{"id":38479,"date":"2025-02-25T09:27:47","date_gmt":"2025-02-25T14:27:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/unitedresourceconnection.org\/cannon-ball-nd-58528\/ive-come-home\/"},"modified":"2025-02-25T09:27:52","modified_gmt":"2025-02-25T14:27:52","slug":"ive-come-home","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/unitedresourceconnection.org\/cannon-ball-nd-58528\/ive-come-home\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018I\u2019ve come home\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\"\"<\/p>\n

Leonard Peltier as he is stepping off of the plane at Devil\u2019s Lake, ND<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

BELCOURT, N.D. \u2013 After 49 years of imprisonment, Chippewa activist Leonard Peltier raised his fist out the window of a white SUV Tuesday as he crossed the border of the Turtle Mountain Reservation and shouted to his supporters and to his family.
\n\u201cThank you very much,\u201d he yelled to dozens of people standing on the side of North Dakota Highway 5. \u201cI\u2019m home. I\u2019ve come home.\u201d
\nThe 80-year-old landed in Devils Lake, North Dakota, on Tuesday afternoon and was taken in a caravan 90 minutes north to Belcourt, where supporters in more than 80 vehicles waited at the reservation border.
\nPeople carried signs: \u201cMiigwech (thank you) Leonard Peltier.\u201d \u201c50 years of resistance.\u201d \u201cWelcome Leonard.\u201d \u201cIt\u2019s about damn time.\u201d \u201cWelcome home Leonard Peltier.\u201d \u201cWelcome home cuz.\u201d \u201cWelcome home grandpa.\u201d
\nFacing minus-20-degree wind chills, fathers stood by their shivering sons and daughters. Elders stood by their grandchildren, and Two-Spirit people hoisted fabric-covered signs.
\nMen sang the American Indian Movement anthem on a drum as cars streamed past in both directions.
\nSheila Peltier sat in her vehicle waiting for the caravan to arrive. Leonard Peltier\u2019s youngest sister said she organized much of the Tuesday activities, including a community dinner in the evening.
\n\u201cIt\u2019s a glorious day. It\u2019s a historical day,\u201d she said. \u201cHe\u2019s coming home.\u201d
\nShe said she attended rallies as a child held in support of her brother\u2019s freedom. Her brother will face house arrest when he gets home, but those restrictions aren\u2019t likely to drain his spirit too much, she said.
\n\u201cAnything\u2019s better than where he was,\u201d Sheila Peltier said. \u201cI\u2019m sure he feels like he\u2019s a free man compared to being in prison for nearly 50 years.\u201d
\nPeltier was released from federal prison in Sumterville, Florida, Tuesday to make the journey home. Outgoing President Joe Biden issued an order as he was leaving office Jan. 20 to grant clemency to Peltier, who suffered from several serious health problems.<\/p>\n

Peltier \u2013 who was not convicted of murder in the deaths of FBI agents Jack Coler and Ronald Williams \u2013 served 49 years after being convicted of aiding and abetting in the murder of the federal officers. He also received a seven-year sentence for an escape attempt.
\nUntil Biden\u2019s last-minute action, Peltier had repeatedly been denied parole, pardon, clemency and compassionate release and had seen eight presidents leave office without pardoning him or commuting his sentence.
\nHis release came after decades of grassroots organizing in Indian Country and the presentation of evidence of misconduct and constitutional violations during the prosecution of Peltier\u2019s case.<\/p>\n

Sheila Peltier said her brother endured a grave injustice by being convicted of a crime based on false evidence.
\n\u201cThey took his life for nothing. There\u2019s no evidence,\u201d she said. \u201cSomebody had to pay for a crime. He\u2019s the one that had to do it I guess.\u201d
\nEarlier Tuesday at the Sky Dancer Casino and Resort, Leonard Peltier\u2019s nieces, Brenda Martinez, 62, and Pamela Bravo, 58, paced the halls waiting for their uncle\u2019s arrival.
\nMartinez said it likely will be difficult for prisoner No. 89637-132 to transition to life outside the walls of Coleman Federal Corrections Complex in Florida.
\n\u201cHe can now open a fridge. He can turn on a stove, things he has not been able to do for 50 years, that we take for granted,\u201d she said. \u201cAnd he can look out his window. He can stand at the door and smell that morning air, things he has not had for more than a lifetime.\u201d<\/p>\n

