Archive
BK/NY – Tuesday, March 13th– International Women’s Day Political Prisoner Card Writing Dinner
WHAT: Political Prisoner Letter-Writing Dinner
WHEN: 7pm sharp, Tuesday, March 13th, 2018
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
Join us Tuesday as NYC ABC celebrates International Women’s Day by writing the female identifying political prisoners held captive here in the United States.
We’ll be sharing the stories of and writing to Debbie Africa, Janet Africa, Janine Africa, Red Fawn Fallis, Nicole Kissane, and Rev. Joy Powell.
If for whatever crazy reason you cannot join us Tuesday, please take the time to write to them on your own time:
Debbie Sims Africa #OO6307
SCI Cambridge Springs
451 Fullerton Avenue
Cambridge Springs, Pennsylvania 16403
Janet Holloway Africa #OO6308
SCI Cambridge Springs
451 Fullerton Avenue
Cambridge Springs, Pennsylvania 16403
Janine Phillips Africa #OO6309
SCI Cambridge Springs
451 Fullerton Avenue
Cambridge Springs, Pennsylvania 16403
Red Fawn Fallis
HACTC
110 Industrial Road
Rugby, North Dakota 58368
Nicole Kissane #20651-111
FCI Dublin
5701 8th Street – Camp Parks
Dublin, California 94568
Reverend Joy Powell #07-G-0632
Bedford Hills Correctional Facility
Post Office Box 1000
Bedford Hills, New York 10507-2499 Read more…
BK/NY – Tuesday, February 27th – Letter-Writing Dinner For Water Protectors
WHAT: Political Prisoner Letter-Writing Dinner
WHEN: 7pm sharp, Tuesday, February 27th, 2018
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
At the Framed In America: The Making Of Political Prisoners event in support of the political prisoners of the MOVE family over the weekend we were once again reminded by elders who either have spent time behind bars themselves or have supported those who have, that supporting folks snatched up by the State is of the utmost importance for any political movement and community. Throughout the history of European expansion across the globe indigenous folks have been putting their bodies on the line in order to stop the spread of colonialism. This struggle has shown itself in recent years in the fight against the expansion of American capitalist and colonial powers onto indigenous land to build pipelines that not only threaten the sovereignty and autonomy of those who live there, but also the water and ecology which sustains region. Time and time again we see repression chasing down the strength of those who fight against these forces in an effort to isolate folks and put a stop to these movements and those who are water protectors are no exception. With that in mind, NYC ABC will be writing to Red Fawn Fallis and Little Feather (Michael Giron) for our every-other-week political prisoner letter-writing dinner.
On October 27th, 2016 Red Fawn and over 140 other water protectors were arrested on the front lines of Standing Rock during a massive police raid on a camp of resisters. Red Fawn was initially accused of firing on local cops while being arrested and charged with attempted murder but those charges have since been dropped and Red Fawn was then transferred into federal custody to face three federal charges related to possessing a firearm while being a felon. Red Fawn has been steadfast in her dedication to the struggle by putting her body on the line despite the endless attacks of the local cops and private security hired by the pipeline company and being arrested on two other occasions during her stay. In 2018 Red Fawn took a non-cooperating plea deal in which the State dropped the charge which carried the longest sentence (10yrs-life) with the stipulation that she plead guilty to the other two charges. The prosecution has recommended that the judge sentence Red Fawn to 7 years in prison. Her sentencing hearing is scheduled for May 31st.
For more info on Red Fawn:
https://waterprotectorlegal.org/red-fawn-fallis/
http://indi.com/freeredfawn
Little Feather’s charges stem from alleged actions that took in the previously mentioned police raid at Standing Rock on October 27th, 2016. He was initially charged with Civil Disorder and Use of Fire to Commit a Federal Felony Offense. The latter carries a minimum of 10 years imprisonment. In 2018 Little Feather took a non-cooperating plea deal in which the State dropped the Fire charge he plead guilty to the Civil Disorder charge. The recommendation on his sentencing is 3 years and his sentencing hearing is scheduled for May 30th.
For more info on Little Feather:
https://waterprotectorlegal.org/michael-little-feather-giron/ https://www.freelittlefeather.com/
As always, we ask that folks be mindful of what they include in there letters given they are read by State officials and could be used to harm either the person who is in prison, the person writing them, or the communities in which we come from or support. DO NOT WRITE ABOUT THE ACTIONS THE STATE HAS ALLEGED THEY TOOK PART IN OR ANY OTHER ACTION THE STATE COULD DEEM ILLEGAL. This is especially important in writing to those with open cases or who have yet to be sentenced like Red Fawn and Little Feather.
