Thanks Biden

To the editor:

An open letter to President Joe Biden

Thank you for your many years of public service as a city councilman, senator, vice president and now president. You have governed in a wise and thoughtful manner.

I am writing in support of Leonard Peltier, who has been imprisoned for nearly 50 years. He has long ceased to be a threat to the public or to the country; therefore I believe it is mostly revenge that keeps him in prison.

At the time of his trial, there were many legitimate, but unaddressed concerns and uncertainties about the evidence used to convict him. These very troubling details remain unaddressed today.

At the time, we chose to view the conflict between the FBI and the American Indian Movement as a matter of crime and law enforcement. I believe that perspective obscures the truth. Our government was engaged in a long-running war with other sovereign nations. Across decades and even centuries, the U.S. government acted deliberately to erase Native American peoples and their cultures. We employed settlers, cavalry, decimation of the buffalo, treaties and boarding schools to affect that end. In that light, Peltier is a prisoner of war who now deserves repatriation.

President Biden, I add my voice to that of the U.S. Attorney who prosecuted this case, Amnesty International, notable world religious leaders, and even some members of our own House of Representatives—all entreating you to show mercy to Peltier.

Steven Soltar

Bainbridge Island