Lummi House of Tears Carvers is embarking on another Totem Pole Journey from August 28-September 17th
BUF will be hosting a blessing of the Totem Pole on August 30th from 5:00 pm to 7:00 pm. If it’s nice, we’ll be outside in the parking lot. If it’s raining, we’ll do the presentation inside in the Sanctuary and then head out to do the Blessing. This event is open to the public and we encourage you to invite friends and anyone else who might be interested in learning about Leonard Peltier and offering a prayer, meditation or spiritual message to Leonard and President Biden through the Totem Pole.
This particular Totem Pole is focused on asking President Biden to grant clemency to Leonard Peltier. Leonard, a member of the Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa and of Lakota and Dakota descent, is now in his 48th year of serving a prison term of two life sentences in Coleman, Florida for aiding and abetting in the deaths of two FBI agents during a shootout on the Pine Ridge Indian reservation in South Dakota in 1975. The history of Leonard’s case has been fraught with legal and judicial irregularities, violations and inequities that authorities have fought against correcting. Former witnesses, judges and attorneys have pleaded clemency acknowledging the misbehavior of officials at his original trial and in subsequent appeals. Leonard will be 79 years old on September 12th and is in failing health. The call is to President Biden to grant clemency for Leonard and to allow him to spend what remains of his life at home.
The Totem Pole and Journey crew will head cross country with stops in Montana, South Dakota, Minnesota, Illinois and then onto Washington DC by September 12th, Leonard’s birthday. In Washington DC they will be joining the International Leonard Peltier Defense Committee in an event sponsored by NDN Collective and Amnesty International. From there, the Totem Pole will stop in North Carolina and then in Coleman, Florida where Leonard is serving time.
Amnesty International and important figures including Nelson Mandela, Mother Teresa, the 14th Dalai Lama, Pope Francis, Robert Redford, John Lennon, U.S. Senators and hundreds of others, have called for clemency for Leonard.
More info at:
Amnesty International: https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/news/2023/02/usa-free-leonard-peltier/
International Leonard Peltier Defense Committee: https://www.whoisleonardpeltier.info/
The Totem Pole Journey can be followed on the House of Tears Carver’s Facebook page at: https://www.facebook.com/totempolejourney
Donations are needed and being accepted! You can donate here: https://give-usa.keela.co/leonard-peltier-totem-pole-journey-gifts
Or make Checks payable to:
JUUstice Washington
1454 Willeys Lake Rd.
Ferndale, WA. 98248
