Native Americans say NO! to Hillary Clinton

Body: Hello My Friends and Relations;

During the Clinton administration I worked for the Leonard Peltier Defense
Committee (LPDC) trying to get Leonard a pardon for his aiding and abetting
conviction in the tragic deaths which occurred during an altercation
between the FBI and the AIM on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in 1975.
For many years before and during the Clinton administration millions of
Americans, and even more millions of people from other countries, signed
petitions demanding simple justice for Leonard. Over fifty Senators and
Congressmen and women signed on, President Nelson Mandela made a personal
appeal on his behalf, Bishop Desmond Tutu did likewise. Every Indian Tribe
and Native organization from Alaska to Argentina rose to his defense,
Amnesty International called him Americas only political prisoner. Mass
marches and rallies were held in cities across the U.S. and an intense
lobbying effort was begun on his behalf. Despite all these efforts our
pleadings fell on deaf ears and Leonard languished in prison, writing books
and doing what all political prisoners do... wait until the truth frees
them.

During the first Bush administration it was a hopeless task seeking any
justice from the executive branch so we concentrated on legal proceedings
and appeals. It became so clear that a miscarriage of justice had occurred
that even an Federal Appeals Court Judge asked for clemency. Robert Redford
made a documentary about him called "Incident at Oglala" and Peter
Matthieson wrote a book called "In the Spirit of Crazy Horse" both of which
proved Peltiers innocence and documented the prosecutions misdeeds in
convicting him. It was proven that Leonard was a scapegoat for FBI failures
more than a convicted criminal.

Then came the Clinton administration and we in Indian Country were hopeful
that a Democrat in the White House would at last listen to reason and
finally free Leonard Peltier. So for eight years we patiently presented our
evidence and over ten million signatures from around the world. We were
wrong, President Clinton left office without signing his pardon and Leonard
was left to spend another decade unjustly confined to a jail cell. He has
now been there for over thirty years, long past the parole date for the
crime he was convicted of aiding and abetting.

However it isn't only that Clinton refused to pardon Peltier it was the way
it was done that has angered Indian Country. After an immense and intense
lobbying effort by Native American people and our organizations the
Clintons led us to believe that a pardon would be forthcoming at the end of
their administration. I spent the final days of the Clinton administration
helping the LPDC so I know first hand that contacts within the
administration made reassuring backchannel statements to the LPDC and I
also know that those statements came from the Office of the First Lady,
Hillary Clinton. Any release of the specific White House people involved
would have to come from the LPDC but we were led to believe what we did by
Hillary Clintons office and we all assumed, because of who those contacts
were, with her direct knowledge. They deliberatly lied to keep us quiet as
long as needed and Indian Country has a long memory.

At first we were at a loss to explain what had happened but then the far
right, anti-Indian Ex-Govenor of South Dakota, Bill Janklow, began bragging
about how he and his rightwing allies had stopped Clinton from issuing a
pardon. He said he had a "personal meeting" with Clinton in which he
"convinced" the President not to pardon Peltier or else face dire
consequences from "law enforcement" and their allies. Of course as soon as
Gore was cheated out of the election, Hillary Clinton began claiming her
right to the nomination and the reason why Peltier was denied a pardon
became very clear... the Clinton machine was afraid a pardon, no matter how
deserved, would impede their march back to power! Plain and simply they
were intimidated by the far right and cowardly gave in to their threats.

Bill Clinton came to some Indian reservations when he was President and
that has left some lingering good will for him among some Indian people.
But he, like every politician before him, flat out lied when he promised to
do something about the conditions on our homelands. Our people still suffer
the highest poverty numbers in the nation. On Pine Ridge where Clinton
visited the unemployed are over 75% of the population!! Where else on earth
are 75% of the people without work, much less in America? Bill Clinton came
to South Dakota and exploited the horrible poverty of our people for his
own political gain. Then he left to forget what he saw and disrespect us on
Leonard Peltiers pardon. Our poor people deserve better than another
Clinton presidency and we must remember that electing another Clinton means
that our brother will continue to remain unjustly imprisoned. Here in the
west, in states where our votes count, we must reject Hillary Clinton and
send her back to D.C. where lies are normal. Native America and all of
Indian Country must say NO! to Hillary Clinton.

Carter Camp, Ponca Nation