Home > The Ongoing War on Native American Religious Practices By LEONARD PELTIER

The Ongoing War on Native American Religious Practices By LEONARD PELTIER

by Open-Publishing - Monday 18 June 2007
3 comments

Discriminations-Minorit. Prison Religions-Beliefs USA

Racist Restrictions in the US Prison System
The Ongoing War on Native American Religious Practices

By LEONARD PELTIER

Religious freedom is a fundamental right of all, including American Indians, yet the struggle to preserve and protect our religion has always been a difficult one. More so when incarcerated Native Americans are concerned who tend to be given second rate acknowledgement by prison officials and mainstream faiths.

In 1984 Robert Wilson, (Standing Deer) Albert Garza and I fasted for 42 days to draw worldwide attention to the deplorable conditions at the USP Marion and to no longer allow the United States to continue denying Native American brothers and sisters the right to practice our religion.

For over 500 years our religion has been trampled on and disrespected by those who invaded our lands, and who have tried to take away our culture, our traditions, our language, our history, and our religion. When we fasted for 42 days we did not fast out of depression or despair, but with a joyful commitment of total love and dedication to our people. We were willing to fast until we were granted our constitutional right to practice our religion or until we returned to our Creator.

In retaliation for our 42 day fast we were held in solitary isolation for 15 months with nothing in our "cages" (cell) except for a steel bunk and toilet. The door to the "cage" (cell) was never opened unless we were handcuffed behind our backs, and four guards with clubs were present to supervise our every move.

After a year of confinement attorney Margaret Gold filed a lawsuit against the Federal Bureau of Prisons that secured in having each one of us transferred to a separate maximum security prison where we were allowed to practice our religion.

In 1985 I was transferred to USP Leavenworth; Alfred went to USP Lewisburg and Standing Deer to USP Lompoc.

As of August 15, 2005 I have been at USP Lewisburg and since November 2006 I have not attended an inipi ceremony (sweat lodge). When I say I have not attended an inipi ceremony, I must add I have refused to attend an inipi ceremony, as my way of refusing to participate in the ongoing disrespect for our religion and sacred ceremonies by the USP prison system.

I can not allow the United States to continue denying Native American brothers and sisters the right to practice our religion. The trend within the past several years throughout the United States prison system has been to restrict the traditional spiritual practices of Native Americans. Nationwide the current trend of prison officials is to limit the amount of time Indian prisoners can participate in inipi ceremonies, talking circles and spiritual gatherings.

The new restrictions in U.S. prisons are racist and undermine the sacredness of our traditional ceremonies. Those restrictions include time limits and the rationing of firewood for the inipi and an English-only mandate. Mandating the English-only requirement for the ceremony is discrimination and racist, because the Native language is used and needed for the songs and prayers to be blessed by the Creator.

The new restrictions include a four-hour time limit on the sweat lodge ceremony, which is unrealistic since the inipi includes the heating of the stones, which takes two hours, and two hours for the actual ceremony. The stones need to be heated for at least two hours, otherwise they are cold and the ceremony is neither complete nor beneficial to the healing and prayers.

The rationing of firewood in U.S. prisons has deliberately undermined the heating of the stones for ceremony. Rushing through an ancient ceremony is not proper, it is very sacred.

The deliberate attempt to shorten the hours and circumvent the ceremony is sacrilegious and undermining the seriousness and sacredness of the spiritual healing and blessings. Traditional ceremonies are to be held in the ancient and sacred way and manner. Prison chaplains continue to oversee American Indian ceremonies. The supervision of our inipi by the chaplain is not necessary, because it takes time away from other spiritual and cultural activities. These include talking circles, drumming sessions and Pipe ceremonies that also mandate the presence of the chaplain. During the inipi Ceremony, tobacco, or kinnikinnick (a mixture of sage, cedar and sweet grass) is used for our sacred pipe or Canupa. Very limited amounts of tobacco are allowed for our sacred pipe ceremony.

