January 2016: 1.17.2016: NYC: 20th Annual Dinner Tribute to Political Prisoners & Their Families!

December 24th, 2015

1.17.2016: NYC: 20th Annual Dinner Tribute to Political Prisoners & Their Families!

800Years of Legacy, Commitment & Sacrifice: Honoring our captive Black Freedom Fighters

Sun. January 17, 2016 • 3 – 7pmMLK 1199 Labor Center, 310 W. 43rd St, New York, NY

Buy tickets now! $40 advance/$45 door–All Proceeds go to the Commissary Accounts of PP/POWs Represented at Dinner

http://www.mxcc519.org MALCOLM X COMMEMORATION COMMITTEEPO BOX 380-122, Brooklyn, NY 11238,718-512-5008, MXCC519@Verizon.netNovember 8, 2015

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE! MALCOLMITES ANNOUNCE 20TH ANNIV OF ANNUAL FREEDOM FIGHTERS TRIBUTE!

On Sunday, January 17th, the Malcolm X Commemoration Committee will host its 20th anniversary of their endearing annual tribute to Black Political Prisoners and their Families! This moving event will place at the Martin Luther King Jr., 1199 Labor Center, located at 310 West 43rd Street in Manhattan. The event is from3-7pm with dinner served promptly at 4pm.The theme of this milestone event is*”800 Years: Legacy, Commitment, Sacrifice, Honoring Our Captive Black Freedom Fighters!”

*This incredible event will be highlighted by special guest speakers *SekouOdinga* and *Lynne Stewart*, both recently released freedom fighters! Odinga, a veteran of the Black Panther Party and the Black Liberation Army,endured 33 years in the NY prison system. Stewart, a brave and much beloved people’s lawyer nearly died in prison from breast cancer, but was released on the consequence of a mass medically compassionate release campaign.

For more information about the Malcolm X Commemoration Committee, pleasecall 718-512-5008 or email mxcc519@gmail.com

Support Leonard Peltier!

December 1st, 2015

Last week, there was a spiritual Rally for Leonard Peltier in front of the White House, part of a series of vigils and actions in DC. The International Leonard Peltier Defense Committee included the following call for support among those who could not attend in person:

You can help support this important series of events. Clemency now!

Call President Obama for Leonard Peltier: 202-456-1111 or 202-456-1414; email President Obama: http://www.whitehouse.gov/contact/submit-questions-and-comments; post a comment on Obama’s Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/potus/?fref=ts&hc_location=ufi; send a tweet to President Obama: @POTUS; and/or write a letter to: President Barack Obama, The White House, 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW, Washington, DC 20500

November 26, 2015 – Day of Mourning

Brothers and Sisters,

It makes my heart happy to know so many of you are keeping this Day of Mourning event going.

I hear there is going to be a National Geographic movie this month called “Saints and Strangers” about the REAL Thanksgiving. I want you to know that I believe… I KNOW this has only come about from your continued protest and determination to expose what really happened. But, damn, huh has it ever taken so long! 🙁 Let’s hope this film DOES tell the truth. I, for one, thank you very much, as this is what it was and is all about—getting the real history told about the genocide that was committed against us as a race of people and against our Nations. If we don’t do this, then it can and will happen again until we have all been exterminated.

I’m so proud of you young People out there too, all over the country, standing up for our Nations and taking over because some of us can no longer get out there to stand by your sides—or to stand there with you and shake your hands.

February 6, 2016, will make it 40 straight years in here. Under the laws I was indicted with, a life term was seven years. I have served over six life sentences! As you know, I was sentenced to only two. To Native Peoples this is also not surprising. In fact, this is something that happens on a regular basis throughout Indian Country. And, as always, this is not acceptable to us. So we protest, and we protest some more.

Over the last four decades, I have been supported by people of all backgrounds, races, and religions. As we approach the one-year mark on President Obama’s remaining time in office, it is crucial for my survival that everyone who has ever supported my release to please contact my official Committee that works on my behalf, and coordinate and organize with them.

In 2008, when asked about my case, then Senator Obama supposedly said, “Show me the support.” If all of you dedicate some of your time in 2016 to support my bid for clemency, I believe this President has the courage to do the right thing and let me go home.

Remember, too, that we have brothers and sisters who are themselves wrongfully incarcerated, and I ask that we all coordinate to put an end to these injustices.

