I heard Luka Bloom (aka Barry Moore) sing this song at a gig this autumn. It is a campaigning song (calling for clemency). so I will add information below the lyrics (not consigning the political discussion to BS thread). i got the lyrics via youtube, link below as well. LEONARD PELTIER (Barry Moore) Free Leonard Peltier(so the healing can begin). There is an innocent Lakota He's been down for 40 years The prison yard he paces Is his people's Trail of Tears Women called on men to stand Between the young ones and the hate Some brave Lakota warriors Came and stepped up to that plate They stood between the goonsquads And the people of the Plains The shots that killed 2 agents Were not fired in Leonard's name Leonard Peltier, When will he be free? Lakota Warrior, for one humanity He hears the Elders sing and sees the tears of blood Until the Sundance is returned Mother Earth will know no good For who will build a future Beyond this house of skin? Who will liberate the innocent So the healing can begin? Leonard……… He hears a child's voice cry And knows it is his own Calling Leonard to Dakota To his first and final home Crying out to Darkness Pleading to the wind Calling us together So the healing can begin Leonard…….. There is one who has the power Lives in a big white house He holds the key to freedom Can let Leonard Peltier out Out to roam the Black Hills With the people loves the buffalo and eagle Watching over from above Leonard…….. When the prison door is opened Everybody wins Free Leonard Peltier So the healing can begin. ---- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dd090v0kXKM Luka Bloom wrote: "Leonard Peltier has been in an American prison for 40 years. Everything I have read about his case, tells me that Leonard is an innocent man, and that he should be released. His only crime is that he is a Chippewa warrior who stood with his people in the 1970s, protecting them from militias in South Dakota. Leonard turned 72 recently, and is unwell . "Many people around the world are now calling on President Obama to use his power in his last days in The White House, to do the right thing, and release Leonard Peltier. It is time now. It is the right thing to do, and it might just herald better days ahead. I wrote this song last week in September 2016. I sang it today at my soundcheck in Birr, County Offaly, tonight. Thanks to David Donohue for filming it. From the heart of Ireland I sing this for Leonard. And singing it at this moment, I also declare my support for the people assembled at Standing Rock in North Dakota, gathering to protect the water from the Dakota access pipeline(DAPL). Water is life." ----- There is an old Mudcat discussion re Leonard Peltier. The thread is viewable but closed to further discussion as it had become rancorous. Some people allege that Peltier had behaved badly in prison and that that is why he was refused parole. But I think that 40 years is more than long enough; I read next parole hearing wouldnt be till 2024 I read, another reason to ask for clemency now. Otherwise Peltier may never get out of prison alive. There is another doubt about the safety of his conviction that even Amnesty International supports the case for release of Peltier. As the songwriter suggests freeing this man would be a healing gesture. Think of the release of Nelson Mandela or of paramilitaries in Northern Ireland as part of moves towards democracy and peace. And here we have a man who possibly never did kill anybody. Link to Amnesty petition: http://act.amnestyusa.org/ea-action/action?ea.client.id=1839&ea.campaign.id=27118
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