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Chicago Tribune
08-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Chicago Tribune
Today in History: Coca-Cola first sold
Today is Thursday, May 8, the 128th day of 2025. There are 237 days left in the year. Today in history: On May 8, 1886, the first serving of Coca-Cola, which contained cocaine, was sold at a pharmacy in Atlanta, Georgia. (The drink became fully cocaine-free in 1929.) Also on this date: In 1541, Spanish explorer Hernando de Soto reached the Mississippi River, the first recorded European to do so. In 1846, U.S. forces led by Gen. Zachary Taylor defeated Mexican forces near modern-day Brownsville, Texas, in the first major battle of the Mexican-American War. In 1945, President Harry S. Truman announced in a radio address that Nazi Germany's forces had surrendered, stating that 'the flags of freedom fly all over Europe' on V-E (Victory in Europe) Day. In 1973, members of the American Indian Movement and the Oglala Lakota tribe, who had occupied the South Dakota hamlet of Wounded Knee for 10 weeks, surrendered to federal authorities. In 1978, David R. Berkowitz pleaded guilty in a Brooklyn courtroom to murder, attempted murder and assault in connection with the 'Son of Sam' shootings that claimed six lives and terrified New Yorkers. (Berkowitz was sentenced to six consecutive life prison terms.) In 1984, the Soviet Union announced it would boycott the upcoming Summer Olympic Games in Los Angeles. In 2020, U.S. unemployment surged to 14.7%, a level last seen when the country was in the throes of the Great Depression; the government reported that more than 20 million Americans had lost their jobs in April amid the economic fallout from the coronavirus pandemic. Today's Birthdays: Biologist/TV presenter David Attenborough is 99. Poet Gary Snyder is 95. Singer Toni Tennille is 85. Pianist Keith Jarrett is 80. Singer Philip Bailey (Earth, Wind and Fire) is 74. Rock musician Chris Frantz (Talking Heads) is 74. Rock musician Alex Van Halen is 72. Football Hall of Fame coach Bill Cowher is 68. Football Hall of Famer Ronnie Lott is 66. Filmmaker Michel Gondry is 62. Actor Melissa Gilbert is 61. Singer Enrique Iglesias is 50. Musician Joe Bonamassa is 48. Actor Domhnall Gleeson is 42.
Boston Globe
08-05-2025
- Business
- Boston Globe
Today in History: May 8, Allies celebrate Nazi surrender in World War II
In 1846, US forces led by General Zachary Taylor defeated Mexican forces near modern-day Brownsville, Texas, in the first major battle of the Mexican-American War. Advertisement In 1886, the first serving of Coca-Cola, which contained cocaine, was sold at a pharmacy in Atlanta, Ga. (The drink became fully cocaine-free in 1929.) In 1945, President Harry S. Truman announced in a radio address that Nazi Germany's forces had surrendered, stating that 'the flags of freedom fly all over Europe' on V-E (Victory in Europe) Day. In 1973, members of the American Indian Movement and the Oglala Lakota tribe, who had occupied the South Dakota hamlet of Wounded Knee for 10 weeks, surrendered to federal authorities. In 1978, David R. Berkowitz pleaded guilty in a Brooklyn courtroom to murder, attempted murder, and assault in connection with the 'Son of Sam' shootings that claimed six lives and terrified New Yorkers. (Berkowitz was sentenced to six consecutive life prison terms.) Advertisement In 1984, the Soviet Union announced it would boycott the upcoming Summer Olympic Games in Los Angeles. In 2020, US unemployment surged to 14.7 percent, a level last seen when the country was in the throes of the Great Depression; the government reported that more than 20 million Americans had lost their jobs in April amid the economic fallout from the coronavirus pandemic.
