Today in Labor History June 26, 1975: Two FBI agents and one member of the American Indian Movement (AIM) were killed in a shootout on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in South Dakota. Undercover FBI agents framed AIM activist Leonard Peltier for the two FBI deaths. During the trial, some of the government’s own witnesses testified that Peltier wasn’t even present at the scene of the killings. Nevertheless, a judge sentenced him to two consecutive life terms. Peltier admitted to participating in the shoot-out in his memoir, “Prison Writings, My Life in the Sundance.” However, he denied killing the FBI agents. He became eligible for parole in 1993. Amnesty International, Nelson Mandela, Mother Teresa, and the Dalai Lama, all campaigned for his clemency. President Obama denied his request for clemency in 2017. On January 19, 2025, the last full day of his presidency, Joe Biden commuted Peltier's life sentence to home confinement. Peltier’s health had been declining for several years.

#workingclass #LaborHistory #americanindianmovement #aim #leonardpeltier #FBI #prison #pineridge #politicalprisoner #indigenous #nativeamerican #memoir #books #author #writer #bookstadon

Today in Writing History May 22, 1927: Author Peter Matthiessen was born. Matthiessen was an environmental activist and a CIA officer who wrote short stories, novels and nonfiction. He’s the only writer to have won the National Book award in both nonfiction, for The Snow Leopard (1979), and in fiction, for Shadow Country (2008). His story Travelin’ Man was made into the film The Young One (1960) by Luis Bunuel. Perhaps his most famous book was, In the Spirit of Crazy Horse (1983), which tells the story of Leonard Peltier and the FBI’s war on the American Indian Movement. The former governor of South Dakota, Bill Janklow, and David Price, an FBI agent who was at the Wounded Knee assault, both sued Viking Press for libel because of statements in the book. Both lawsuits threatened to undermine free speech and further stifle indigenous rights activism. Fortunately, both lawsuits were dismissed. Peltier spent over 43 years in prison for a crime he did not commit. On January 19, 2025, the last full day of his presidency, Joe Biden commuted Peltier's life sentence to home confinement

#workingclass #LaborHistory #petermatthiessen #indigenous #LeonardPeltier #nativeamerican #aim #fbi #fiction #nonfiction #writer #author #cia #FreeSpeech #censorship @bookstadon

Netflix Lands Four Festival Docs Including ‘Free Leonard Peltier,’ ‘Teenaged Wasteland’ (Exclusive)
#MovieNews #Movies #Documentaries #FreeLeonardPeltier #LeonardPeltier #Netflix #Sundance #Telluride #Tribeca

https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/movies/movie-news/netflix-docs-free-leonard-peltier-teenaged-wasteland-1236595740/

Today in Labor History May 8, 1973: A 71-day standoff at the Pine Ridge Reservation, at Wounded Knee, ended today, after American Indian Movement (AIM) members surrendered. In 1890, U.S soldiers massacred nearly 300 Lakota people at Wounded Knee. Ever since, native peoples on the Pine Ridge Reservation, where Wounded Knee is located, have faced poverty, and racism by their neighbors. They also had a corrupt local government on the reservation. So, on February 27, 1973, 200 Lakota activists and members of AIM, seized control of Wounded Knee. They demanded the resignation of their corrupt tribal leader. They also demanded that the U.S. government start obeying its treaties with indigenous peoples. Within hours of the occupation, police surrounded the them, marking the beginning of the siege. The cops were joined by federal marshals and national guards, who traded fire with AIM activists on a daily basis. Two native activists died in the conflict and one federal agent was shot and paralyzed. AIM leaders Dennis Banks and Russell Means were arrested, but their case was dismissed by the federal court for prosecutorial misconduct. Two years later, there was another shootout at Pine Ridge. AIM leader Leonard Peltier was wrongfully arrested and imprisoned until 2025.

#LaborHistory #workingclass #massacre #indigenous #WoundedKnee #genocide #AmericanIndianMovement #LeonardPeltier #fbi #racism #genocide #lakota #prison
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Today in Labor History April 18, 1977: Native American activist Leonard Peltier was found guilty of murdering two FBI agents on the Pine Ridge Reservation. However, he was actually framed by undercover FBI agents who were conducting counterintelligence on the reservation. During the trial, some of the government’s own witnesses testified that Peltier wasn’t even present at the scene of the killings. In 2017, President Obama denied Peltier's application for clemency. He was still in prison in 2025 and his health had deteriorated. On June 7, 2022, The UN Human Rights Council's Working Group on Arbitrary Detention found that Peltier’s imprisonment violates the UN’s Universal Declaration of Human Rights. President Biden, as one of his final acts as president, commuted his sentence to indefinite house arrest. In February 2025, he was released and transferred to the Turtle Mountain Indian Reservation in Belcourt, North Dakota.

#workingclass #LaborHistory #leonardpeltier #fbi #obama #AmericanIndianMovement #indigenous #prison #racism #nativeamerican #politicalprisoner #pineridge #biden

sorry everyone, this is #OldNews but forgive me it's 4:54am & not slept yet. still.. #FreeLeonardPeltier ✊🏻
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#LeonardPeltier has #covid bc the so-called #USgov has #neglected to provide vaccines to #FirstNationStates as part of their centuries long #genocide on first nation people.

https://youtu.be/2e-RvgRRkvI?

#FreeLeonardPeltier #AllPower2ThePeople #press #news #DemocracyNow! #AIM #IndependentMedia

sorry everyone, this is #OldNews but forgive me it's 4:54am & not slept yet. still.. #FreeLeonardPeltier ✊🏻

#LeonardPeltier has #covid bc the so-called #USgov has #neglected to provide vaccines to #FirstNationStates as part of their centuries long #genocide on first nation people.

https://youtu.be/2e-RvgRRkvI?

#FreeLeonardPeltier #AllPower2ThePeople #press #news #DemocracyNow! #AIM #IndependentMedia