EXCERPT BEGINS
Leonard Peltier
PO Box 583
Lawrence, KS 66044
http://www.leonardpeltier.org
Leonard Peltier Defense Committee

January 23, 2004


Hau Kola, Hello my friends, my relatives:

You can never imagine the heartfelt comfort it brings to know you're not
forgotten in prison. This is my 28th year, and I've seen others come and
go and return again. I can't help but feel a great sorrow for many of
these young men who keep coming back for one reason or another; most of
which are alcohol-related offenses. So much has changed since I came here
and yet, in many ways, it's still the same.

The government, under the pretext of security and progress, liberated us
from our land, resources, culture, dignity and future. They violated every
treaty they ever made with us. I use the word "liberated" loosely and
sarcastically, in the same vein that I view their use of the words
"collateral damage" when they kill innocent men, women, and children.

They describe people defending their homeland as terrorists, savages and
hostiles, and accuse us of being aggressors. We have never fought a battle
or war that was not on our own land; we never fired the first shot ...
ever. My words reach out to the non-Indian: Look now before it's far too
late - see what is being done to others in your name and see what
destruction you sanction when you say nothing. Your own treaty, the one
between yourselves and the government, is being violated daily; this
treaty is commonly known as the Constitution.

With us, they started a little at a time, encroaching on our rights until
we had none at all. It will be the same for the Constitution; this is not
conjecture, but fact. We are not embattled with the color of man, but with
the weakness of man, a mindset that lusts for power and wealth at the
expense of life.

Men of all colors, cultures and religions must stand together to oppose
the genocidal policies that face us all as the corporate world seeks to
enslave all, and pit one nation against another.

If you avoid breaking laws and do what you're told and ignore the poor,
the oppressed and the downtrodden - you probably won't be bothered. If you
try to right what is wrong, however, you will surely meet great opposition
and run the risk of imprisonment or death.

I am a Sun Dancer. I took a vow for my people. I chose to seek the
Creator's will and to follow it to the best of my ability. I WILL NOT
STAND DOWN FROM THAT VOW. I will continue to speak, write and organize
until Grandfather himself quiets my life. If I can do this in prison, I
have no doubt you can do much better from where you stand.

I encourage you to do your best, be kind to one another, seek harmony and
balance with all natural life, enjoy what freedom you have left, and most
of all, never, never give up.

In the Spirit of Crazy Horse,
Leonard Peltier
Mitakuye Oyasin


........................................................................


*^* HAVE YOU THOUGHT OF LEONARD PELTIER LATELY? *^*
A Memoir with Artifacts
& Companion Website ~ www.HaveYouThought.com ~

HAVE YOU PRE-ORDERED YOUR PERSONAL COPY YET?
PLEASE HELP US BY DOING SO TODAY!
CHECK OUT WWW.HAVEYOUTHOUGHT.COM ! THANKS!

"This book is a prayer, a hope, a shout, a flaming arrow shot into the
dark night of our collective national dishonor. We are ALL & EACH of us
complicit in Leonard's imprisonment so long as we do not stand up, every
one of us and all of us together, today, this very moment, and
collectively denounce and oppose and contest in every way possible the
overt travesty and tragedy of this innocent man's continuing
imprisonment."
from Author's Foreword to ~HAVE YOU THOUGHT of LEONARD PELTIER LATELY?~
.........................................................................
With the great good help of my editor & friend George Bowe Blitch, I have
cobbled together this collection and recollection of private memories and
public happenings, emails, letters, drawings, poems, news articles,
photographs, illustrations, aphorisms, online postings & miscellaneous
other digital and nondigital artifacts, including a free companion website
to this volume-www.HaveYouThought.com-the assembled living pieces and
patches of my own personal and public and agonizing seven-year struggle to
save what remains of the life of one very extraordinary human being named
Leonard Peltier-USP ('United States Prisoner') #89637-132-now serving his
28th year as a 'houseguest in Hell' at the U.S. Federal Penitentiary at
Leavenworth, KS for a crime he simply did not commit
EXCERPT ENDS click link for copy verify. Feel free to comment or e-mail: wahkonta@graffiti.net