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Introduction
The greatest challenge before Peltier supporters is
being heard by those in power—President Obama, in
particular. To bring Obama around to our point
of view, it’s important to keep communicating with the White
House.
Okay. We know we must work hard. That's a given.
But how do we work
smart?
Effective Correspondence
President Obama reads 10 letters a day. That’s good news. It
increases our chance of being heard directly by him. Right? Except...
The White House receives over 10,000 letters and 20,000
e-mails every single day.
Are our concerns getting lost in the shuffle?
Further, to be selected for the president’s review,
communications must meet the following three criteria:
-
Be representative of the communications received as a
whole; AND
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Be representative of what’s in the news; AND
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Contain a compelling message.
The first two conditions are quantifiable, but the last is a
purely subjective decision made by White House staff.
All of these elements present us with unique challenges.
Clearly, we must first dramatically increase the
Peltier-related correspondence received by the White House. To achieve this, we
must create a high level of public awareness of the case. Use every resource
possible to do this. But remember that, while the Internet is
a nifty tool, it is no replacement for face-to-face communication. So, get out
on the streets and into your communities.
Educate your neighbors
and motivate them to get actively involved.
Selection won't be based on the total number of
Peltier-related letters, however. Our letters will always be viewed in context
of other correspondence received by the White House.
To meet the first above condition, as you write your letter to the president, consider what
issues are most important to Americans these days. What issues are of most importance to
the president, as well as your Members of Congress? (That’s important because
it’s just human nature for folks to act in their own best interests.) Then, be
innovative in connecting the Peltier case to these concerns.
For example, you
might write a letter to the president about unemployment overall, but tell him
you’re particularly concerned about the high rate of unemployment on Indian
reservations. Tell him how you know about conditions on reservations, that is,
through the decades-long activism of Leonard Peltier. Make the observation that not much has
changed on Indian reservations in the past 30+ years—and
that not much has changed for Leonard Peltier, either.
Second, monitor current events. Be innovative in making the
Peltier case not only relevant to current issues, but current events as well.
For example, the White House recently began hosting its first listening sessions
with representatives of the First Nations. So, using the above example, you
might congratulate the White House on this important first step toward improving
relations between tribes and the White House. Suggest that
the White House host a special listening session to discuss short-term solutions
that may help ease the effects of unemployment on the reservations. This would
give you the opportunity to highlight certain of Leonard’s activities back in
the day, like planting community gardens. With the proper tools and resources,
you could argue, Peltier knew reservations could not only feed residents but improve their
health, as well as reduce health care costs. (And health care is another hot
button issue for Obama.)
Third, with any communication, your job is to persuade the
president to do the right thing.
Consider the following, Obama's response to a question posed
at a Democratic Primary Debate at Howard University on 28 June 2007.
Question:
"In the last decade, whites were 70 percent of persons arrested, but only 40
percent of inmates. Why?"
Obama: "The
criminal justice system is not color blind. It does not work for all people
equally, and that is why it’s critical to have a president who sends a signal
that we are going to have a system of justice that is not just us, but is
everybody... It requires some political courage, because oftentimes you are
accused of being soft on crime."
In closing, ask that Obama grant clemency to Peltier. Using the
above example, you might suggest to Obama that his positive response to your
request would combat hopelessness—a byproduct of
unemployment and poor living conditions on Indian reservations, yes, but more so
of the ill-treatment suffered by Indigenous Peoples for hundreds of years. Obama
has the opportunity to show (not tell) Native Peoples that the promise—justice
for all—applies to them.
Mr. Obama tends to think of community often, the common good.
It’s also important, therefore, to state that you believe an award of Executive Clemency to
Leonard Peltier would benefit the country as a whole and why.
Your letter might look something like this:
Dear President
Obama,
Like many
registered voters, I'm concerned about the high rate of unemployment in our country. I'm
particularly concerned about the highest rates of unemployment,
as seen on Indian Reservations. I learned about the living conditions on
reservations from the writings of Native American activist Leonard Peltier. It
saddens me that not much has changed on the reservations in the past 30+ years.
(Nothing much has changed for Leonard Peltier in that time, either.)
I've read that the
White House has recently begun to host special listening sessions with
representatives of the First Nations. I'm pleased that you've taken this step to
improve relations between the White House and the tribes. Thank you. Perhaps a
session could be dedicated to discussing strategies that may help ease the
effects of unemployment on the reservations? I'm thinking of the community
gardens Leonard Peltier used to plant. Peltier knew that, with simple tools and
proper resources, reservations could not only feed their residents, but improve
their health and reduce health care costs.
Perhaps you will
consider, though, that the most dangerous disease on reservations is
hopelessness—a byproduct not only of unemployment
and poor living conditions, but of the ill-treatment suffered by Indigenous
Peoples for hundreds of years.
During your
campaign you said, "The criminal justice system is not color blind. It does not
work for all people equally, and that is why it’s critical to have a president
who sends a signal that we are going to have a system of justice that is not
just us, but is everybody... It requires some political courage, because
oftentimes you are accused of being soft on crime."
Mr. President, you
have the opportunity to show (not tell) Native Peoples that the promise—justice
for all—applies to them. As your first step, please
grant clemency to Leonard Peltier. Bring hope to Indigenous People across this
great land. Heal the wounds of the past and uphold the constitutional values we
Americans hold so dear.
