- Details
- By Levi Rickert
TURTLE MOUNTAIN INDIAN RESERVATION – More than 500 people gathered at the Sky Dancer Event Center on Wednesday afternoon to welcome Leonard Peltier (Turtle Mountain Ojibwe), a member of the American Indian Movement (AIM), back to his homeland after 49 years of incarceration. Peltier was released from a federal maximum-security prison on Tuesday morning and flown to northern North Dakota where he will be confined to a house on the Turtle Mountain Indian Reservation.
The event was a moment of celebration and triumph for Peltier and those in attendance. Thousands more across the country tuned in to watch the gathering via live stream, which was broadcast across multiple social media platforms. The livestream of the event can be viewed on Youtube, LinkedIn, and Facebook.
“We didn’t have a pot to piss in. We had nothing. It’s amazing to see what has happened over the past 50 years,” Peltier commenced.
Peltier thanked the crowd for welcoming him back to the community.
“Thank you! Thank you! I love all of you!” Peltier said. “I’m proud of the position I’ve taken – to fight for our rights to survival. I’m so proud of the support you’re showing me, I’m having a hard time keeping myself from crying. A strong warrior can’t be up here crying in front of his people.
“From the first hour I was arrested, Indian people came to my rescue, and they’ve been behind me ever since,” Peltier said.
The event was MCed by Cante Heart, opened with a drum and dance demonstration, featured speeches including from Peltier himself, and included a community lunch. Katherine Howard offered the pre-meal prayer.
“Leonard’s generation instilled the spirit to fight back into our people,” said Nick Tilsen, NDN Collective Founder and CEO. “The fight to free Leonard was successful because we walked in our prayers, in our ceremony – the very things the American Indian Movement fought to protect. Around the world, Leonard Peltier will be remembered as a warrior who came out victorious over one of the world’s most powerful governments. We are on a continuum of 500 years of Indigenous resistance – and on that continuum, today is a victory day.”
“The drum is the heartbeat of Turtle Mountain – for 49 years the drums were playing, beating Leonard home,” said Jamie Azure, Chairman of the Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa. “Turtle Mountain is the heart of Turtle Island – and it’s Leonard’s home. Thank you, Leonard, for coming home to us, and thanks to all of you for getting him here.”
After lunch was served, Peltier greeted well wishers for over an hour. Some brought gifts, such as books, artweok, and sage.
https://nativenewsonline.net/currents/turtle-mountain-tribal-community-celebrates-leonard-peltier-s-homecoming#sigProIdc4fe67a639
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