|
The Thanksgiving
holiday is based on a lie -- an official myth about mutual support
between Native peoples and the English settlers. In reality, the
genocide against the Indians of North America was started with fire
and sword by the Mayflower Pilgrims, and raged across the continent
until most Native people had been killed and the survivors forced
into grim concentration camp reservations on the worst land.
This Thanksgiving
Day, the truth about the treatment of Native peoples and their demand
for justice was drummed into the heart of Washington DC -- during the
final event of Leonard Peltier Freedom Month.
Native American
political prisoner Leonard Peltier has now spent 23 hard years in
federal prison, for defending the Native people of Pine Ridge
reservation during the brutal government persecutions after the
occupation of Wounded Knee. Thousands of people have participated in
actions demanding his freedom during this month.
The final event in
Leonard Peltier Freedom Month was a ceremony held on
"Thanksgiving Day" at Lafayette Park across from the White
House. Then led by drummers, seventy-five people, a mix of Native
people and many other nationalities, marched to a tipi
on the Ellipse that had been a center for
the month's events. There organizers of Freedom Month spoke of their
determination to step up the struggle and free Leonard Peltier (11/25). ---Caption
and Photo by Debbie Lang,
RW/OR
|