She said Biden\u2019s decision to grant her uncle clemency was a shock to her and many of her relatives. After confirming the news with her aunt, Sheila Peltier, she began calling other relatives to share the news.
\nShe said she had worried something might prevent Leonard Peltier from leaving prison after Jan. 20, especially with Donald Trump becoming president and federal authorities fuming over Biden\u2019s decision.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s been one of the longest months,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Martinez shared fond memories of her uncle taking her and her siblings into Belcourt to buy candy as children.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe was a wonderful uncle,\u201d she said. \u201cHe was very loving to us and that\u2019s what we carried.\u201d<\/p>\n

Said Bravo: \u201cHe\u2019s just a strong person, standing up for all the Natives.\u201d<\/p>\n

His younger brother, Ron Peltier, 70, waited at the casino for his brother after Leonard Peltier\u2019s caravan crossed the reservation border on Tuesday.<\/p>\n

He said he never got to know his brother, as Leonard was away at boarding school when he was young and Ron was taken from his family at age 4 and later adopted at age 8. Ron Peltier spent his life in Toledo, Ohio, and today lives with his wife there.
\nBut in 2005, he reunited with his brother and began visiting him at U.S. Penitentiary Leavenworth in Kansas, where they spent many hours together.
\n\u201cThe thing that strikes me the most about Leonard is the fact that he has not gotten bitter or angry,\u201d he said. \u201cHe didn\u2019t give in and give up, and a lot of people would be deflated and defeated. \u2026 He\u2019s got a good heart.\u201d
\nGreg LeBeau, 44, a staff member at Belcourt Elementary School, grew up in Leonard Peltier\u2019s hometown hearing stories about Peltier and decided later to educate himself about the circumstances of his imprisonment.
\nHe said the past few weeks since Biden\u2019s decision have been an \u201cemotional roller coaster\u201d and he called the decision to grant Peltier clemency an act of justice for all Native people.
\n\u201cIt\u2019s a historical day, and I\u2019m very proud to be a part of it and be present for it,\u201d he said. \u201cAll I hope for him is that he gets the peace that he\u2019s waited for for so long.\u201d<\/p>\n

Little Crow Bellecourt, 52, executive director of the Indigenous Protector Movement in Minneapolis, said he grew up singing with drum groups at events held to rally support for Peltier.
\nWhen he heard about the clemency decision, he said he thought of his father, famed AIM leader Clyde Bellecourt, and the many years he fought for Peltier\u2019s release.
\n\u201cA lot of his brothers and sisters that he fought with in the movement are in the spirit world now. Gone,\u201d Little Crow Bellecourt said. \u201cSo my hopes are that he can be around family, and he\u2019s been the face of Native resistance for many years, my whole life. Gives me hope that we don\u2019t give up.\u201d<\/p>\n

He said the AIM\u2019s birth in Minneapolis in 1968 sparked a nationwide movement for Indigenous pride and social justice. He said his father was one of the first Native people in Minneapolis to grow his hair long.
\nHe said AIM fought for the people, especially those on the Pine Ridge Reservation who called for the organization\u2019s support. Additional celebrations are scheduled for Wednesday.
\n\u201cIt\u2019s going to be a big day,\u201d he said, choking back tears. \u201cI can\u2019t wait for tonight, to see him, sing some songs. I actually get to sing the Peltier song tonight while he\u2019s a free man, and that\u2019s awesome.\u201d
\nA community feed for Peltier took place from noon-4 p.m. Central time Wednesday at the Sky Dancer Casino Event Center in Belcourt.<\/p>\n

The post \u2018I\u2019ve come home\u2019<\/a> first appeared on Native Sun News Today<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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Leonard Peltier as he is stepping off of the plane at Devil\u2019s Lake, ND BELCOURT, N.D. \u2013 After 49 years of imprisonment, Chippewa activist Leonard Peltier raised his fist out the window of a white SUV Tuesday as he crossed the border of the Turtle Mountain Reservation and shouted to <\/p>\n

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