TRUE DEMOCRACY SPRING 2001

TRUE DEMOCRACY SPRING 2001 TABLE OF CONTENTS

political prisoners

Leonard Peltier

MORE POSITIVE DEVELOPMENTS IN THE EFFORT TO FREE LEONARD PELTIER!

Below: LPDC media update, telephone update, and comments made today by Rev.
Jesse Jackson and Congressman Ackerman.

We are writing to update you on some MORE positive delevopments regarding the Leonard Peltier clemency effort. The White House officially released a statement last Monday reaffirming the President's commitment to deciding on Leonard Peltier's clemency petition before leaving office. The release prompted a media outburst. The story was covered by CNN, NPR, AP, the LA Times, USA Today, the Washington Post and numerous other papers.

We want to congratulate each of you for all of your phone calls, faxes, and letters. We have made it through a critical period, the Thanksgiving Holiday, without a denial and we are still going strong. Our advisors suspect that the White House released the statement in order to test the waters and find out what kind of reaction would ensue.

Let's give the White House an overwhelming reaction of support for Leonard Peltier's clemency! In our last urgent telephone action, we said we would update you after December 1st. Since there has been no decision, it is important to keep up and increase, the intensity of our calls. Please continue the daily calls through December 1st and on through the month of December. There is a good chance a decision will be made after the Freedom Walk (December 10) and before the Christmas Holiday, so please hang in there and keep up the great work!

Wait! more good news. Amy Goodman of "Democracy Now" has struck again. Today she posed questions to both Rev. Jesse Jackson and Congressman Ackerman. Here is what they said:

Excerpts of Pacifica Radio's Democracy Now interviews on Leonard Peltier November 29, 2000 will air on November 30, 2000 Comments of Reverend Jesse Jackson, NY Democratic Congressmember Gary Ackerman

Amy Goodman: "Reverend Jackson, President Clinton says he's weighing
  executive clemency for Leonard Peltier, what are your thoughts on that? "
Jackson: "I hope that when he weighs it, he will free Peltier. He's been
  in jail a very long time for a crime he never committed in the first place.
  I hope that as an act of humanity that President Clinton will free 
  Peltier."
Goodman: "Will you talk to him about it?"
Jackson: "I have."
Goodman: And what has he said?
Jackson: "He's weighing it."

New York Congressmember Gary Ackerman, ranking Democrat on  Subcommittee
on the Western Hemisphere under the Committee on International Relations:

Goodman: President Clinton says he's weighing executive clemency for
  Leonard Peltier..."
New York Congressmember Gary Ackerman: "I think he should review it.
  There's no term limits on justice. Sometimes with the benefit of history 
  and hindsight, sometimes some of these cases should be reviewed. It appears 
  that he might have gotten a very bum rap based on the temperament of the 
  times and the fervor of the feds and the dislike for people who protest".

PREVIOUS ARTICLE NEXT ARTICLE