Jean Roach and Céline Planchou photo by CSIA
JEAN ROACH TELLS ABOUT THE EVENTS SHE WITNESSED WHEN SHE WAS 14, EVENTS THAT LED TO LEONARD PELTIER'S LIFELONG SENTENCE
Transcribed and written by Christine Prat
Censored News
The evening before CSIA-Nitassinan 42nd Day of Solidarity, Mitch Walking Elk sang at the CICP (International Center for Popular Cultures) and other guests addressed the audience before the show. Jean Roach told the story of that terrible day, in June 1975, when two undercover FBI agents were killed during a shootout, which led to Leonard Peltier being sentenced for the murders, although he has long been proven innocent.
Jean Roach, Paris, October 15, 2022
"Right now, Leonard has been in prison for 47 years. And we are trying all avenues to have President Biden grant him his clemency. Everybody asks us what we would like people to do. What we're asking is everybody, if you are a person, an organization or a government official, to write letters of support urging President Biden to grant executive clemency.
"And now let's talk about the time period of 1975, when I was 14-years-old and we were attacked by the FBI. The time period was after Wounded Knee 1973, when the American Indian Movement took over Wounded Knee. We call it the reign of terror, when over 60 people were killed on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation. Anybody who was associated with the American Indian Movement were targets of the corrupt tribal government who had squads that would attack the American Indian Movement or people who were having ceremonies. He wouldn't like to have anything to do with traditional people, the Chairman.
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