Archive
Tuesday, November 29th- Letter Writing to Ed Poindexter
WHAT: Political Prisoner Letter-Writing
WHEN: Tuesday, November 29th, 2022
WHERE: YOUR HOME
COST: Free
Ed Poindexter has been locked up inside for over 50 years. So many things have changed socially, culturally, politically and technologically in those decades as to make the world almost an unrecognizable alternate sci-fi novel reality compared to what it was in 1970. Yet the fact of Ed’s continued incarceration remains—along with several other elders of the dynamic late 1960’s-70’s period of the Black Liberation movement—remains. The continued incarceration of these folks proves that the so-called United States does hold partisans of liberation movements as political prisoners, though conservatives and liberals alike feign shock and even indignation at this notion. The fact remains, and is very much not a fiction to these folks’ families, friends, loved ones, and comrades—and especially not to U.S.-held political prisoners themselves.
In this spirit, please join NYC ABC and Page One Collective this week to write to Black Panther political prisoner Ed Poindexter.
Ed Poindexter and Mondo we Langa are commonly known as the “Omaha Two.” They were leaders of the Black Panther Party in Omaha in the late 1960s and, like others, were targeted both by the Omaha police and the FBI under its notorious COINTELPRO spying and disruption program.
In August 1970, the Two were framed on charges of killing an Omaha police officer, who died after being lured into a home where a suitcase bomb exploded. They were subsequently imprisoned. After a long illness, we Langa died in 2016 after 45 years in prison, while Ed Poindexter remains locked up.
Please take the time to write a letter to Ed:
Ed Poindexter #27767
Nebraska State Penitentiary
Post Office Box 22500
Lincoln, Nebraska 68542
Tuesday, November 15th – Letter Writing To Kamau Sadiki
WHAT: Political Prisoner Letter-Writing
WHEN: 7pm, Tuesday, November 15th, 2022
WHERE: YOUR HOME
COST: Free
First, the painfully overdue but still very good news: Mutulu Shakur has been granted parole! He was held unjustly for far too long but is finally coming home! We join his family, comrades, friends, and supporters around the world in celebrating Dr. Shakur’s imminent release. As his support crew states: We welcome him home with great joy.
But there still several Black Liberation Movement veterans held as political prisoners in the United States. This week, as part of our tradition of every-other-week political prisoner letter-writing, NYC ABC will be writing to Kamau Sadiki, former Black Panther Party member and Black Liberation Army (BLA) soldier who is currently serving a life plus ten years sentence for the murder of an Atlanta cop in 1971. He was arrested and convicted over 30 years after the cop was killed based solely on the testimonies of former BLA comrades-turned-snitch that were not even present at the time.
This should not come as a surprise as the State has never ended their war against Black people and continues to divisively target Black communities. An increased interest in what the State labels terrorism is what led to the increased interest of Kamau in 2002 when he was brought in for questioning on an unrelated matter. They were aware of his former relationship with the perennially Most Wanted Assata Shakur, with whom Kamau has a daughter. They attempted to extract information from him about Assata and tried to recruit him to lure her away from Cuba or else he “would die in prison.” When he refused to turn his back on his principles and his community, the state of Georgia vindictively moved forward with charges of the decades old crime.
Before Kamau’s time in the BLA, he was a New York City teenager who was deeply moved by the principles and organizing efforts of the Black Panther Party. At age 17 he joined up in Jamaica, Queens and volunteered in the Free Breakfast for Children program in the morning, hit the streets with BPP newsletters in the afternoon in an effort to organize his neighbors, and took part in political education classes at night. Once the FBI’s CoIntelPro was in full swing, decimating the Party and their ability to progress, Kamau and many others went underground to the more clandestine BLA for fear of being entrapped, framed, or murdered.
For more info on Kamau Sadiki, check out freekamau.com which gives an account of Kamau’s life from two former political prisoners, Safiya Bukhari and Claude Marks (freedomarchives.org).
