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Monthly Archives: February 2015

NYC, March 20: New Afrikan Resisitance and the Roots of Mass Incarceration

27 Friday Feb 2015

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NYC, March 20: Nu-Afrikan Resisitance and the Rootz of Mass Incarceration

The journal Socialism and Democracy presents

its special issue on Mass Incarceration,

edited by Mumia Abu-Jamal & Johanna Fernández

Nothing to Lose But Our Chains:

Black Resistance and the Roots of Mass Incarceration

Speakers

Sekou Odinga, Recently Released Political Prisoner

Arielle Newton, Black Lives Matter

Laura Whitehorn, Former Political Prisoner

Nyle Fort, Newark-Based Youth Organizer & Writer

déqui kioni-sadiki, Educator & Activist

Friday March 20, 2015

Malcolm X & Dr. Betty Shabazz Memorial and Educational Center

3940 Broadway at 165th Street

Reception& Journal Signing 6-7PM

Panel Discussion begins Promptly at 7PM

— FREE THE LAND! Let’s “Dream, Rise Organize” to FREE all Political Prisoners & Prisoners of War

The Malcolm X Commemoration Committee

dequi kioni-sadiki chair

P.O. Box 380-122

Brooklyn, New York 11238

718-512-5008718-512-5008 website: http://www.MXCC519.org – “Like” us on Facebook – Malcolm X Commemoration Committee

“What you and I need to do is learn to forget our differences…We have a common oppressor, a common exploiter, and a common discriminator…. once we all realize that we have a common enemy, then we unite on the basis of what we have in common.”

El Hajj El Malik Shabazz / Malcolm X

“Message to the Grass Roots” DEMAND JUSTICE & THE RELEASE OF 16 MEMBERS OF THE BPP/BLA IMPRISONED UNDER THE FBI’S WAR ON THE BLACK LIBERATION MOVEMENT SIGN THE JERICHO COINTELPRO PETITION!

Listen / Support Where We Live wbai –99.5fm – thursday’s 8pm-9pm streaming live @ http://www.wbai.org

Free! Black Panther Political Prisoner Kamau Sadiki (formerly known as Fred Hilton) By Safiya Bukhari

23 Monday Feb 2015

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On November 10, 2003, Judge Stephanie Manis sentenced Kamau Sadiki to life imprisonment for murder and ten (10) years to run consecutively for armed robbery after a Fulton County Superior Court jury found him guilty for the murder of Atlanta Police Officer James Green on November 3, 1971.

At the time of the murder, nineteen year old Kamau Sadiki was a member of the Black Liberation Army (BLA) which was led by John Thomas. Several members of the BLA, including Mr. Sadiki, left New York City and lived in the Atlanta area for a short period of time. On the night of the murder, two witnesses observed three black males run from a van where Officer Green sat at a gas station in downtown Atlanta. The witnesses failed to identify Mr. Sadiki from a photographic line-up. There was no physical evidence that implicated Mr. Sadiki. In 1971, the Atlanta police department closed the case as unsolved.

In 2001, following increased interest in terrorism, one such former BLA member gave a statement about the 1971 murder after being detained during a traffic stop. With no eyewitness testimony and no physical evidence, the State based its case entirely upon the statements of three former BLA members who were present in Atlanta at the time of Officer Green?s murder. Mr. Sadiki was arrested in 2002 in Brooklyn, New York some thirty one (31) years later after the murder.

After a lengthy jury trial in Fulton County Superior Court that began in September 2003, Mr. Sadiki is now serving his sentence in Augusta State Medical Prison in Augusta, Georgia. Appellate Attorney Stephen Scarborough filed a motion for new trial which was heard on April 23, 2009 in Fulton County Superior Court.

Among the many issues raised in his appeal, Mr. Sadiki is urging the court to reconsider her exclusion of the testimony of John Thomas? former wife, Ignae Thomas, wherein she was present during two conversations where others admitted their participation in the murder of the officer. Mr. Thomas who is now deceased, made statements exonerating Mr. Sadiki and stated that he had nothing to do with the shooting. Judge Manis ruled such testimony by Ms. Thomas inadmissible and excluded the testimony from the jury?s consideration. Other issues raised on appeal include Judge Manis? inclusion of a conspiracy charge to the jury when there was no evidence of such and Judge Manis? admission into evidence inflammatory statements regarding Mr. Sadiki?s participation in the BLA and allegations of misdeeds by the BLA.

To date, Judge Manis has not ruled on the motion for new trial. Historically, few motions for new trial are granted. In the event she denies the motion, Mr. Sadiki can file an appeal to the Georgia Court of Appeals and, thereafter, the Georgia Supreme Court. Mr. Sadiki also has a right to appeal to the highest court in the land, the United States Supreme Court.