If for whatever reason you are not able to join us, please write to Red Fawn and Little Feather:
Michael Giron
Heart of America Correction Center
110 Industrial Road
Rugby, North Dakota 58368
Red Fawn Fallis
Heart of America Correction Center
110 Industrial Road
Rugby, North Dakota 58368
BK/NY – Tuesday, December 19th – Letter-Writing Dinner For Mumia Abu-Jamal
WHAT: Political Prisoner Letter-Writing Dinner
WHEN: 7pm sharp, Tuesday, December 19th, 2017
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
With folks lining up in droves to take part in their consumerist rituals for the holidays, one may think that all is well. The fact that political prisoners are still being held captive by the State tells us otherwise. In the spirit of love and solidarity we ask folks to join us this Tuesday as we end another year of our every-other-week letter writing dinners by writing to 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.
We expect to see you on Tuesday. If you can’t make it, please take the time to write a letter to Mumia:
Mumia Abu-Jamal #AM 8335
SCI Mahanoy
301 Morea Road
Frackville, Pennsylvania 17932
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
BK/NY – Tuesday, May 9th – Letter Writing to the Cleveland 4
WHAT: Political Prisoner Letter-Writing Dinner
WHEN: 7pm sharp, Tuesday, May 9th, 2017
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
Coming on the heels of the 5th anniversary of the Cleveland 4 being captured by the State after a coordinated effort to entrap them, we ask that you join us in sending some love their way as we write to Brandon, Connor, Skelly, and Doug.
From cleveland4solidarity.org:
On the 5th Anniversary of the arrest of the Cleveland 4
April 30, 2017. Tonight marks the fifth anniversary of the arrest of Brandon Baxter, Connor Stevens, Doug Wright, and Josh “Skelly” Stafford—the young men who came to be known as the Cleveland 4. Their arrest was the culmination of an FBI-created plot to place (fake, government-supplied) explosives under the base of a bridge and brand Occupy activists as “terrorists.” On this anniversary, we should pause. Take a moment to think about what was done to the Cleveland 4, the consequences they continue to suffer and the support they need, and how their case is a reflection of the bigger political moment in which we are living—and what that requires of us.
The plot to blow up a bridge was the result of months of coercion by a paid government informant and elaborate orchestration by the FBI. In a common pattern since 9/11, the FBI created a terrorism plot, entrapped vulnerable people in it, supplied the materials, and then supposedly heroically captured the made up “terrorists”—reassuring the public that the government would protect them…from a threat that never really existed. In addition to being used against the Cleveland 4 as anarchists in the Occupy movement in an attempt to quell it, this pattern has repeatedly been used to entrap young Muslim men and manufacture Islamophobia. And the pattern will surely continue to be used and adapted. As long as the FBI issues press releases that smear people across the media as “terrorists,” the State will continue to use the crafted narrative to justify its Orwellian surveillance and COINTELPRO tactics that tear apart individuals, communities, and movements.
We have a responsibility to see through the smoke and mirrors, to criticize and expose how the State uses so-called “terrorism” to suit its interests by stirring up fears—and recognize that this political landscape is not an accident, but a State power that our organizing must take into consideration. And we have to not let Brandon, Connor, Doug, and Skelly be lost in the smoke and mirrors; rather, our support of them should be a beautiful showing of resistance through taking care of each other. When the State tries to take our loved ones from us, we have to still hold on in all the ways that we can through the walls of prison.
Through the narrative that the States creates in terrorism prosecutions, it seeks to tell a certain story. In doing so in the case of the Cleveland 4, the government succeeded in putting Brandon, Connor, Doug, and Skelly in prison, but that does not mean that it gets to write the rest of this story. That’s for us to do—to turn a government-crafted plot into a setting that’s lighted by an unwavering commitment to making sure that every anniversary of the arrest of the Cleveland 4 marks another year of tangible acts of solidarity.
Write and send books to the Cleveland 4, donate to their support fund, and let our solidarity with each other be stronger than the forces that would tear us apart. Take care of each other and make sure that Brandon, Connor, Doug, and Skelly know that we are here to take care of them.
