This song, an early hit single by Rage Against The Machine, clearly states "anger is a gift." It's a great song, and you should enjoy it.
That's not what we're going to talk about here, though.
No, we're going to talk about Leonard Peltier, Native American activist and mainstay of the American Indian Movement. On June 26, 1975, two unmarked cars - which were driven by FBI agents who were investigating AIM - drove onto private property on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation. A fire fight began, with two FBI agents and one Indian killed.
A huge manhunt followed, and three AIM members were arrested. Two were acquitted, but Peltier was extradited from Canada - based on documents supplied by the FBU that contained false information - and convicted, sentenced to two life sentences in 1977. Key witnesses did assert that their testimony was coerced and later recanted their testimony against Peltier. Evidence of Peltier's innocence has been brought to light, but ignored by the appellate courts and by Presidents Clinton and Obama, both of whom denied Peltier's appeals for clemency.
There is worldwide support for clemency for Peltier, including from Pope Francis, the attorney who supervised the prosecution of Peltier, Nelson Mandela, Desmond Tutu, the Dalia Lama, and many others.
So, Rage Against The Machine used their MTV platform to bring attention to the Peltier case, and I'm going to honor that by bringing that attention here as well.
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