Kamau Sadiki has always maintained his innocence and has been a loving father and grandfather, steadily employed for 30 years. The Fulton County D.A. refused to try him 30 years ago due to lack of any credible evidence. The question is “Why him? Why now?”

Who Is Kamau Sadiki?

Kamau Sadiki is a former member of the Black Panther Party. At the age of 17 he dedicated his life to the service of his people. He worked out of the Jamaica, Queens office of the Black Panther Party. Having internalized the 10 Point Program and Platform, the 3 Main Rules of Discipline and 8 Points of Attention, Kamau used his knowledge to guide his organizing efforts within the Black Community.

Kamau worked in the Free Breakfast Program, getting up every morning, going to his designated assignment and cooking and feeding hungry children before they went to school. When the Free Breakfast Program was over for the day, he reported to the office, gathered his papers and received his assignment for the day, and went out into the community to sell his papers.

While selling his papers he continued to educate the people, while organizing tenants, welfare mothers, whomever he came in contact. At the end of the day, he reported to the office. He wrote his daily report and attended political education classes.

Kamau Sadiki was one of the thousands of young Black men and women who made up the Black Panther Party. The rank and file members of the Party who were made the Black Panther Party the International political machine it was. While the media followed Huey Newton, Bobby Seale and others the day to day work of the Party was being carried out by these rank and file brothers and sisters, the backbone of the Black Panther Party. They were these nameless and faceless tireless workers who carried out the programs of the Black Panther Party, without whom there would have been no one to do the work of the Free Health Clinics, Free Clothing Drive, Liberation Schools, and Free Breakfast for Children Program. It was to these brothers and sisters that the people in the Black community looked when they needed help and support.

COunterINTELligencePROgram

It was because of this tireless work in the community that J. Edgar Hoover, the then FBI Director, declared the Black Panther Party to be the greatest threat to National Security and sought to destroy it. It was not because we advocated the use of the gun that made the Black Panther Party the threat. It was because of the politics that guided the gun. We had been taught that politics guide the gun, therefore our politics had to be correct and constantly evolving. We had to study and read the newspapers to keep abreast of the constantly changing political situation. But this was not the image that the government wanted to portray of the Black Panther Party. It preferred the image of the ruthless, gangster, racist gun toting thug. Every opportunity that came up to talk, or write about the Black Panther Party was used to portray this image.

When the opportunity didn?t arise on it?s own, they created situations and circumstances to make the claim. An all out propaganda war was waged on the Black Panther Party. Simultaneously a psychological and military campaign was instituted.

The governments war of terror against the Black Panther Party saw over 28 young black men and women of the Black Panther Party killed over a period of less than four (4) years, hundreds more in prison or underground, dozens in exile and the Black Panther Party in disarray. Even though the Black Panther Party, as an entity, had been destroyed the government never ceased observing those Panthers who were still alive. Whether or not others believed it, the government took seriously that aspect of the Black Panther Party?s teaching that included the 10-10-10 Program.

If one (1) Panther organized ten (10) people, those ten (10) people organized ten people, and those ten people organized 10 people exponentially we would organize the world for revolution. The only way to stop that was to weed out the Panthers. Not only must the Black Panther Party be destroyed, but all the people who were exposed to the teachings must be weeded out and put on ice or destroyed.

During this turbulent time, Kamau had been among the members of the Party who had gone underground. He was subsequently captured and spent five (5) years in prison. While he was on parole he legally changed his name from Fred Hilton to Kamau Sadiki.

Why Him? Why Now?

The government and police, knowing that he suffers from Hepatitis C, Cirrhosis of the Liver and Sarcoidosis they told Kamau that unless he helped them capture Assata Shakur that he would ?die in prison?. They told him that if he worked with them and got Assata to leave Cuba and go to some other country where they could apprehend her that they would not prosecute on the police killing. This seemed to be the right time to play this card. So many different forces were congealing in the world that had changed the mood of the country in favor of mania and fear. The conflict in the Middle East had heightened the stakes with 9/11. The Patriot Act had been passed, giving new meaning to what it meant to be patriotic and making disagreeing with or not going along with the policies of the government unpatriotic.

Police and other uniformed personnel were heroes/heroines and above the law…untouchables. What would not have been able to be prosecuted thirty (30) years ago was now, in this climate, possible. Then too, Kamau has not been in the spotlight in the last 25 years. What people don?t know is he never was. After being released from prison, he went to work. Having two daughters and himself to support, He went to work. He worked for the telephone company in New York for over eighteen years. Both of his daughters finished college and are now married with families of their own. No, Kamau wasn?t out beating the drums, he was being the quiet warrior that he is. He is a Muslim. Another liability in these United States where the term is almost synonymous to terrorist now.