Yahoo
12-03-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
‘Free Leonard Peltier' Follows A 50-Year Trail To Justice For Native American Icon – Thessaloniki Int'l Documentary Festival
It's an elusive dream for so many docmakers: to impact legislation, to find justice, to make a difference. To change the world. With Free Leonard Peltier, filmmakers Jesse Short Bull (Lakota Nation vs. United States) and David France (How To Survive a Plague) achieved their eponymous goal: Seven days before the world premiere of their film at the 2025 Sundance Film Festival in January, President Joe Biden, in his last act before leaving office, issued a clemency order, commuting Peltier's sentence to home confinement. The Native American activist had served nearly 50 years in a federal prison, having been convicted of murder of two FBI agents in a shootout at the Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota in 1975. Peltier's attorneys and supporters would wage a decades-long battle through appeals, writs and petitions to circuit courts, federal courts, the U.S. Supreme Court and three U.S. presidents, alleging numerous incidents of misconduct by the FBI in Peltier's case. His cause became a global cause célèbre, attracting the support of Nobel Laureates, scholars, artists, and civil rights leaders. More from Deadline Sundance To Unveil Doc On Paul Reubens/Pee-Wee Herman, Exploring Actor's Life And Sexuality, Plus Films On Selena, Marlee Matlin, 'Zodiac Killer Project' & More Thessaloniki Film Festival Head On This Year's Edition & How Climate Change And Rising Political Extremism Have Made It Harder To Mount Film Events Scene 2 Seen Podcast: Filmmakers Jesse Short Bull And Laura Tomaselli Discuss Their Documentary 'Lakota Nation Vs. The United States' And The Ongoing Battle For Sacred Land Between The Two The Free Leonard Peltier team rushed back to the editing room to add this happy ending, working at a feverish pace to craft a new DCP for the January 27th premiere. Peltier was released on February 18 from a federal correctional facility in Florida to home confinement at the Turtle Mountain Reservation in North Dakota. The film screens Wednesday at the Thessaloniki International Documentary Festival after celebrating its international premiere at TiDF Tuesday night. While Jesse Short Bull and David France hadn't worked together before, they both came to the project with a long history of activism–and a deep admiration for Peltier and his iconic stature. France was in the audience at a 2022 screening of Short Bull's previous film, Lakota Nation vs. United States. Short Bull's producers, Jody Archambault, Jane Myers and Bird Runningwater, made the introduction between the filmmakers. France has had a distinguished career as a journalist, activist and filmmaker, having focused primarily on the LGBTQ+ movement. He was very much aware of, and inspired by, the American Indian Movement (AIM) during its heyday in the 1970s. 'The American Indian Movement was in my childhood, a very significant force, drove a lot of news coverage and animated a lot of people's interest in justice,' France tells Deadline. 'I saw it as a natural outgrowth of the kind of political activism that I've covered from the queer perspective, to see where those parallels were.' Short Bull, a member of the Oglala Lakota Tribe, grew up in South Dakota, near the Pine Ridge Reservation. Over the past decade, he's been active in his community, helping to provide support for Native college students and participating in filmmaking workshops. How did the two filmmakers complement each other? 'My philosophy is, How can I best serve the story?' he says. 'David had a pretty extensive background with Leonard's story, and I didn't have anywhere near that level of understanding of some of the events. However, I'm from Pine Ridge. I live here, in southwestern South Dakota. I'm active within my tribe. I'm really rooted here in the community. Once I started to familiarize myself with Leonard's story, then it became whatever we can do to make it the most effective that we can. I became a servant to the story, in that sense.' The story of AIM, Peltier and the conflicts at Pine Ridge have been the subject of several documentaries over the past few decades, including Michael Apted's Incident at Oglala (1993) and Stanley Nelson and Julianna Brannum''s Wounded Knee (2009). Much has come to light in the decades since those films, including, most recently, a letter from U.S. Attorney James H. Reynolds that sharply criticized Peltier's trial and how federal authorities handled the case. 'We wanted to use the advantage of having hindsight, to be able to tell the full story,' says France. 'We wanted to ask the question, Why did this happen? As far as our division of labor went, Jesse really led the research initiative to try to get to those answers. Jesse brought all of that to the interviewing; I was more involved in the shaping of the archive.' In a 2024 interview with Julianna Brannum in the Oklahoma-based publication Luxiere, Brannum points out that in making Wounded Knee, Nelson had admitted that he didn't know much about Native history but as an African American, 'he knew about generational trauma, and he understood that there are differences in trauma and how it affects different people.' For France, generational trauma figured largely in joining the Free Leonard Peltier project. 