After spending 50 years held in Federal Prisons, Leonard Peltier has finally returned home to the Turtle Mountain Band of Ojibwa Nation in North Dakota.

The Indigenous activist and elder from the American Indian Movement, a political prisoner for five decades, emerged in the daylight on February 18, 2025, released by a grant of clemency from President Biden, who commuted his sentence to home confinement. While in prison, Leonard began to paint. His life and his people shine through his creations.

At the Fifteenth Street Friends Meeting in New York City, a selection of his works will be on display, trucked here by his son and grandson from North Dakota. People will gather on Sunday, October 4th, starting with greetings and song at 2 pm, along with members of Leonard’s family. Leonard has been invited to attend, but travel restrictions imposed by the Federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP) remain in place.

If the BOP grants a furlough, Leonard intends to make the trip. If Leonard’s furlough to NYC is not approved, he will appear on the movie-size Zoom screen that the Friends use for their Sunday meditation in this historic Quaker Meetinghouse. Peltier family members will attend.  

Hosted by the Church of Stop Shopping and by the ad hoc Indigenous Affairs and the Arts committees of the 15th Street Quaker Meeting House, we are honored to spend time with the artwork, longtime New York advocates and native friends, and in some way, the person of our teacher and friend, Leonard Peltier.

Artwork will be available for purchase on site.

Let me speak in my heart and the words be heard
whispering on the wind to millions,
to all who care,
to all with ears to hear
and hearts to beat as one
with mine.
Put your ear to the earth,
and hear my heart beating there.
Put your ear to the wind
and hear me speaking there.
We are the voice of the earth,
of the future,
of the Mystery.

Hear us!”

― Leonard Peltier, Prison Writings