I am a pipe carrier and am not allowed to smoke my pipe with tobacco, kinnikinnick is also not available. I have asked to smoke my pipe in the sacred lodge area and have been told that while the present Chaplain is working for the USP Lewisburg, I will not have access to my pipe.

A part of the ceremony is having a meal after the ceremony has been completed. The USP prison system is denying us the right, to eat this meal after our ceremony. The Native American brothers are the only group that receives just two meals on the day we have our ceremony. This also changes the way our inipi ceremony has been taught to us by our ancestors.

I ask that those of you who can practice your religion freely do so and keep those of us who continue to fight for our religious freedom, preservation of our Culture, traditions, language, history and dignity in your thoughts and prayers.

Yours in the struggle,

Until freedom is won,

Leonard Peltier
# 89637-132
U.S.P. Lewisburg,
P.O. Box 1000,
Lewisburg, PA USA 17837

Forum posts

  • A little tardy this post is, but it’ll hopefully be seen by enough people who’ll then help to spread awareness of the following.

    "Hidden From History: The Canadian Holocaust. The Untold Story of The Genocide of Aboriginal Peoples",

    http://www.hiddenfromhistory.org

    Mike Corbeil
    Quebec, Canada

    • I’ll add a little more to this.

      Excellent, very qualitative statement Leonard Peltier provides. The man is very, very sound of mind and heart. It’s been clear to me for as long as I’ve now known of what’s done to him, and for over THIRTY years now; he’s in this imprisonment. Lovely. It’s sick. He did absolutely nothing to deserve to be incarcerated for so long, or even a significant amount of this time; the US govt, from what I’ve read, evidently never having had any real evidence against him. I also read that some members of the US Congress, and twice, tried to get him released, but were too strongly opposed and therefore had to give up this effort.

      It’s totally ludicrous imperialism, ...; hellish reign on Earth. But maybe we somehow, for some reason, need more sacrificial "lambs"; maybe (?). I don’t like the idea, but perhaps it does relate to this overall sort of reality; maybe (?). Anyway, I don’t like the idea, but have to live with the reality, if it’s indeed real, which it awfully seems to be.

      Lovely.

      Again, if already stated anyway, else newly provided, http://www.HiddenFromHistory.org provides a whole lot for OUR VERY CAREFUL consideration. We need to pay very careful attention to this sort of information; we must NOT live like a bunch of ignoranmouses who live out our ignorance with any arrogance at all, much less in extreme and violent ways. We need to keep ignorance very carefully in check; know, realise when ignorant and to not act blindly upon it. We do not have any mature reason to believe that we are not ignorant about MUCH and rather most matters; we have plenty of proof that we are this ignorant, instead.

      A lot of North Americans are mostly focused on other parts of our world, while very few give any serious attention to North America. I don’t agree with this; the more that I’m learning of what was and continues to be done to natives of North America, and including through today, ongoingly, I will not focus on only other continents. The whole needs to be very carefully learned about, etc.

      It’s a BIG problem with ignorance; too many people live this way with violent arrogance, and as if this bloody arrogance is justifiable, which it is NOT. Sure, we can analytically understand such arrogant ignorance, but this does NOT justify it; no way, absolutely not. If it was justifiable, then it would be rendered acceptable, and it never is.

      I am ignorant alright, but tend to not be arrogant about it at all, mistaken sometimes, and sometimes flame, but not really arrogant and certainly not in violent ways; realising very well, perhaps as well as I potentially can, that I am certainly and very ignorant, which is an excellent recognition to have about oneself. Once we have this, I also realise that this opens up the pathways to fuller understanding of reality; and definitely so. After all, NO ONE of us has even any degree nearing full knowledge. Forget such dreamful wishing, NO ONE of us has full knowledge, etc.; NONE of us does.

      People who don’t have the intuitive intelligence to realise that they are ignorant are very, potentially anyway, dangerous members of society. We are ALL ignorant; and very.

      Very complicated, difficult world this is; based on what du-fous humans make of this world anyway. ’Du’ means ’of’ and ’fous’ means ’fools’, btw.

      Defence, true, legitimate, real defence is justifiable, but all other acts that appears violent are and unjustifiably and unacceptably so.