If for some insane reason you cannot join us on Tuesday, please write them from home:
Brandon Baxter #57972-060
FCI Pekin
Post Office Box 5000
Pekin, Illinois 61555
BK/NY – Tuesday, April 25 – May Day Card-signing for Anarchist Prisoners
WHAT: Political Prisoner Letter-Writing Dinner
WHEN: 7pm sharp, Tuesday, April 25th, 2017
NOTE: The Base is on the ground floor, is wheelchair accessible, and has a gender neutral toilet.
WHERE: The Base – 1302 Myrtle Avenue Brooklyn, New York 11221 (directions below)
COST: Free
You’ve probably been working too many hours a week to even notice the full-blown war being waged against you by the ruling class. It is real and it is continuing. And of course there is another war– the war against folks imprisoned for their political beliefs and actions. And here’s where we bridge the two. This week, NYC ABC will be hosting our annual May Day card-writing night. We will be sending greeting cards to anarchist political prisoners and there’s an easy (too easy? POSSIBLY!) way for you to help. Just come by, eat some food, sign some cards, maybe meet folks you don’t already know, and show some base level solidarity with those behind bars.
If there’s absolutely no way you can come eat our home cooked vegan meal and sign a lot of May Day cards, but still want to support political prisoners, please consider sending some books from their wish lists.
BK/NY – Tuesday, April 11th– Letter Writing Dinner for Jalil Muntaqim & Eric King
WHAT: Political Prisoner Letter-Writing Dinner
WHEN: 7pm sharp, Tuesday, April 11th 2017
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
No doubt we are not alone in our feelings of disdain for the state as they yet again flex their imperialistic muscles, roll up their sleeves, and unite across party lines to rain down the repression and violence overseas and here in the so called United States.
However there are plenty of anarchist news outlets bringing the realness- It’s Going Down, Unicorn Riot, Which Side Podcast, The Final Straw, sub.media… we want instead to actually mention a couple of the positive things happening in the Political Prisoner support world:
Mumia Abu Jamal finally began his medical treatment for Hepatitis C and Robert Seth Hayes was finally given an insulin pump (although the monitor is still missing, wouldn’t be the pigs if they just made it easy). Both of these have been months if not years in the making and the fighting from the inside and out.
In other positive (as positive as updating about comrades held in cages can be) news, Jalil Muntaqim was transferred out of the hellhole that is Southport Correctional Facility to Shawangunk Correctional Facility which is only a couple of hours from New York City. Eric King is settling into FCI Florence and gets off of phone, visit, and commissary restriction April 10th! Join us Tuesday as NYC ABC writes to these two folks.
Jalil Muntaqim is a former Black Panther and Black Liberation Army member who, in 1971, was arrested in California and ultimately convicted for the killing of two New York City cops. In 1974, Muntaqim was convicted and received a prison term of twenty-five years to life. Jalil is a writer, a poet, a scholar, and an educat
or. He has taken the same persistence and dedication he had on the outside engaging in the Black Liberation struggle to the inside, dedicating his time there to improving the lives of those who have found themselves behind the same bars. In December of 2016 Jalil was thrown in the SHU for a lesson he taught as a part of the prison approved Black History class he was teaching. He then got sent to Southport Correctional Facility, known as the “SHU prison” where the most dangerous or most threatened prisoners are sent. A few weeks ago he was finally transferred out and is currently being held at Shawangunk Correctional Facility.
Eric King is a 30 year old vegan anarchist prisoner who’s currently serving a 10 year sentence for an attempted firebombing of a government official’s office in Kansas City, Missouri in September 2014. Eric was being charged with throwing a hammer through a window of the building, followed by two lit Molotov cocktails. The criminal complaint 
states that both incendiary devices failed to ignite. Eric was identified as a suspect by local police because he had previously come under suspicion for anti-government and anti-police graffiti. On March 3, 2016, he accepted a non-cooperating plea agreement to one count of using “explosive materials to commit arson of property used in or affecting interstate commerce. Then almost three months later on June 28th, at the federal courthouse in Kansas City, Missouri. Eric King was sentenced to ten years, the statutory minimum and maximum for the charge he plead guilty to.
In January Eric was unexpectedly transferred to FCI Florence and held in SHU there awaiting a disciplinary hearing. He is at the tail end of completing the sanctions he got as a result: loss of commissary, visits, and phone for a total of 93 days (that started before the disciplinary hearing). He is now currently in general population at FCI Florence.
