Wednesday, March 5, 1986
University Daily Kansan
Campus/Area
7
Speech asks for Indian rights prayers
By Monique O'Donnell
Staff writer
In 1978 he spoke at Haskell Indian Junior College to motivate Indian students to march in the Longest Walk, a protest against a proposal to put Indian reservations under government control.
Yesterday he spoke again in Lawrence — this time asking KU students to pray for the rights of his Indian people and for freedom for Leonard Peltier.
Steve Robideau, an American Indian and member of the Leonard Peltier support group, spoke to about 25 people in the Big Eight Room of the Kansas Union. The speech was sponsored by the Progressive Action Network.
Robidale gave an account of the events which led to Leonard Peltier's imprisonment. Peltier, an American Indian and member of the American Indian Movement, is serving a double-life sentence for the slaying of two FBI agents during a shootout at South Dakota's Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in 1975.
Peltier's lawyers and supporters claim that the evidence that led to his conviction was falsified. Robideau said Peltier's attorneys obtained reports through the Freedom of Information Act indicating that the bullets that killed the agents didn't come from the weapon Peltier supposedly used.
A decision concerning a retrial is
pending before the 8th Circuit Court of Appeals in St. Louis.
Robideau said Peltier symbolized the injustice of American society against indigenous people.
"Indian people are the most pressured group when it comes to the American judicial system," he said.
The genocide of American Indians began long before the American Indian Movement began its struggle for Indian rights, Robidue said.
The American Indian Movement, an activist group of American Indians formed in the early 1970s, worked to re-establish Indian self-determination on reservations.
moodeau interrupted his talk and asked the audience to please stand and join in a prayer. The audience
stood while Robideau quietly recited an Indian praver.
The American government has taken the language, tradition, land and religion away from a once-indigenous people, thereby destroying their culture, he said.
"Many of us just want to return to our land and our elders, back to the family circle. We don't really want any part of technology."
Peltier's struggle, he said, is the same as that of any other Indian's, especially the Navajo Indians, who will be relocated from the Arizona Honi-Navajo Reservation in July.
Before he ended the talk, Robideau reminded the audience that petitions demanding a retrial for Peltier were on the table by the door.
TOPEKA — Barbara Pomeroy scheduled a news conference for 9 a.m. today in the Capitol rotunda to announce her candidacy for Republican nomination for governor.
romeroy, 47, an adjunct professor in the Center for Urban Studies at Wichita State University, said last fall that she planned to seek the nomination.
She becomes the fourth declared candidate for the GOP nomination. Others are Speaker of the House Mike Hayden, Wichita business executive Larry Jones and Andover attorney Richard Peckham. Lt. Gov. Docking is the only declared Democratic candidate.
Pomeroy, who lives in Whitewater, resigned in December from a position with the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms.
United Press International
Hayden says fund-raiser was straightforward move
TOPEKA — House Speaker Mike Hayden yesterday said he sent fund-raising letters to Kansas doctors touting his support of malpractice legislation because, "I'm a straightforward guy."
Hayden, a Republican gubernatorial candidate, was criticized by Democrats for sending more than 3,000 fund-raising letters to Kansas doctors early last week.
The letters indicated that Hayden.
R-Atwood, had supported a bill intended to hold down medical malpractice insurance premiums. Hayden has been pushing for a $1 million cap on medical malpractice damage awards.
"As a candidate for governor, I am committed to achieving and keeping tort reform in place," the letter said.
The letter said Hayden needed the doctors' help and asked them to return a card with a campaign contribution.
American Taekwondo Association
We offer: Basic Self Defense & Sparring
Self Motivation & Discipline
Physical Conditioning
Tournament & Rank-Testing Procedures
WSU professor joins GOP governor fight
The Associated Press
Robert E. Holmes/2nd Degree Black Belt Certified Instructor
Beginning and Advanced Classes Starting Now!
Location: Factor E Aerobics in The Malls Shopping Center 711 West 23rd
"DIVESTMENT & THE UNIVERSITY" Michael Blumenfeld
Alderson Auditorium Thursday March 6 at 7 p.m.
Sponsored by Mortar Board Open to the Public
Michael Blumenfeld, former Associate Vice-President for Public Affairs at Harvard, will speak on "Diversitment and the University," and will answer questions from the