Copyright © 1999 NLThomas
All Rights Reserved
By Harvey Arden
Copyright © 1999 Arden
Located on the MP3.com server -
Reverend Goat
Description: This is an excerpt from the soon to be released
CD, based on the writings of Leonard Peltier. The piece is
read by Harvey Arden, Leonard's editor and dear friend.
CD: My Life is My Sun Dance ~ Label: Mi Abuelo Records
This is Harvey Arden with a personal request to those who'd like to Pre-Order the new Peltier CD of the reading of Leonard's words from his book PRISON WRITINGS: MY LIFE IS MY SUN DANCE. We will begin manufacture late next week and are hoping for as many paid pre-orders as possible, ASAP.For orders received by Nov. 20th, we will waive the $4.00 shipping/handling charges. CDs should be shipped in 2-3 weeks. PleaseE send your checks in now to help us manufacture more CDs and get Leonard's message out to the world.
Prices for PAID PRE-ORDERS are:
$17.50 each for 1-4 disks
$12.50 each for 5-19
$10.00 each for 20 and overNO $4 SHIPPING/HANDLING CHARGES
FOR PRE-ORDERS MADE BY OCT 20, 1999POSTERS OF THE COVER ART--FEATURING LEONARD'S CLASSIC PAINTING HAWKMAN II--MAY ALSO BE PRE-ORDERED FOR $10.00 (incs S/H)
CHECKS SHOULD BE MADE OUT TO: WISDOMKEEPERS, LLC
and sent ASAP to:PELTIER CD
THE WISDOMKEEPERS PROJECT
4101 LEGATION ST. N.W.
WASHINGTON, DC 20015
To hear a 3-minute sound sample from the CD and also the color cover art with Leonard's classic painting Hawkman II (also available as a poster for $10), go to Leonard Peltier CD.
Here is my earlier notice about the CD and the BOOK.
I am touring and giving readings of Leonard's book wherever I'm asked and can get to, mostly by local Peltier groups in various cities. Have to do it on a shoestring since publisher gives little help. Almost no national or even regional coverage. The corporate media have built a wall of silence around Leonard's book, as they have around Leonard himself and virtually all Indian people and struggles. Still, I go wherever I'm asked and read his words from PRISON WRITINGS: MY LIFE IS MY SUN DANCE. People are VERY moved and appreciative. While in New Orleans at a Peltier benefit in late August, I was recorded reading the book, and a privately-made CD, with drum and musical accompaniment, is being produced, to be released in November for the BIG PUSH for Leonard's freedom.
November '99 is the month of the BIG PUSH for LEONARD'S PELTIER'S FREEDOM. The time has finally come for President Clinton to exercise the power granted to him alone and give Leonard back to his People after nearly a quarter century of false imprisonment. The government itself admitted in federal court in 1986 that they don't know WHO shot the FBI agents Leonard was falsely charged with killing. The FBI, and the world, know Leonard has been railroaded. This is one of the most glaring injustices in America's history. Thousands of supporters will be gathering in Washington, D.C., and around the USA and the world, for the entire month of November. Their new motto is:"IT'S 1999! Why Is Leonard Peltier Still In Prison!" Leonard's book PRISON WRITINGS: MY LIFE IS MY SUN DANCE came out in June on the 24th anniversary of the infamous "Incident at Oglala". It is helping to create a huge momentum for his release, along with the dedicated efforts of his Defense Committee, lawyers such as former U.S. Attorney General Ramsey Clark, and hundreds of support groups around the country and the world.
While I was in New Orleans two weeks ago a digital recording was made of my 70-minute reading from Leonard's book PRISON WRITINGS: MY LIFE IS MY SUN DANCE, and a well-known N.0. blues musician, Reverend Goat Carson (who runs the annual White Buffalo Festival) along with CD producer George Ingmire of Mi Abuelo Productions, are setting the reading against a background track of drum, buffalo-jawbone harp and other blues/native instruments. The CD will be released in November in time for the BIG PUSH for Leonard's freedom.