If for some insane reason you cannot join us on Tuesday, please write them from home:
Anthony J. Bottom #77-A-4283
Shawangunk Correctional Facility
Post Office Box 700
Wallkill, New York 12589-0700
*address card/letter to Jalil Muntaqim
Eric King #27090-045
FCI Florence
Federal Correctional Institution
Post Office Box 6000
Florence, Colorado 81226
BK/NY – Tuesday, January 3rd – Letter-Writing Dinner For New York State Political Prisoners
WHAT: Political Prisoner Letter-Writing Dinner
WHEN: 7pm sharp, Tuesday, January 3rd, 2017
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
Ah yes, 2017. Doesn’t the new year imbue such feelings of revitalization and a renewed sense of optimism? Yeah, right. We know better than that. Not only does 2017 mean looking down the barrel of an orange fascist presidency but it marks another calendar year that comrades who have fought for the revolution are stuck behind bars. This week NYC ABC will be writing to those closest to us, those held captive in New York State prisons: Jalil Muntaqim, Robert Seth Hayes, Herman Bell, David Gilbert, and Reverend Joy Powell.
Jalil Muntaqim and Robert Seth Hayes, both former Black Panthers, have been frequenting prison support news wires for the past few months; unfortunately for nothing positive. Jalil has been in the SHU (Special Housing Unit) since December 6th as a result of him teaching a Black history course. Although this course was approved by the prison administration, they have decided they didn’t like the accuracy of what he was teaching and threw him in the SHU as an ongoing effort to censor him. To read his explanation of the situation, read here.
Robert Seth Hayes continues to experience life threatening medical problems with (unsurprisingly) no help from the state. He was told on October 12th that he needs an insulin pump to help monitor his diabetes but the prison has still failed to deliver this life saving mechanism to him. Read more information and how you can support him fight for the medical care he requires here.
Herman Bell is also a former Black Panther who has been locked up for four decades. Like Jalil and Seth, he was yet again denied parole in 2016. Each time, the board – always made of up former law enforcement personnel and former prosecutors — reviews his very impressive record, the Bachelor’s and Master’s college degrees he has attained since being locked up, his job offers, his numerous letters of support from family, friends, and community members from many walks of life. They have before them evidence of all the ways Herman has helped so many people throughout the course of his confinement and is still leading a positive and progressive life despite being locked up now over four decades. See the petition for his latest parole request and hear from Herman his thoughts on his latest parole board appearance here.
David Gilbert was moved in 2016 to Wende Correctional Facility, luckily closer to some close comrades and unfortunately farther from others. David is a long time anti-racist and anti-imperialist who is serving a life sentence for his involvement as a white comrade to the Black Liberation Army during an attempted expropriation, better known as the Brinks Robbery. He has continued the struggle while held captive. For more information, see here.
Reverend Joy Powell was warned by the Rochester Police department that she was a target because of her speaking out against corruption. On many occasions, Rev. Joy held rallies and spoke out against the police brutality and “police justifications” in Rochester, New York. As a result, she was accused and convicted of 1st Degree Burglary and Assault. Rev. Joy has filed multiple grievances for sexual assault and religious discrimination among other things, as well as been repeatedly denied medical attention for her diabetes and asthma. For more information on how you can help support, read here.
We hope you’ll join us Tuesday to send these lifetime revolutionaries some love and solidarity. If for some reason you have something more “important” to do, then you can write to them from the comfort of your home office:
Jalil Muntaqim* (Anthony Jalil Bottom) #77-A-4283
Attica Correctional Facility
Post Office Box 149
Attica, New York 14011-0149
*Address the envelope to Anthony Bottom and the letter to Jalil.
Robert Seth Hayes #74-A-2280
Sullivan Correctional Facility
Post Office Box 116
Fallsburg, New York 12733-0116
Herman Bell #79-C-0262
Great Meadow Correctional Facility
11739 State Route 22
Post Office Box 51
Comstock, New York 12821-0051
David Gilbert #83-A-6158
Wende Correctional Facility
3040 Wende Road
Alden, New York 14004
Reverend Joy Powell 07G0632
Bedford Hills Correctional Facility
Post Office Box 1000
Bedford Hills, New York 10507-2499
Read more…
