- [Announcer] This is a production of WEDU PBS, Tampa St. Petersburg, Sarasota.

- [Rob] Coming up next, we'll look at the case of one of America's longest held political prisoners who's serving time here in Florida.

Some local Republicans and Democrats may have found a way to talk to each other without the vitriol and the south Florida museums sponsored the nation's first major exhibit of paintings by Bob Dylan, all coming up next on Florida this week.

(upbeat music) - Welcome back, for the past 44 years, native American activist Leonard Peltier has been in prison for a crime he says he did not commit.

He serving a federal sentence at Coleman penitentiary about an hours drive north of Tampa for killing two FBI agents, Jack Kohler and Ronald Williams on the Pine Ridge Indian reservation in 1975.

No direct proof that he killed the agents was presented to trial.

The killings took place during a time of confrontation on the reservation between the FBI and indigenous people who were demanding treaty rights, be honored and for an end to police brutality, some consider Leonard Peltier to be the United States longest serving political prisoner.

Just last week for Mont democratic Senator Patrick Leahy called for Peltier's release.

Leahy joins a long list of religious leaders and human rights activists who have for years called for his freedom.

Including Pope Francis, mother Theresa, Nelson Mandela, Coretta Scott King, Willie Nelson and the Dalai Lama.

Former federal judge and Nashville attorney Kevin Sharp is leading the push to win clemency for Peltier.

Sharp served as a federal judge for six years and then left the bench in part because he disagreed with mandatory minimum sentencing laws.

Kevin Sharp welcome to Florida this week.

- Thank you.

Thanks for having me.

- So Kevin are you involved in this because you believe that Leonard Peltier is innocent?

- You know, no one knows what happened.

I'm involved in this really for a more global reason.

I'm involved in this because of the constitutional violations that put him there.

The U.S attorney's office has said now for years that they don't know who shot the agents.

I don't know who shot the agents.

What I do know though is that there is no evidence that Leonard Peltier shot anybody.

And it's interesting I watched the clip at the beginning that says he is incarcerated for killing two agents.

That was the original theory, but the U.S attorney's office dropped that theory and changed it to one of aiding and abetting he was there that's the evidence they have.

Even the U.S attorney's office, the federal government, doesn't say they have proof that he shot anybody.

And there's the constitutional violations mounted.

As I studied this case, I couldn't not get involved.

I had to get in and say, this is not the way the constitution that I swore to uphold and defend is supposed to work, that's what I'm doing.

- Let's look at what Leonard Peltier told 60 minutes more than a decade ago, about what happened during the confrontation.

- On June 26th, 1975 on the Pine Ridge Indian reservation, two FBI agents Jack Kohler and Ronald Williams were shot to death virtually at point blank range with rifles.

Did you kill them?

- No, I did not.

No.

- You didn't pull the trigger?

- No, I never killed those agents.

- Did you fire at those agents?

Yes.

I fired at them.

- [Interviewer] Why?

- Cause they were firing at me and I fired back.

- Well, that's what Peltier says.

The fbi.gov website though says this, an examination of the physical evidence concluded that agent's Williams and Kohler had been killed at close range by a 223 type bullet.

According to witnesses, Peltier was identified as the only person in possession of a weapon that would fire a 223 bullet at the time of the murders.

The weapon was an AR 15 rifle.

That's according to fbi.gov.

What do you say?

- What I say to that is what they left out is the important part and that's the part that they hid during his trial.

So what was discovered years later was that they had in fact done a firing pin ballistics test on the weapon they believe to be Leonard Peltier's and it showed that it wasn't the weapon that shot these agents, right?

So their own evidence, they left out the critical piece, which they hid, right?

So which becomes a brady violation, a constitutional violation that you have exculpatory evidence.

That means evidence that tends to prove someone did not commit the crime.

They have a constitutional obligation to provide that to the defense, they did not do it.

Automatically be given a new trial, right?

At that time, the standard was different.

And what they said was, okay he didn't kill the agents, but he was there and he was aiding and abetting.

So because the ballistics test shows it wasn't his weapon it's not important because we now don't say that he did shoot the agents.

So I realized that the FBI website says that, but that's old and that's not the U.S attorney's position.

Even the government doesn't say that that's true.

- Since his conviction, 44 years ago, several people involved in his prosecution have come out and called for him to be free.

Talk about that long list of people who were involved on the other side of this case.

- Well, tell you the most important one is Floridian James Reynolds who was the U.S attorney on the case.

He was a Carter appointee, took over right after the trial.

And so he was there for post-trial motions and for the appeal, he was the U.S attorney.