Please take the time to write a letter to Kamau:
Kamau Sadiki* #0001150688
Augusta State Medical Prison
3001 Gordon Highway
Grovetown, Georgia 30813
*Address envelope to Freddie Hilton
Tuesday, November 1st – Letter Writing for Daniel Baker
WHAT: Political Prisoner Letter-Writing
WHEN: Tuesday, November 1st, 2022
WHERE: Your Home (or wherever you happen to be)
COST: Free
Now that bizarre right-wing election- or at least electoral-related violence is once again in the news, and a caricature of a comic book capitalist villain (and self-declared free speech absolutist, whatever that means) has taken over the most influential social media platform, it’s unfortunately an apropos time to bring up the unjust imprisonment of Daniel Baker.
Daniel is an anti-fascist activist who was arrested on January 15, 2021 for social media posts that called for defense against possible far-right attacks on the state’s capitol in the wake of the January 6th riots. Daniel was facing up to 10 years for two counts of transmitting a communication in interstate commerce containing a threat to kidnap or injure. On October 12th, 2021 he was sentenced to 44 months in prison and 3 years of supervised release.
This week NYC ABC is asking you all to join us in writing to political prisoner Daniel Baker. Send your well wishes and solidarity Daniel’s way.
You can write to him at:
Daniel Baker #25765-509
FCI Memphis
Post Office Box 34550
Memphis, Tennessee 38184
Tuesday, October 18th – A Green Scare(y) Halloween Card-Writing
WHAT: Political Prisoner Letter-Writing
WHEN: Tuesday, October 18th, 2022
WHERE: Wherever you happen to be.
’Tis the season once again for ghouls and ghosts and goblins and…our annual Green Scare(Y) letter writing to earth and animal liberation prisoners.
There are so many frightening things happening around the world lately; colonial wars in East Africa, Eastern Europe; brutal repression of dissidents in so-called Iran; refugees fleeing political and economic oppression in Central and South America, ongoing and impending famines…And of course the ever-worsening human-driven ecological crisis that is causing increasing catastrophic damage and existentially threatens nearly every species of flora and fauna on Earth.
But of course what scares capitalists and their government lackeys more than even the threat of human extinction is the audacity of some to resist this global ecocide. So much so that they conspired to label non-violent actions in which no one was physically harmed as “eco-terrorism“- with harshly exaggerated sentences to match- and even cooperated with a supposedly anti-imperialist “communist dictatorship” to rob one defendant of their freedom. This “Green Scare” is not just recent history, it is the very real present for folks currently in prison serving egregiously long sentences or awaiting sentencing for non-violent actions on behalf of the earth and its inhabitants (both human and non-human).
So this week we are asking you all join us in writing letters–or send cards–to Marius Mason and Jessica Reznicek. And also to keep Joseph Dibee in your hearts and minds. Read up on their cases, check out their respective writing and art, and send them some love.
Jessica Reznicek is a land and water defender who has lived in and worked with Catholic Worker and homeless populations in the Duluth and Des Moines communities. In 2016, Jessica took a stand against the construction of the Dakota Access Pipeline. After attending, with other organizers, public comment hearings, gathering signatures for valid requests for Environmental Impact Statements, and participating in civil disobedience, hunger strikes, marches and rallies, boycotts and encampments in 2017, Jessica and another person took direct action and disabled construction machinery in order to protect the land. No one was injured by their actions, and the land was protected from the flow of
oil for an additional six months.
Marius Mason is a transgender environmental and animal rights activist and anarchist. In 1999, in the name of the Earth Liberation Front (ELF) he set fire to a lab at the University of Michigan that was conducting research on genetically modified organisms (GMO). After Marius’ husband turned state’s-evidence, Marius was threatened with a life sentence for the arson and other acts of sabotage. With little financial stability and fear of dragging his family into a costly legal battle, Marius pled guilty and was given an extreme sentence of nearly 22 years. No one was ever harmed in any of his actions.
