear Supporters:
Thank you for your continued support and all the
best for a Merry Christmas, or whatever you may celebrate during the holiday
season, and for a healthy and happy New Year.
This is the time of year when we try to set aside
the turmoil around us and focus on positive thoughts for the holidays and hopes
for better times ahead.
But sometimes that’s made more difficult when we’re
reminded there is evil in the world that won’t go away.
In his December 20, 2012, “Holiday Greetings from
Leonard,” Peltier mentions the horror of Newtown, Connecticut and then, as
usual, segues that historically to the ghastly events of earlier Native America;
Wounded Knee, Sand Creek and the Washita (and there were others he didn’t
mention).
(Peltier’s gratuitous comments aside, our deepest
prayers and sympathies are offered to the victims, their families and the
Newtown community.)
So Peltier is equating the psychotic actions of a
deranged homicidal maniac to the failures of the early government’s handling of
what they considered the “Indian problem.” Yes, Manifest Destiny created a cultural abyss where many atrocities and
violations of Native people’s basic human rights and broken treaties occurred.
But, Peltier, and others, ignore that there was more than just a significant
amount of Indian-on-Indian violence long before the white
man’s arrival, and afterward. So it wasn’t all that peaceful before, when the
white man’s lust for land and resources only made it much worse.
Ignoring his other irrelevant pleas, Peltier makes
the expected transition to his real purpose, himself. “You have given me hope again.” “…and hope that this will be
the year that I will get to know freedom again…”
But let’s have a reality check. As always, Peltier
seeks some measure of credit for appearing compassionate by even mentioning
Newtown…it’s a false performance as witnessed by years of him speaking what he
really means. Let’s then add one other horrific event to his counterfeit
repertoire; Jumping Bull, Pine Ridge, South Dakota.
His innocence is as thin as tissue paper and he has
proven his own guilt (far beyond his conviction and dozens of appeals) by his
own words. Words that have been chronicled here many times and will be repeated
regularly along with any other myths he may add in the coming years. (Like the
one recently added by his own attorney.)
Peltier brags about the New York City concert that
certainly didn’t have any significant impact with the usual suspects of those
who are ignorant of the facts and blind to Peltier’s incessant crocodile tears
of innocence. Claims based on a mountain of lies and fabrications; those who
know the facts but don’t care because they have their own agendas; those who
are clueless and think it’s a neat thing to do, in other words, along for the
ride; and the abusers, those who use Peltier-the-pawn. Especially the “One
Percenters,” like Michael Moore, who could give one whit about Peltier the person
as long as it adds to his unsavory notoriety and red carpet dalliances. But
Peltier isn’t completely stupid, from his concrete condo any publicity is good
publicity, so he’ll take the good with the bad as long as it generates even one
lame-brained Peltierite repeating his name. After all, that’s the goal and game
he’s playing; divert them from the facts.
The reality and the prospects of commutation are
even thinner than Peltier’s feigned innocence. The President will easily understand
exactly what the legal history of Peltier’s case is all about and that for the
last 37 years he has only reinforced what dozens of courts have already correctly
concluded: Guilty as sin, “and if necessary, he’d do it again, because it was
the right thing to do.” Yes, the President will really appreciate that bit of
remorse and rehabilitation. Don’t believe so.
Peltier’s other major sin is his false prophet
persona as a warrior for his “people,” an embarrassment to the true Native
American chiefs and warriors and their proud and storied history, and a
distinction that is not missed by the vast majority of Native America today.
They are not fooled by Peltier’s spineless bravado.
This makes Peltier’s actions at Jumping Bull no
less heinous and obscene as those at Newtown. Both were the actions of undeniable
cowards.
Admittedly this is not a cheerful holiday message.
As Peltier grovels for his freedom, Jack Coler and Ron Williams’ families will
endure yet another Christmas and New Year with the memory of the brutal slaying
of their loved ones.
“In the Spirit of Coler and Williams”
Ed Woods