'At one of our meetings, I realized that all of us who were principally involved were either Native or queer or both,' France recalls. 'We all brought a tremendous history of personal trauma to all of these questions that we were taking on. That united us in our dedicated pursuit of truth in this story. What we all shared was the experience of having things go remarkably badly based on prejudice in our personal lives, in our collective communities. It wasn't hard for us to see where that happened in the story of Leonard Peltier, where he was carrying the weight of punishment that the federal government wanted to burden the entire movement with.' In the process of interviewing the witnesses, survivors and elders, Short Bull deployed a style rooted more in the Lakota culture of storytelling than in common journalistic practice. 'What was ingrained in me being around Pine Ridge was how you communicate with people. Essentially, every word that you speak should be viewed like a prayer. So you have to be really careful about what you say and how you talk to people that are older than you. 'In this process of filmmaking, it's a delicate balance,' Short Bull continues. 'You want to try to get to the story, but you also have to take into account that there's a spiritual component to every action that we do. How I navigate that balance is by trying to treat everyone like I would my grandparents or my closest relative. Some of these things are so intense that how you talk about them has to be done with great care, great purpose' For France, this protocol meant rethinking the art of interviewing, as informed by his longtime journalistic practice. 'When I first started on the project, I'd spent some time on the reservation in Pine Ridge, but [this] was my first time as a storyteller, as a journalist, and I recognized that it was a world that was very different from the one I come from. One of our producers suggested that we begin our process with a prayer for the production. We reached out to a spiritual leader, who gathered us together and offered a prayer for us, but it was also a kind of a master class in how we had to go about our research on this project. The key thing that he said to me was, 'Don't ask for anything; wait for it to come.' He also said something that they tell us in journalism school: Leave yourself behind. 'I attempt to practice what I sometimes call 'radical empathy' in my journalism,' France continues. 'It's an effort to really remove my own perspective and point of view in order to try and feel what the person feels, whose story I'm telling, or what their community feels. I knew it was going to be difficult for me in this story. Just watching Jesse's remarkable interviewing patterns and how deep he was able to penetrate the story, without really asking for the story. And often, Jesse would keep his eyes closed through the interview, and didn't ask follow-up questions.' Speaking of interviews, journalist Kevin McKiernan, who covered the Pine Ridge episode and its aftermath, spoke to Peltier in 1990, and that conversation serves as a narrative throughline for the film. Short Bull and France used other audio sources, such as phone conversations friends and family had surreptitiously recorded. Thanks to AI technology, the filmmakers enhanced the quality of all of the recordings. 'We were able to take the vocal data set from that interview that Kevin did and use Leonard's voice to re-voice Leonard's voice, and put it all into this kind of singular vocal environment to make it seem as though it were a master interview that drove the entire thing,' France explains. 'And there was a small part where we used his writings to address an area that he hadn't covered. This was all done with his permission.' In addition to the interviews and footage, the filmmakers availed themselves of massive amounts of material compiled by both AIM and the NDN Collective, a South Dakota-based Indigenous-led activist organization. President Biden's 11th-hour clemency culminated a positive series of circumstances: Biden had also appointed the first Native American cabinet secretary, Deb Haaland, as Secretary of the Interior, and just weeks before the U.S. presidential election, he issued a public apology for the U.S. Indian Boarding School Program, a notorious chapter of cultural erasure, forced assimilation and rampant abuse. In addition, the filmmakers and their impact team presented a work-in-progress screening of Free Leonard Peltier on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC in December that was well-attended and well-received. 'People really felt the need to do something on Leonard's case,' France maintains. 'Biden's legacy is that he has been the most pro-Indigenous president in U.S. history, and that he could really seal that with clemency for Leonard. I think that that conversation, of which we played a very small part, was really beginning to ramp up after December.' But now, given the current administration's turbo-charged authoritarian proclivities, the team is facing significant headwinds. Nonetheless, they are fielding invitations from festivals, are in talks with prospective distributors, and as part of their impact campaign, they will take Free Leonard Peltier on a reservation tour, with significant support from the California-based San Manuel Band of Mission Indians, the film's presenting partner. 