Letters: Many Native Americans aren't buying Peltier's act
This may come as a surprise to David Biddle, but many Native Americans are offended by his plea of mercy for inmate Leonard Peltier ("A missed chance for compassion," Sept. 14).
This may come as a surprise to David Biddle, but many Native Americans are offended by his plea of mercy for inmate Leonard Peltier ("A missed chance for compassion," Sept. 14).
Peltier was convicted in the execution-style murder of two FBI Agents in 1975 because, as he admitted when later apprehended in Canada, he thought the agents were there to arrest him.
For more than 30 years, Peltier and his lawyers have characterized his incarceration as some sort of planned injustice by mean white men bent on persecuting another beleaguered Indian.
Natives are tired of having this falsified story made a part of their heritage, as if Peltier's hokey alibis and manufactured persona as a "political prisoner" are on a par with authentic Indian heroism. They count on the media to set the record straight and at least mention that Peltier boasted about shooting 28-year-old Ron Williams in the face at point-blank range, as he sat pleading for his life, or that every judge who reviewed the case concluded that Peltier was fairly tried and fairly convicted. Or that Peltier remains completely unrepentant.
John Trimbach
Atlanta
























