[Mb-civic] Leonards day of mourning message

[Barbara Siomos]

Aho my relations,

I again write to you on this day of 
mourning as I approach the end of 3O
years of deprived freedom. I am here to
appease a vengeful government that has
come onto our lands, committed genocide
and continues to rob us of our history and
culture while giving away our land, 
murdering, and torturing our people. I am
held here because of the corruption of two
countries (Canada and the United States)
which illegally extradited me, and which led
to an illegal conviction and imprisonment.

Despite the incessant claims of this being a
country of laws and an example to the 
world of justice, freedom, and democracy, it 
is obvious that this Government protects 
whoever it wants, and imprisons and kills
whoever it wants.

My imprisonment is one key example of 
what lengths this Government will go to in
order to achieve its goal of repressing
indigenous dissent. The United States
Government continually seeks to imprison
all indigenous peoples on our land. The US
Government has been increasing its 
oppressive and tyrannical tactics. All 
peoples rights are being eroded and fears
are heightened as a tool to keep the war
machine alive and increase the destruction
of Mother Earth. Innocent people are
dying, not only in this country, but all over
the world in the name of democracy and
freedom.

My elders before me said, and I tell you 
now, The earth does not belong to us, we
belong to the earth. And I want to say, this
earth belongs to Tunkashala, the creator of
all that is. There has already started a time
of great cleansing upon the earth and this
Government has begun to crumble. The
fabric of the constitution is soiled and torn.

We as human beings can give thanks or 
mourn, but if all that happens is no more
than lip service, very little will happen to
correct things. In the traditions of my 
native people we barely had words of 
thanks. It was something that was shown by action of giving or doing. We all breath
the same air, are made of the same earth,
and drink of the same water. We are all 
more relative than we sometimes 
acknowledge. We need to do more than
just what is right. We need to join together
and right what is wrong.

It is time we all unite to stop the madness
threatening the whole planet, and stand
together with those who go beyond words
and deliver on the promise of freedom and
justice, and against those guided by greed,
arrogance, and prejudice. Stay true, work
in unity, confront the traitors, don't be
afraid, and don't let our struggle die.

And finally, I mourn the loss of so many of 
our relatives over the past year and
especially my brother Steve Robideau. I
appreciate you each and every one. Now,
please organize and set out to correct the
wrongs so that this day of mourning will
become a relic of the past.

In the Spirit of Crazy Horse,
Leonard Peltier
Mitakuye Oyasin


Official Website: [1]www.leonardpeltier.org