And he came out over the summer, wrote a letter to president Biden and said, we never could prove that Leonard Peltier personally committed any offense on the Pine Ridge reservation.

That alone is in direct contradiction to what you read from the FBI website, right?

James Reynolds now says enough is enough.

We couldn't prove he did anything other than being there.

He was there and that's why they changed your theory to aiding and abetting because the government can't say that he shot anybody but he was there.

And so James Reynolds is saying, it's time, it was not just what we did then to prosecute him was not justice.

Keeping him incarcerated is not justice.

It's time to let Leonard Peltier go.

Judge Haney, who was the judge who heard the case on the eighth circuit court of appeals back when he appealed, before he died also called for Leonard Peltier's release.

You have people like myself, like Mr. Reynolds, like judge Haney, who the better part of their lives was spent working within this system.

We know this system, we know how it's supposed to work.

We recognize the injustice of keeping Leonard Peltier incarcerated.

- Why do you think so many presidents, even though they've been called on to release Peltier and I think especially democratic presidents are more open to hearing from indigenous people and in their claims, why do you think presidents like Clinton and Obama and now Biden, we don't know what Biden's gonna do but why do Clinton and Obama resist releasing Peltier.

- I don't know because it wasn't in the room, but my speculation is that you've got a constituency, these are politicians, a constituency in the FBI, in the Clinton years the FBI actually picketed and protested outside of the white house.

Now setting aside that depending on who was in that crowd, that was probably illegal but look they nevertheless did it.

That's a constituency that the president has to think, do I want to make this group angry?

If you're president Clinton, I wasn't in the room, but there was a man with a lot of troubles looking over his shoulder.

Did he want to become crosswise with the FBI?

But today we have a different FBI.

This was an FBI in the 1970s.

You were right on the heels of Cointelpro, an organization within the FBI that ran counter-intelligence against its own citizens.

You were one director removed from J Edgar Hoover.

This was a J Edgar Hoover FBI.

If the FBI wants to break from J Edgar Hoover, and I can't believe in 2021, we're still talking about that, but we're talking about their ability to break from J Edgar Hoover, it's time to get on board and say, let's end this.

Let's stop talking about what happened in that old FBI.

There are no agents who were still there, who were involved in this.

It's time to it's time to end this.

- A wide range of human rights, activists and religious activists and political activists have called for his release.

Amnesty International has called for his release.

Leonard Peltier has spent at least six years in solitary confinement, how is his health?

- His physical Health is not good.

He's 77 years old, he spent 45 years in a federal prison.

Those are not places known for their great health care.

He's got a number of serious problems that the bureau of prison BOP is not equipped to deal with.

And so particularly in these COVID times and Coleman where he is, near Orlando and Tampa, it has been a place that's been particularly hit hard by COVID.

And so you've got an inmate there who is vulnerable because of where he is, vulnerable because of his age, but he's also got a lot of health problems that make him particularly vulnerable.

Mentally I'm surprised that he does as well as he had.

I don't know that I would be that optimistic and upbeat and still care about the issues that landed him there in the first place.

I'm very impressed by Mr. Peltier.

I did not know him and really didn't know his story until somebody sent me the package and said, will you please take a look at this?

And having reviewed his file is what led me to agree to take on his case pro bono, this is the law.

- Thank you for coming on the program and telling us about the case of Leonard Peltier.

- Yeah.

Thank you.

Thanks Rob for asking these questions.

They're important questions?

(upbeat music) - With Democrats and Republicans locked in political conflict, many people are worried about the direction our country is headed.

They worry about the potential for further division because of the two major parties seem to be unable to agree on basic facts or to be able to work together for the good of the nation.

Two local political party leaders, one a Republican the other Democrat are taking steps to try to heal that divide.

Ed Sabol is the president of the Longboat key democratic club.

Scott Gray is the president of the Republican club of Longboat key.

Ed is a retired union organizer from New Jersey.

Scott is a retired U.S Air Force, major general, who was born in Alabama.

And thank you both for joining us.

So you're talking on a regular basis.

I've read that you've described this as the miracle on the key and that you're doing it to secure the survival of our democracy.

Ed, let's start with you.

Why did you take on this project?

- Well, it started with a member of our club and a friend of his a member of the Republican club bemoaning the fact that there's such division in the country and if there was anything they could do about it.

So they both approached their respective clubs and got us involved and we're really grateful that they, they got us to do that.

- And Scott you'd meet on a regular basis.

And what are you talking about?

