Opinion. During the opening general session of the annual National Congress of American Indians (NCAI) in late October, NCAI President Mark Macarro, chairman of the Pechanga Band of Indians, shared the story of being one of several prominent Native Americans invited to join the Air Force One to fly. with President Joe Biden as he traveled to Phoenix in late October to apologize for the U.S. government’s role in federal Indian boarding schools.
Macarro said he received a call from Rose Petoskey (Grand Traverse Band of Ottawa & Chippewa Indians), Director of Tribal Affairs and Senior Advisor to the White House Office of Intergovernmental Affairs, asking if he would fly to Washington, DC and meet in Joint Base Andrews travels with the President aboard Air Force One to attend a presidential event in the Gila River Indian Community.
He explained that he did not know in advance what President Biden’s important announcement would be. Macarro said he did not learn the details of the event until more than an hour after the flight. It would be a historic presidential event.
A while after the trip, President Biden joined the group in the boardroom of Air Force One. Each leader was told that he would have five minutes to discuss any topic he wished with the president.
Macarro quickly thought about what he wanted to discuss. He thought about broaching the subject of the Dodgers or perhaps the Biden-Harris administration’s achievements in Indian Country, including the major appointment of Deb Haaland (Laguna Pueblo) as Secretary of the Interior.
Ultimately, Macarro decided to raise the issue of clemency for Leonard Peltier (Turtle Mountain Ojibwe), a member of the American Indian Movement (AIM), who is serving two consecutive life sentences for his conviction in the murder of two FBI agents in 1975, Jack. R. Coler and Ronald A. Williams, on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation. Peltier has been imprisoned for nearly half a century and is currently incarcerated in the U.S. Penitentiary in Coleman, Florida, a maximum security facility.
“Mr. President, we are flying to Phoenix, where you will apologize on behalf of the government for its role in India’s boarding schools,” Macarro began. “You should know that there is an 80-year-old named Leonard Peltier, one of the oldest surviving Indian boarding school survivors, who is in prison. He went to Wahpeton Indian School in North Dakota,” Macarro told the president.
Macarro noted that he did not think the president was aware of this. “It was new information for him,” Macarro said. “I then told him that Peltier spent five decades in federal prison for a crime that the government admitted could not be proven.”
Macarro also informed the president that Peltier is in poor health and uses a walker to get around.
The NCAI President told the President of the United States that members of Congress, both current and former, have called for Peltier’s release.
Macarro explained that the biggest opposition to Peltier’s release has come from the FBI. He told Biden that the FBI director would hand him evidence that has already been proven to be false. Macarro explained that the FBI wants someone to pay for the loss of their two agents, and Peltier is that person.
Macarro added that even the federal prosecutor who argued Peltier’s case admitted that the government’s case against him was flawed.
After listening, President Biden paused for a moment and then asked Macarro if Peltier had been convicted by a jury.
“Yes, Mr. President, he was, and I can tell you that the trial was a miscarriage of justice. There was prosecutorial misconduct and no exculpatory evidence was allowed to be presented. Evidence that would have exonerated Leonard,” Macarro explained.
He also told the president that one of the twelve jurors admitted during jury questioning that she hated Indians, but was allowed to remain on the jury, and it was that jury that convicted him.
Macarro told me later Indigenous news online that President Biden was non-committal about any action he would take on Peltier’s behalf, but he thanked Macarro for raising the matter.
Last week, Senator Brian Schatz (D-HI), chairman of the Senate Indian Affairs Committee, spoke on the Senate floor and called on President Biden to release Peltier.
Biden, known for his human compassion as a loving father, pardoned his son, Hunter Biden, citing the inappropriate persecution of his son due to his family’s political status.
I have written several op-eds in the past calling for the release of Leonard Peltier. I have also written that I believe the Biden-Harris administration has been the most beneficial presidential administration for Indian Country.
President Joe Biden can seal his legacy to Indian Country by granting clemency to Leonard Peltier, a man who uses a walker to get around and deserves to be with his family during the sunset of his life.
Thayék gde nwéndëmen – We are all related.
About the Author: “Levi \”Calm Before the Storm\” Rickert (Prairie Band Potawatomi Nation) is the founder, publisher and editor of Native News Online. Rickert was awarded the Best Column 2021 Native Media Award for the print category\/ online by the Native American Journalists Association. He is a member of the advisory board of the Multicultural Media Correspondents Association. He can be reached at levi@nativenewsonline.net.
Contact: levi@nativenewsonline.net