I wish I could lie to you and tell you I’m doing O.K., but that would not be fair to you. Today, I have another call out to the prison clinic. I guess some of the results must have come back from my last blood work. I know I’m not feeling very well. It seems as if there are so many things wrong with me… I don’t know what to do or say to you, or even where to start. Hell, I cannot even sit for any length of time. When I get up my plexis area hurts so bad, I cannot walk but very slowly and while hanging on to someone for support. But after a few steps I’m O.K. So I move right along with the crowd. 🙂 But those first few steps are awfully painful. I asked for a cushion, but was told they don’t have any here—and to make one myself from a blanket. Well, news flash. I did this and every time I did they took it away. Yep, for some reason this is illegal. Then I have to deal with the other medical problems. So, yeah, this is my Sundance. But you know what? You’re all worth it and I would not hesitate to suffer for any of you again and again.

Well, I better end this before you get bored with me. 🙂 So, again, thank you—all of you—for being decent loving human beings.

In the Spirit of Crazy Horse…

Doksha,

Leonard Peltier

Holiday Card Writing Party for US Political Prisoners

November 20th, 2015

Send Love Through the Walls!!!!!
Resistance in Brooklyn & NYC Anarchist Black Cross (NYC ABC)
invite you to a
Holiday Card-Writing Party
for US-Held Political Prisoners & POWs
Sunday, December 6, 2015 – 4-8 p.m.
At 263 Eastern Parkway (between Franklin and Classon,
#2,3,4,5 to Franklin Ave./Eastern Pkwy—left elevator to # 5D)
718-783-8141
Cost: FREE (Donations to cover the cost of stamps greatly appreciated)

In what many prisoners have told us is their favorite event of the year, Resistance in Brooklyn and NYC Anarchist Black Cross again join forces to bring you the annual holiday card-writing party

for U.S. held political prisoners, prisoners of war, and prisoners of conscience

. This event is always a lot of fun, the food outstanding, the camaraderie lively, and the handmade cards flat out amazing. This year will be no different. So plan to bring your friends, your creativity, and a healthy appetite. We’ll have updates on the pp/pow campaigns as well as paints, markers, crayons, and envelopes.

Copies of the 2016 Certain Days: Freedom for Political Prisoners calendars will be on sale for $12. And Mumia’s new City Lights monograph, To Protect and Serve Who? Organizing a Movement to Abolish Police Violence, will available for $5.

Directions:
Getting to 263 Eastern Parkway is simple:
From the 2

/3/4/5 or Franklin Avenue Shuttle:

Franklin Avenue Stop: Walk west on Eastern Parkway (away from Franklin Avenue, toward Classon Avenue). We’re about half a block down on the north side of the street. When you go into the building, take the elevator to your left.

For more information, contact:
Resistance in Brooklyn– resistanceinbrooklyn07 at gmail dot com
NYC Anarchist Black Cross– nycabc at riseup dot net

New Poem and Request from Jalil Muntaqim

November 15th, 2015

Here is a request from Jalil Muntaqim as we begin his parole campaign for his hearing in June 2016.

Jalil would like people to contact Tavis Smiley and request that he interview Ward Churchill about Jalil’s book Escaping the Prism. tavis@tavistalks.com and www.facebook.com/TavisTalks

He would also like people to contact Amy Goodman and request that she interview Jalil at Attica: 212-432-9090 www.democracynow/contact and www.facebook.com/AmyGoodman.DemocracyNow/

Jalil will be going to the Parole Board once again in June of 2016, and he would like to form our own media campaign to counteract the PBA propaganda around his case.

Of course, he is officially known as Anthony Bottom ‪#‎77A4283‬, so that should be included when contacting Tavis Smiley and Amy Goodman.

NEW POEM BY POW JALIL MUNTAQIM

Apartheid Attica

Nestled in the upstate New York rural
community, stand grey walls and ominous
gun towers, inside 24 hundred souls
captured and confined.

Marching two by two, 40 strong,
escorted by club wielding
guards enter a messhall, a sea
of Black and Brown faces, under
camera surveillance and controlled,
by the threat of club wielding
automatons. Read the rest of this entry »

Warrior: Film about Leonard Peltier

October 21st, 2015

From NYC Free Leonard Peltier:

This is the definitive film about Leonard Peltier’s life and legal case. It is not new but the facts are still the same. Unfortunately, due to distribution problems, up until now it has been very difficult to see this film. Just a few days ago, Suzie Baer, who produced and directed the film, put it up on Youtube.