The Lies…The Distortions…The Drawbacks

There are many lies and distortions of the truth that come to play in this case. The most glaring and insidious is that Freddie Hilton had been in hiding under the name Kamau Sadiki and that?s why it has taken so long to find and indict him. A bald face lie. The entire five (5) years Kamau spent in prison he wrote and signed all him mail under the name Kamau Sadiki. All of his mail was censored. When he was released from prison he was on parole and while he was on parole he had his name legally changed to Kamau Sadiki. His parole officer was aware of this. When he went to work, he didn?t obtain a new social security number under Kamau Sadiki, but his name was changed on his old card to Kamau Sadiki. There was never an attempt to hide from anything. How could he? One of his daughters was also the daughter of Assata Shakur and he couldn?t hide from that. He was always under the scrutiny of the federal government, if for this reason alone.

New Evidence?! No. No new evidence. The same old story from the 70’s that was supposedly told to them by Sam Cooper. The same old story that was not enough to indict at the time of the death of the police officer in 1972, is now enough to indict in 2002. Thirty years later, they are able to find independent witnesses to corroborate Sam Cooper?s story. It boggles the mind that they have found a way to make memories that usually fade over time, reverse themselves and grow stronger.

The Implications of this Case

We have long held that there is a diabolical scheme going on in the minds of the those who run this government. It is not something that started yesterday or the day before. It is not something that will end tomorrow or the day after. This scheme is to rid the world of those who disagree with the politics of the United States. The Black Panther Party was such an entity and it no longer exists. It was systematically and meticulously destroyed almost thirty (30) years ago. But the effort to destroy the legacy of the Black Panther Party continues. Books are continually written attacking the Party. Daily, articles still appear in newspapers and periodicals redefining the work of the Black Panther Party. Panthers are still in prison and still going to prison from cases dating back to the 60’s and 70’s.

The further we get away from the 60’s and 70’s the more likely that people forget what happened and what we were really about. When issues are taken out of their historical place and placed into another day and time, people tend to get confused. The government banks on that. Historically, it has worked for them. In this new day and time. In the shadow of 9/11, in Atlanta, Georgia, one of the greatest historical figures of the Civil Rights/Black Power era was convicted and sent to prison for life without the possibility of parole. The response of the community was, ?We told you we were capable of convicting him.? This gave impetus to the government?s plan to clean up the streets of dissent. In 1967 it was disclosed that one of the goals of COINTELPRO was to “expose, disrupt, misdirect, discredit, or otherwise neutralize… no opportunity must be missed to exploit through counterintelligence techniques … for maximum effectiveness … long range goals are being set… prevent [them from] gaining respectability … and a final goal should be to prevent the long range growth of militant black organizations, especially among youth.”

COINTELPRO

COINTELPRO didn?t go away. It continues today. This case, as well as the case of Mumia Abu Jamal and Imam Jamil Abdullah Al-Amin (H. Rap Brown) are prime examples of the existence of COINTELPRO and its agenda. We have a tendency to forget and think that things have changed. The enemy doesn?t forget. They maintain files and lists. They maintain think tanks and, when it is convenient and at the proper time they move. The movement?s of the ?60s, caught them by surprise. They rushed to catch up and won the first skirmish. We still have casualties. While we were busy they were preparing so they wouldn?t be caught off guard again. This round of activity on the part of the state is their efforts to clean up the books. We must not allow them to do this. We must defend Kamau Sadiki. We must push back the state. We must not allow them to use Kamau as a scapegoat… we must Free Kamau Sadiki and all Political Prisoners.

WRITE TO KAMAU

Kamau Sadiki is living in a nightmare — along with his loving family. He has been commited to community since age 15 and deserves our gratitude and support. Send greetings to this extraordinary man and “reach through the bars today.”

Mr. Freddie Hilton, a/k/a Kamau Sadiki #0001150688 Augusta State Medical Prison 3001 Gordon Highway Grovetown, GA 30813

New Poem ” PAIN ” by Jalil Muntaqim #FreeJalil

23 Monday Feb 2015

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PAIN

The absence of Joy, void of contentment when feelings only feel loss, and ideas are absorbed in delusion.

It speaks in monosyllables, if at all, in the tone of E-flat, neither screeching or beseeching, bleaching anguish from a wound discovered from the inside-out.

