Reply #30: Libel [View All]

[frogmarch]

In the Spirit of Crazy Horse is a one-sided book, according to Tim Giago, founder and publisher of the Lakota Times. "It has a lot of errors in it and outright lies," he said. Although he is glad that the courts upheld author Peter Matthiesen's First Amendment rights - after an eight-year battle - Giago is not rejoicing over the book's new release May 21 <1991>.

Published by Viking Press, In the Spirit of Crazy Horse details U.S.-Sioux relations. It focuses in particular on the militant activities of the American Indian Movement in the 1970s and calls for a new trial of Leonard Peltier, who was convicted of killing two FBI agents in Oglala, S.D., in 1975. The book was pulled from the shelves of stores and libraries after FBI agents and a former governor of South Dakota, William Janklow, sued for libel.

"The FBI agents written about maliciously by Matthiessen, felt they had been slandered, and I fully respect their right to bring lawsuit," said Giago. "But under the First Amendment, Matthiessen's rights also had to be protected."

Bill Janklow "was never a friend of mine," Giago said. "I criticized him often in my paper." But the former governor, who had been convicted in absentia in an Indian court of raping a Lakota woman, "was totally cleared of this charge by U.S. marshals, the Bureau of Indian Affairs police and the FBI," said Giago. "But none of this is mentioned in the book. Janklow certainly had a right to sue."

http://www.dickshovel.com/giaggo.crazy.html