Peltier Protesters March in Washington

On Saturday, December 10, thousands of supporters of Leonard Peltier gathered in front of the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C. in a protest rally urging President Obama to pardon the Native American political prisoner. Peltier has served over 42 in years in prison, wrongfully convicted for the death of two FBI agents on the Pine Ridge Indian reservation in South Dakota in 1975.

Peltier’s case is one of the worst miscarriages of justice in American history, wherein evidence was manufactured and witnesses were coerced to give false testimony. In Obama’s final six weeks in office, he has the ability to grant Peltier clemency.

While Peltier’s case was the focus of the protest, the proposed Dakota Access Pipeline in North Dakota also received considerable attention. The pipeline, which has been routed to run through the reservation of the Standing Rock Sioux, has galvanized indigenous people internationally. Opposition to the pipeline has been ongoing since last summer, and Peltier has encouraged pipeline protesters from his prison cell in Florida.

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  The day of protest kicked off with a rally in front of the US Capitol.
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  The march down Pennsylvania Avenue was led by a walking drum circle.
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  The proposed construction of the Dakota Access Pipeline has galvanized indigenous people internationally.
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  The issue of protecting water figured prominently throughout the day.
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  Chauncey Peltier (left) marched for his father’s clemency, along with Norman Brown (center) who was present at the Pine Ridge shootout in 1975 that resulted in Leonard Peltier’s incarceration.
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  A dancer in traditional dress marched in front of this banner urging the president to make the right choice.
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  In the evening, protesters gathered in front of the White House for a candlelight vigil.
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  A sculpture of Peltier contemplating his fate in prison was the centerpiece of the evening gathering.
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  The Washington Monument illuminated the vigil.
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  The message to the president was illuminated in LED lights, the National Christmas Tree in the background. In this season of giving, clemency for Peltier is the correct moral decision.

The gathering was also marked by a march down Pennsylvania Avenue and a candlelight vigil in front of the White House. The march was peaceful and the mood of the protesters was both hopeful and triumphant. There is considerable optimism that the president has the moral courage to pardon Peltier, a decision that past presidents declined to make.

And in the case of the pipeline, protesters in North Dakota, at least temporarily, have halted the building of the pipeline. But remaining vigilant against injustice, as well as the environmentally damaging corporate interests of America, were the overriding themes of the day.

Read more about Leonard Peltier’s case here.

from
http://hightimes.com/news/peltier-protesters-march-in-washington/