'There is hope,' Short Bull asserts. 'Back in the '70s, things got so bad. There was no justice; it was just so dangerous, but especially to a lot of the people that I know from Pine Ridge, who keep history and stories. We've seen darker days, where our people were hurting each other regularly. But a lot of positive activity grew out of that. So you can look to history to see how you can get through times where these things seem scary. If we can crawl out of that, we can get out of any situation.' 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Yahoo
28-02-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Leonard Peltier remains defiant, maintaining innocence and vowing continued activism
Graham Lee BrewerAssociated PressBELCOURT, N.D. — More than 50 years after a shootout on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation landed him in federal prison, Leonard Peltier remains maintains his innocence in the deaths of two FBI agents in 1975 and sees his newfound freedom — the result of a commutation from former President Joe Biden — as the beginning of a new phase of his activism."I'm going to spend the rest of my life fighting for our people, because we ain't finished yet. We're still in danger," Peltier, now 80, said in an exclusive interview with The Associated Press at his new home on the Turtle Mountain Reservation, his tribal homeland in North Dakota, near the Canadian among the rolling, often snow-covered hills, he will serve out the rest of his sentence on house into an era of violent hostility between the American government and Indigenous peoples, the former American Indian Movement member has now stepped into another politically volatile moment in the country. He said he understands well the threats the rise of the far right, as well as the federal government, pose to tribal nations and Indigenous peoples. He believes that, like previous administrations, President Donald Trump will come for mineral and oil on tribal lands."You don't have to get violent, you don't have to do nothing like that. Just get out there and stand up," he told AP this week, in his first sit-down conversation with a journalist in over 30 years. "We got to resist." The FBI and Native American activists: A volatile mixPeltier was part of a movement in the late 1960s and 1970s that fought for Native American rights and tribal self-determination, sometimes occupying federal and tribal movement grabbed headlines in 1973 when it took over the village of Wounded Knee on Pine Ridge, leading to a 71-day standoff with federal agents. They also protested at Alcatraz and the Bureau of Indian Affairs headquarters. For many members of the American Indian Movement, or AIM, their activism was part of legacy of resistance stretching back to the country's day of the shootout came amid heightened tensions on the Pine Ridge reservation, where residents felt the FBI's heavy presence was a threat to the people's autonomy. Peltier and other AIM members got into a confrontation with agents Jack Coler and Ron Williams when the agents drove onto a rural property where the AIM members were staying. Both agents were shot and killed, along with Joseph Stuntz, another AIM FBI says Peltier shot the agents at close range. In a letter sent to Biden last year opposing his release, former FBI director Christopher Wray called Peltier a "remorseless killer."His guilt is clear to many, including North Dakota Gov. Kelly Armstrong."More than 20 federal judges upheld his conviction, and he was denied parole as recently as last July," Armstrong said in a statement to the AP. "There was no legal justification for his release. He should still be in prison." Peltier was not pardoned; Biden said he was commuting Peltier's sentence because of his age, his declining health, and the long period he had already been in has acknowledged he was at the shootout, but says he acted in self-defense and wasn't the one whose bullets killed the agents. He believes the FBI and prosecutors were looking for someone to take the blame, after his two co-defendants were exonerated for self-defense."They wanted revenge, and they didn't know who was responsible," Peltier told the AP from the kitchen table of his new home. "And they said 'Put the full weight of the American government on Leonard Peltier, we need a conviction.' And when they say that you don't have no rights," he International and scores of political leaders around the world called Peltier a political prisoner of the U.S., questioning the fairness of his trial and conviction. James Reynolds, the former U.S. Attorney who oversaw Peltier's conviction, urged clemency in a letter to Biden in 2021, acknowledging that prosecutors couldn't prove Peltier fired the fatal shots and calling his imprisonment "unjust".His grandson, Cyrus Peltier, remembers visiting him every weekend at Leavenworth, a federal prison in Kansas. He didn't