Day 1 of the John Graham Hearings

here is MY piece Harvey
circulate to your list, please?
http://www.antoinetteclaypoole.blogspot.com


Day one of the John Graham hearings
http://www.antoinetteclaypoole.blogspot.com


Unsettling Realms of a Friendly Nation
by antoinette nora claypoole


Day one of the John Graham Hearings
Dec. 6, 2004

Travelling North to British Columbia Canada. Snows slam the mountain
passes. A bitter wild cold. Freezing streets from the East. Travellers
stranded on both sides of a man made border. There are still telephones.
This evening I spoke with Terrance LaLiberte, attorney for John Graham,
Southern Tutchone First Nations man fighting extradition from Canada to
the United States. The reception between this attorney and myself was like
that storm outside this kitchen window. Crackling, odd interference. We
both laugh. "There's that FBI again".

Good to laugh. But ominous winds persist. This whole brutal drama written
by the FBI against Indians and activists. Has gone beyond what anyone
likes to admit is human. LaLiberte is not so radical. He is gentle and
strong, clear in his resolve-- that in presenting all the lies he knows
about this case to the Canadian court, he can keep Graham from being sent
to South Dakota. Where so many Indians die.

Still there is a tear in my eye as I listen to LaLiberte explain the
defense was denied access to a hearing that would challenge FBI
"evidence". That ruling came last week from presiding Judge Bennett, an
"intelligent and articulate woman who understands that the ramifications
of this case impact human rights for all people", as described by Graham
supporter Larry Martel, Bennett would not allow evidence from the U.S. to
be challenged. Something about a treaty the U.S. and Canada signed back in
the 1990's. Honoring a friendly nation's request. What about all those
Indian treaties. The tear rests on my lips. How can this country, this
America of so many of my ancestors, ever be seen as friendly??? From the
moment of the white arrival massacres began. The taste of blood is real.
Still. Vision is the sustenance of survival. Crazy Horse knew this.

I continue listening to LaLiberte. Suggesting today was what the
prosecution sees as procedural. Two Canadian attorneys represent the U.S.
in this. As is part of the treaty of "friendly" nations. But what that
tells me is something about arrogant confidence. Of the U.S. Big daddy
Bush and cronies. Believing, unlike Mick Jagger, that they WILL get what
they want. Still. LaLiberte says that he will try to arrive at a fact
that should throw the courts a loop. Those are MY words, the LOOP part.
LaLiberte--I like that his name means freedom, so fitting--- explains that
part of the prosecution is relying on a testimony from a man that is
proven to have died 9 months BEFORE he supposedly named Graham as the
murderer of Annie Mae Pictou Aquash. Leave it to the U.S. to claim the
testimony of a dead man.

LaLiberte hopes to bring that to the attention of Judge Bennett. Somehow.
And then envisions her knowingness as humane. That she will begin to
sense the darkness, the manipulation in this set-up and arrest of John
Graham. Ah, Canada. The sense of hope abounds.



Canada in some ways holds her innocence as does a young child wondering
at the smoke filled skies. Imagining those mauve and purple sunsets
real. When in fact the "grown-ups" know the clouds are infused with
sulfured industrial greed. Canada's innocence is beautiful. There is
vision there. Us here over the border feel it. We like believing hues.
And stories about the liberalness of heart "up there, eh?. A place that
held safely our conscientious objector brothers. During the Vietnam war.
Today in Vancouver, a new century, the Canadian "neighbors" had to prove
that they arrested the right man. That IS a start. That the First
Nations man Graham, is who the arresting officers say he was. But that is
not so simple. For the entire manhunt was a game designed by spies of
another time and place. It's been along time since courts and "justice"
understood any of this. Still Tonight. Despite the storm, a Graham
supporter who sat in the courtroom all day has his version of reality. To
share. It is one of "high spirits" he says.

Another interview. This time, Larry Martel. On the phone he describes the
hope everyone felt today. In the courtroom. AS "solidarity and
camaraderie" came together. Journalists from many places and activists
supporting a man they have never met. Larry Martel doesn't talk about
friendly nations with me. LIke LaLiberte. Instead Martel describes the
courtroom and the Graham hearing as a place where he believes LaLiberte
did a great job of awakening Judge Bennet. To the corruption of the U.S.
Martel mentions that Graham's arresting officer admitted--on the
stand--that he did not tell Graham his rights when Graham was detained
for one crime and then pinned with another. According to Martel, Judge
Bennett was considerate, aware and questioned case law in many instances
where it seemed the U.S. may have wronged Graham in the arrest. Maretl
says it again. "We are hopeful. In good spirits".

I think about those words. About Spirit.
TO some of us inside the dance and hum of Indian Country the words are
like a prayer. Then knowing how that can change anything.

Spirit. Breathing down the neck of all whose lives are met. In the destiny
of this death. Annie Mae still prevails. Her courage is not frail. Her
husband, Nogeeshik, died after he discovered who killed her. He died THAT
night in a fire. IN his home. It must have been time for him to see her
again. He in a wheelchair and not able to "crawl" out of the house in
time. Together they are fair witness to all of this. And okay yes. Maybe I
DO belong in Canada. The winter snow won't keep me away. I believe in the
high spirits and solidarity Larry Martel felt in the courtroom this first
day of hearings. The chill of winter aside. Everyone here and on the other
side holding the resolve of truth. This cannot be denied.