      Why Leonard Peltier is still imprisoned, and why he and other native Americans are prohibited from exercising their acceotabke religious rights, freedoms, it’s all sick. There is NO justifiable reason for this at all, and their religion does not teach to do evil. It differs, while innocent; and there is commonality with true Christian, f.e., faith. And that makes sense, given that Jesus of Nazareth was indigenous of the Middle East, not of Rome, and lived as human person, who lived and suffered very much as human. It was a human person who was crucified when he was crucified. And he said to keep church and state separate, but so-called "Christian" states and other so-called "Christian" "institutions" refuse to side with his taechings and way; regularly, very regularly being very opposite to him (the schmucks). And he said that all human institutions will faill, which I’d say we are unable to find any evidence of not being true, and that justice will not be found in this world; not significant justice anyway. He certainly seems to have been VERY or totally right on all of what he said about this world; imho.

      He did not persecute, etc., the Samaritans, and so on, and from what I gathered from Franciscan monks who taught me about a parable that he would have completed and which the RCC "conveniently" eliminated, well, it was on the question of when the first apostles would be able to know if they had and exercised real discernment, vs not. It goes as follows, "bit" paraphrased, and which I was not able t find copy of over the Internet.

      The first two apostles answered in ignorant but humanly understandable terms, for people who were not thinking broadly. One said that the way to know is about differentiating between night and day, darkness and liight; while the second apostle said it was about being able to differentiate between a wolf and lamb or sheep, including a wolf disuguised as a lamb or sheep (we might consider); and while both are understandable as speaking of differentiating between good and evil. Jesus told them both that they were wrong, and the third apostle to answer, the last one to do so, and realising that the first two had been mistaken, he figured that Jesus knew the answer and not wanting to be embarrassed by also being mistaken, he asked Jesus for the answer.

      What’s the answer?

      Jesus said that we have real discernment when we can look out our neighbour, our fellow human being and truly perceive the presence of God in that or this person.

      Want great truth? You ain’t gonna find any. His therein teaching is WHOLE. People can superficially argue to the contrary, but that statement or teaching of his IS WHOLE; only while that is so, we also have the teaching in which he told wrongful Pharisees that they’re NOT sons of God, but of the father of lies, rape, murder, ..., to which we can certainly understand that uusury, wars of aggression, etc., are included. That is, we can therefore understand that God is opposed to evil, hence injustice.

      No one can get me to believe that the natives of this world, the indigenous do not hold much of these above principles. Even cannibals of jugles, the primitive living people, don’t do this for mere banality, evil purposes; they do it spiritually, believing by eating the corpses of their enemies, they will thereby gain spiritual strength to oppose such enemies. It’s a matter of not sadistict, psychopathic, etc, cannibalism, but based on DEFENCE, protection against aggression, etc. No, sociopathic they’re not; but seriously for defence, I guess obviously, and can’t really blame or fault them. And the West is hellishly worse; definitely. The West makes the primitives who practice cannibalism for such purposes seem quite innocent; bit "scary", but just don’t be an aggresor and you should do okay, I figure.

      North American natives, and many other natives, if not most of them, of our world are not cannibals, who are nonetheless okay compared to our govts and corporations. At least those cannibals have understandable and acceptable principles, just that I’d prefer to do without the cannibalism part.

      And I, this person who wishes to die Christian, hopefully, at least believing in Jesus (of Nazareth, not rome) and his teachings and way, I do NOT perceive any serious problem at all with most of the underlying, core beliefs of most people of our world; and this applies also with sound athiests, whom I very much like to hear and read from. NO, THERE’S HUMANITYH WHICH IS COMMON TO ALL; I definitely believe this, and it applies with the above but stricken parable on discernment!

      NO, native Americans, and everyone else in US and any other prisons on this planet, should be fully granted the right to safely exercise their religious beliefs and rites, as long as they’re not of any threat to anyone else; and it is of the kind that Leonard Peltier speaks of. There is absolutely nothing that’s threatening in what he says.

