The writing's on the wall for Leonard Peltier

Page 18

Review

Prison Writings:

My Life Is My Sun Dance

By Leonard Peltier

St. Martin's Press, New York

256 pages, $22.95 (sc)

"When the oppressors succeed with their illegal thefts and depredations, its called colonialism. When their efforts to colonize indigenous peoples are met with resistance or anything but abject surrender, it's called war. When the colonized peoples attempt to resist their oppression and defend themselves, we're called criminals."

Leonard Peltier

The long awaited and highly anticipated memoirs of American Indian Movement activist and political prisoner Leonard Peltier hit bookstores across the world this summer. Prison Writings: My Life Is My Sun Dance, written by Peltier during his tumultuous incarceration at a Kansas state penitentiary and edited by Washington author Harvey Arden, has been well worth the wait.

Written in a conversationalist style, spiked with political statements and rounded out by introspective poetry, Prison Writings paints a realistic picture of a man who has come to be known as a Native American icon and human rights figurehead. It brings you into his 5-foot by 9-foot cell, inside his tragic situation and into his life. It's an often disturbing look at the American justice system, the continuing struggle of Indigenous people and the personal sufferings of one man.

When you purchase the book, having even the faintest idea of Peltier and his current situation, you expect to find a recount of the facts of his case. And, indeed, as a backgrounder, he provides some of the details surrounding his conviction and sentencing for the murders of two FBI agents. (The charge was later dropped to aiding and abetting after prosecutors admitted they had no idea who really shot the officers, but the double life sentence remained.)

What you don't expect is to find a well-written and, in some areas, exceptionally brilliant story of an ordinary man caught in an extraordinary situation. Some passages seem to be taken from a work of fiction with their bright metaphors and lucid foreshadowing, like the one in which Peltier describes the atmosphere in the jail and compares the ranting of a madman to the cannibalistic appetite of time served in prison. Some passages make you put the book down and mull them over like a fine wine or a piece of eastern philosophy. Peltier's writing talents are a nice bonus to a story that must be told.

Having entered into the 24th year of his imprisonment on Feb. 6, Peltier offers hope and forgiveness to the world, including those who have prosecuted him. He also, at times, falls into a kind of long-standing despair not unlike the feeling of being in 'the Hole', solitary confinement that he sometimes endures. During these moments, he painfully recalls the darker times in his life; years at the Bureau of Indian Affairs school away from family, the few weeks in custody and the racial hatred he endured at the hands of the prison guards and police officers who handled him.

Somehow, he manages to offer all these memories to the reader without overwhelming them, but allows them to grieve for the inhumanity of the past and injustice of the present.

The book also chronicles a place in time when relocation and termination of Native Americans ran rampant. Peltier takes you to the United Sates of the 1960s when Indians were thrown out of reservations and into the 'red ghettos' of urban centres. He talks about the awakening of 'Red Power' in the Vietnam era. He introduces you to such people as Russell Means, Dennis Banks and Anna Mae Aquash. He talks about sleeping in cars and spending long hours planning peaceful strategies to help the downtrodden Indian people struggling throughout the country. He takes you to demonstrations on the old prison island of Alcatraz and standoffs with commercial fisherman along the northwest coast. He brings you into the heart of the American Indian Moverment and then leaves you there to make up your mind about how you feel about it all.

Sinc his arrest and subsequent incarceration, many international leaders and agencies have come forward to lend their support and demand the release of Leonard Peltier. Among them, Archbishop Desmond Tutu and more recently, former First Lady of France, Danielle Mitterand. The European Parliament, along with Italy and Belgium, have recently passed resolutions calling for clemency for Peltier, along with demands that investigations be carried out surrounding the circumstances of both the case and the violence that precipitated the shootout at the Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota.

Leonard Peltier celebrated his 55th birthday on Sept. 12th. The Leonard Peltier Defense Committee has made November Leonard Peltier Freedom Month. The committee is also continuing to petition the government to have Peltier treated at the Mayo Clinic for a severe jaw injury that allows him to open his mouth only a few centimetres. He has already had several failed surgeries while in custody. The committee asks that all interested people write letters of support and inquiry for Peltier's case.

Some bookstores have encountered difficulty in stocking Prision Writings, even though the defense committee maintains the book is in abundance. If you can't find it in your area, they suggest you can participate in Peltier awareness activities and help out. Contact the Leonard Peltier Defense Committee at: Leonard Peltier Defense Committee, PO Box 583, Lawrence, KS, 66044.