Tuesday, June 30th – Letter-writing to Russell Maroon Shoatz

WHAT: Political Prisoner Letter-Writing
WHEN: 7pm, Tuesday, June 30th, 2020
WHERE: YOUR HOME
COST: Free
Typical of the state broadly, and this city specifically, the response to an uprising against the cumulative white supremacist history of policing has been harsh repression. Folks are being held at MDC Brooklyn and are facing LIFE IN PRISON for allegedly destroying property. If we have to repeat it, we will: NO PIECE OF PROPERTY IS EQUIVALENT TO THE ONGOING RACIST MURDER OF BLACK FOLKS BY COPS! NYC ABC will provide support as needed and appropriate. If you decide to write to someone recently arrested, please remember they are pre-trial and everything you write to them will be scrutinized and could wind up in a courtroom, so take extra care.

The most consistent way we collectively support comrades held captive by the state is via letter-writing. We didn’t stop for the novel coronavirus and we won’t stop as folks continue to take to the streets to voice their rage over indiscriminate cop killings. Though we remain quarantined from our in-person communities, the work continues, again in collaboration with our comrades in Page One Collective. Therefore, we ask that folks participate in keeping prisoners from being more alienated than they already are, by writing from home. Please post a photo of your addressed envelope on social media and tag us (with your return address blurred out) and we will share it, building digital community as best as possible. This week, our every-other-week letter-writing is focused on Black liberation political prisoner, the truly implacable Russell Maroon Shoatz, himself accused of taking action against the brutality meted out by cops on Black communities.

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. As with many of our imprisoned elders, Maroon faces health concerns and should immediately released.

Please take the time to write a letter to Maroon (and share a photo of your completed envelopes with us online):
Smart Communications/PA DOC
Russell Maroon Shoatz #AF3855
SCI Fayette
Post Office Box 33028
St Petersburg, Florida 33733