Leonard Peltier is Free!

Today is a day of celebration in North Dakota. Welcome Home, Brother Leonard!

Weeks after then-President Joe Biden commuted his life sentence, indigenous activist Leonard Peltier, who was convicted of the murders of two FBI agents despite evidence that he was innocent of the crimes, has been released and is home after 49 years.

According to news reports, the 80-year-old Peltier was released Tuesday morning from Federal Correctional Complex in Coleman, Florida with supporters cheering him as he left in a car, part of a motorcade taking him to a waiting jet, which then flew him to Turtle Mountain Indian Reservation in North Dakota. The communication is not a full pardon, so Peltier will spend the rest of his life in home confinement. Regardless, his release is welcomed by supporters and those who fight for human rights and was celebrated today at an event and community feed at the Sky Dancer Event Center in Belcourt, North Dakota. 

“Leonard Peltier is free! He never gave up fighting for his freedom so we never gave up fighting for him. Today our elder Leonard Peltier walks into the open arms of his people,” said Nick Tilsen, the founder and CEO of the NDN Collective, an indigenous-led activist and advocacy organization based in Rapid City, South Dakota, United States that is hosting the welcome home event today. “Peltier’s liberation is invaluable in and of itself – yet just as his wrongful incarceration represented the oppression of Indigenous Peoples everywhere, his release today is a symbol of our collective power and inherent freedom.”

Peltier’s sentence was two life terms for the killing of FBI agents Ronald Williams and Jack Coler who on June 26, 1975 were pursuing a suspect in a theft case onto Jumping Bull Ranch on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation. Members of the American Indian Movement (AIM), which included Peltier, were camping on the property at the time (having been invited there by the Jumping Bull elders to provide protection from the extreme violence on the reservation at that time). At some point, a gunfight ensued that ended with AIM member Joe Stuntz and Agents William and Coler dead. After a massive manhunt, Peltier was arrested in Canada, then extraded and convicted in 1977. Peltier has maintained his innocence. According to Unicorn Riot, there were inconsistencies in the government’s case, including withdrawn witness statements and alleged vindicative evidence kept secret. There were also former law enforcement officials critical of Peltier’s release saying that his actions endangered the rule of law.

Peltier’s case became a campaign to free him that generated worldwide support, from those who held rallies and others events, to Nobel laureates and celebrities. Robbie Robertson, one of the original members of The Band, advocated for Peltier but did not live to see him freed, passing away in in 2023.

Rage Against Machine wrote the song Freedom in support of Peltier. In an Instagram post, the band cheered on the news of his pending release by writing, “Anger is a gift. Leonard Peltier to be freed.” Drummer Brad Wilk went further on his account; “After almost 50 years of unjust incarceration, clemency was finally granted to Leonard Peltier!,” he posted. “From as far back as the first RATM video, which marked his story and the incident at Oglala, to marching in the streets of NY at the end of Clinton’s term and beyond we have been hoping for this day of clemency and Justice for Peltier to finally come.”

Peltier spoke just before he boarded the jet that took him home. He told supporters that he was still in the fight. “We’re gonna continue until we are a free nation. I gave fifty years for that, and I’ll give the rest of my life.”