Chronology of American Indian History

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December 11

A band of Cahuilla receives a $14 million
settlement.
After eighteen years of litigation, Congress grants
the Torres-Martinez Band of Desert Cahuilla In-
dians $14 million in compensation for reservation
lands flooded by the Colorado River in 1906. The
659 band members plan to use the settlement to
purchase 11,000 acres of land and build a casino in
Riverside County, California.

December 15

FBI agents protest possible clemency for
Indian activist Leonard Peltier.
About 500 FBI agents march outside the White
House to protest President Bill Clinton’s statement

“Leonard Peltier has paid a

terrible price for all that the

American Indian Movement

was blamed for during the late

1970s.... He has paid for our

nation’s savagery at Wounded

Knee in 1890 and 1973, and for

the shame of the FBI’s treat-

ment of Pine Ridge people. He

has paid for the violence of the

AIM ‘’warriors’’ who trashed

government offices, strutted,

mugged, brandished weapons

and used them.... He has paid

enough.

It is time to let him go

home.”

—Chippewa novelist Louise

Erdrich, on commuting

Leonard Peltier’s life sentence

that he is considering commuting the life sentence

of Leonard Peltier, an American Indian Movement

activist convicted of the shooting deaths of two FBI

agents (see entries for JUNE 16, 1975, and APRIL

18, 1977). In front of the group, several agents

hold a sign reading “Never Forget.” The protesters

also carry a petition signed by 8,000 FBI employ-

ees opposing any reduction in Peltier’s sentence.

Expressing the views of many Peltier supporters,

one of his attorneys, Jennifer Harbury, speaks out

against the protest: “We think it’s a sad day for

democracy when our armed forces march through

the streets to influence a decision for mercy and

justice by a civilian president.” (See also entry for

JANUARY 20, 2001.)

2001

January 20

President Bill Clinton pardons ousted

Navajo (Dineh) leader Peter MacDonald.

In the last hours of his presidency, Bill Clinton

grants pardons to 140 people, including Peter Mac-

Donald, the former Navajo (Dineh) tribal chairman

serving sentences for bribery and inciting a riot (see

entries for JULY 22, 1989, and for OCTOBER 1990).

Supporters of the decision include former president

Jimmy Carter, several members of Congress, and

many in the Navajo tribe. Despite pressure from

many groups, Clinton declines to grant a pardon to

Leonard Peltier, who was convicted of killing two

FBI agents on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation

(see entry for APRIL 18, 1977).

February 10

Arizona attorney general reaffirms use of

Indian languages in the classroom.

Arizona attorney general Janet Napolitano offers

the legal opinion that federal law guarantees the

right of Indian students to be taught in their Na-

tive languages. Napolitano’s ruling is in response to

Proposition 203, a state initiative passed by Arizona