Inside-out, outside bombarbed by racist radiation enveloping one’s being in a bubble of white ambivalence, pushing the envelope to a point of irrelevance when what matters does not matter.

Black Lives Matter! Our Collective Humanity Matters!

Solitary confinement, an antiseptic whitewashed reality caused by the imposition of nullification as people of color are relegated to a Prison Nation.

Denied purpose Denied reason Denied hope Denied JUSTICE.

The hypocrisy of democracy We Will Not Be Denied! We proclaim No Justice No Peace! That’s No Lie!

Part Two:

Living Black in a white world but taught to not be racist, contradictions of a paradox wrapped in an enigma the mystery lost in history not taught why the first is now last.

Not racist but pro-Black not Anti-Israel but pro-Palestine liberation (they too are semitic) building a future for the poor when the rich want more, the poor loving freedom like the rich love their billions.

Reconciliation through Revolution???

Part Three:

Anti-Capitalist, Anti-Imperialist, Anti-Exploitation, Anti-Racism, Anti-Hegemony, Anti-Class Divisions, Anti-Colonialism, Anti-Oppression, Anti-Repression, Anti-Sexism, Anti-Chauvinism, Anti-Plutocracy …

These are progenitors of PAIN!!!

Now labeled as Anti-American?

No! I AM ANTI-PAIN!!!

February 2015 Jalil Muntaqim Attica, NY State

Write to Jalil (he loves to correspond with people about his writing):

Anthony J. Bottom #77A4283 Attica C.F. P.O. Box 149 Attica, NY 14011-0149

N.J. Supreme Kourt Halts Parole of Sundiata Acoli in Assata Shakur trooper murder Case

06 Friday Feb 2015

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Sundiata Acoli, then known as Clark Edward Squire, is led away in handcuffs in this 1976 photo. (Star-Ledger By Brent Johnson

TRENTON — The state Supreme Court has halted the parole of a man convicted with Joanne Chesimard —one of the FBI’s most wanted fugitives — in the infamous killing of a New Jersey state trooper 42 years ago.

The state’s highest court today granted the state Attorney General’s request that Sundiata Acoli not be released until the court decides whether to hear arguments in the case against his parole.

Acoli, then known as Clark Edward Squire, was found guilty of murder in the 1973 shooting death of trooper Werner Foerster during a traffic stop on the New Jersey Turnpike. He was sentenced to life in prison.

Also convicted in the case was Chesimard, who escaped from a New Jersey prison in 1979 and allegedly now lives under the name Assata Shakur in Cuba, which granted her asylum. She is the first woman on the FBI’s most wanted terrorists list.

Last September, a three-judge state appeals panel reversed the most recent decision by the state Parole Board to deny Acoli parole and ordered that he be released.

The Attorney General appealed to the Supreme Court to reverse that decision, arguing that the panel erred by not sending Acoli’s case back to the Parole Board for another hearing, as required by the state Legislature.

“The Legislature has determined that he may only be released by a majority vote of the full state Parole Board,” the Attorney General’s office wrote in its brief.

Spokesman Leland Moore said the office expects Acoli, now 77, to remain in federal prison until there is an outcome in the case.

The Parole Board also asked the the appellate panel last October to reconsider its decision, saying it ignored laws governing the release of inmates.

Interest in the decades-old cade was recently reignited by President Obama’s decision to ease relations with Cuba. Gov. Chris Christie, the New Jersey State Police and state and federal lawmakers have asked Obama to demand Chesimard’s extradition. In 2013, the reward for information leading to her capture was increased to $2 million.

At the time of the murder, Acoli and Chesimard were Black Panthers and members of the Black Liberation Army, a militant organization whose members were accused of attacking and sometimes killing police officers in the 1970s.

Just after midnight on May 2, 1973, trooper James Harper pulled over Acoli and Chesimard’s car for a broken tail light on the Turnpike in East Brunswick, according to court papers. Harper called Foerster for backup, and Foerster discovered a gun on Acoli, the papers say.

Soon, a firefight broke out. Chesimard shot and wounded Harper, and Foerster was shot when Acoli’s gun went off during a struggle with Acoli on the other side of the car, the documents say.

The state argued that Chesimard then took Foerster’s gun and shot the trooper twice in the head with it while he laid on the ground. But Chesimard’s attorneys claimed she could not have pulled the trigger because she had also been shot and was too badly injured.

Acoli claimed he was hit by a bullet and blacked out, saying he couldn’t remember exactly what happened.

A third man in the car, James Costen, was also shot in the scuffle and died from injuries not far from the scene.

Acoli was sentenced to life in prison plus 24 to 30 years in 1974. He was denied parole in 1993 and 2004.