Copies of the film and posters are also available by contacting Suzie at: warriorthelifeofleonardpeltier at gmail.com

NOTE: This film covers Leonard’s case well but what also makes it special is that we get to hear so much from Leonard himself, and also his family.

This film is really important now because Leonard needs really needs support. His only hope is executive clemency and President Obama’s time is office is rapidly coming to a close. This film is a wonderful tool to educate people about Leonard.

Please, watch it, buy it, show it.

NYC Free Peltier

Lynne will be Judge at Peoples Tribunal in Los Angeles October 16

October 8th, 2015

Twitter Handle: @wechargela

Instagram: @wechargegenocidela

Facebook Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/928065670589856/

LA People’s Tribunal is a space to honor survivors of police brutality, build community, create actions to stop business as usual and demand more from the state and from one another. The Revolution is now

Tribunal Details:
The evening of cultural events and performances will be October 16th from 6-10PM. The Tribunal with survivor and family testimony will be October 17th from 12-7PM. Call Rebecka to participate in anyway 314-556-7919.
400 W Washington Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90015

Judges
Lynn Stewart
Nelson Antonio Denis
Guillermo Suarez
Cephus Johnson, Uncle Bobby

Performers
Douglas Kearney
Matt Sedillo
Aleshea Harris
Jozben Barrett
Tom Earl
Brigette Dunn-Korpela (Choreographer)
Samara Harris
Roberto Martin
Ahlam Ana Khamis

Goals
-Create actions and community tasks to end police terror.
-Facilitate cooperation, unity and coordination between progressive organizations and activists for the purpose of sustainable, principled and militant action
-Get feedback and testimony from affected communities
-Create a network of people to contribute to taking back the public school systems, ending mass incarcerations and ending racist government agendas.

Lynne speaking in Los Angeles October 17

October 8th, 2015

Freedom Aint Free Event for Political Prisoner Abdullah Majid

October 6th, 2015

Freedom Aint Free Event for Political Prisoner Abdullah Majid

Friday October 16th at 6pm
at the National Black Theatre
2031 Fifth Avenue and West 125th Street
$12 Donation

Flyers below:

Mumia Abu-Jamal’s Legal Team Files for Immediate Treatment & Injunctive Relief

August 28th, 2015

Lynne says: “High five and Fist bump Congratulations to Bret Grote and the Abolitionist Law Center and Bob Boyle for the hard work and challenge that they have fulfilled so admirably.  We must continue to fight for and protect those still in the belly of the Beast while we struggle to bring them Home !!!

Mumia Abu-Jamal’s Legal Team Files for Immediate Treatment & Injunctive Relief
August 25, 2015

Press Release:
Medical Neglect nearly killed Abu-Jamal in March; Now the DOC refuses lifesaving treatment

August 24, 2015: Attorneys for political prisoner Mumia Abu-Jamal filed a motion for preliminary injunction in “Abu-Jamal vs. Kerestes” today with Judge Robert Mariani in the Middle District of Pennsylvania seeking a federal court order to ensure that prison medical staff provide immediate life- saving hepatitis C treatment to Mumia Abu-Jamal. Abu-Jamal is incarcerated at SCI Mahanoy in Frackville PA. Please see today’s filings here as well as the first amended complaint here.

Pennsylvania Department of Corrections (DOC) medical staff and DOC counsel have refused Abu-Jamal’s demand for treatment and denied letters from his lawyers and independent doctors documenting the critical need for immediate treatment. Medically necessary treatment for hepatitis C consists of new antiviral drugs that have a 95% cure rate, and consists of one pill per day over the course of 12 weeks with minimal side effects.

Blood tests for the hepatitis C viral load done in July at the insistence of Abu-Jamal, his lawyers, and consulting doctors have confirmed that Abu-Jamal has active hepatitis C, which is most likely the underlying cause of his year-long, escalating health crisis.

Mumia Abu-Jamal remains weak and sick in the prison infirmary. He is currently not receiving treatment for a persistent and debilitating skin condition that is itchy and painful. Mr. Abu-Jamal has already suffered two hospitalizations, one a near fatal episode after SCI Mahanoy’s medical staff refused to treat or even monitor his dramatic and dangerously excessive blood glucose level, leading to diabetic shock. Every day that medically indicated treatment is denied carries the significant risk of continued and irreversible injury.
Read the rest of this entry »

August Political Prisoner Birthdays

August 7th, 2015

Mutulu Shakur

Send a birthday card to the prisoners and let them know they are in our hearts and on our minds. Bios of political prisoners linked from Jericho website.

