Saturday, June 26th at 3:30pm Manhattan – Union Square park. (We will be around the South West part of Union Square, near the Gandhi Statue, if it isn’t too crowded). The 46th Anniversary of the Incident at Oglala. facebook event
Members of the Jericho Movement and NYC Free Peltier will be there with their big Free Leonard Peltier banner. Leonard has been in prison for over 45 years. He is in bad health, and supporters are trying to get him moved to a geriatric hospital prison in Minnesota. This is an informal event, so everybody who has something to say about Peltier gets to speak, if we even have speakers.
Join us Wednesday, June 23rd, 6pm for Art 4 Liberation. A virtual conversation between two amazing visual artists, Emory Douglas and Sophia Dawson. They will discuss 84 year old Sundiata Acoli, a former Black Panther who has been incarcerated 48 years, his art and life and the role of art as a tool for liberation. Registration is required! Register here.
*Also, don’t forget to sign and share this petition demanding NJ Governor Phil Murphy commute Sundiata’s sentence to time served.
We urge you to commute the sentence of Dr. Mutulu Shakur, a father, grandfather, healer, and human rights activist who has been in the custody of the Bureau of Prisons (BOP) for over 35 years. Dr. Shakur is now 70 years old, has suffered 2 strokes, glaucoma, and has been battling Stage 3 bone marrow cancer for the last 2 ½ years. Although he received a bone marrow transplant, his cancer is not curable — he will require continuing treatment and cancer management, until the end of his life.
Why is this important?
Dr. Shakur was sentenced to 60 years in prison because of actions based on his political beliefs. He was targeted and victimized by the now infamous Counter-Intelligence Program (COINTELPRO), as early as 1968. Dr. Shakur comes out of a complex and turbulent moment in American history, when civil unrest fractured our country into pieces. He is recognized as a leading member of the movement for human rights for African Americans.
Dr. Shakur has taken full responsibility for past actions that resulted in loss of life. Today, his beliefs center around the desire for fundamental human rights, a desire for equitable laws and policies, and a world without racial, gender and class divisions. He has been a force for peace and for good during the many years of his incarceration, working against violence in the prisons and in his varied communities. He has developed hospice programs for incarcerated elders, and created educational curriculums for young prisoners entering prison. He has also counseled and mentored countless younger prisoners, including many who are leading positive lives after prison and attribute much of their success to Dr. Shakur’s influence.
His release would pose absolutely no threat to public safety. This is supported by BOP’s own PATTERN risk assessment tool, which has determined Dr. Shakur is in the lowest possible risk category. Studies by the Department of Justice (DOJ) have also shown that based on Dr. Shakur’s age, he poses almost no risk of recidivism. Current and former staff have supported his release on parole, but the US Parole Commission has denied him parole 8 times.
All of Dr. Shakur’s co-defendants and co-conspirators convicted as part of this federal conspiracy have been released. This leaves Dr. Shakur as the only person remaining in federal prison for these offenses, all of the white co-conspirators having been released from prison more than twenty years before. His release would correct this disparity and give him a chance to rejoin his family and community.
Mr. President, we urge you to act with compassion, and grant release to Dr. Mutulu Shakur. In this historical moment, millions of people in this country are advocating for Black Lives and there is bipartisan support for the end to mass incarceration. The release of Dr. Shakur, a Black elder who has spent his life advocating for his community, aligns with these goals of racial justice and criminal justice reform.
This Juneteenth, help work toward the freedom of Black political prisoners. Info on the remaining folks from the Black liberation movement. Check out the pamphlet by Page One called Current Political Prisoners of Black Liberation Movements, links to their sites here.
Sundiata Acoli is an 84-year-old grandfather, mentor, teacher and artist who has been in prison for more than 48 years. He and Joanne Chesimard (Assata Shakur) were both convicted and sentenced to life in prison (with the possibility of parole) for their role in the tragic shooting on the New Jersey State Turnpike which resulted in the death of New Jersey state trooper, Werner Foerster and Black Panther Party member named Zayd Shakur. The highly publicized trial and Assata Shakur’s subsequent escape from prison in 1979 have framed Sundiata’s imprisonment as one of the most emotional and passionately debated cases in the history of the state of New Jersey. Though Sundiata has been eligible for parole for more than 25 years his petitions for parole have been summarily denied eight times.
By the grace of God, Sundiata has endured almost five decades of imprisonment in some of the most torturous prisons in America. He has expressed deep remorse and regret and has taken full responsibility for his actions that fateful night almost 50 years ago. There is so much that this veteran freedom fighter can teach a country that does not seem to be able to move beyond the cycles of protest, retaliation and revenge. I am a pastor at a historic Black Church in Princeton, N.J. and I am blessed to serve as Sundiata’s “faith based” counsel and representative in the Bring Sundiata Acoli Home Alliance.
I first “met” Sundiata Acoli over 25 years ago after sending him a letter to where he was imprisoned in a maximum security prison in Leavenworth, Kan. Sundiata Acoli is a graduate of Prairie View University in Texas and was a mathematician and computer analyst who worked for NASA prior to committing his life full time to the civil rights movement and as a leader in the Black Panther Party. When I learned about Sundiata, I was a recent college dropout turned full time activist working as a Human Rights Fellow for Amnesty International-USA. I was intrigued by his story and I wanted to learn more. I was assigned the responsibility of working on a wide range of domestic human rights projects including the abolition of the death penalty and advocacy on behalf of those identified as “political prisoners” in the United States. I came to learn that Sundiata Acoli was so much more than his political history or an iconic symbol drawing passionate responses from both supporters and opponents.
