Tag: struggle to survive

President Evo Morales acknowledged Leonard Peltier as a defender of Indigenous Peoples and Mother Earth, and urged President Obama to grant him clemency. He was wrongfully convicted in 1977 in connection with the shooting deaths of two agents of the FBI on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation, South Dakota. The federal prosecutor has twice admitted that the government did not and cannot prove Peltier’s guilt.

Growing up in San Francisco’s Sunnydale public housing as a young Black man, I often wondered whether I would live to see the age of 21. When I was 15 years old, my cousin was murdered two days after his 19th birthday. In addition, a number of my friends were gunned down before the ages of 21. Many others went to jail. My life seems like a dream come true. Students Rising Above was key to my success.