TO GET INVOLVED IN THE BIG PUSH, CONTACT The Leonard Peltier Defense Committee. Phone: 785-842-5774 or E-Mail: lpdc@idir.net, or go to their website: Leonard Peltier International Defense Committee
ABOUT THE BOOK
PRISON WRITINGS: MY LIFE IS MY SUN DANCE, by Leonard Peltier, edited by Harvey Arden, preface by Ramsey Clark, published 1999 by Martin's Press.
A HEALING VOICE in a desperate world, himself a victim of "ethnic-cleansing," American-style, the famous, even legendary American Indian activist LEONARD PELTIER publishes his extraordinary first memoir after nearly a quarter of a century in prison for a crime he did not commit.
Peltier's PRISON WRITINGS: MY LIFE IS MY SUN DANCE will shake the foundations of the American conscience. In the tradition of the soul-rending, world shaking prison writings of Martin Luther King, Jr. and Nelson Mandela, this passionate and compassionate book is a flaming arrow aimed at the circled wagons of American injustice.
Nobel Peace Laureate Archbishop Desmond Tutu calls the book:
"A deeply moving and very disturbing story of a gross miscarriage of justice and an eloquent cri de coeur of Native Americans 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."
Seen by millions as a political prisoner, framed by the government for the murder of two FBI agents when he came to the defense of his People, Peltier languishes in Leavenworth--physically ill but morally strong after 24 years of false imprisonment. For the past five years he has been awaiting President Clinton's signature on an Executive Clemency petition--apparently his "last best hope" of freedom--to return to him "at least a fraction of my life, if only my old age." Peltier, now 54, has been in prison since he was 31.
In his book PRISON WRITINGS: MY LIFE IS MY SUN DANCE, Leonard dreams a visionary scene in the Oval Office, where he sees himself standing with a group of Indians. He writes:
"I pray that a golden eagle will fly off the flagstaff in the Oval Office and swiftly deliver that long-delayed petition from the attorney general's desk. And while the President sits there considering this innocent Indian man's appeal for clemency, I pray that that eagle will stand there on his desk, stare into his eye, and join its cry to the cry of the millions of people around the world who have written to the President, appealing to him for my release. "Just a few nights ago, I dreamed I was standing in the Oval Office with a group of Indians. I'm hopeful that dream will soon become a reality."
Peltier writes: "I am guilty only of being an Indian. That's why I'm here. Being who I am, being who you are, that's Aboriginal Sin." And he appends the following poem:
ABORIGINAL SIN
In this life you find yourself guilty of being who you are.
Being yourself, that's Aboriginal Sin,
the worst sin of all.
That's a sin you'll never be forgiven for.We Indians are all guilty,
guilty of being ourselves.
We're taught that guilt from the day we're born.
We learn it well.To each of my brothers and each of my sisters, I say,
be proud of that guilt.
You are guilty only of being innocent,
of being yourselves,
of being Indian,
of being human.Your guilt makes you holy.
We're hoping to get PREORDERS at $17.50 (including s/h) each to finance the manufacture. If you know any individuals or groups who would like to pre-order the CD and enable us to press more copies, I would be appreciative if you could put them in touch with me ASAP either at JTRoad@aol.com or rick@wisdomkeepers.com. Or have them call me at 1-202-244-4693. The CD will sell for an industry standard $22.95 retail, so pre-orders at $17.50 each saves $5.45 each; 5 or more copies pre-ordered by groups or vendors can be had for $12.50 each--a $!0.45 savings (or profit) per CD.
As Leonard says in his book, "Be an Army of One!" Hope you can help us break down the Wall of Silence!
Checks should be made out to WISDOMKEEPERS, L.L.C. and sent to:
Peltier CD
The Wisdomkeepers Project
4101 Legation St., N.W.
Washington, DC 20015See the notice about this on our website.
URL: www.wisdomkeepers.com.Please post this wherever you think appropriate. Many thanks!
/S/ Harvey Arden
E-mail: JTRoad@aol.com