always understand why his grandfather wouldn't just tell the parole board he was sorry for the crimes, and hopefully win his freedom."And he would say 'Well, that's just not what I'm fighting for, grandson,'" Cyrus Peltier, now 39, recalled from his home in North Dakota this week. "'I'm sorry for what happened to those agents, but I'm not going to sit here and admit to something I didn't do. And if I have to die in here for that, I'm going to.'"A life behind bars, but always hope for freedomIn prison, Peltier's fame only grew, as he amassed the support of prominent political leaders around the globe and celebrities in the U.S. and became a symbol of the injustices against Native said it was all their letters of support and acts of protest for his release that kept him said there were moments in the last few years where he began to lose hope that he would ever see freedom. His denial of parole in July was another crushing blow."They gave me the strength to stay alive and to know what I was in prison for," he said. Many Indigenous people, leaders, and organizers lobbied for decades for Peltier's some who believe Peltier was involved in the murder of AIM member Anna Mae Pictou Aquash in 1975, fought against his release. Two other AIM members were convicted of the crime."Their ability to say that he is free and he gets to go home negates the whole fact that Anna Mae never got to go home," said Aquash's daughter, Denise Pictou his interview with the AP, Peltier denied having any knowledge of Aquash's death.'I didn't give my life for nothing'In the end, Biden listened to the counsel of former Secretary of the Interior Deb Haaland, a member of the Pueblo of Laguna and the first Native American to lead the Interior Department. Pelltier was released on Feb. 18, and returned to North Dakota.A week later, he still often wakes up at night terrified that it is all a dream and that he is still in a remains confined to his home and nearby community. But he now has access to routine medical treatment for his many health issues, including an aortic aneurysm. He gets around with the help of a cane or a is heartened by the many people who come to visit him and drop off gifts like beaded medallions, letters and artwork, which are piling up in his wants to make a living selling his paintings, as he did in prison, and plans to write more books. He also wants to train young activists about the threats they will he was in prison, lying in his bunk at night, he would often wonder if his protest efforts resulted in any change. Seeing young Native activists today continuing to fight for the same things gives meaning to the 49 years he was incarcerated."It makes me feel so good, man, it does," he said, holding back tears. "I'm thinking, well, I didn't give my life for nothing."AP reporter Jack Dura in Bismarck, North Dakota, contributed to this report.
Yahoo
28-02-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Leonard Peltier remains defiant in AP interview, maintaining innocence and vowing continued activism
More than 50 years after a shootout on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation landed him in federal prison, Leonard Peltier remains defiant. He maintains his innocence in the deaths of two FBI agents in 1975 and sees his newfound freedom — the result of a commutation from former President Joe Biden — as the beginning of a new phase of his activism. 'I'm going to spend the rest of my life fighting for our people, because we ain't finished yet. We're still in danger,' Peltier, now 80, said in an exclusive interview with the Associated Press at his new home on the Turtle Mountain Reservation, his tribal homeland in North Dakota, near the Canadian border. See for yourself — The Yodel is the go-to source for daily news, entertainment and feel-good stories. By signing up, you agree to our Terms and Privacy Policy. There among the rolling, often snow-covered hills, he will serve out the rest of his sentence on house arrest. Born into an era of violent hostility between the American government and Indigenous peoples, the former American Indian Movement member has now stepped into another politically volatile moment in the country. He said he understands well the threats the rise of the far right, as well as the federal government, pose to tribal nations and Indigenous peoples. He believes that, like previous administrations, President Donald Trump will come for mineral and oil on tribal lands. 'You don't have to get violent, you don't have to do nothing like that. Just get out there and stand up,' he told AP this week, in his first sit-down conversation with a journalist in over 30 years. 