Native American prisoner seeks release

Compassion and mercy are meant to flow easily and nicely around these important days. We break bread with those we have differences with, in hopes for better understanding going forward. We donate so that all can sit at the table of life equally. It is a time of correction for rights and wrongs and moments of healing.

Leonard Peltier is a Native American who has been in maximum security prison for more than 45 years. He has accumulated more than

20 years of good behavior and has served the equivalent of 64 years in jail.

He has the normal problems of a 76-yearold, compounded by the unhealthy life of a prisoner. He recently underwent emergency open heart surgery, has lost 90 percent of the sight in one eye due to a stroke, and has high blood pressure, an abdominal aortic aneurysm and diabetes.

For these reasons, many leaders of compassion, including the Holy Father Pope Francis, Archbishop Thomas Wenski of Miami, Archbishop Tutu of South Africa, the Dalai Lama of Tibet, and Buddhist Monk Thich Nhat Hanh have rallied to Peltier’s pleas for compassionate release.

Four American presidents passed on giving Peltier his freedom. But after 45 years in jail, many agree that guilty or not, it is time for Peltier to go home to die in peace. The National Congress of American Indians hascalled for his release as did the World Council of Churches and many other religious bodies. Peltier’s release would send a message of mercy and decency to the native peoples up and down the Americas.

Forty-five years ago, Amnesty International called Peltier’s trial “deeply flawed” and called for a new trial. Though its time has passed, that judgment and his years in prison is enough.