Millions have called for Peltier’s release since his incarceration, including Nelson Mandela and Bishop Desmond Tutu before their deaths. It’s time to act
It’s time for Leonard Peltier to go home – to end his senseless suffering and 45 years of unjust imprisonment. Last Friday, after complaining of a “rough cough”, the 77-year-old Native elder tested positive for Covid-19. Peltier’s continued confinement at the United States penitentiary in Coleman, Florida, might be a death sentence, if the Biden administration doesn’t act quickly, and with conscience.
Freedom for Peltier is one step towards addressing centuries of injustice facing Indigenous people as well as addressing the inhumane conditions of incarceration that have been exacerbated by the pandemic.
Janene Yazzie is a Diné human rights and Indigenous rights advocate who works to advance the self-determination of Indigenous peoples. She has worked for more than nine years on the international level helping address the unjust criminalization of Indigenous human rights and land rights defenders.
Nick Estes is a citizen of the Lower Brule Sioux Tribe. He is a journalist, historian and host of The Red Nation Podcast. He is the author of Our History Is the Future: Standing Rock Versus the Dakota Access Pipeline, and the Long Tradition of Indigenous Resistance (Verso, 2019).