14 November 2012 - Bring Leonard Peltier Home in 2012 with an Evening of Music and Learning featuring Harry Belafonte, Jackson Browne, Rubin 'Hurricane' Carter, Bruce Cockburn and many more. Friday December 14th, at 7:30 pm at The Beacon Theatre in NYC.
On Friday, December 14, 2012 a diverse group of people from the music community in North America will gather at the Beacon Theater, in NYC to sing for freedom for LEONARD PELTIER, a man who has been locked away since the tumultuous days of the early Seventies and the violence at Wounded Knee and Oglala, South Dakota. Many around the world question whether he has received justice. Robert Redford's film Incident at Oglala tells his story in documentary form.
This all-star concert is a cross-cultural event meant to bring awareness to the 37-year ordeal of Peltier, a Native American Activist. Pete Seeger says the event is the blessing he’s been waiting for. The chance to gather with those Seeger has invited to participate has been a long time coming. Joining forces with Civil Rights icon Harry Belafonte, the two will be hosting performances by Jackson Browne, Bruce Cockburn, Native American singers Bill Miller and Jennifer Kreisberg and others.
This also is a rare opportunity to gather with traditional Native American artists and singers, including an opening song by Wisconsin Oneida singers Buddy and Geronimo Powless and Gina Buenrostro. The Canadian Cree drum group Eagleheart Singers will join with Mashpee Wampanoag drum group Wakeby Lake Singers to perform traditional honoring songs for Peltier. Both groups have been singing for Freedom for Peltier since the Seventies, often together.
Tuscarora Jennifer Kreisberg appeared on several movie soundtracks and sang back up with Bonnie Raitt, Richie Havens and Jackson Browne. Formerly a member of the group Ulali, Kreisberg is a regular in the Native American music world along with Mohican singer Bill Miller of Wisconsin. Miller has toured with Pearl Jam, Richie Havens, Arlo Guthrie and others.
These distinguished musicians have donated their time freely in hopes of bringing awareness to the Peltier cause for clemency.
For more information about Leonard Peltier, visit: http://www.whoisleonardpeltier.info. Special guest speakers will include noted American author Peter Matthiesson, who wrote In The Spirit Of Crazy Horse, the Peltier story, and The Snow Leopard. Rubin “Hurricane” Carter, the former Middleweight Boxer who spent 22 years in jail for a crime he did not commit and became an advocate for the wrongfully imprisoned will speak for Peltier. Carter was the subject of the Denzel Washington film, The Hurricane and the song by Bob Dylan song, “Hurricane.” Former Amnesty International President Jack Healey, of Human Rights Action Center in Washington, will speak about the many human rights violations in Peltier’s case. Tom Poor Bear, the Vice President of the Oglala Sioux tribe, Bill Means of the American Indian Movement and Dorothy Ninham of hte LPDOC will also discuss the case. The concert will open with a beautiful short film that includes Carlos Santana and others who lending their support from a distance, followed by a song recorded by singing duo Bear and the Willow. Indigenous activist Leonard Peltier is an accomplished author and artist, also known for his humanitarian achievements from behind bars. In 2009, he was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize for the sixth consecutive year. Peltier also has been awarded the Human Rights Commission of Spain International Human Rights Prize (1986); North Star Frederick Douglas Award (1993); Federation of Labour (Ontario, Canada) Humanist of the Year Award (2003); Silver Arrow Award for Lifetime Achievement (2004); First Red Nation Humanitarian Award (2009); Kwame Ture Lifetime Achievement Award (2010); Fighters for Justice Award (2010); and First International Human Rights Prize, Mario Benedetti Foundation (2011). Wrongly imprisoned since 1976, Leonard Peltier has been designated a political prisoner by Amnesty International. Nelson Mandela, Desmond Tutu, the late Mother Theresa, the Dalai Lama, 55 Members of Congress and others—including a Federal judge who sat as a member of the court in two of Peltier’s appeals. All have all called for his immediate release. "Mr. Peltier's human and constitutional rights have been violated many times,” says Dorothy Ninham of the Wisconsin Oneida Nation, one of the concert organizers, and President of the Board of the LPDOC. “We speak as much for him, as with him. Each step we take to New York is a prayer. Our prayers will be answered when President Obama commutes Leonard's sentence. It's time for Leonard to go home.” For more information about Leonard Peltier, visit: http://www.whoisleonardpeltier.info