The appellate panel wrote last fall it was “completely appalled by Acoli’s senseless crimes.”

“But Acoli has paid the penalty under the laws of this State for his crimes,” the panel added.

Acoli was captured while trying to escape prison in 1982. He also received 27 disciplinary citations in prison before 1997, according to court papers.

But the panel wrote that the parole board ignored a report by a prison psychologist that said Acoli “expressed regret and remorse” about the killing and had changed over the years, as well as the fact that he has not received a disciplinary citation since 1996.

The judges also said the board focused too much on Acoli’s past criminal record and a probation violation that happened decades ago.

“The evidence before the board failed to demonstrate that Acoli was substantially likely to commit another offense if released,” the panel wrote.

Bruce Afran, Acoli’s attorney, could not be reached for comment today.

source: http://www.nj.com/politics/index.ssf/2015/02/nj_supreme_court_puts_off_parole_o f_man_convicted.html

Omowale El-hajj Malik El-shabazz (MX) On Negro History Week and Modern Day Uncle Toms

05 Thursday Feb 2015

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IMG_20131227_200301-1“Next month they’ll come up to show you another trick. They’ll come at you and me next month with this Negro History Week, they call it. This week comes around once every year. And during this one week they drown us with propaganda about Negro history in Georgia and Mississippi and Alabama. Never do they take us back across the water, back home. They take us down home, but they never give us a history of back home. They never give us enough information to let us know what were we doing before we ended up in Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia, Texas, and some of those other prison states. They give us the impression with Negro History Week that we were cotton pickers all of our lives. Cotton pickers, orange growers, mammies, and uncles for the white man in this country—this is our history when you talk in terms of Negro History Week. They might tell you about one or two people who took a peanut and made another white man rich. George Washington Carver—he was a scientist, but he died broke. He made Ford rich. So he wasn’t doing anything for himself and his people. He got a good name for us, but what did we get out of it? Nothing. The master got it. Just like a dog who runs out in the woods and grabs a rabbit. No matter how hungry the dog is, does he eat it? No, he takes it back and lays it at the boss’s feet. The boss skins it, takes the meat, and gives the dog the bones. And the dog is going right on hungry again. But he could have gotten the rabbit and ate it for himself. And boss couldn’t even have caught him until later, because he can outrun the boss.

It’s the same way with you and me. Every contribution we make, we don’t make it for our people, we make it for the man, we make it for our master. He gets the benefit from it. We die, not for our people, we die for him. We don’t die for our home and our house, we die for his house. We don’t die for our country, we die for his country. A lot of you all were fools on the front lines, were you not? Yes, you were. You put on the uniform and went right up on the front lines like a roaring hound dog barking for master. And when you come back here—you’ve had to bark since you came back.

So Negro History Week reminds us of this. It doesn’t remind us of past achievements, but it reminds us only of the achievements we made in the Western Hemisphere under the tutelage of the white man. So that whatever achievement that was made in the Western Hemisphere that the spotlight is put upon, this is the white man’s shrewd way of taking credit for whatever we have accomplished. But he never lets us know of an accomplishment that we made prior to being born here. This is another trick”

Prison Gangs, Witchhunts, White Supremacy

05 Thursday Feb 2015

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10942490_10205844742308290_5925229746648896274_n“My brotha, I don’t intend to give up. I will continue to to promote the New Afrikan Independence Movement and i by the Republic of New Afrika via New Afrikan Revolutionary Nationalist (NARN). I will continue to coordinate the GJU as well as the BAMCC. I will not allow these racist pigs to criminalize our movement or our political activities, especially Black August!” – Abdul Olugbala Shakur, in a letter to a friend (GJU is the George Jackson University; BAMCC stands for Black August Memorial Commemoration Committee.)

The process

There is a trick that the California prison administration (hereafter “Admin”) pulls on African Americans in prison. It is to charge them with gang activity if they refer to “George Jackson” or any of his writings or ideas or to the “Republic of New Afrika” or the politics of New Afrikans.

The idea of learning about their own history and culture made George Jackson University so popular when it was first organized several years ago that 25,000 Black prisoners immediately signed up. But prison authorities moved immediately, too, not to support but to erase the concept and, at about the same time, the GJU records were destroyed by fire. Now GJU is being reorganized mainly as a source of literature. To learn more and get involved, write to Abdul Olugbala Shakur, s/n J. Harvey, C-48884, CSP Cor SHU 4B-1L-19, P.O. Box 3481, Corcoran CA 93212. – Art: Damu Katika Chimurenga, s/n Hayward L. Mayhan, P-60322, 4A-2L-6L, P.O. Box 8800, Corcoran CA 93212

Any such reference will be interpreted to mean one is a member of a group called the Black Guerrilla Family (BGF) and thus guilty of promoting gang activity. Thousands of people, mostly Black and Brown, have been held in solitary confinement (Security Housing Unit, or SHU) for years and even decades, because “gang activity” constitutes a “security threat to the prison,” according to the Admin.