Jessica Reznicek #19293-030
FCI Waseca
Post Office Box 1731
Waseca, Minnesota 56093
Marie (Marius) Mason #04672-061
FCI Danbury
Route 37
Danbury, Connecticut 06811
*Address card to Marius
Tuesday, May 3rd – Letter Writing to Dr. Mutulu Shakur
WHAT: Political Prisoner Letter-Writing
WHEN: Tuesday, May 3rd, 2022
WHERE: your home (or wherever you happen to be)
COST: Free
Eid Mubarak to those who celebrate!
And happy May Day to those who struggle!
This week NYC ABC is asking for folks to write to Dr. Mutulu Shakur.
From Dr. Shakur’s support site:
“Dr. Shakur received his ninth parole denial in January 2021. After being diagnosed with life-threatening bone cancer yet denied compassionate release, his lawsuit against the US Parole Commission and the Bureau of Prisons for unjust denials was expedited. We need your support as we pursue all avenues to improve Dr. Shakur’s fate!”
Dr. Mutulu Shakur is a New Afrikan (Black) man whose primary work has been in the area of health. He is a doctor of acupuncture and was a co-founder and director of two institutions devoted to improving health care in the Black community.
In 1987 Dr. Shakur was sentenced to 60 years in prison after being targeted by US federal authorities with charges under the RICO (Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations) Act and for aiding in Assata Shakur’s escape from prison. Please read more about Dr. Shakur here.
Please join NYC ABC from wherever you are as we write letters to Dr. Shakur:
Dr. Mutulu Shakur #83205-012
FMC Lexington
Post Office Box 14500
Lexington, Kentucky 40512
Though Dr. Shakur appreciates the mail that folks send him, he is unable to respond to every letter personally. Other ways to support Dr. Shakur can be found at mutulushakur.com
Tuesday, April 5th– Letter Writing To Ruchell “Cinque” Magee
WHAT: Political Prisoner Letter-Writing
WHEN: 7pm, Tuesday, April 5th, 2022
WHERE: YOUR HOME
COST: Free
There has always been a war. As long as there are nation-states and borders there always will be. This doesn’t make the suffering of regular people caught up in them any less tragic or heartbreaking. And as long as there are prisons there will be people held inside them. This doesn’t make us feel any less for the people who are held by force behind the walls. Some of these people are held far longer than others because the ‘crime’ they are in for is the ultimate crime against the white supremacist settler state: resisting white supremacy itself.
Ruchell Magee is perhaps the longest held political prisoner by the ‘united states’ government; currently in his 59th year inside. Locked up in California on trumped-up charges in 1963, he happened to be in the Marin County courthouse on August 7, 1970, when Jonathan Jackson sought to free his brother George from the clutches of the state. Ruchell remains imprisoned to this day, at 83 years old, forced to suffer mentally and physically due to the poor conditions inside California’s prison camps.
This week NYC ABC and Page One Collective encourage folx at home to write to Ruchell “Cinque” Magee. Ruchell needs your support and action so that he can be released, spend time with his loved ones, and better his community. After 59 years of injustice, enough is enough. Free Ruchell Magee now! More information here: freeruchellmagee.org
Please take the time to write a letter to Ruchell:
Ruchell Magee #A92051 #T 115
California Medical Facility
Post Office Box 2000
Vacaville, California 95696-2000
May Day card signing party
WHAT: Political Prisoner Card Party
WHEN: 4:00-6:00pm, Saturday, April 23rd
WHERE: Interference Archive
COST: Free
Join NYC Anarchist Black Cross and Page One Collective for a May Day card signing party for U.S. held political prisoners!
May Day is an anarchist holiday, for over 150 years it has been a day to celebrate the struggle against capitalism–which logically extends to active resistance against all forms of oppression–and to honor those who struggle. We want to both honor our political prisoners and to help them celebrate by sending our love through the walls.
Given the ever increasing restrictions on prison mail, we will have pre-made cards for folks to sign.