- Yeah, so we've been meeting regularly since last March, at least monthly over the summer we had zoom meetings more than in person, and we're gonna continue to meet as we go forward.

- [Rob] And Scott what do you find that there's much that you agree on or you sitting just kind of rehashing what we see on cable news?

- Well, we're not attacking issues, the way we started this, we did have a moderator or Michella Wyman who's a world renown moderator, come in and help us through here.

And what she had us do which was brilliant, was identify common values that we believed in it.

And what we found out real rapidly was we all have a great love of the country and a love of America.

We all wanna see the constitution and democracy continue forward.

So then when Michelle had us look at common values that we would like to see our grandchildren and great-grandchildren enjoy, what we found out real quick is we have a very lot in common and you've got your fringe elements on both sides left and right that have grabbed the microphone and grabbed the press.

And they're getting all the attention where you come right down to it, the centers where we have really found that we are.

- And Ed what other things did you find you had in common with the Republicans?

- Well, it was interesting.

We did an exercise where we listed things that we felt were important and actually the Republican put down personal responsibility and we took a look at that and we decided we all have to take personal responsibility.

This country has been very good to us.

It's a wonderful place that we happened to have been born in or arrived in and we need to protect it.

We need to keep it unified, not divided.

And we need to take personal responsibility to do that.

- Ed I started off the segment by saying the country is divided.

And let me stick with you for a second.

Do you fear that the division is getting worse and is that why you are reaching out to Republicans?

- Yeah, I think that the division, that's another thing we agree on, the division is not helping our country, it's helping our enemies.

And if people love the country they should stop and take a deep breath and figure out how to talk with their neighbors.

- Scott do people back away from you at the bar or at the golf club when they hear that you're talking with Democrats?

- It's interesting, it's a fabulous question really.

The exact opposite has happened.

Yes there have been a couple outliers that say, you're wasting your time.

Why would you do that?

But overall, the response has been overwhelmingly positive and that's coming from Democrats, Republicans that are both coming to me and thanked me and thanked me and thanked Ed also for getting involved and trying to do this.

We all love the country and we all wanna see go forward.

- And Scott sticking with you, what do you think the biggest misconception Democrats have about Republicans these days?

- Well, I'm gonna broaden that just a little bit.

I think the biggest problem I have is we all have stereotypical perceptions and our perception, we go into discussions, they're Republican hints they must think like this or they're Democrats so they must be far left-leaning liberals.

And you've gotta cut through that and you've got to start listening to what the individuals actually saying.

- And Ed let me ask the same question to you and answer it any way you want, but what do you think the biggest misconception Republicans have about Democrats is?

- Well, again I think there's stereotypes of what you are.

And like Scott said, when you sit down with somebody and have a conversation and listen to what they're saying, you find out there's a diversity of opinions in the Republican side just like, you know, we in the democratic side are very used to a diversity of opinions, but they have it as well.

And you've got to listen to the individual and hear what they're saying.

- Do you expect to come up with a series of things you all agree on?

I mean, have you issued a statement that says, this is what we, as both Democrats and Republicans can agree on at this point in 2021?

- Yeah, we have, we issued a joint statement and basically what it says, what it's asking our neighbors to do is to, like I said, take a step back, have a conversation, see what you can find out, agree to disagree sometimes.

But to look also for the things that you have in common.

- And Scott, I imagine that for people that are hearing about this for the first time, there might be people in other communities that would like to learn more about how you're doing this.

- Exactly this has gotten some very quick and long legs.

It's made the press down in Miami.

It's like in Tampa, as you know.

We've been told that there's a individually Cleveland that would like to see some sort of form like this happen up in the Cleveland area.

We've been invited to other organizations to speak, Ed and I have.

So yeah it's presenting very well out in the public.

I think the vast majority of Americans realize we have some common issues that we are divided on.

We'd all want to see a goal, how do we get to that common goal.

- And Ed I imagine the politicians have a lot to learn from the two of you because the politicians are right now, pretty much in their corners.

- Yeah.

I think unfortunately, the system right now rewards bizarre behavior, right?

The more controversial you are, you raise money, you get coverage, you go big on social media.

It's not set up right now to encourage people to exercise some common sense, sit down, talk, figure out solutions to problems.

- Well, Ed Sabol and Scott Gray, both of Longboat Key on the democratic side and the Republican side.

Thank you so much for coming on the program.

- Thank you.

- Rob thank you for your time.

(upbeat music) - The largest U.S display ever of artwork by Nobel prize winning songwriter Bob Dylan has just opened in south Florida.

