Stevie Van Zandt: I deeply respect the FBI. It’s in that spirit that I say they’re getting this very wrong | CNN (2024)

Editor’s Note: Stevie VanZandtis a musician, songwriter, producer, director and actor. He is an author and a member of the New Jersey Hall of Fame and Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Theviews expressed here are his own. Read more opinion on CNN.

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I support law enforcement. I’m an independent, “law and order” liberal. My friend, formerNew York Police Departmentdetective Kevin Schroeder, and I proudly hold a huge fundraiser for law enforcement charities in the USevery year in New York City. I count many friends on the job.

Stevie Van Zandt

I also have friends in the FBI. I’m very grateful for theexcellent job the FBI does in keeping us safe every day from a world that seems to growincreasingly and more dangerously insane by the day. Whether it’s the never-ending threat of foreign terrorism orformer PresidentDonald Trump’s zealots who have chosen to follow their leader in ignoring the rule of law, the FBI hashelped to thwart whatfeel likehourly threats to our nation’s safety.

I’m sure it doesn’t always feel that we are a grateful nation, but still, on behalf of all Americans, I thank all members of the FBI, including its leadership.

And it’s in that spirit, as a citizen who deeply respects the work of the FBI, that I now write to call on FBI Director Christopher Wray to right a wrong. Wray recentlyopposed the parole of Native American activistLeonard Peltier. Peltier is serving two consecutive life sentences after being convicted offirst-degree murderfor killing two FBI agents on June 26, 1975,on theOglalaLakota Nation’s Pine RidgeReservation in South Dakota.Peltier denies he killed the agents.He has been denied parole before, but now he is 79 andin ill health.

Peltier’s imprisonment has been controversial since the incidentthat precipitated it. In hisletter opposing Peltier’s release, Wray wrote:“Peltier is a ruthless murderer who has shown an utter lack of remorse for his many crimes. His release would strike a serious blow to the rule of law.”

But that’s not the full story.The historical context for this incident was the warthatformer FBI directorJ. Edgar Hooverwas waging against anyone and everyone that he perceived as a threat. His dangerous and illegaltacticsunderCOINTELPRO—the FBI’s Counterintelligence Program, active from 1956 to 1971 — were a direct assault on American citizens. Thisdistorted sensibility continued for far too long afterHoover’sdeathin 1972.The FBI that pursued Peltier was largelyHoover’s creation.

People gather for a rally outside of the White House in support of imprisoned Native American activist Leonard Peltier, on September 12, 2023.

Wray’s outreach in opposition to Peltier’s release seeks to denya 79-year-old manon a walker not just parole, but compassionate release.It seems clear to me that only an FBI that is completely detached from its own history would want to end this chapter in this way.

Though some still contest it, the simplereality of the case is this:

Peltier has servednearly 50 yearson evidence that decades’ worth of observers have called into question.Witnesses were coercedandadvocates sayevidence was falsified. Twooftheother mencharged with the same crimewere acquitted. In addition, a witness whose information was key to Peltier’s extradition from Canadatostand trial for the murderslater saidshe made up her story under pressure from the FBI.

My question toDirector Wrayisalsosimple. Why would you feel the need to defend Hoover’s FBIby condemning Peltier to die in prisonwhen you havebeen an integral part of making the contemporary FBI into the law-abiding organization in the righteous defense of the American people it is today?

This isn’t about re-litigating Peltier’s case. It’s about the fact thatHoover’s completely irrational paranoia in regardto the American IndianMovement, the Black Panthers, the Women’s Liberation Movement and othergroupsencouraged the perpetual harassment of these organizations and members of these movements, leading inevitably to countenanced acts of violence, numerous shootouts and assaults in an environment of constantlife-and-death-levelfear. It’s about multipleexamples of un-American, extralegal activity under the guise of the phony premise of “protecting“ society,in some casesresultingin deaths.

If there wasany true historical justice in this world, Hoover’s name would be removed from the buildingwhere your organization is headquartered.

Why would you want to defendthe actions ofa Hoover FBIthat considered the Black Panthers’Free Breakfastfor School ChildrenProgram a threat tothe FBI’s efforts to protectdemocracy?

Why would you choose to defend a Hoover FBIthatbuggedMartin Luther KingJr.‘shotel rooms totry toembarrass him with the full intention of destroying the Civil Rights Movement?

Let me say it again:Hoover’s FBI did everything it could to consciously and deliberately derail the Civil Rights Movement.

I appreciate loyalty, perhaps more than most, butdoes the FBIreally want to defendany part ofthatchapter in its history when it doesn’t have to? After allit hasaccomplishedto become an organization Americans can be proud of?

Ijustdon’t understand it.It is my hope that Wray will doas much due diligence ashepossibly can on this case and consider writing new letters, explaining that withadditionallight on the subject, and in the interest of American justice,LeonardPeltier should be released from prison immediately.