Yet even prisoners held in solitary can be brought up on charges of “gang activity,” which is hard to imagine. Four times in the course of a single year, Abdul Olugbala Shakur, a long-timer in Pelican Bay, has been so charged for letters to friends on the outside. Each time, he was convicted of gang activity and his solitary confinement extended. I recently obtained access to the write-ups of those various hearings, called “Rules Violation Reports.” In them, one sees a species of witchhunt in modern form.

Each of these reports follows the same procedure. An officer who had read Shakur’s personal mail charges him for making reference to New Afrikan ideas and activity. Because Shakur is a so-called “validated” gang member (an administrative procedure from which there is no appeal), his political references are considered links to the BGF.

These reports then list various bureaucratic procedures preliminary to a hearing, stating how the defendant pleads and stating whether he wants a witness or not. Shakur pleads “not guilty” in each case and, in each case, his request for a witness is denied.

Each report ends with an account of the hearing. It consists of a “finding” – of guilty in each case – and a summary of the evidence provided by an investigating officer. That evidence repeats the original report about Shakur’s mail and provides a “synopsis” of the letter intercepted.

These “synopses” refer in part to Shakur’s statements and in part to what the officer thinks Shakur means. Thus, the real evidence against Shakur is what the officer thinks. The conclusion that Shakur is involved in gang activity is foregone.

It is all quite routine. However, the testimony against Shakur is interesting and bears some analysis.

Even prisoners held in solitary can be brought up on charges of “gang activity,” which is hard to imagine. Four times in the course of a single year, Abdul Olugbala Shakur, a long-timer in Pelican Bay, has been so charged for letters to friends on the outside. Each time, he was convicted of gang activity and his solitary confinement

First, a little background. There is a special committee called the Institutional Gang Investigators (IGI) whose job is to read the prisoners’ mail. In 2010, Shakur had filed a suit against the Admin and the IGI – a case heard by Judge Seeborg in San Francisco – for having intercepted his mail in violation of federal law as well as of his civil and constitutional rights.

He “won” this suit insofar as the Admin was directed to no longer block delivery of mail nor prevent Shakur from receiving personal mail from outside. This has not stopped the Admin from doing so, however, nor from charging Shakur for what he says in these personal letters.

Two glaring absences “appear” in these reports. The first is the source for proclaiming Shakur a gang member. The second is any proof that the BGF exists as an organization. This doesn’t mean it doesn’t, but its existence has to be more than an administrative proclamation, if the torture of solitary confinement can be the outcome for the defendant.

The Admin cites no documentary evidence for either claim. Though Shakur contradicts the officer’s bland assertions, it is in vain. Shakur’s references to ideas remain associated with a “security threat,” while all aspects of organizational existence, such as rules, purposes, and membership functions exist only in the officer’s claims, without foundation. In other words, the Admin pretends that whatever it says is fact. And that introduces the logic of what is happening here.

The argument

The intercepted letter in the first report, addressed to an unnamed individual, quotes the warden’s response to the decision in Shakur’s suit, in which the warden describes the BGF. The charge against Shakur is that, by quoting the warden, he is guilty of promoting gang activity. The warden’s statement says:

“The BGF was cofounded in 1966 by George Jackson. Originally the BGF was called the Black Family or Black Vanguard and were associated with the ‘Black Mafia.’ … The BGF is the most ‘politically’ oriented of the major prison gangs. It was formed as a Marxist-Maoist-Leninist revolutionary organization with specific goals to eradicate racism, struggle to maintain dignity in prison and overthrow the U.S. government. [It is hard to keep a straight face, reading this.]

“All members must be Black. Though small in number, the BGF has a very strict death oath which requires a life pledge of loyalty to the gang. Prospective members must be nominated by an existing member. BGF commonly use (sic) different versions of a dragon surrounding a prison tower and holding a correctional officer in its clutches. They will also use a crossed rifle and machete or the letters BGF.”

In his defense, Shakur points out the absurdity of holding against him words the warden had used concerning the Black Mafia, Black Vanguard, etc. “We didn’t create those terms,” he says. If the words are legitimate in the warden’s mouth and criminal in his own, it implies that it is his person, his Blackness or New Afrikanness, that is criminalized, regardless of what he says.

