Monday morning, as President Joe Biden’s just-about-last move in office, he finally commuted the sentence of a political prisoner thousands of us have been trying to get freed for 50 years, American Indian Movement leader Leonard Peltier. This act sparked outrage from the FBI, to whom it’s gospel that Leonard killed two of their own agents in a 1975 shootout in South Dakota’s Pine Ridge Reservation. Leonard has always maintained his innocence of those two killings.
This was in the days of FBI’s COINTELPRO, the time of J. Edgar Hoover and a few years thereafter, where the agency used the fear of political violence as an excuse but mostly focused on killing and otherwise neutralizing inspiring, effective liberation leaders like Dr King, Malcom X, Fred Hampton and Leonard Peltier. All the key witnesses who testified to Peltier’s guilt have said they were “coerced” by the FBI, and 600 pages related to the case remain classified for “national security” reasons.
The Orange Juice Blog celebrates Biden’s commutation of Leonard’s sentence, which we first learned of from our Native American friends who are working to change the name of Anaheim High School’s mascot from the “Colonists,” with the historical racism that connotes, to the “Jaguars.” Leonard will be freed, at the age of 80, from his cell in Coleman Federal Prison in Florida Feb. 18, and sent back to Pine Ridge to serve home confinement, where there will be great rejoicing.
While the rest of us were pushing – with success – to get Leonard Peltier, as well as thousands of non-violent low-level drug offenders, freed, the Liberal OC’s Dan Chmielewski was focusing his efforts on getting President Biden to pardon his friend Melahat Rafiei, former OC Democrat mover-and-shaker and pot consultant who pled guilty to bribery and was forced to snitch on other corrupt OC politicos. Dan had notably less success with his effort, but we’ve all got our own priorities. We discussed this enough in comments when Dan announced his crusade.
Melahat’s sentencing will be this March.
eehe, this means yes in the Gabrilenos, Tongva and Nahuat Mexicah (mehsheecah) azteca language of the anctient mexicans, tlazokamahtli thank you very much for your support and Chipahualcayotl beutifull article we need more writers like you that support our native issues, and Colonists name, term from Anaheim High school, will come down, it’s time that we change name and no more Home of the Colonists and just how Congressmen Lou Correa said it @ Chicano day, let’s go Los Jaguares……. and everyone reading this its perfect timing with the Freedom of innocent man Lenord Peltier from ayotltzin Turtle mountain…… Lets Decolonize the Colony anaheim is on native american stolen lands !
It’s worth noting that the “colonists” in Anaheim were not the sorts of land-grabbers that have become notorious worldwide: they were more like utopians seeking to create a new home for activities including wine-making and brewing. Here’s a couple of cites worth reading:
https://www.anaheimcolony.com/colony-story (relatively short)
https://www.orangecountyhistory.org/wp/?page_id=225 (longer and more informative reprint from a 1931 book)
I should of course try to drag Cynthia into this discussion, but I hate to impose.
Melahatrat can do her best Eric Adams impersonation, claim democrats abandoned her and cozy up to the Orange one.
https://www.cbsnews.com/amp/newyork/news/new-york-city-mayor-eric-adams-president-trump-inauguration/
Not comparable cases. Adams was at best only nominally a Democrat, so he had no party bridges to burn. If through some stroke of good luck Kash Patel doesn’t make it, Trump could pump up his “bipartisan bona fides” by appointing Adams as his FBI Director.
It would be a smart be a smart move for him to get out of NYC before he gets stomped in this year’s election: he only got in through a fluke born of two Democratic female rivals’ unwillingness to cross-endorse in an automatic runoff race. Unfortunately for his chances, we can’t rule out his doing a competent job.
Melahat, by contrast, made her whole persona as not simply being a Democrat, but being THE Democrat — especially but not exclusively under the de facto Libertarian DPOC Chair Frank Barbaro.
Melahat’s sentencing may be the first truly telling test of new Chair Florice Hoffman. Pressure on her from DPOC’s Old Guard (and its spokeswalrus) for her to personally vouch for Melahat and marshal all party resources to call for lenience and forgiveness will be intense — with I’m sure some noting tartly that Miguel Pulido is not in prison, so why should Melahat be? (And I’m sure that Melahat has some secrets to spill, and no compunction based upon the lack of a working conscience.)
If Florice gives into this, she becomes the sullied plaything of the worst parts of the party, and it will affect the rest of her business activities. At another moment, I might have sort of enjoyed that, but we’re in a different world now and I want Florice to make good choices because we have a bigger common enemy than ever. But if Melahat can get a really good career path out of Trump, it would not be shocking that she takes it — and will later claim to have been a “Democratic Secret Agent” while doing his bidding.
That Melahat person attempted to pervert government for her own aggrandizement. Why on Earth would anybody want her pardoned?
Of course we have no idea how many undisclosed tentacles reached into other cities. Apparently Zahra was recommending her dope services in Fullerton back in 2019.
One could opine that Ada expedited her campaign for Quirk-Silva’s seat so that she could claim any criticism or charges against her arising from the Melahat affair could be characterised by her or her acolytes as a political attack.
Getting out early in an election is generally good policy and does not require much explanation, let alone a tendentious one. And I speak as “not a fan.”