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December 4 – 10, 2016
Washington, DC
Highlights
Sunday, December 4 – Friendship/Welcoming Circle
From 1:00-3:00 p.m., join us at the National Museum of the American Indian (outdoor space), 4th Street and Independence Avenue, SW, Washington, DC 20560.
Monday–Saturday, December 5-10 – White House Vigil
Join us daily for a vigil at the White House for Executive Clemency for Leonard Peltier, peak hours from 11:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m., and a candlelight vigil on Saturday, December 10, 5:00-8:00 p.m.
Tuesday, December 6 – Evening screening of “Warrior: The Life of Leonard Peltier”
Join us at the George Washington University Amphitheater, Cloyd Heck Marvin Center, 3rd Floor, 800 21st Street, NW, Washington, DC 20052. The event is open to the public and the doors will open at 6:00 p.m. The screening will be followed by a Q&A session with filmmaker Suzi Baer.
Friday Evening, December 9 – “Indigenous Rights and Environmental Issues: Problems and Solutions”
Join us at the Continental Ballroom, George Washington University, Cloyd Heck, Marvin Center, Floor 3, 800 21st Street, NW, Washington, DC 20052 for presentations by and discussion with Indigenous organizers and advocates from across the country. Topics will include a range of environmental issues and updates on how Native communities are addressing them. From resource extraction, to transport of oil and nuclear waste, and to deforestation how are the country’s earliest residents and their ancestral homelands affected? How is colonization still happening today and what can be done about it? Speakers include Leona Morgan of Diné No Nukes, Jasilyn Charger of the International Indigenous Youth Council on the Dakota Access Pipeline, and other special guests. Doors will open at 6:30 p.m.
Saturday, Human Rights Day, December 10 – “U.S. Prisons: Conditions of Confinement”
Join us for a conference at the Washington College of Law, American University – Tenley Campus, 4300 Nebraska Avenue, NW, Yuma Building, Claudio Grossman Hall, Washington, DC 20016. Speakers include:
• Daniel McGowan, former federal prisoner, on Communication Management Units and First Amendment rights of prisoners;
• Robert King of the Angola 3 (former Louisiana state prisoner) on solitary confinement;
• Pooja Gehi, Executive Director of the National Lawyers Guild, on aging prisoners in the U.S., and early release options, as well as an update on activists’ rights;
• Jamelia Morgan, American Civil Liberties Union’s National Prison Project, on an array of prisoners’ rights issues including medical neglect;
• Lenny Foster, Navajo Nation Corrections Project and International Indian Treaty Council, on infringement of spiritual/religious rights of Indigenous prisoners;
• Belva Janis on incarcerated Native women;
• Danika Littlechild, International Indian Treaty Council, on the Native American experience with the criminal justice system (e.g., police brutality/homicide, other victimization of Indigenous Peoples, disproportionate sentencing of reservation Natives as compared to other populations, etc.); and
• Jasmine Heiss, International Leonard Peltier Defense Committee, on Leonard Peltier and conditions of his confinement, including current health-related concerns.
Doors will open at 8:00 a.m.
The conference will be followed at 4:00 p.m. by a walk/march to the White House for Indigenous rights and clemency for Leonard Peltier. A candlelight vigil will follow at the White House (5:00-8:00 p.m.).
For more information on the week’s events, lodgings, rideshares, etc., please visit www.whoisleonardpeltier.info.