Native Activist Leonard Peltier Is Going Home. His Imprisonment Was a Familiar Story

Adam Villagomez was only a child when his cousin Leonard Peltier was convicted in the killings of two FBI agents during a 1975 shootout, but he said Peltier’s story is like the story of his life — and that of every other Native American.

“For him, it started with all of the governmental policies that affected our families — the relocation, the termination, the reservations, the boarding schools,” said Villagomez, who lives in Sonoma County. “Everybody that looks as it as a Native, it’s the story of all of our lives, of our family.”

Peltier, a Native American activist and enrolled member of the Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa Indians in North Dakota, was released from prison on Tuesday morning, ending nearly 50 years of incarceration after then-President Joe Biden commuted his life sentence last month. The 80-year-old, who has maintained his innocence, will be allowed to serve out his sentence on house arrest in North Dakota.

Although Peltier was convicted of murder in the killing of FBI agents Jack Coler and Ronald Williams during a shootout on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in South Dakota, several groups have questioned the fairness of his trial, and a witness recanted her testimony, saying it was coerced. Native American activists say he was wrongly convicted and targeted because of his involvement in advocacy for tribal rights, including as a member of the American Indian Movement, or AIM.

Tribal nations, leaders, members of Congress and organizations, including Amnesty International — which, like many activists and groups, considers Peltier a political prisoner — have all been involved in the push to release him.

“Leonard Peltier’s release is the right thing to do given the serious and ongoing human rights concerns about the fairness of his trial, his nearly 50 years behind bars, his health and his age,” Amnesty International Executive Director Paul O’Brien said in a statement. “While we welcome his release from prison, he should not be restricted to home confinement.”

Charlie Toledo, the executive director of the Suscol Intertribal Council in Napa County and descendant of the Towa people in New Mexico, said Peltier’s release has brought some hope to Native Americans — a point echoed by Villagomez.

“At this point,” Toledo said, “it’s just a signal that the United States government’s attitude towards Native Americans is finally shifting.”

That attitude, they said, includes other moves by the Biden administration. Villagomez pointed to Biden’s appointment of Native Americans to Cabinet positions, including former Secretary of the Interior Deb Haaland.

The two aren’t sure if that’ll continue under President Donald Trump’s administration. Still, they’re holding out hope.

“We’re already encouraged and hopeful just because of this one victory,” Villagomez said. “It’s really invigorating to all of the people that were committed to continue to be all we can to make sure that our people are taken care of.”

In Trump’s first month in office, his administration delayed a rule that would have given previously denied tribes a chance to re-petition for federal recognition, attempted a federal funding freeze that would affect tribal funding, and was expected to lay off thousands of workers within the Department of the Interior, Indian Health Services and Bureau of Indian Affairs. (Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. temporarily halted the layoffs of IHS workers on Friday.)

“Leonard Peltier, that whole persecution of the Native American population, that’s a human rights violation,” Toledo said. “As a Native American person, it’s been important to me my entire life. We’ve risked our lives — I’ve risked my life my whole life — and I’m just willing to keep on doing that. We’re not going to go anywhere.”

Villagomez said it’s too busy to make a call to Peltier right now, but he’ll be visiting soon.