The exhibit called retro spectrum was first shown in Shanghai, China two years ago where it reportedly drew hundreds of thousands of attendees.

Now the Dylan exhibit is just opened at the Frost Art Museum at Florida International University in Miami.

Joining us now is the director of the Patrician Philip Frost museum, Jordana Pomeroy.

And Jordana welcome to Florida this week.

- Thank you for having me.

- So why did Bob Dylan select FIU as the site of his first major U.S exhibit?

- Well, this is a public university, one of the 12 public universities in Florida, and we are an Hispanic serving university and we have enormous diversity and we represent America the future of America.

And I believe that is a very good reason for Bob Dylan to have chosen the Frost Art museum at FIU to have his debut exhibition.

- Jordana as a college student, I purchased self portrait and I liked the painting of Dylan's on the cover, but I didn't think it was that good.

And then just recently I began to look at Dylan's paintings of the last few years, and they're pretty amazing.

If you were to look at the kind of school that Dylan belongs to it, is he an Edward Hopper kind of a painter or is he a Thomas Hart Benton?

What school would you put them in?

- I don't think I'd put them in a school.

I don't think he put himself in a school.

That is not to say that I don't agree with you because I think a lot of his work does reflect that feeling of loneliness and isolation, and sometimes gloominess that certainly hopper so well conveyed in his paintings.

I avoid really making those kinds of distinctions or categorizations for him.

He certainly is a sponge.

Some of his work looks like Hopper's, others look to me very much like he has been looking at Cubist painting.

So the self portrait that you pointed out made me go back and look at all the critics comments on his album, which was released in 1970.

And while I know this was not an appealing portrait to you, I thought maybe there is a connection between that very fractured self portrait and the way he was re-conceptualizing himself just at that moment.

This exhibit drew a big crowd in China, 180 pieces of art, including watercolors and drawings and paintings and iron work.

You get a sense, I mean, Dylan has been on the road for a good portion of the last few decades.

You get a sense of where he finds the time to do this?

- (laughs) That is a very good question.

I've often asked myself, we always feel like we're running out of time.

I think or I only suspect he's just constantly creating.

His last series of works he created during the pandemic deep focus.

And I just think that these truly creative types don't stop at any time.

They live for their art or their arts as it were.

They work in different art forms.

And when he wants to grab a soldering iron he does.

He just must be the most, I think, attuned to time and in a way that none of us is, and he's got a lot of it when he's not on the road.

And that's where he's putting his up efforts, as well as songwriting obviously.

- The only musician that's that dabbles in art.

I mean, Joni Mitchell has done some tremendous paintings and David Bowie has and Stevie Nicks, you think there's a connection between the creativity that goes into songwriting and the creativity that you need to be an artist.

- Yeah, I do.

I do.

I think that it is those who really don't have that creative draw who think that you have to really categorize you are this or you are that.

And I don't believe that people who have that creative drive think in those kinds of, think with boundaries.

And in fact, it's very refreshing to look at Bob Dylan.

I think that's why people come to see this exhibition.

They kind of can't believe it.

This individual is icon we associate so closely really with lyrics, with songwriting, with poetry, he can also paint and solder.

And maybe it opens up a world for us too, that we can do things that we didn't think we could do.

- So Jordana one last question, is Bob gonna be there?

Is he gonna show up for his own exhibit there in Miami?

- Well, the elusive Bob Dylan, doesn't earn that term for nothing.

Your guess is as good as mine.

- Well, Jordana Pomeroy, thanks a lot for telling us about the Bob Dylan exhibit.

- It was my pleasure to be here.

Thank you for having me.

(upbeat music) - Thanks for watching.

Please send your comments to us @ftwwedu.org.

You can view this and past shows online @wedu.org or on the PBS app.

In Florida this week is now available as a podcast.

You can find it on our website or wherever you download your podcasts.

We'll finally with the new exhibit of Bob Dylan's paintings and drawings now showing in Miami, we thought we'd close with Bob himself singing about his art.

Here's when I paint my masterpiece, stay safe we'll see you next week.

♪ Oh, the streets of Rome ♪ ♪ Are filled with rubble ♪ ♪ Ancient footprints are everywhere ♪ ♪ You could almost think that you're seeing double ♪ ♪ On a cold, dark night by the Spanish Stairs ♪ ♪ Got to hurry on back to my hotel room ♪ ♪ Where I got me a date ♪ ♪ with a pretty little girl from Greece ♪ ♪ She promised she'd be there with me ♪ ♪ When I paint my masterpiece ♪ - [Announcer] Florida this week is a production of WEDU, who is solely responsible for its content.

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