His point, in quoting the warden, is to show that he and the other New Afrikans “unjustly held in solitary confinement” are all political prisoners. “These New Afrikan Revolutionary Brothas have been denied parole or release from the SHU based on their political beliefs and activities.”

One searches in vain in this quoted letter for any sense of real threat to the security of the prison. The report states that the letter “was found to contain gang-related writing indicating he [Shakur] is currently active in some level of activity for the BGF. Specifically, in the handwritten portion of the letter, [there are] references to ‘New Afrikan Babies,’ ‘New Afrikan Sistas’ and ‘New Afrikan Sistahood.’ The terms ‘New Afrikan Revolutionary,’ ‘New Man,’ ‘New Woman’ and ‘NARN’ (New Afrikan Revolutionary Nationalism), are all BGF related terms.”

If the words are legitimate in the warden’s mouth and criminal in his own, it implies that it is his person, his Blackness or New Afrikanness, that is criminalized,

In other words, Shakur is charged with linkages that the Admin makes on its own. It transforms this into “gang activity” insofar as this private letter to a friend attempts to “educat[e] people on the beliefs and ideologies of the BGF” –by quoting the warden.

In a subsequent write-up, the officer claims that Shakur admits to promoting NARN and Black August and that he is “aware” that this type of activity “assists and promotes the BGF.” Shakur’s position is that NARN and Black August are protected activities, because they are political thoughts and ideas, covered by the First Amendment.

In speaking of Shakur’s “awareness” as other than what Shakur says, the officer is speaking for Shakur and thus depriving him of his personhood altogether. There is no defense against someone who speaks for you. If there is no defense, then this “legal” procedure is itself illegal.

Of real substance, however, is the warden’s reference to BGF’s goals of “eradicating racism and maintaining dignity in prison.” These are fundamental demands for human rights. Apparently, such demands constitute a “threat” to prison security.

To add the notion of “overthrowing” the U.S. government from inside prison is laughable, of course, designed to link this “radical” position (“eradicating racism”) to the Cold War. It actually succeeds in linking earlier anti-Communist crusades to their own withholding of human rights.

Ultimately, this “gang” is identified by tattoos and logos and references to “New Afrikan” identity. In outlawing a group for what it thinks and for its “colors” (logos and tattoos), we recognize the paradigm of gang injunctions on the outside. In other words, having honed this weapon inside the prison, the government exports it for use in civil society.

Throughout these four hearings, the same boilerplate description of BGF is used, as if repetition was all that was needed to give something status as law. We see this same arbitrary attribution of judiciality and legitimacy in the U.S. government’s “no-fly” list. That list was compiled without due process, and deployed without possibility of appeal or review. Administrative decision is simply given the weight of law. Again, what had been developed on the inside becomes an assumed legitimate procedure on the outside.

Similar boilerplate treatment is given by the Admin to ideas such as NARN, Black August and the GJU (George Jackson University), of which Shakur is the self-proclaimed co-founder. In his defense, Shakur refers to the court settlement of his suit wherein the judge had affirmed that NARN and Black August were not BGF activities.

But the Admin ignores this. It simply makes sure its procedure is correct. This priority of procedure over substance occurs routinely on the “outside.” It led to the death of Troy Davis despite exonerating evidence. And it has been the court’s refusal to admit exonerating evidence in Mumia Abu-Jamal’s case, stating that “proper” procedure was followed in his original trial.

The letter that speaks of the George Jackson University, an educational effort led by prisoners from the depths of their confinement, is primarily about how to unite Black people in the broader Black community, for which an end to intra-community violence – especially among street gangs – is essential. The testifying officer admits that this is what Shakur is trying to do.

Shakur is proposing the GJU as a means of bringing peace and unity to street gangs. Because the office has already identified the GJU with the BGF, it reduces this unity project to an instance of BGF control over street gangs and thus a “promotion” of gang violence rather than a project to end it. It is this twist of Admin logic that transforms Shakur’s use of the word “gang” into a “security threat.”

If the police criminalize efforts to stop street gang violence, it means they want that violence between gangs to continue. The police are aiding and abetting that violence, fostering further criminalization of both street gangs and prisoners who speak about stopping it. Thus, communities and prisons are linked in being beset by anti-social administrations in similar ways.

The Admin’s real purpose in these write-ups leaks out through these pages. The concept of Black August is described by the Admin as a commemoration by African Americans of “all of their fallen comrades.” It is the officer who says this in his testimony.

