Archive
Illustrated Guide Version 11.3 Now Uploaded!
We’ve finished the latest version of the NYC ABC “Illustrated Guide to Political Prisoners and Prisoners of War” and it’s available for viewing (and download) by clicking on the tab at the top of this page. This update includes updated mini-bios, photos, and address changes for several prisoners as well as removes Jason Hammond (released!), Rebecca Rubin (halfway house!), and Abdullah Majid (deceased, rest in power).
BK/NY – Tuesday, April 12th – Sympathy Card Writing Dinner for the Family of Abdul Majid
WHAT: Sympathy Card Writing Dinner for the Family of Abdul Majid
WHEN: 7pm sharp, Tuesday, April 12th, 2016
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
It is with a heavy heart that we announce this week’s letter writing dinner. As you may know by now, Black Panther soldier and political prisoner Abdul Majid died on Sunday, April 3rd, 2016 in a new york state prison. His strength and tenacity will not soon be forgotten. May his passing strengthen our resolve in fighting the State and its tools of oppression. He is survived by his mother, children, grandchildren, and great grandchildren. There is an ongoing fundraiser to help put a dent in the funeral costs Abdul’s family has incurred: http://abdullahmajid.com/bro-abdul-majid-joins-the-ancestors/
This week we will be writing sympathy cards to Abdul’s family. We hope you will join us in sending words of love and support.
If you have the misfortune of being unfamiliar with Abdul, we will leave you with his own words describing how he got involved in the struggle and how he ended up in prison (source: http://abdullahmajid.com/about/):
“The government incarcerates political leaders to silence them. Here is a biography of Abdullah Majid in his own words, written several years ago:
My name is Abdullah Majid, formerly Anthony LaBorde. I was born on June 25, 1949 in Flushing, New York. I am the father of four children, and the fourth child of five boys. My two elder brothers are deceased, as is my father. My mother lives in Jamaica, New York.
My political awareness began in earnest when I was 15 years old, around the time of the murder of El Hajj Abdul Malik Shabazz (Malcolm X). I can recall vividly in 1962–63 many of the news accounts of the struggle in Africa, particularly the Congo; the murder of Patrice Lumumba and several other patriots of the national liberation struggle in Southern Africa, and the civil rights (national liberation) struggle in amerikka by people of African descent. I realized, despite geographical differences, the stunning similarities between the oppressed as well as the oppressors both here and there.
As a result of this awareness, I began working with other brothers in Jamaica, Queens, starting with the Grass Roots Advisory Council. We attempted to get funding from the poverty programs in the community with no success. After about two years of this, we realized the limitations placed upon us struggling in this manner. By this time I became involved with the Black Panther Party and the Republic of New Africa. I found both of these organizations to be much more relevant and effective with respect to the issues affecting our people. I worked in various programs such as free breakfasts for children, free clothing, liberation schools for youth, and adult political education classes, all with positive results. The Party and the RNA were also involved in important community issues, i.e., community control of the murderous police department and community control of the schools, as well as the struggle around health care in our communities. I was also in a leadership position, which required more and more time working with new Party members. From 1968 to 1971, I was a full-time Party member.
Needless to say, I became a target of this government’s “law enforcement establishment” (COINTELPRO) for my political work, along with thousands of other activists. Recently, some of the underhanded operations to disrupt, frame, and murder many of the imprisoned freedom fighters are coming to light.
In the spring of 1981, much to my surprise, I became a primary suspect in the shooting death of one cop and the wounding of another. Being familiar with how the police react to attacks on them, I decided not to wait for them to come to me. This led to a nine-month search-and-destroy campaign by the government both nationally and internationally. While being hunted by these gestapo I attempted to maintain a normal existence with aid from family and friends.
I was finally arrested in January 1982 by the Philadelphia gestapo after a physical confrontation with them during which I sustained injuries to my head. I was transported back to New York City to stand trial with Bashir Hameed (James York), who had been apprehended in Sumpter, South Carolina, for murder and attempted murder of the same two cops.