As an octogenarian COVID-19 survivor in the early stages of dementia, currently suffering from heart disease and emphysema, Sundiata does not represent a safety threat to anyone, anywhere. As recently as May 2021, the N.J. Board of Parole seemingly ignored the fact that Sundiata has had a perfect disciplinary record for almost 30 years and teaches a class in federal prison for young prisoners preparing for re-entry into communities on parole.
Currently, Sundiata sits in a federal prison cell on the verge of what many of his supporters see as a politically motivated death sentence. At last count, close to 10,000 women and men have signed an online petition calling upon New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy to grant compassionate release and allow Sundiata to go home to his family. I pray every day that those in power will submit to the call of a higher power which calls humanity for forgiveness, mercy and grace.
Over the decades of his incarceration, I have come to know him as a father of two daughters and grandfather that longs to hug his grandchildren outside of a prison. I know Sundiata as a source of wise and calming counsel to scores of young activists who needed to understand the connection of one generation of freedom fighters to the next. I know Sundiata as a mentor who encouraged me to be a committed father to my newborn children, return to college and complete graduate school as I discovered my true calling as an activist-minister. Two decades ago, I would have jumped at any opportunity to debate the details of Sundiata’s case and argue the tragedy of political calculations which extend prison sentences for prisoners such as Sundiata and many other aging political prisoners. No more. Today, I am focused on the moral tragedy of a government that waits for aging prisoners to die through the use of de facto death sentences. In this hour, I am committed to calling upon communities to prevent these political death sentences from being executed. The deaths of those identified as “political prisoners” stigmatize freedom movements, institutionalize vengeance and revoke our best hopes for healing and reconciliation.
I remember in one of our first telephone conversations, I asked Sundiata, “When do you think that you will be released?” He answered, “That’s up to you. The people make that decision.” It is a decision that is overdue. If not now—Sundiata Acoli will die in prison. It is time for New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy to do what is right and exercise his executive power to release Sundiata Acoli by commuting his sentence to time served.
Our friends with Philly ABC have exciting news- a new website for political prisoner Oso Blanco!
Oso Blanco is an indigenous activist originally serving 80 years in prison for a series of bank expropriations throughout the southwest in 1998-1999. In 2016, 25 years were taken off his sentence when he won his Johnson v. U.S. appeal making him eligible for release in 2048. He is part of the wolf clan Cherokee/Choctaw, raised in New Mexico. His indigenous name is Oso Blanco, or Yona Unega in Cherokee. He was known to the FBI as ‘Robin the Hood’ because he informed the bank tellers he was expropriating funds to assist the Zapatistas fighting for independence in the southern Mexican state of Chiapas.
Oso Blanco continues his assistance to Zapatistas and native kids from within prison through the Children’s Art Project (CAP). Check out the artwork he created to raise funds for native kids, for sale online as greeting cards and posters, on his new website at freeosoblanco.org. Please support the ‘Zapatista supply warrior’ in his mission and share the link within your networks!
Russell Maroon Shoatz, a 77-year-old political prisoner, is suffering from stage 4 cancer. The DOC canceled his scheduled chemotherapy treatments last month. Maroon is very ill and upset that he still cannot begin these life-saving treatments. Your voice can make the difference! Call, fax and email this Thursday!
Prison SCI Dallas: Phone: 570-675-1101 PA DOC, Christopher Oppman:
Deputy Secretary for Administration who oversees healthcare Phone: 717-728-4122
Philly DA Larry Krasner Phone: 215-686-8000 [email protected] Twitter: @DA_LarryKrasner Instagram: @larrykrasner
SUGGESTED SCRIPT:
My name is __________________ and I demand:
1. The immediate scheduling of necessary chemotherapy treatments for Russell Maroon Shoatz #AF-3855, who has stage 4 cancer and is recovering from COVID-19.
2. I am aware that he had previous been scheduled for treatment and this it was postponed indefinitely. Mr. Shoatz must be put on the schedule for treatment today.
Russell Shoatz’s health is rapidly deteriorating. They track the calls from different phones and how many times the same number calls so please keep calling and activate your networks.
Make the calls, emails and tweets to ensure Maroon gets immediate response and medical treatment.
Eric cannot get letters right now but can get books (softcover only), magazines and zines. You can send them him at the address below. Please use white envelopes and hand write addresses.
Eric King #27090-045 FCI Englewood 9595 West Quincy Avenue Littleton, CO 80123
Creating a New World in the Shell of the Old – the 21st edition of the Certain Days calendar
The Certain Days: Freedom for Political Prisoners Calendar collective (certaindays.org) will be releasing our 21st calendar this coming autumn. The 2022 theme is “Creating a New World in the Shell of the Old,” looking at collective approaches at creating a more inclusive and fulfilling world through mutual effort.
We are looking for 12 pieces of art and 12 short essays to feature in the calendar, which hangs in more than 6,000 homes, workplaces, prison cells, and community spaces around the world. We encourage contributors to submit both new and existing work. We especially seek submissions from people in prison or jail, so please forward to any prison-based artists and writers.
EXTENDED DEADLINE: June 20, 2021 Featured art- Grae Rosa