-----Original Message-----
From: harvey [at] haveyouthought.com
Sent: Dec 7, 2004 8:31 AM
To: wildembers [at] earthlink.net
Subject: [Fwd: FW: UPDATE: Anna Mae Pictou Aquash: Extradition hearing
begins...]

---------------------------- Original Message ----------------------------
Subject: FW: UPDATE: Anna Mae Pictou Aquash: Extradition hearing begins...
From: "Waynonaha" <toworlds [at] netsync.net>
Date: Tue, December 7, 2004 8:33 am
To: "Waynonaha" <toworlds [at] netsync.net>
------------------------------------------------------------------------ --





_____

: UPDATE: Anna Mae Pictou Aquash: Extradition hearing begins...



Extradition hearing begins for accused in Indian movement murder
Mon Dec 6, 5:20 PM ET
AMY CARMICHAEL

VANCOUVER (CP) - A feather blessed with prayers for peace and justice was
held up in court Monday by a man accused in the 1975 murder of an American
Indian Movement activist as prosecutors asked for his extradition to the
U.S.

John Graham faces charges in South Dakota for the first-degree murder of
Anna Mae Pictou Aquash, a fellow AIM member and a Mi'kmaq from Nova
Scotia. Witnesses at the trial for Graham's alleged partner in the crime,
held earlier this year, testified Graham admitted to shooting Aquash in
the back of the head because she was working as a mole for the FBI (news
<http://us.rd.yahoo.com/DailyNews/manual/cpress/ca_pr_on_na/ crime_aim_murder
/13630080/*http:/news.search.yahoo.com/search/news?fr=news- storylinks&p=%22F
BI%22&c=&n=20&yn=c&c=news&cs=nw> - web
<http://us.rd.yahoo.com/DailyNews/manual/cpress/ca_pr_on_na/ crime_aim_murder
/13630080/*http:/search.yahoo.com/search?fr=web-storylinks&p=FBI> sites).

Graham denies the charges and is fighting extradition.

Supporters, including AIM activists who travelled from the U.S., said
outside court the witnesses were coached and that some were homeless
people plied with alcohol for their testimony.

"The whole thing stinks of government abuse. I would hope the Canadian
courts would not allow that," said Vernon Bellecourt, the American Indian
Movement's director of foreign relations.

Graham fears he will be dropped by the Canadian justice system into an
unfair and dangerous trial south of the border where his guilt has already
been decided.

Surrounded by his daughters and friends, Graham said he is not optimistic
that he will escape extradition.

"I'm holding up, doing the best I can do, but I'm not confident," he said,
as old buddies, some who flew in from the Yukon where Graham once lived,
filed up to give him hugs of support.

Telquaa Helen Michelle passed a single feather to a sheriff in the court,
who handed it to Graham as he sat in the prisoner's box waiting for the
extradition hearing to begin. He nodded solemnly to her in thanks.

"It's his protection. I put my prayers in it that the truth will come
out," the woman, a friend of Graham's since they were both teenagers in
Vancouver fighting together for native land rights, said later.

Graham is now living under house arrest in East Vancouver.

One of his daughters, Naneek Graham, moved to the city from their Yukon
home to be with her dad.

She could barely contain herself as the prosecutor read out the alleged
facts of the case. The statement drew on testimony at the trial of Arlo
Looking Cloud, who allegedly carried out the crime with Graham.

"Graham shot Aquash - who was crying and praying for her children - in the
back of the head. Then Looking Cloud fired the remaining bullets into the
ground," said Crown prosecutor Deborah Strachan.

Looking Cloud was sentenced to life in prison in February.

One of Graham's associates, Frank Dillon, testified that Graham later
confessed to him.

"In 1976 Graham came to his house and said 'We had to remove an informant,
we had to off her,' " Strachan said.

Naneek Graham squirmed in disgust.

"I just want to stand up and scream, this is wrong," she said through
clenched teeth outside court.

Under Canadian law, the job of the trial judge in such extradition
hearings is merely to establish that the person in the prisoner's box is
indeed the man wanted by the U.S.

The judge is not to question the case the U.S. has against Graham unless
there is obvious evidence that it is unreliable.

A voir dire was declared on the testimony of two Crown witnesses called to
testify to Graham's identity.

The case against Looking Cloud was largely circumstantial, as is the case
against Graham.

Terry LaLiberte, Graham's lawyer, said outside court that as far as he can
tell, the case against Graham is based on the disclosure so far from U.S.
authorities.

LaLiberte said he will mount a constitutional challenge at the end of the
two-week extradition hearing. It will examine whether a section of the
Extradition Act that allows hearsay evidence is constitutional.

LaLiberte said the U.S. sent investigators to Canada to gather evidence
against Graham. They allege Graham made some admissions, and while it's
difficult for LaLiberte to examine the hearsay evidence gathered in the
U.S., he wants to challenge evidence gathered in Canada.

Aquash's death came amid a series of bloody clashes between federal agents
and AIM, which was demanding treaty rights and self-determination for
Indians.

Aquash was among the Indian militants who occupied the village of Wounded
Knee for 71 days in 1973.

Aquash's family exhumed her body last month from a South Dakota grave so
she could be reburied in Nova Scotia.

http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story
<http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/cpress/20041206/ca_pr_on_na/ crime_
aim_murder_1> &u=/cpress/20041206/ca_pr_on_na/crime_aim_murder_1


Peace,
antoinette
http://www.native-voice.com/fullstory.cfm?ID=525"