Africa, Debbie Sims
#006307
451 Fullerton Ave, Cambridge Springs, PA 16403-1238
Birthday: August 4, 1956

Dunne, Bill #10916-086
FCI Herlong, P.O. Box 800, Herlong, CA 96113
Birthday: August 3

Latine, Maliki Shakur # 81-A-4469
Shawangunk Correctional Facility
P.O. Box 700, Wallkill, New York 12589
Birthday: August 23, 1949

Shabazz Bey, Hanif (Beaumont Gereau)
Golden Grove Prison, RR1, P.O. Box 9955
Kingshill, St. Croix, V.I. 00850
Birthday: August 16, 1950

Shakur, Mutulu #83205-012
Federal Correctional Complex, P.O. Box 3900, Adelanto, CA  92301
Birthday: August 8, 1950

Shoats, Russell Maroon #AF-3855
SCI Graterford, P.O. Box 244, Graterford, PA 19426-0246
Birthday: August 23, 1943

Truthout Article on US Political Prisoners

July 27th, 2015

Lynne wanted everyone to read this article:

Beyond Innocence: US Political Prisoners and the Fight Against Mass Incarceration

Friday, 24 July 2015 00:00 By Dan Berger, Truthout | Report

(Image: Lauren Walker / Truthout)

(Image: Lauren Walker / Truthout)

Help Truthout keep publishing stories like this: They can’t be found in corporate media! Make a tax-deductible donation today.

President Obama’s recent statements about mass incarceration, together with his decision to commute the sentences of 46 people serving lengthy and life sentences in federal prison on drug charges, treat “nonviolent drug offenders” as the symbolic figureheads of America’s prison problem. This framing seems to imply that everyone else actually deserves to be in prison.

But the world’s biggest prison system is not filled with nonviolent drug offenders alone. Before and alongside the war on drugs, mass incarceration was built through the wholesale repression of radical movements – especially in communities of color.

Take, for example, the cases of two other people who have long sought commutations from Obama and other presidents before him: Leonard Peltier and Oscar Lopez Rivera. Both men are longtime activists who have each served more than 30 years in prison and garnered international support for their release from figures such as Archbishop Desmond Tutu and organizations such as Amnesty International.

“We have to demand freedom for those who struggle for freedom.”

Peltier is an Anishinabe-Lakota former member of the American Indian Movement (AIM) serving two life sentences for the 1975 death of two FBI agents killed during a confrontation between FBI and AIM on the Pine Ridge reservation. Lopez Rivera is a Puerto Rican former community organizer from Chicago who is serving a 55-year sentence for “seditious conspiracy,” an outmoded charge that makes it illegal to plot against the US government.

Throughout the 20th century, the United States has tried dozens of Puerto Rican independence activists with seditious conspiracy – including 11 of Lopez Rivera’s codefendants, whom President Clinton freed in 1999 after a remarkable campaign for their release.

“We have to demand freedom for those who struggle for freedom,” said Alejandro Molina, a member of the coordinating committee for the National Boricua Human Rights Campaign, a prominent organization demanding freedom for Lopez Rivera.

Peltier and Lopez Rivera are two among dozens of people incarcerated for actions they took as part of radical social movements. Many are former members of the Black Panther Party – people such as Herman Bell, Romaine Chip Fitzgerald and Ed Poindexter – who have been in prison for more than 40 years. They are some of America’s political prisoners.

For some, the idea of political prisoners conjures images of far-off dictatorial regimes imprisoning opponents for their beliefs. Yet this country has a long history of imprisoning its dissidents. Political prisoners have included people incarcerated for nonviolent direct actions, such as sabotaging nuclear weapons facilities or participating in civil disobedience. But the ones who have received the longest sentences and the harshest treatment inside are people who have been convicted of violent offenses, typically against police, or conspiring against the government.

In fact, political prisoners have been the canaries in the coal mine for mass incarceration: Some of the most distinguishing features of the American prison state – aggressive policing, hefty charges, preventive detention, lengthy sentences, parole denial and prolonged solitary confinement – were first deployed as means to stop radical social movements beginning in the 1960s. Political dissidents and other oppressed communities remain guinea pigs for the intensity of American punishment. Read the rest of this entry »

Peoples Police Brutality Tribunal – Tomorrow in NYC

July 10th, 2015

Lynne plans to attend.

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