When you read about
those who are advocating for a Presidential pardon for Leonard Peltier, Robert
Redford seems to be one of the principals pushing that action. I’m always suspicious of celebrities. What exactly is their real motive?
For example, Robert
Redford is a very rich man; a pampered, insulated man. If he was sincerely concerned about Leonard
Peltier, one might ask why he doesn’t just open his wallet and hire the best
attorney in town for Leonard. But, you
see, Redford isn’t going to do that. He
gets more play for his money advocating a cause. It’s trendy – gives him something to talk
about at cocktail parties I suppose; makes his life seem just a bit more meaningful,
maybe even benefits his career in certain circles.
Furthermore, Redford knows
that the attorney route wouldn’t work anyway.
Peltier has already appealed his case through various legal channels;
and those appeals have all failed. So,
Mr. Redford will pursue the Presidential Pardon route. He knows President Obama is probably
receptive to the idea – the President being a celebrity junky in his own
right. And, hell, screw the FBI
Agents. They’ve been dead for forty
years anyway – who really cares.
Some of the other
celebrities like Willie Nelson and Pamela Anderson – well, does anyone really
take anything they say seriously?
I guess my questions for
Mr. Redford would be, ‘Will you really be happy when Leonard Peltier, a
convicted murderer, walks?’ ‘Will you
invite him to your home?’ ‘Introduce him
to your family?’ ‘Really?’
As a young Agent who
spent a couple of months at Wounded Knee, on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation,
during the 1973 dust-up, I do take this a little personally. The thought does cross my mind that this
could have been me.
True Nelson
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