Leonard Peltier Essay

The existence of martyrs has a profound effect on the people who know them, and on those who feel them to be symbols of grand injustices. A martyr is all it may take to radicalize a movement and to push otherwise peaceful people into violence. A martyr in the making is a man named Leonard Peltier. He is known to the MTV generation as the subject of a Rage Against the Machine video. But to …

…answer the charges levied against it in the Peltier case is that the FBI is giving disgruntled minorities the excuse to hate, as well as just cause to claim that the American justice system can be manipulated. Clearly Peltier needs to be freed as a sign of good faith that the American justice system is working fairly for all minorities. He will only be released if pressure on Janet Reno continues to reopen the case.