      When do you know that you have true discernment? It’s when you can look at your fellow human being and truly perceive presence of God in that person. Then and ONLY then, can you know that you have true discernment. ONLY THEN.

      No one can soundly argue against that teaching; imo. And opposers are not going to be from even sound athiests, whom I do not refer to as sound for no reason; some or many, if not all, of these people being very SHARP, reality-based; imo. There are the unsound athiests, sure, and who, in "traditional" human fashion, are also ignorant and don’t know when to refrain from presenting claims that don’t make sense; as usual for too many humans. But the sound athiests, now they have noteworthy intelligence and thinking to very carefully consider and utilize, as well as to recognize as being part of the HEALTHY aspect of human commonality. Some of them would make better Popes than many the RCC has had; imo.

      They’re much like what a pope, I forget which, while I believe (am sure to recall at least this little) of the 20th century, said; when he told RC members that if ever the church teaches or instructs to do or believe anything that strikes against conscience (obviously meaning sound moral conscience), the to adhere to not the church but this personal, individual conscience. Why is that THE correct instruction? It’s because we ARE individuals, and the instruction is rather totally in conformance with the above parable on discernment, so it’s definitely conformant with Jesus’ teaching and way; and while there’s also more evidence to support this argument, from his teaching and way.

      Would the corrupt Vatican strike out these teachings, instructions? SURE IT WOULD. Why doubt? It’s very reflective of MUCH of the whole history of the not Jesus- but human-instituted church, and which Francis of Assis delivered a very special message to, to get back in line with the origin, the original foundation, and which is being established in the holy name of Jesus of [Nazareth].

      But, anyway, and unfortunately, it’s not common enough, the broad perspective. It is common rather only (far too much anyway) in terms of applying to not a single people, not people of any single religious belief, etc. In that sense, common? Yes and no, both. Sure, it is very fortunate that we have this limited commoaality, but it’s very unfortunate that it’s not more pervasive; that too few people, regardless of religious beliefs, hold this sort of broad and wholesome perspective.

      It’s great that we have people of various religious beliefs and I guess non-beliefs holding similar enough outlook of sane nature. I prefer for this commonality to span across people of different religious beliefs, than for it to be all within one belief group. We have some fortunate realities in this.

      But it’s not while there are enough of these people; there’s certainly cause to wish there was more of this commonality. Why should I fear unharmful, non-threatening beliefs of others? There’s no reason that I can think of. And this is wherein the commonality becomes too uncomoon; common among people of different beliefs, but not common enough within peoples claiming to be of these beliefs, some of them anyway.

      Very simple reality is this to realise is indeed real. We have evidence of this "all over the place", and while speaking of only today; let alone compiling a long historical illustration.

      I get frustrated with this world and would like to disappear; I’d like to be out of this world, gone, bye-bye, for, in No. America anwyay, and I guess too much also in Europe, while also other countries, govts are guilty, people live as if in some sort of "weird" disneyland story. Why all of this extreme and arrogantly applied ignorance? I don’t know, but we can be certain that it is very sick. And we sure do have corp. msm news media very much to blame; not solely, but still and very much. I’d like to have never been born; only the very slightest hope leaving that maybe it was worthwhile to be born. Perhaps; maybe. I’m not happy anyway; not at all. This world is very SICK.

      What’s wrong with the wishes of Leonard Peltier and the other native Americans, who are also very wrongfully imprisoned? I do not see anything wrong with their requests and efforts to innocently live. 1492 and continuing, n’est-ce pas! Very long history.

      And most North Americans will ignore this while pretending that what’s done to the Palestinians is dead wrong, too boot. That is dead wrong, but I don’t agree with the approach, prefering the WHOLE one. We definitely need to "PRACTICE WHAT WE PREACH". If we don’t do that, then our preaching is really worthless; and worse, so ’wortheless’ really says the least of what the matter or approach is.

      Simple and sound commonsense, but it’s an awfully lacking quality in the at least West, as well as among more of the world’s so-called "leaders". "Foolers" is a much better reference than "leaders" is; malicious "foolers".

      Mike Corbeil
      Hatley Township, Quebec, Ca