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Photo courtesy Erin Braaten / Dancing Aspens Photography
Native people from across the country attended a ceremony Wednesday honoring a rare white bison calf that was recently spotted in Yellowstone National Park.
As the Mountain West News Bureau’s Hanna Merzbach reports, many Indigenous people say the birth fulfills a prophecy that goes back two millennia.
About 200 people gather around a stage in West Yellowstone, listening to Lakota Chief Arvol Looking Horse, keeper of the Sacred White Buffalo Calf Pipe and Bundle.
He compares the bison birth to the second coming of Jesus Christ.
“When I first heard it, my heart, so heavy, I just want to cry, I can’t believe that this is happening.”
White bison are sometimes born in captivity to parents with cow DNA, but Looking Horse says this one is wild – a blessing – and a warning. He says it means Mother Earth is sick and has a fever.
“We are going to see a lot of sicknesses and viruses … We’re going to see false leaders, false prophets.”
Looking Horse says nations can unite spiritually and create a “energy shift” – using Indigenous practices to protect the environment and the sacred animals.
The Native-led organization NDN Collective is holding a caravan drive Thursday in Rapid City, S.D., calling for the release of Leonard Peltier.
A parole hearing was held on June 10 and a decision from the U.S. Parole Commission is expected to take place soon.
The leader of the organization was one of two people to testify at Peltier’s parole hearing outlining a re-entry plan and what his release would mean for Indian Country.
South Dakota Public Broadcasting’s Lee Strubinger has more.
Nick Tilsen is the president and CEO of NDN Collective.
He was one of two witnesses who testified in favor of Peltier’s release at a parole hearing.
Peltier is serving two life sentences in federal prison after being convicted for taking part in a fatal shootout between American Indian Movement members and FBI agents on the Pine Ridge Reservation in 1975.
Tilsen says the fight for Peltier’s release is an uphill battle, but he says he left the parole hearing with a little hope.
“One of the reasons why we fight for Leonard so fiercely is that how Leonard was treated during his prosecution and continued prosecution is consistent with how they have treated Indian people throughout history.”
Tilsen says NDN Collective has purchased a house for Peltier on the Turtle Mountain Reservation in North Dakota, where Peltier is enrolled.
He says he outlined Peltier’s re-entry plan, including helping Peltier get signed up for programming services through Indian Health Service (IHS) community health as well as building a sweat lodge near the home.
Kevin Sharp is Peltier’s lawyer.
He says if parole is approved, he expects an appeal from those opposed to his release.
Then, he says, Peltier would start re-entry.
“Leonard would likely be transferred to a medical facility while we work on getting the process inside the bureau of prisons taken care of. Could likely take months to get him out. If it is denied, then our next step is to appeal to the national appeal board.”
If they lose the parole hearing, Sharp says it could take years to appeal through the courts.
“Any appeal of any case ends up taking way too long.”
Peltier’s supporters feel time is of the essence.
Sharp says Peltier’s health is failing.
His next parole hearing would be in 15 years, which, he says, Peltier likely would not make it to.
Those opposed to Peltier’s release say he has not earned parole and should serve out his two life sentences.
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