BK/NY – Tuesday, May 14th – Letter Writing Dinner for Russell Maroon Shoatz

WHAT: Political Prisoner Letter-Writing Dinner
WHEN: 7pm sharp, Tuesday, May 14th, 2019
WHERE: The Base – 1302 Myrtle Avenue Brooklyn, New York 11221 (directions below)
NOTE: The Base is on the ground floor, is wheelchair accessible, and has a gender neutral toilet.
COST: Free
We are one month away form Running Down the Walls 2019! The event is great socially–we see comrades we might not have seen for months, and it allows us to organize with those locked up to build inside-outside relationships. It is also the single biggest fund-raising event of the year for the Anarchist Black Cross Federation‘s warchest program, which sends funds directly to prisoners and has, to date, mailed out over $100,000. Locally, NYC ABC has set a goal of $4,000 and as ambitious as that is, we are asking you to help us get there. Organize a run in your community; get family, friends, and comrades to sponsor you as you run, bike, walk, or roll the 5k; or directly donate at paypal.me/nycabc (make sure to note who, if anyone, you are sponsoring). Beyond the warchest program, NYC ABC is consistently active in our every-other-week political prisoner letter-writing dinners and that doesn’t stop due to Running Down the Walls preparation (or anything else, if we are being honest). This week we are writing to the truly implacable Russell Maroon Shoatz.

Russell Maroon Shoatz is a dedicated community activist, founding member of the Black Unity Council, former member of the Black Panther Party and soldier in the Black Liberation Army.

In 1970, along with 5 others, Maroon was accused of attacking a police station, which resulted in a cop being killed. This attack was said to have been carried out in response to the rampant police brutality in the Black community. For 18 months Maroon functioned underground as a soldier in the Black Liberation Army. In 1972 he was captured. Twice he escaped—once in 1977 and again in 1980, but both times he was recaptured and today he is held in Pennsylvania where he is serving multiple life sentences.

We expect to see you on Tuesday. If you can’t make it, please take the time to write a letter to Maroon:
Smart Communications/PA DOC
Russell Maroon Shoatz #AF3855
SCI Dallas
Post Office Box 33028
St Petersburg, Florida 33733

The deal, as always, is that you come bringing only yourself (and your friends and comrades), and we provide you with a delicious vegan meal, information about the prisoners as well as all of the letter-writing materials and prisoner-letter-writing info you could ever want to use in one evening. In return, you write a thoughtful letter to a political prisoner or prisoner of war of your choosing or, better yet, keep up a long-term correspondence. We’ll also provide some brief updates and pass around birthday cards for the PP/POWs whose birthdays fall in the next two weeks thanks to the PP/POW Birthday Calendar.

Directions:
Getting to The Base is simple:
From the M Train:
Central Avenue Stop: Walk east on Myrtle Avenue (away from Hart Street, toward Cedar Street). We’re about two blocks down on the south side of the street.

Knickerbocker Avenue Stop: Walk west on Myrtle Avenue (away from Harman Street, toward Himrod Street). We’re about three blocks down on the south side of the street.

From the L Train:
DeKalb Avenue Stop: Walk south on Stockholm Street (away from Wyckoff Avenue, toward Irving Avenue). We’re about four blocks down, at the intersection of Stockholm Street and Myrtle Avenue.

From the J Train:
Myrtle Avenue Stop: Transfer to the M train and follow the above directions