What is the Admin admitting in recognizing the fact that there are “fallen comrades”? Fallen in what war? The names of some are listed: Jeffrey Gaulden, Alvin Miller, Cleveland Edwards, W.L. Nolan. All had been killed in prison, shot or beaten to death by guards or the Aryan Brotherhood.

Insofar as such a war would have to be one-sided, with only the Admin – and prisoners in alliance with it – having the possibility of aggression against African American prisoners, is not the Admin admitting that Black people need some kind of defensive organization, both inside and outside the prisons?

The report then states that Black August is an idea “created” by the BGF, thus equating BGF with Black people in general. In other words, Black people are a gang, a security threat. There is the secret behind the spate of police killings that go on in the streets of every U.S. city. The police are simply an extension of the prison Admin, engaging in lethal aggression and occupation over what has been proclaimed a “gang” by the prison system.

This “war” on Black people was so obvious to the judge in Shakur’s suit that he was forced to notice that the Admin had “taken a race-based short cut and assumed that anything having to do with African-American culture could be banned under the guise of controlling the BGF.”

This “war” on Black people was so obvious to the judge in Shakur’s suit that he was forced to notice that the Admin had “taken a race-based short cut and assumed that anything having to do with African-American culture could be banned under the

The witchhunt

This is more than mere censorship. The Admin actually theorizes Shakur’s writing as a certain kind of act. The IGI guard says:

“The New Africans are those who have come to understand, even though they may have been born in the United States, they are descendants from one of many tribes of Africa. … Coupling the mindset of New Africans with the Revolutionary Nationalism or NARN forms the basis and beliefs of the BGF prison gang. In doing this, the teachings of NARN become more than just words; they become a belief in the concept and ideologies of NARN and the BGF.”

The “theoretical” move here is the assertion that the “teachings” of NARN become “more than just words.” [Blink] This expert prison gang investigator is saying that the teachings of NARN become beliefs in the concepts of NARN. That is, the thoughts of NARN become the thoughts of NARN.

And this tautology is then used as a means of understanding words as “more than just words.” By raising tautology to the status of “activity,” these words become actions against prison security. In short, power defines “threat” for itself by saying “these people are a security threat because they are a security threat.”

We see this on the streets. When a cop shoots an unarmed person (usually of color), it is sufficient for him to say, “I felt threatened,” to legitimize his act –despite videos demonstrating the opposite: Gary King was shot in the back walking away; Alan Blueford was shot while lying down, with his hands up; Michael Brown was shot a hundred feet from the cop. It is the Admin’s words that become “more than just words.”

In its own words, what the Admin claims is a threat are the ideas of autonomous Black identity (NARN and New Afrikan identity), an identity developed by Black people for themselves, rather than one concocted for them by white society, under cover of “law.” Rooting out this identity is the field on which the Admin’s witchhunt operates, much as medieval inquisitors sought to discover witches among the women of Europe.

Witchcraft Inquisitor: You women think that you can heal people using herbs. Only the devil thinks this, because it is outside the teachings of the church. Since you think this, you can only have gotten this thought from the devil. You are therefore in league with the devil and will be burned to death.

Prison Admin: You African Americans think you can reconstruct your identity through identification with Africa. Only subversives and security threats think this because it is outside the identity U.S. society intends for you. Since you think this, you can only have gotten this idea from a subversive organization, such as the BGF. You are therefore members of the BGF and will be destroyed in prison.

If the prosecution of gangs requires a witchhunt, then the threat they pose cannot be real. For a witchhunt, the concept of a threat becomes a cover for the logic of the witchhunt itself, which is to outlaw ideas and destroy the people who hold those ideas. Its central purpose is to destroy Black and Brown identity on both a social and a cultural level, both inside and outside prison. The Admin’s response to the identity it sees as a threat is to impose the “social death” that Orlando Patterson speaks of, in which being Black in the U.S. means being deprived of any identity other than that imposed by white power.

Today, this “social death” has become the real death of unceasing police murders of people of color on the streets. It has a wholly different character from street gang conflict.

Though these police shootings are designed to bring all Black and Brown people into submission, they have now had the opposite effect. They have brought about massive resistance, as we have seen since the murder of Michael Brown in Ferguson, demanding justice and the dismantling of police militarization, while fostering a now international recognition and insistence that “black lives matter,” which has shown up in demonstrations in Europe and South America.

Steve Martinot, a human rights activist, organizer and writer and retired machinist, truck driver and professor, most recently at San Francisco State University. He has organized labor unions in New York and Akron and helped build community associations in Akron. He was a political prisoner in New York State charged with contempt of grand jury. He has published eight books, the latest being “The Need to Abolish the Prison System,” and can be reached at martinot4@gmail.com.

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