'We got to resist.' The FBI and Native American activists: A volatile mix Peltier was part of a movement in the late 1960s and 1970s that fought for Native American rights and tribal self-determination, sometimes occupying federal and tribal property. The movement grabbed headlines in 1973 when it took over the village of Wounded Knee on Pine Ridge, leading to a 71-day standoff with federal agents. They also protested at Alcatraz and the Bureau of Indian Affairs headquarters. For many members of the American Indian Movement, or AIM, their activism was part of legacy of resistance stretching back to the country's founding. The day of the shootout came amid heightened tensions on the Pine Ridge reservation, where residents felt the FBI's heavy presence was a threat to the people's autonomy. Peltier and other AIM members got into a confrontation with agents Jack Coler and Ron Williams when the agents drove onto a rural property where the AIM members were staying. Both agents were shot and killed, along with Joseph Stuntz, another AIM member. The FBI says Peltier shot the agents at close range. In a letter sent to Biden last year opposing his release, former FBI director Christopher Wray called Peltier a 'remorseless killer'. His guilt is clear to many, including North Dakota Governor Kelly Armstrong. 'More than 20 federal judges upheld his conviction, and he was denied parole as recently as last July,' Armstrong said in a statement to the Associated Press. 'There was no legal justification for his release. He should still be in prison.' Peltier was not pardoned; Biden said he was commuting Peltier's sentence because of his age, his declining health, and the long period he had already been in prison. Peltier has acknowledged he was at the shootout, but says he acted in self-defense and wasn't the one whose bullets killed the agents. He believes the FBI and prosecutors were looking for someone to take the blame, after his two co-defendants were exonerated for self-defense. 'They wanted revenge, and they didn't know who was responsible,' Peltier told the AP from the kitchen table of his new home. 'And they said 'Put the full weight of the American government on Leonard Peltier, we need a conviction.' And when they say that you don't have no rights,' he said. Amnesty International and scores of political leaders around the world called Peltier a political prisoner of the U.S., questioning the fairness of his trial and conviction. James Reynolds, the former U.S. Attorney who oversaw Peltier's conviction, urged clemency in a letter to Biden in 2021, acknowledging that prosecutors couldn't prove Peltier fired the fatal shots and calling his imprisonment 'unjust'. His grandson, Cyrus Peltier, remembers visiting him every weekend at Leavenworth, a federal prison in Kansas. He didn't always understand why his grandfather wouldn't just tell the parole board he was sorry for the crimes, and hopefully win his freedom. 'And he would say 'Well, that's just not what I'm fighting for, grandson,'' Cyrus Peltier, now 39, recalled from his home in North Dakota this week. ''I'm sorry for what happened to those agents, but I'm not going to sit here and admit to something I didn't do. And if I have to die in here for that, I'm going to.'' A life behind bars, but always hope for freedom In prison, Peltier's fame only grew, as he amassed the support of prominent political leaders around the globe and celebrities in the U.S. and became a symbol of the injustices against Native Americans. He said it was all their letters of support and acts of protest for his release that kept him going. Peltier said there were moments in the last few years where he began to lose hope that he would ever see freedom. His denial of parole in July was another crushing blow. 'They gave me the strength to stay alive and to know what I was in prison for,' he said. Many Indigenous people, leaders, and organizers lobbied for decades for Peltier's release. However, some who believe Peltier was involved in the murder of AIM member Anna Mae Pictou Aquash in 1975, fought against his release. Two other AIM members were convicted of the crime. 'Their ability to say that he is free and he gets to go home negates the whole fact that Anna Mae never got to go home,' said Aquash's daughter, Denise Pictou Maloney. In his interview with the AP, Peltier denied having any knowledge of Aquash's death. 'I didn't give my life for nothing' In the end, Biden listened to the counsel of former Secretary of the Interior Deb Haaland, a member of the Pueblo of Laguna and the first Native American to lead the Interior Department. Pelltier was released on Feb. 18, and returned to North Dakota. A week later, he still often wakes up at night terrified that it is all a dream and that he is still in a cell. Peltier remains confined to his home and nearby community. But he now has access to routine medical treatment for his many health issues, including an aortic aneurysm. He gets around with the help of a cane or a walker. He is heartened by the many people who come to visit him and drop off gifts like beaded medallions, letters and artwork, which are piling up in his home. Peltier wants to make a living selling his paintings, as he did in prison, and plans to write more books. He also wants to train young activists about the threats they will face. When he was in prison, lying in his bunk at night, he would often wonder if his protest efforts resulted in any change. Seeing young Native activists today continuing to fight for the same things gives meaning to the 49 years he was incarcerated. 'It makes me feel so good, man, it does,' he said, holding back tears. 'I'm thinking, well, I didn't give my life for nothing.' ___ AP reporter Jack Dura in Bismarck, North Dakota, contributed to this report.
