LEONARD: Political Prisoner

https://rss.buzzsprout.com/1176053.rss

22 Followers 23 Episodes Claim Ownership

In 1977, Native American activist Leonard Peltier was sentenced to consecutive life terms for killing two FBI agents. Then in 2000, a Freedom of Information Act disclosure proved the Feds had framed him. But Leonard's still in prison. This is the story of what happened on the Pine Ridge Reservation half a century ago—and the man who's still behind bars for a crime he didn't commit.

Episode List

Introducing LEONARD: Political Prisoner

Jun 22nd, 2020 3:00 PM

Leonard Peltier has spent the last 44 years in prison for a crime he didn’t commit. This is the story of how he ended up behind bars, and the people who’ve been working for decades to set him free.Support the show

June 26, 1975

Jun 26th, 2020 9:00 AM

On the morning of June 26, 1975, a firefight broke out on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation between the Federal Bureau of Investigation and members of the American Indian Movement. By noon, three people lay dead: AIM member Joe Stuntz, and special agents Jack Coler and Ronald Williams. But why was the FBI shooting at AIM activists on sovereign Lakota land in the first place? Support the show

Mr. Bear Runner Goes to Rushmore

Jul 3rd, 2020 9:00 AM

To commemorate July 4, 2020, President Trump is traveling to the Black Hills of South Dakota to give a speech in front of Mount Rushmore. But for the Lakota, the Black Hills are sacred. And the carvings of the four Presidents represent a desecration of their history and culture. As Edgar Bear Runner, a Lakota tribal historian, puts it: “Mount Rushmore is a shrine to racism. A shrine to genocide.” Support the show

Treaties, Goons, and G-Men (Part 1)

Jul 16th, 2020 9:00 AM

The Pine Ridge Indian Reservation—full of gold, uranium, and oil—contains some of the most valuable land on the planet. But the Federal Government didn’t know that when they originally granted the territory to the Lakota in the Fort Laramie Treaty of 1868. So for the next 100 years, the U.S. secretly took back the land piece by piece: ultimately with the help of Dick Wilson, the dictatorial Tribal Chairman of Pine Ridge, and his private militia, the GOON squad.Support the show

Treaties, Goons, and G-Men (Part 2)

Jul 30th, 2020 9:00 AM

Edgar Bear Runner, the newly elected President of the Porcupine District of the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation, was just 25 on the morning of June 26, 1975. When shots rang out on the Jumping Bull ranch between the FBI and members of the American Indian Movement, Edgar visited a Lakota medicine man, said a prayer, and went in to help negotiate a truce. But he also had an ulterior motive: to help buy time for the AIMsters to escape.Support the show

More Episodes