After five years and three trials, the state was finally able to engineer a trumped up conviction with flimsy and circumstantial evidence. I was sentenced to 33 and 1/3 years-to-life total on the two counts. Some five years after the murder conviction, our case was finally heard by the appellate division, second department (N.Y.), November 19, 1991. True to form of not dealing with the law where political prisoners are concerned, the court pandered to the desires of the “law enforcement” community. The court wasted no time in dispensing “justice” by issuing what has to be the fastest decision in its history (December 19, 1991). Just one month later, the court affirmed this conviction. This was no mean feat for the court, considering the fact that it has the largest caseload of any state appellate court in the nation and is backlogged by over one calendar year with cases waiting either to be heard or for rulings on cases already heard, according to court personnel. After a motion for re-argument, the appellate court remitted the case for hearing on our Batson claim (Batson vs. Kentucky), wherein we raised the issue of racial discrimination during jury selection. After a hearing, the appellate court reinstated its original decision. Our last resort in state court was denied in June 1996 by the New York court of appeals. All appeals (state and federal) have been exhausted for Bashir and me. We are exploring the possibility of a collateral attack on the sentence.
Bashir Hameed returned to Allah on August 30, 2008 at Comstock Prison as a result of medical (murder) neglect by agents of the state.
The government has been very uncooperative about turning over requested documents being sought by me under the Freedom of Information Act. During the three trials, there were deliberate acts by law enforcement agencies to hide certain evidence helpful to the defense. Attorneys are still in the process of trying to make law enforcement agencies turn over all evidence in this case. In spite of my long incarceration, prison has not broken my spirit of struggle. I have been harassed, seriously assaulted twice, denied proper medical treatment, then placed in the special housing unit (SHU) as a result of being assaulted. I have also been refused certain programs offered to the general population because of my political background, supposedly due to the “influence” I am alleged to have with other prisoners. I have been repeatedly transferred hundreds of miles around the state away from my family, friends and supporters.
However, the government has not been totally successful in its attempts to criminalize our struggle for self-determination. The masses do understand the courageous positions of those who are jailed as a result of their political acts. It will be just a matter of time before that understanding by the masses turns into action. While we have had setbacks as a result of subterfuge and subversion from both within and without, we must intensify our current efforts to mobilize the masses for survival and liberation. I believe the only real guarantee we prisoners of war and political prisoners have of staying alive and surviving these prisoner-of-war camps is by keeping our conditions and status before the public both domestically and internationally.
Insha ALLAH (ALLAH willing) we will get the relief (freedom) denied us for the last four hundred years in Babylon.”
BK/NY – Tuesday, August 18th– Letter-Writing for Black August
WHAT: Political Prisoner Letter-Writing Dinner
WHEN: 7pm sharp, Tuesday, August 18th, 2015
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
Hopefully you’ve been training in preparation for Running Down the Walls 2015. The competition will be fierce, the food at the after party will be delicious, and the solidarity with our imprisoned comrades will be infinite. Please take this opportunity to get more folks to sponsor you as a participant and help build the ABCF warchest and help the Family and Friends of Maliki Shakur Latine. As a lead in to this year’s run, we are hosting another of our every other week Political Prisoner Letter-Writing Dinners. This week, NYC ABC will be hosting a Black August card signing.
As Black August began in remembrance of fallen Black liberation prisoner, George Jackson, and the San Quentin prison uprising of 1971– a prison uprising that included recently murdered San Quentin Six member Hugo “Yogi Bear” Pinell, we honor Yogi with this dinner.
