The systematic attacks on civil and territorial rights through the expulsion and oppression of Palestinians by the State of Israel have consistently been supported by the US. They follow the pattern of an occupation that the white settler population of the US itself has perpetrated against #Native Americans# for decades.
Strategies of occupation
The Native Americans first made a media-effective stand against these often-murderous attacks when they claimed #Alcatraz as their property in 1969. Further murders just followed. Even the occupation of the administration building of the Native Territories, the «Liason to Indian Counties» (LIC), another dubious institution with occupation interests, led to no real improvements. At least documents were secured that confirmed illegal sales of Native territories by the US government.
Native American children were systematically separated from their parents for decades and trained in “schools” to assimilate and imitate Western ways of life, sometimes through corporal punishment. Many of them never returned to their parents. Systematic identity checks compounded discrimination and the prohibition of their religions and rituals. Those displaced from their countries gathered in urban ghettos, confronted with the loss of their cultural identity.
In addition to many similar attacks on homes and villages, the conflict escalated again when paramilitary groups, here led by District Leader Dick Wilson, already known for his terrorising of his own Native American people, once again sought to crush resistance in the Wounded Knee region.
The #FBI itself is known to have financed provocateurs with the goal of provoking an open conflict in order to create legitimacy, to be able to intervene with the help of large police forces, and to take the strategically important step towards further occupations. The FBI supplies weapons and logistical information to the paramilitaries. Native American leaders are systematically eliminated without any legal conviction of their murderers.
Mining and energy companies, as well as private investors, finance the expulsions. Dick Wilson also sells a large portion of Native American land to the government without any consultation or consent from the local residents. These sales immediately result in the destruction of natural resources.
They follow the pattern of an occupation that the white settler population of the US itself has perpetrated against Native Americans for decades.
Native resistance
In this context, an armed attack on a Native American home in #Pine Ridge#, which also contained babies, children, and women, must be read. When the Native Americans resisted, a massive police force, already on standby, intervened with automatic weapons and heavy calibres. In addition to one Native American victim, two FBI agents also lost their lives there.
The Native American leader, #Leonard Peltier#, is accused of killing them. People are put under enormous pressure to give false testimony because there is no objective evidence. In fact, resisting an armed attack is legal. Therefore, an initial acquittal follows.
But a «friend» of Peltier’s is created out of thin air who claims to have witnessed his murders on FBI agents who were already lying injured on the ground, having previously approached the country house in a vehicle without license plates and opened fire. This witness was put under intense emotional pressure beforehand and threatened with losing her children forever if she didn’t follow instructions. She would later admit to never having seen or even known Peltier.
Fabricated evidence
Peltier, who had already fled to #Canada, was extradited to the United States. Further evidence was presented as the murder weapon, which only Peltier had possessed, a claim that was later also exposed as a fabrication. Information was withheld from the defense at this crucial moment.
A court presided over by a judge known for his #racism and a jury, some of whom also left no doubt about theirs, was sufficient to impose a life sentence in Dakota in 1977.
In 1980, it became evident that the murder weapon was not Peltier’s, as previously claimed. Even the Pope, members of the US Congress, and other influential figures demanded a retrial.
The prosecution now admitted that they did not know who the murderer was but nevertheless claimed that Peltier was a possible murderer. Therefore, a retrial was rejected in 1993, arguing that the first verdict was perhaps not based on the evidence of the weapon and, thus, could not be challenged. Demonstrations by FBI agents in Washington, who continued to repeat the already refuted killer version, prompted #Bill Clinton# in 1999 to refuse a pardon after the Supreme Court had already rejected a retrial.
The «15-Year Reconsideration Hearing» is a disgraceful farce staged in a small waiting room. Far more witnesses for the prosecution than for the defence were admitted.
In 2025, Joe Biden pardons Leonard Peltier in the last 30 minutes of his term in office.
So much for the meticulously researched facts in David France’s and Jesse Short Bull’s documentary. Visits to the imprisoned Peltier counterpoint the densely arranged archival images and witness statements. A prisoner detained for decades, innocent, often becomes a broken man. Not so for Peltier. He refuses even to petition for clemency and continually demands, simply, justice. His eyesight diminishes. His pride and composure remain. He always appears poised and self-assured. He spent part of his time painting. He is supported by friends and associations who have accompanied his defence for almost five decades: people who resist a clearly unjust and corrupt US justice system in cooperation with central institutions that do not shy away from criminal threats. Even US presidents are exposed as followers of power politics driven by corporate interests.
The constantly active resistance fighters are one of the centrepieces of David France’s and Jesse Short Bull’s work. Their doubts and joys are given appropriate screen time, striking the ideal balance between fact-finding and honouring those emotionally affected.