Thank you for your
consideration.
Sincerely,
Your Signature
Your Address
Your
City/State/Zip Code
While not perfect, the above letter meets the White House
criteria to a large extent. It does something more, though. It humanizes Mr.
Peltier. Please remember that President Obama was once an activist himself.
Giving him something familiar, a way to identify with Leonard Peltier, may be
important to opening Obama's eyes to the possibility of granting clemency. Show
the president what Peltier was—what he did in
service to his People—and what he could be again.
It never hurts to identify yourself as a registered voter if
that's the case. Even the president must consider that you'll vote in upcoming
congressional races that potentially will change the composition of the House of
Representatives and U.S. Senate, as well as the presidential election in 2012. Your
vote will presumably reflect your views on specific issues, including but not
limited to Leonard Peltier. The above letter is brief. Nevertheless, it
demonstrates an interest in key issues such as unemployment, reservation
conditions, poverty and malnutrition, disease prevention and health promotion,
health care delivery and costs, Indigenous rights, etc.
While we often provide sample letters to assist you, we
highly recommend that you always write your own correspondence. This will make
it less obvious that you’ve responded to a letter writing campaign. Because the
thoughts you express are solely your own, your correspondence may actually be
far more powerful and is likely to be given more serious consideration.
You don't have to provide an overview of the Peltier case in
most instances or discuss specific legal issues. Others will do that.
Remember, keep your correspondence focused and as brief as
possible.
Delivery of Letters
Fax your letter. Fax transmission is the most
effective means of written communication with the White House because it is the
type of communication least used by the public. If you don't have fax
capability, but you do have Internet access, you can fax a letter free of
charge. See faxZERO for details. The White
House fax number is 202-456-2461.
Your next best option is snail mail. Mail your letter to:
President Barack
Obama
The White House
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue
Washington, DC 20500
Due to heightened security, mail service to the White House is often
significantly delayed. If you're sending correspondence that is time sensitive,
it's better to use alternatives such as e-mail, phone, or fax.
You can always e-mail a letter/note/message using the White House Web form at http://www.whitehouse.gov/contact/.
As a precaution, we recommend that you compose your letter using text editing or word processing
software, and then cut and past the body of your letter to the e-mail form used
by the White House. Do not compose your letter inside the form. If the
transmission fails for some reason, your work will likely be lost.
Also keep in mind that the e-mail form employed by the White House does limit the length of
the message you can send. There may be other constraints to you fully expressing
your thoughts, as well.
NEW
Try this Web form hosted by Congress.org. There are
tools available to you to make your e-mail correspondence more effective.
While convenient, e-mail also is likely the least effective form of communication due
to the volume
of e-mails received by the White House.
QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS
Q: I wrote a letter, but it was returned to me.
The information I received from the White House pretty much said thank
you for writing the president, but letters asking for help for an individual
must come from the individual the help is for. What's going on?
A: We don't know the content of the letter you sent
to the White House, so this question is difficult to answer.
If your letter was related to Leonard Peltier's health
concerns or regarding his safety, this response from the White House is likely
related to the Privacy Act. The federal Privacy Act prohibits any federal agency
from sharing your personal information with anyone (including the White House
and Members of Congress) without your written permission. To act on your letter,
the White House would have to obtain answers (and perhaps records) from the
Bureau of Prisons (BOP) specific to Leonard Peltier. Because the request originated
with you, the White House would then need to provide you with feedback on Mr.
Peltier's status and actions taken in response to your request. The BOP is a
federal agency and can't legally release information without a signed release
from Leonard Peltier. Similarly, the White House can't release that information to
you.
Does this mean you can't write to the president about Mr.
Peltier's health and safety? No. It just means you have to frame your concerns
differently. For example, your letter could speak to overall prison conditions
and the need for major prison reform. Your letter then becomes about overall
Administration policy rather than any individual case. Use specifics of Mr.
Peltier's situation, however, to highlight conditions and practices you think
objectionable. You won't be asking for help for Leonard, specifically, but you
will nevertheless bring his plight to the attention of the White House.
Or you might write about government accountability and use
Leonard Peltier's situation as an example of how the BOP isn't living up to its
responsibilities and thereby violates the public trust, as well as established
human rights conventions with regard to the treatment of prisoners. Again, this
puts the focus on government policy, not on one case of abuse or neglect.
White House staff clearly have been given screening
criteria which means they'll look for keywords in correspondence that will guide
the decision of how best to respond. In this instance, the use of the word
"help" may have contributed to the response you received. You might erase "help"
and synonyms such as "assist," "aid," and "facilitate" from your vocabulary when
corresponding with the White House.
If your letter was written in regard to clemency, however,
you're not technically asking for help but justice. You're asking that the
president exercise his legitimate powers, as well as uphold the provisions of
the U.S. Constitution as he is sworn to do.
Always remember that, as a United States citizen, you are
one of the president's constituents. Further, Obama claims to represent ALL of
us.
Bottom line... You have the right to petition President
Obama for redress of wrongs—and the continued
imprisonment of Leonard Peltier is wrong. Do not take "no" for an answer. Be
persistent. Create a dialogue with the White House, if you can, and respond to
every letter you receive from White House staff. Do not be quiet. Do not go
away.
***
Do you have a question? Send your question to
info@FreePeltierNow.org.
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