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Not many people know who Leonard Peltier is. He is a Native American activist who was in prison for 50 years and was recently released from a Florida federal prison. The 80-year-old activist finally gets to come home after spending half a century in prison, however, there is a catch, and that is, he has to serve his remaining days under house arrest where he will be electronically monitored.
You must be wondering what crime Leonard Peltier committed for which he had to spend such a long time in prison. Well, the Native American activist was charged with homicide in 1975. He was arrested for killing two FBI (Federal Bureau of Investigation) agents, but he always maintained his innocence and continued to do the same for 50 long years.
It was former President Joe Biden who was the one to commute Peltier's two consecutive life sentences. Back in the day, a woman claimed to see Peltier kill the two FBI agents but later denied her testimony, declaring she had been pressurized. The act of clemency also played an important role for Peltier as he was not doing very well health-wise. His health has been on the decline for several years now.
After half a century, Leonard Peltier had the chance to return to his home on Turtle Mountain Reservation in North Dakota. Nick Tilsen, the founder of the NDN Collective, an advocacy organization run by Indigenous people, in a statement said:
"We made a commitment to free Leonard Peltier and bring him back to his homelands — this is us fulfilling that commitment".
The NDN collective in another statement, said that Peltier's homecoming will be celebrated and he will finally be able to connect with his community and will get used to his day-to-day life among his people.
Incident at Oglala, what is the documentary about
If you did not know about Leonard Peltier in the first place, then there is a very low chance of you knowing about Incident at Oglala. However, it's never too late to find out. Incident at Oglala is a documentary feature film narrated by the legendary actor/filmmaker Robert Redford, that follows the incident that took place at the Pine Ridge Reservation in 1975 where a bunch of FBI agents entered illegally and ended up killing a Native American along with two FBI agents.
Incident at Oglala focuses on the controversy and the botched investigation done by the FBI, framing Leonard Peltier as the perpetrator. The docu-film explores how the FBI botched the investigation as well as suppressed the evidence. The film clearly shows that Leonard Peltier's imprisonment was nothing but a failure of justice.
The docu-film, Incident at Oglala was directed by Michael Apted and was released on June 26, 1992. It is currently streaming on Prime Video. Make sure to check it out.
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