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Leonard Peltier and the murder of Anna Mae Aquash
Federal prosecutors have attempted to tie Indigenous political prisoner Leonard Peltier to the murder of fellow AIM activist, Anna Mae Pictou-Aquash. It is a frequent allegation that has relied on weak evidence and the charges of paid federal informants. In this episode, TRN Podcast co-host Nick Estes (@nickwestes) looks at several sources of information from key Indigenous activists who knew Leonard Peltier and Anna Mae Pictou-Aquash to the FBI’s own knowledge of her murder at the time it happened and federal prosecutors' initial hesitancy to take up the case. Learn more here from a lecture by Ernesto Vigil at the University of Denver on May 6, 2023. Watch the video edition on The Red Nation Podcast YouTube channel The Red Nation Podcast is sustained by comrades and supporters like you. Power our work here: www.patreon.com/redmediapr ------ Below is the text of Hank Adams’ 2020 Facebook post, shortly before his passing: Note: Adams is responding to a 2016 APTN article in which Assembly of First Nations Chief Perry Bellegarde apologizes to Anna Mae Aquash’s family. December 14, 2020 Intellectually dishonest hate-monger Paul DeMain has reignited his campaign to assure denial of any Executive Clemency to LEONARD PELTIER, 76, at any time before Leonard's next scheduled Parole Hearing in Year 2024 with a continued misuse and abuse of the December 1975 gunshot death of ANNA MAE AQUASH and the unconscionable exploitation of Anna Mae Pictou-Aquash's children. Assembly of First Nations National Chief Perry Bellegarde makes significant points in this 2016 article in which the 1975 Aquash death became the center point in President Barack Obama's decision to deny Clemency to Peltier: “I regret that my statement caused some hurt and pain and I apologize for the pain I caused her [Denise Maloney Pictou] and her family,” said Bellegarde. “That wasn’t my intent.” Bellegarde said he still would like to see Peltier freed. He said the case is a separate issue from AIM’s execution of Aquash. “I called for that (Peltier’s release) because there is an injustice there,” said Bellegarde. “So I will continue to advocate for that.” Bellegarde said two previous AFN national chiefs have made the same call which is also backed by Amnesty International and prominent individuals like the Dalai Lama. Peltier was extradited from Canada to the U.S. in December 1976. Warren Allmand, Canada’s solicitor general at the time of Peltier’s extradition, has since stated the F.B.I submitted false information to have Peltier extradited." DeMain's posting of Aquash daughter Denise Maloney Pictou's December 12, 2020, renewed accusations against Leonard Peltier and DeMain's hated AIM organization [re-Posted here in Comment 1] are the beginning of a campaign to assure that 2020 President-Elect Joe Biden will not grant Executive Clemency to Leonard Peltier. In death and posthumously, Anna Mae has been made a sainted heroine. But between 1972 and November 14, 1975, Anna Mae's ways were AIM's ways. AIM's ways - good and bad - were without qualification or reservation Anna Mae's ways, by choice. At NCAI in November, American Indian Press Association's (AIPA) Richard LaCourse told me of his meeting with Dennis Banks, Leonard Peltier, Kamook Banks, and Anna Mae just before his coming to Portland for NCAI.. Anna Mae then had indicated no distress nor given any indication that she was being held prisoner or against her will. On November 14, 1975, the four AIM "leaders" only broke apart because of the Ontario, Oregon stopping of their [Marlon Brando] recreational vehicle by armed Oregon police. A couple days later, Leonard Peltier was transported (through Franks Landing) from Portland into British Columbia (by associates of mine, who did not inform me then of their activity). He spent the next month in the locale he was taken to and remained incommunicado with U.S. colleagues until later, at least until he traveled to Small Bo
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