In Washington, D.C., at least 34 Indigenous activists were arrested as they rallied in front of the White House, calling on President Biden to grant clemency to political prisoner and Indigenous leader Leonard Peltier. Peltier has maintained his innocence over the 1975 killing of two FBI agents in a shootout on the Pine Ridge Reservation. His conviction was riddled with irregularities and prosecutorial misconduct. This is Indigenous writer and historian Nick Estes speaking at yesterday’s action, which took place on Peltier’s 79th birthday.

Nick Estes: “All Leonard Peltier was fighting for is the future of our people as Indigenous people, because they tried to take that away with boarding schools. They tried to erase our children. It’s not just about taking them and making them speak English. When you steal youth, you try to steal the future.”