September 99
American Friends Service Committee Peacework Magazine Patrica Watson, Editor Sara Burke, Assistant Editor Pat Farren, Founding Editor
2161 Massachusetts Ave.
Telephone number:
Fax number: pwork@igc.org Peacework has been published monthly since 1972, intended to serve as a source of dependable information to those who strive for peace and justice and are committed to furthering the nonviolent social change necessary to achieve them. Rooted in Quaker values and informed by AFSC experience and initiatives, Peacework offers a forum for organizers, fostering coalition-building and teaching the methods and strategies that work in the global and local community. Peacework seeks to serve as an incubator for social transformation, introducing a younger generation to a deeper analysis of problems and issues, reminding and re-inspiring long-term activists, encouraging the generations to listen to each other, and creating space for the voices of the disenfranchised. Views expressed are those of the authors, not necessarily of the AFSC. |
Prison Writings: My Life is My Sun Dance
Leonard Peltier, edited by Harvey Arden, Introduction by Chief Arvol Looking Horse, Preface by Former Attorney General Ramsey Clark; St. Martin's Press, New York, 1999; 243 pp
Leonard Peltier invites us into his world inside Leavenworth Penitentiary, where he has been imprisoned for more than 20 years. Invoking the Sun Dance, in which pain provides access to a transcendent reality, Peltier explores his own suffering and the insights it has brought him. Still remarkably optimistic, he situates his own experience within the history of the American Indian peoples and their struggles to overcome the continued injustices of the US government. Peacework doesn't generally read book jacket blurbs, but in this case they caught and held our attention.
"Listen to this fresh, brave voice, then inform yourself about the shameful case of Leonard Peltier." -Peter Matthiessen, author of In the Spirit of Crazy Horse "This book takes the reader on an emotional and spiritual journey as Leonard Peltier's surprisingly hopeful reflections make the terrible injustice of his imprisonment for 24 years even more difficult to accept." -Wilma Mankiller, former chief of the Cherokee nation and author of Mankiller "Leonard Peltier's words reveal a wise man who has become freer than his captors, despite his false imprisonment for a crime he did not commit. His thoughts here remind us of our true mission as Indian people, as human beings here on this humble, beautiful planet. These thoughts cannot be captured or locked behind bars, or destroyed by gunfire. They fly free." -Joy Harjo, Mvskoke poet and musician and author of The Woman Who Fell from the Sky "A deeply moving and very disturbing story of a gross miscarriage of justice and an eloquent cri de coeur of native Americans for redress and to be regarded as human beings with inalienable rights guaranteed under the United States Constitution, like any other citizens. We pray that it does not fall on deaf ears. America owes it to herself." -Desmond Tutu, Archbishop Emeritus of Cape Town, South Africa, and Nobel Peace Laureate "It would be inadequate to describe Leonard Peltier's Prison Writings as a classic of prison literature, although it is that. It is also a cry for help, an accusation against monstrous injustice, a beautiful expression of a man's soul, demanding release." -Howard Zinn, author of A People's History of the United States To get involved: Leonard Peltier Defense Committee, PO Box 583, Lawrence, KS 66044; 785/842-5774; lpdc@idir.net http://members.xoom.com/freepeltier/index.html
Harvey Alden, editor of Prison Writings, will read from the book & show excerpts from films about Peltier; 9/15, 7 pm, Cambridge Public Library, 45 Pearl St., 617/349-4010; 9/16, 7 pm, Borders Books, Hyannis, 508/862-6363; 9/17, 7 pm, Wellfleet Public Library, 508/349-0310; 9/18, 4 pm, Bunch of Grapes BookStore, Vineyard Haven, 508/693-2291; for information: Community Action Committee of Cape Cod, 508/771-1727
Action Alert: Medical Care for Leonard Peltier Leonared Peltier, Ojibwe-Lakota American Indian Movement activist and political prisoner, is suffering from continuous, excruciating pain from a long-standing jaw condition. The federal Bureau of Prisons is trying to force him to be treated at the Springfield Medical Facility, where he was nearly killed a few years ago from improper treatment. Please send messages asking that Leonard be allowed to go for treatment to the Mayo Clinic, which has offered the care he needs. Write to Kathleen Hawk, Director, Bureau of Prisons, 320 First St. NW, Washington DC 20534; 202/307-3198; fax 202/514-6878; khawk@bop.gov; please cc your letter to Warden Booker, Leavenworth Federal Prison, Box 1000, Leavenworth KS 66048.
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