11/28/2025
LEONARD PELTIER – DAY OF MOURNING 2025 ©
Every day has been a Day of Mourning for a few
centuries now. Every day has also been a victory.
Every one of us is a battle that has been won.
Our ancestors have survived the slaughter of those
who sought to end us. The Trail of Tears. The Wounded
Knee Massacre. The endless brutal attacks. The
corrupt Washington policy meant to erase us.
They want to erase that history, you know. They are
giving medals back to Cavalrymen who slaughtered
over 250 people. They want to sugar-coat that
memory. That’s not going to happen – the truth is the
truth.
We should not have to insist that we have not
vanished. We will be seen. We will be heard. Our
children will grow and thrive. Our history, unlike that of
the colonizers, is real. It is passed down and rooted in
the earth. Their history changes with every new book
they write. We have won battles, but make no mistake, the war
rages on. Now more than ever, we must stand up for
our treaty rights. If we lose those, we cease to exist as
a people.
We are the First People. Mother Earth herself forges
our bodies and ignites our blood. Perhaps they realize
our spirits are one. Maybe they understand that we
belong to the forces of nature – they can’t dominate
the wind. Maybe they harbor a jealousy they don’t
understand. We are a people with riches they will
never know. I made it home, home to my people. The drums I heard outside the British Columbia jail
have sustained me through 49 years of waking up in a
cell every morning. You cried, “Don’t let them kill you!” I did not let them kill me.
It has been close—I've seen death approaching more
than once. I want to extend my heart to the supporters who fought
for my freedom. You gave me my mass public outcry. It
consisted of a pressure that persisted and intensified
for five decades. We must unite — red, yellow, black, and white. If we don't stand together, we will face defeat before we even begin. Raise your voice, not your fist. Violence will land you in your own prison cell. Let’s prove that we can change the world without
declaring war on it. Reservations, meant to be sovereign nations, are all
too often concentration camps. We live in dangerous
times. Our people have been targeted for hundreds of years. Others are finding out that civil rights are nothing but
words. Dangerous words, when you believe they
protect you. Mother Earth is in trouble – she has been stripped of
almost all that sustains life.
We have made progress. There are Indigenous-owned
businesses. Kids from reservations are earning
degrees, although they have nowhere to live when
they return. I am home. I have an awesome new cell,
but it is still a prison cell. I must get approval for every
move I make.
As I said, the war rages on. My personal freedom, once
more, reflects our freedom as a People. We must
unite with one another and our allies to face the storm
we know is coming.
We must face what lies ahead with our heads held
high and our spirits intact. We have faced their
atrocities for hundreds of years, and we remain
undestroyed. We draw our strength, our very breath,
from the Great Spirit.
They have their billionaires. There is no fortitude in a
dollar bill.
In the Spirit of Crazy Horse
Doksha,
Leonard Peltier
