From Lynne: An important information below sent by ex Panther, Comrade from Minneapolis and a regular on Ralphs Blog radio show on Tues Nights,  Larry Pinkney. Attention must be paid.

Remembering Hugo “Yogi” Pinell
Following news of Hugo “Yogi” Pinell being killed at New Folsom Prison this past August, Maroon wrote a brief poem paying tribute to the longtime prison activist and social justice hero. If you missed our newsletter two months back, please visit our website for more info on Pinell’s remarkable life. Maroon’s poem can be read below.

Why Hugo “Yogi” Pinell Will Be Remembered
By Russell Maroon Shoatz
Copyright 2015 © Pampata

Hero
Unbroken
Giant
Outstanding

Young-at-heart
Openhearted
Genuine
Inspired

Powerful
Implacable
New man
Egalitarian
Long-standing
Loving

Exceptionally Well Done!
Maroon’s Son Hassan Reflects on a Visit with his Father

The visits are always good when I get to see that smile on my father’s face.

The long drive, my forgetting to have exact change for vending machine cards, locker expenses, and other visiting procedural protocols, was just a part of the anxiety I was feeling, as I began to inch closer to the front of the check-in line.  You see, the last time I made the three-hour trek up the highway one Saturday in July, I was turned away with a simple explanation. “Sorry, it’s not his visiting block today,” the prison guard had uttered, as she stared at what must have been the most bewildered expression I had mustered on my face since high school physics.

Read the rest of Hassan’s reflection here.

Save Shakaboona
Kerry Shakaboona Marshall was 17 when he was arrested in 1988. As a result of the “Get Tough on Crime” movement, he was sentenced to life in prison, which is equivalent to DEATH by Incarceration. He is one of 500 youth in the state of Pennsylvania who received mandatory LIFE sentences with total disregard to their mental capacity, education, and any emotional and physical trauma they’d encountered. Let us say NO to this barbaric system beginning with Kerry Shakaboona Marshall!

Since being imprisoned, Shakaboona has matured into a committed and principled advocate for human rights both inside and outside the prison system. He can regularly be heard advocating for the most disadvantaged in his commentaries at Prison Radio. He is also the Co-Editor of The Movement, a magazine published by the Human Rights Coalition, where his written commentaries can be found.

His Life MATTERS!

Fifteen thousand dollars ($15,000) is needed for a re-sentencing defense team of experienced individuals who will advocate zealously for a sentence other than DEATH by Incarceration for Kerry Shakaboona Marshall.

Visit the Indigogo Site to learn more and contribute to our efforts.

“Twenty years ago I met him at the end of the line, in a Super Maximum Security section of Pennsylvania’s state prison in Greene County. There he was serving a natural life sentence – imposed on him while he was still a juvenile – because the system of injustice had taken a wayward kid and condemned him to spend the rest of his life within the confines of prisons.

Yet the Shakaboona I met as a man had the makings of a University professor, doctor, or scientist, and by then was never one to waste a single moment in bettering himself and others he could assist.

As an elder who must leave this life in the not-too-distant future, I’m comforted to know that he continued to grow and better himself, and thus my own grandchildren will benefit from the kind of man he has developed himself to be: One of the best humans walking the planet Earth!”

– Russell Maroon Shoatz

As always, we offer you our profound gratitude for your support, and our hope to celebrate greater victories with you in the days to come…

The Shoatz Family and Friends