Due to COVID there is limited space capacity, so please email us to reserve your spot! A first name will suffice so we can check you in at the door. RSVP: pageonecollective@protonmail.com
BK/NY – Tuesday, January 25th – Letter Writing To Mumia Abu-Jamal
WHAT: Political Prisoner Letter-Writing
WHEN: Tuesday, January 25, 2022
WHERE: from wherever in the Matrix you happen to be
COST: Free
It’s hard to maintain hope as the pandemic rages on. We see the logical progression of capitalism before our eyes: crises accelerated by the pandemic that range from healthcare failures to food scarcity. As anarchists we know that to rely on the state is to be perpetually disappointed, yet this pandemic puts us in a paradoxical situation that we must contend with. One thing we have to be grateful for is our freedom in this overly-surveilled police state. No matter how rough and tough things get here on the outside, we know the conditions in prisons are worse now more than ever. One way to share some light with the folks stuck in cages is to write letters and maintain pen pal relationships. Given the current status of COVID, we continue to encourage folks to write from home with the hope we can resume public events in the near future.
This week NYC ABC and Page One Collective invite you to write to one of the most well known us-held political prisoners: Mumia Abu-Jamal. Mumia Abu-Jamal is an African-American writer and journalist, author of six books and hundreds of columns and articles, who has spent the last 30 years on Pennsylvania’s death row and now general population. Mumia was wrongfully convicted and sentenced for the murder of a Philadelphia cop. The demand for a new trial and freedom is supported by heads of state, Nobel laureates, distinguished human rights organizations, scholars, religious leaders, artists, scientists and, as important, millions of folks like you and us. For more information, be sure to visit bringmumiahome.com.
Please take the time to write a letter to Mumia Abu-Jamal (and share a photo of your completed envelopes with us online):
Smart Communications/PA DOC
Mumia Abu-Jamal #AM8335
SCI Mahanoy
Post Office Box 33028
St Petersburg, Florida 33733
Rest in Power Russell Maroon Shoatz (August 23, 1943-December 17, 2021)
NYC Anarchist Black Cross mourns the loss of Russell “Maroon” Shoatz. Russell was a founding member of the Black Unity Council, as well as a veteran of both the Black Panther Party and the Black Liberation Army. Captured in 1972, he attempted escape twice, but was ultimately kept locked inside for almost 50 years, only being let out in the last weeks of his life as he was already dying of cancer. While inside, he remained committed to the struggle, and was a dynamic thinker and prolific writer, authoring the collection Maroon the Implacable and several other insightful interviews and articles as well.
As a collective, Maroon guided NYC ABC’s work and shaped the direction of the now-gone 1-2-3 Community Space, of which NYC ABC was a co-founder.
NYC ABC had back-and-forths with Russell prior to opening the space asking for his insight and ideas about opening an explicitly anarchist space and he was brilliant, engaging, and very helpful. His suggestions resulted in a lot of on the street engagement, talking with many folks and handing out a LOT of surveys to see what would be useful/helpful in the neighborhood. It is the response to the surveys that are the reason the space had such a focus on outreach to youth (the bike workshop, after school program, silk-screening program, and the NYC ABC co-organized “Rites of Passage” series) were among the things that were either youth-centric or had special sessions especially for younger folks.
We are comforted that he transitioned while on this side of the razor wire, but outraged that he was held captive for so long. Let’s keep his memory alive.
Free Them All!
CANCELLED Holiday Card Party for Political Prisoners
Update 12/17 at 8:oopm
Unfortunately due to COVID yet again surging in NYC, this event has been cancelled. Please take the time to write political prisoners anyway, whether that means sending a card [note it must be on plain computer paper, many facilities don’t allow cardstock or greeting cards] or a letter.
WHAT: Political Prisoner Card Party
WHEN: 3:00-5:00pm, Saturday, December 18th
WHERE: Interference Archive – 314 7th Street, Brooklyn, 11215
COST: Free
Join NYC Anarchist Black Cross and Page One Collective for a holiday card signing party for U.S. held political prisoners!
The holiday season can be tough and isolating, and we want to send our political prisoners some brightness and warmth.
Given the ever increasing restrictions on prison mail, we will have pre-made cards for folks to sign.
Due to COVID there is limited space capacity, so please email us to reserve your spot! A first name will suffice so we can check you in at the door. RSVP: pageonecollective@protonmail.com
Read more…
NYC Anarchist Black Cross 