Jonathan P. Baird lives in Wilmot.

With all the stories about Joe Biden’s pardon of his son Hunter, I think the main story has been lost. Biden still has time to use his pardon power to good purpose and he has started. He had used the pardon power less generously than all recent presidents but on Dec. 12, he commuted 1,500 prison sentences, which is a good first step.

I would submit his until-now sparing use of the pardon power, granted by the Constitution, reflects a too optimistic view of our justice system because it ignores so many injustices. President Biden has been hyper-cautious in the typically chicken Democratic Party fashion. Say what you will about Republicans, they are not afraid to pardon the biggest scoundrels whether they are super-rich fraudsters, racist cops, or slimy political operatives. Feckless Democrats want to take a poll first to see what voters think.

Instead of being known for something he repeatedly promised he would not do (and that is the definition of personal self-interest), Biden could go out with a bang by pardoning America’s longest-serving political prisoner, American Indian Movement activist Leonard Peltier.

Words against injustice are cheap. Clemency for Peltier would be meaningful. Peltier, now 80, has been in jail for 48 years. He is currently incarcerated at the United States Penitentiary in Coleman, Florida.

Pardoning Peltier and granting parole or compassionate release would be an important step in the healing direction Biden has indicated he wants to pursue. In late October, Biden issued what he called a “long overdue” formal apology for the abuse and trauma inflicted by the federal government’s Indian boarding school system.

Peltier himself was a victim of this policy. When he was nine years old, he was forcibly taken to an Indian boarding school in Wahpeton, North Dakota. He was made to remain there for three years. A pardon for Peltier would be something positive for which Biden would be forever known. It was talked about by Presidents Carter, Reagan, Clinton, and Obama but, in the end, none of them acted.

The request for pardon is more urgent in light of Peltier’s age and health. He is nearly blind and he struggles to walk. He has diabetes and he suffered an aortic aneurysm. He was hospitalized in July and October because his diabetes caused him to develop open wounds and tissue death on his toes and feet. If Biden doesn’t grant a pardon, it is likely Peltier will die in prison. There is no chance Trump would grant him a pardon.

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Not granting a pardon would be a missed opportunity to begin a process of rectification in our historic mistreatment of Native Americans. America has never owned up to its genocidal track record. Nick Tilsen, president of the NDN Collective, an Indigenous-led advocacy group, explained this well: “The way they have treated Leonard is the way they have treated indigenous people historically throughout this country. That is why indigenous people and oppressed people everywhere see a little bit of ourselves in Leonard Peltier.”

Two FBI agents and one Native American man died in the 1975 shootout on the Pine Ridge reservation in South Dakota. The FBI has long been opposed to Peltier’s release but they don’t talk about either their gross misconduct or the federal prosecutorial improprieties. Like happened to Martin Luther King Jr., Peltier and the American Indian Movement were targeted by COINTELPRO, the FBI’s effort to destroy 1970’s progressive movements.

The U.S. Attorney, James Reynolds, who prosecuted the case, has admitted the government was not able to prove Peltier committed any offense on the Pine Ridge reservation. All that was established was that Peltier was at the scene of the crime along with 40 other Native Americans.

The government dropped murder charges against Peltier because they had withheld exculpatory evidence. A ballistics test showed the murder weapon was not Peltier’s gun. The government ended up charging Peltier with “aiding and abetting” whoever killed the two agents but it was not proved whom he aided and abetted. His other co-defendants were acquitted.

In a later proceeding in 2003, the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals had this to say about the Peltier case: “Much of the government’s behavior at the Pine Ridge Reservation and in its prosecution of Mr. Peltier is to be condemned. The government withheld evidence. It intimidated witnesses. These facts are not disputed.”

When commentators start talking about how Biden should pardon political opponents of Donald Trump who have committed no crime but who might be prosecuted in the future for bogus charges, I have to say I have a bad reaction. How can a hypothetical possible future charge be considered for parole rather than someone who has done over 48 years of jail time?

When Peltier turned 80, he offered this birthday statement which I will quote, in part: “When I was a child, I looked to my Elders to learn how to live within Mother Earth’s rhythms. I yearn to sit by the fire with my loved ones and have our children look to me to learn the mysteries of Mother Earth. I want to laugh, share the pipe, and gaze into the eyes of a woman who does not carry handcuffs.

I have become an Elder. I suppose, in many ways, I am still the nine-year-old who founded The Resistance among my peers at Wahpeton Boarding School, the young man willing to sacrifice everything to protect my people, and the young man who worked hard and played hard when the chance arose. At the same time, I feel every second of these past eighty years wreaking havoc on my body….

Remember, my people. Remember who you are. Mother Earth herself flows through our veins. We endure. The greed, corruption and disdain of the colonizers will bring them to their ruin. They seek to ravish Mother Earth while chasing the almighty dollar. We have survived their apocalypse. We are not simply enduring. We are destined to thrive…

They have never managed to cage my spirit. They never will. Do not allow anyone to cage yours.

In the Spirit of Crazy Horse!

Doksha,

Leonard Peltier”