BK/NY – Tuesday, April 14 – Letter-writing to Seth Hayes and Abdul Majid
WHAT: Political Prisoner Letter-Writing Dinner
WHEN: 7pm sharp, Tuesday, April 14th, 2015
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
In the announcements for our every-other-week political prisoner letter-writing dinners, NYC ABC typically tries to draw attention to something not directly tied to our work in supporting political prisoners. Maybe it’s a commentary on something trending in corporate media or the ridiculousness of pop culture. However, with the consistent attack on Black folks by cops, direct or indirect, we are unable to focus on much else. Whether it is a murder and attempted cover up by cops in South Carolina or the attempted murder by medical negligence of our comrade Mumia Abu-Jamal, the system and institutions of white supremacy are as strong now as they were seven years ago, seventy years ago, and since the inception of this country. With that in mind, we are writing to prisoners who resisted white supremacy as it bore down upon them– Robert “Seth” Hayes and Abdul Majid.
You won’t want to miss this letter-writing– we have the Jericho Movement‘s Mogadishu as a guest speaker.
In 1973, following a shootout with police, Seth Hayes was arrested and convicted of the murder of a New York City police officer, and, while maintaining his innocence to this day, sentenced to 25 years to life in prison. Imprisoned for nearly forty years, Seth has long since served his sentence. Seth has ongoing health issues, including diabetes, that continue to be poorly managed by the Department of Corrections.
On April 16th, 1981 a van was pulled over by NYPD. Two occupants exited the van and fired upon the cops—one was killed, the other injured. Despite claims by the police that the van was pulled over for connections to burglaries, the folder of “suspects” circulated by the cops exclusively consisted of former Panthers, not burglary suspects. Abdul Majid and his co-defendant, Bashir Hameed were arrested and tried three times. The first trial ended in a hung jury. The second trial was declared a mistrial by the judge immediately after the jury rendered a decision that acquitted Bashir on the murder charge. At a third trial, the state finally got its way—Abdul was convicted of murder and sentenced to 33 years to life. Abdul is expected to go before the parole board for the first time later this month.
We expect to see you on Tuesday. If you can’t make it, please take the time to write letters (and send books) to the prisoners:
Robert Seth Hayes #74-A-2280
Sullivan Correctional Facility
Post Office Box 116
Fallsburg, New York 12733-0116
Abdul Majid #83-A-0483
Five Points Correctional Facility
6600 State Route 96
Caller Box 119
Romulus, New York 14541
Medical Campaign for Abdullah Majid
The hard-to-face fact is we have a generation of imprisoned comrades who are dealing with the health crises that come with aging. Beyond the indignity of being caged for struggling against oppression, they must now also contend with a wholly incompetent (when not willfully neglectful) medical system. A case in point is New York State political prisoner Abdullah Majid.
From the Jericho Movement:
Abdullah (Abdul) Majid is in need of our help. Months ago we reported that he was experiencing excruciating pain from an attack of sciatica. He was scheduled to have back surgery in October of 2013, and was instructed to stop taking the ibuprofen he was using to alleviate some of the pain. During this time, the only remedy provided has been a cane that was too short given to him by the prison doctor, making it difficult for him to walk or lean on.
When the surgery was first postponed, Majid was told it was because he needed to have some pre-op medical tests. Those tests were performed, and he has seen a cardiologist and the doctor who is to perform the surgery. As the days and months go by, his 90 year old mother, Mrs. LaBorde, becomes more and more anxious and frustrated by the Department of Correction’s (DOCCS) lack of response to her concerns.
We ask you to contact DOCCS and Governor Andrew Cuomo to express your concerns about the continued negligence and disregard for Abdul Majid’s health and medical well-being and to demand that the surgery take place. Please be sure to give his name and DIN #: Abdullah Majid, DIN # 83-A-0483 when you call or write.
Dr. Carl J. Koenigsmann, Deputy Commissioner/Chief Medical Officer
DOCCS Division of Health Services
Harriman State Campus–Building #2
1220 Washington Avenue
Albany, New York 12226-2050
518.457.7073
The Honorable Andrew M. Cuomo
Governor of New York State
New York State Capitol Building
Albany, New York 12224
518.474.8390
Please let us know the response you get and re-post this to facebook/twitter, et cetera.
NYC Anarchist Black Cross 