On Monday, outgoing President Joe Biden commuted the life sentence of Indigenous activist Leonard Peltier. Peltier was convicted of murdering two FBI agents, Jack Coler and Ronald Williams, on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in 1975.
On today's episode of Main Street, Prairie Public's Ann Alquist spoke with National Native News anchor Brian Bull. Bull is a longtime reporter on Native issues, and interviewed Peltier when he was incarcerated at Leavenworth Prison. Alquist caught up with Bull about the significance of granting clemency to Peltier. Listen to the conversation above.
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FULL TRANSCRIPT
Ann Alquist:
Brian, where were you when you realized that President Biden had granted clemency to Leonard Peltier?
Brian Bull:
Interestingly enough, I was actually covering a Martin Luther King Jr. parade, march, and celebration happening in Eugene about the same time that news was breaking about the commutation of Peltier's sentence. A little bit of a serendipity there in that a lot of the participants at that event, you know, are always calling for more equal justice and fair ways of life and living for all people of color. And Martin Luther King Jr. himself had often spoken about the oppression and the genocide of Native people. So it was, you know, as far as getting the news and learning about it, it was kind of a timely place to find myself.
Alquist:
Well, let's talk about the background of Leonard Peltier's case. It was right at the time you were born or before you were born in 1975. So give us some of the background about what was going on at the time. I'm thinking specifically about the American Indian movement. I'm thinking specifically about Pine Ridge.
Bull:
Yeah, it's interesting. Some people talk to me as if I was there or had been covering the story at length at the very beginning. And I was like, no, when the shootout happened in late June of 1975, I was actually six years old and probably living in Spokane, Washington at the time.
And so quite young, quite naive, and very far removed from the events of the time. The immediate incident that this whole case surrounds is a shootout that had occurred at a residence called the Jumping Bull Residence, no relation, on the Pine Ridge Reservation back in June 75. There were two FBI agents who, I believe they're trying to serve an arrest warrant on someone completely outside Peltier.
And they had followed a red and white vehicle, a pickup truck, onto the Jumping Bull Ranch. And there's a shootout between the two FBI agents, Jack Coler and Ron Williams, against a number of individuals with the American Indian movement. And from Peltier's account, there's two different accounts.
One began with him being woken up by the sounds of gunfire. Another account said that he was working on a vehicle. And then another account, I think, even said that he was just waking up to breakfast and was getting ready to serve because there was a number of people there who were having a camp.
And at that time, there were a lot of AIM members who were on site across the reservation as a way to kind of help safeguard people against both, I believe, federal agents, states, county police, and then also what were called the goons back in the 70s. There was a president of the Oglala Nation, Dick Wilson, who had formed a group called Guardians of the Oglala Nation, or as critics like he called them, the Goon Squad. And there were fierce skirmishes between goons and AIM members with a lot of alleged violent murders happening all across Pine Ridge.
And so there was a lot of tension that was already rampant in the South Dakota community, the Native community. This was also coming off of the 71-day standoff that AIM had with law enforcement that basically threw AIM into the national spotlight. And so there were a lot of people who were up in arms, and there were some very tense confrontations, not only between goons and AIM members, but varying groups of law enforcement.
And so when the shootout erupted, there was a lot of confusion sometimes as to what exactly was happening. What the FBI says is that there was a call in for help from Williams and Culler, and that no other agent was within responding distance. I think even though someone had drove in at 90 miles per hour to get there, they were still too late to help back up the two agents.
And so when they were found, they were found dead. I believe there was more than 100 bullet holes in the vehicles, and one of the vehicles had actually been towed away and stripped down. And so now the FBI was trying to determine, through its own investigation and ballistics analysis, who was responsible.
And the long story short was that there were, I believe, four individuals all together who had been indicted in the murders of Agents Williams and Coler. Eventually, two individuals had charges dismissed. Another one, a third one, was acquitted by jury in 1976.
And then the fourth person indicted for the murders, Leonard Peltier, he was extradited from Canada and then eventually convicted and received two consecutive life sentences.
Alquist:
Leonard Peltier and the issues around his incarceration, you've been with the story your entire working life as a journalist. So how did this affect you when you've been with the story for so long, Brian?
Bull:
Well, at some point, and this is just me speaking as a professional journalist, you just detach yourself from the events and issues you cover and have very little part in resolving. I can't always get emotionally invested in the outcome. And there's always a story or two more to tackle off in the wings.
I just have stacks of notes and folders of stories that I can't always make time for. But you keep tending to the stories that are important to your audience. And I know this has been a big profile case for decades ever since his conviction and his sentencing.
A lot of people in Indian country were very concerned because this talks to issues, justice issues for Indian country in general, equitable treatment. And that's been something that has been a concern of mine since I got chin deep into journalism back in the 1990s and will remain so for some time. It is something that I think wears you down after a while because the wheels of justice turn very slow.
And you also have to make time to listen to all the voices, a lot of dissenting voices that come up in a situation like this. And so you talk to all the parties, you try to be as responsive to all the viewpoints that you get, and then you just wait. Because again, as I said, I don't have a lot of hand in deciding what kind of decisions get handed down from the powers that be.
