BK/NY – Tuesday, February 25th – Letter-Writing Dinner For Chip Fitzgerald, Cinque Magee, and Andrew Mickel

WHAT: Political Prisoner Letter-Writing Dinner
WHEN: 7pm sharp, Tuesday, February 25th, 2020
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
As usual, you can find NYC ABC on our bi-weekly vibe, serving up some delicious vegan food and writing letters to three long standing political prisoners.  Come join us as we send these folks some love and support.

Romaine “Chip” Fitzgerald, born and raised in Compton, California, joined the Southern California Chapter of the Black Panther Party in early 1969 as a teenager who had just been released from the California Youth Authority. In September of that year, as a dedicated member of the Party, Chip was arrested in connection with a police shoot-out and tried for assault on police and related charges, including the murder of a security guard. He was sentenced to death. More information here.

Commonly regarded as the longest held political prisoner in the U.S., Ruchell “Cinque” Magee has been imprisoned since 1963. He was politicized in prison and participated in the August 7, 1970 Marin County Courthouse Rebellion— the attempted liberation of political prisoner George Jackson and the Soledad Brothers by Jackson’s younger brother Jonathan. Magee was seriously injured in the incident and subsequently pleaded guilty to aggravated kidnapping. He was sentenced in 1975 to life in prison and has been denied parole numerous times. More information here.

On November 19, 2002 Andrew Mickel shot and killed a cop named David Mobilio of the Red Bluff, California Police Department.  There were no witnesses to the killing, and the crime would have gone unsolved had there not been Internet postings about the crime six days later.  The postings read, “Hello Everyone, my name’s Andy. I killed a Police Officer in Red Bluff, California in a motion to bring attention to, and halt, the police-state tactics that have come to be used throughout our country.”  In April 2005, Mickel was convicted of one count of first-degree murder.  He was subsequently sentenced to death, and is being held on Death Row at San Quentin State Prison.

If for some unforeseeable reason you are unable to make it Tuesday, please take the time to write to these folx on your own time:
Chip Fitzgerald* #B27527
California State Prison – LAC
Post Office Box 4490
B-4-150
Lancaster, California 93539
*Address envelope to Romaine Fitzgerald

Cinque Magee* #A92051
T 115
California Medical Facility
Post Office Box 2000
Vacaville, California 95696
*Address envelope to Ruchell Magee

Andrew Mickel V77400
San Quentin State Prison
San Quentin, California 94974

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.