ANCHOR Marie Rock: This is Minnesota Native News, I’m Marie Rock. This week, we hear about AIM activist Leonard Peltier’s recent homecoming celebration. Plus, current events affecting Indigenous nations here in Minnesota.
First, let’s hear from Emma Needham.
Emma Needham: One month into his Clemency granted by the Biden Administration, Leonard Peltier was welcomed home last week by nearly a hundred supporters as he crossed the border into the Turtle Mountain Indian Reservation
Sound Element: Leonard Arrives Home at Turtle Mountain YouTube Video Courtesy of NDN Collective
Emma Needham: Despite the frigid North Dakota temperatures, all were smiling and cheering, displaying uplifting messages on handmade signs.
Korina Barry: his is a been a multi-generational fight
Emma Needham: Korina Barry is the Action Managing Director with NDN Collective.
Korina Barry: nearly five decades, you know, Multiple generations literally that have fought for for his freedom and to bring truth to the injustice that he’s he’s been living through
Emma Needham: Leonard Peltier became a symbol across Indian Country after his incarceration in 1977. Peltier was convicted for aiding and abetting in the murder of two FBI agents during the Occupation of Wounded Knee. The two men who were charged with the murder of the agents were acquitted, but it was Peltier remained in prison for nearly 50 years. As a radical activist with the American Indian Movement in the early 1970s, his conviction sent ripples among his supporters that worsened tensions and distrust of government officials. Leonard Peltier’s case also raised controversy for its possible connection to the disappearance and murder of fellow AIM member, Anna Mae Aquash.
Sound Element: AIM SONG
Emma Needham: At the age of 80, Leonard Peltier is now allowed to live the rest of his life outside the confines of the penitentiary. The NDN Collective’s team has taken the lead in ensuring that Leonard’s homecoming happens in a good way. NDN Collective connected Leonard Peltier with spiritual advisors who offered him a healing ceremony upon exiting prison. They also worked diligently with tribal leaders to ensure he had a house to come home to at Turtle Mountain. Korina Barry explains more:
Korina Barry: For people that might not know or understand is the level of institutionalization, isolation, you know, that Leonard has experienced being incarcerated in prison for nearly five decades, like to put into context, like, how much has changed around us and that we have lived through and experienced in 50 years. And then for him to be released and to experience a completely different world in many ways,
Emma Needham: Peltier’s last decades in prison were marked by many health issues, which the COVID 19 pandemic intensified.
Korina Barry: We are absolutely going to be advocating that he will have access to the health equipment, health care he needs, that he can have access to the cultural, spiritual opportunities and things that are available in the Turtle Mountain community.
Emma Needham: Peltier says that he wants to create art, offer guidance to Native youth and spend time catching up with family. For Minnesota Native News, I’m Emma Needham.
ANCHOR Marie Rock: Next, we’ll hear about three stories impacting Indigenous communities.
Minnesota Lieutenant Governor Peggy Flanagan announced on February 20 that she will run for United States Senate in 2026. This followed Senator Tina Smith’s op-ed in the Star Tribune a week earlier sharing the news that she would not seek re-election. In her statement Flanagan, a citizen of White Earth Nation, said that “A Native American woman has never won a seat in the U.S. Senate before. I believe we can change that.”
Last week, two Minnesota-based Indigenous-led solar energy nonprofits announced a merger. 8th Fire Solar is a solar thermal panel manufacturing and installment company in Osage and Native Sun Community Power focuses on sustainability education and workforce training in the Twin Cities. Native Sun Community Power Executive Director and Red Lake Nation citizen Robert Blake said, “This merger represents a new era of Indigenous-led clean energy leadership.” The companies aim to increase their capacity to train Indigenous workers, implement solar energy projects on Tribal land, and promote economic self-determination through the partnership.
111 members of Congress, including Minnesota’s Amy Klobuchar and Tina Smith, penned a letter on February 26th to President Donald Trump, Secretary of the Interior Doug Burgum, and Secretary of Health and Human Services Robert F. Kennedy Jr. urging them to reverse recent executive orders that cut funding to or halt programs provided by Indian Health Services, the Bureau of Indian Affairs, and the Bureau of Indian Education. The letter states that, “The inherent sovereignty of Tribes is recognized in the U.S. Constitution, in treaties, and across many federal laws and policies, and it has been consistently upheld by the U.S. Supreme Court…Pursuant to those legal obligations, we must adequately fund and staff agencies that provide these essential services and programs, including at BIA, BIE, and IHS.
For Minnesota Native News, this is Britt Aamodt.
ANCHOR Marie Rock: outro credits
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