But you just kind of keep a beat on it and you keep your audiences informed of all the latest developments.
Alquist:
I feel like every time a president leaves office, the question always comes up. I feel like Leonard Peltier is like a perennial. I mean, I even had that thought before President Biden left office. Like, I wonder if Leonard Peltier is… something's gonna happen. And then I thought, no, because nothing's happened for 50 years. And then my ears perked up, you know, when I heard the newscast about the clemency.
Bull:
Yeah. No, it's been a surprising turn of events. I was, I was completely blindsided myself when I first heard the news.
I thought perhaps maybe it was a hoax, fake news, something that had been instigated on social media perhaps. But when I saw the letter from President Biden, it was pretty clear that this was a commutation of his sentence. And again, this has been an effort that has been underway by Peltier's supporters for decades.
In fact, I think probably the most intensive ones have usually happened during Democratic presidencies. So Obama was very pressured into granting clemency or pardon. Clinton was also heavily pressured too, back in 2000.
And then there's also been pushback too, though. The FBI, for instance, I believe had a march that commemorated the memories of agents Williams and Culler with a number of agents, I believe 500, marching through Washington carrying their portraits because they considered the, the act that took the agent's lives to be very cold-blooded and was done an execution style. So there's a lot of passion on both sides of this issue.
And I think over time, it became more about whether, you know, less about whether or not Peltier was guilty of the murders or not, but more about how the trials had been handled about, there's been a lot of questions raised about how the trial was held and how witness testimony was provided. And so questions were raised about the justice system itself in handling this case. And then also too, there's a lot of focus shifted to Peltier's declining health and his condition and the fact that he had spent already - He's 80 years old.
Alquist:
Yeah, he's 80.
Bull:
Yes, 80 years old. Reportedly suffering from an aortic aneurysm, I believe was one of the diagnosis and partial blindness, and I believe diabetes. So there's a number of things that people were calling attention to that they felt that at least this would be a humanitarian thing to commute his sentence and let him live out his final years with his community, with his family.
Alquist:
Well, Peltier was not granted a pardon. So what will clemency mean? You've already alluded to this, you know, he'll be able, this clemency won't mean he'll be able to live out with his family, but it's not a pardon. There's a distinction.
Bull:
No, no. Biden commuted his sentence, so it's not a pardon. It takes effect February 18.
So Peltier will spend the rest of his time in home confinement. The organization, Indian Collective, has bought him a house, they say, on the Turtle Mountain Indian Reservation in North Dakota, which is his original homeland. And it will be what it is.
I think that there will be a lot of people in the law enforcement community and their supporters. I know that South Dakota Senator John Thune has expressed his dismay at this outcome, who will be opposed. But at the same time, there are a lot of other supporters, again, who say that he's spent well more than half his life behind bars.
Let him live out his final years, again, with his family and with his community.
Alquist:
One of the interesting points about Leonard Peltier's advocates is that they're international. The Dalai Lama, Nelson Mandela, Mother Teresa, Pope Francis, and even the U.S. attorney who prosecuted Peltier, James Reynolds, wrote letters during his long incarceration advocating for commutation. What was it about Peltier's case that made it difficult for his advocates? And then conversely, what was it about Peltier's case that inspired such advocacy?
Bull:
That's an excellent question, Ann. I think that there are a lot of people who came to see Peltier as a broader symbol of the injustice that the federal government has inflicted upon Native people since colonization, since westward expansion, and that the scales of justice have always been tilted against Native people in both small cases. I believe there's a lot of data that shows that BIPOC individuals tend to get pulled over and examined and investigated more so than the white population.
I also think that given the violence and tensions on Pine Ridge and with the American Indian Movement through the 70s, that there was also a lot of concern for people who were outspoken advocates for sovereignty and equal justice and civil rights. And so I think over the years, Peltier has really grown as a symbol for Native people and for all people who are concerned about the rights of Indigenous communities worldwide. I think it's not a big surprise, actually, that people who are very concerned and attuned to world justice would want to come out and join the throngs who are behind Peltier.
And so, yeah, when you consider that several Nobel Peace Prize laureates and the Dalai Lama and Mother Teresa have all come out and called for his release or called for at least commutation, as we've seen in this past week, that is not surprising in many ways. I think, too, though, that there will always still be dissenters and there will always be people who felt that justice was served with Peltier behind bars. I'm thinking of the surviving relatives of the two slain agents.
Peltier behind bars was a way for them, in their perspective, to have justice and closure to the murders of their relatives.
Alquist:
Brian, thanks for spending this time with us. And I imagine we'll be following this closely because Leonard Peltier's coming home to North Dakota.
Bull:
Yeah, no, that'll be something to see. I'll be curious to see if anyone has granted access to him while he is out there. And, you know, it'd be interesting to follow him around and see what it's like to have him back on Turtle Mountain and experiencing the comfort and atmosphere of a place that he's not seen for a long time.