Tuesday, May 18th – Letter Writing to Dr. Mutulu Shakur

WHAT: Political Prisoner Letter-Writing Dinner
WHEN: 7pm sharp, Tuesday, May 18th, 2021
WHERE: your home (or wherever you happen to be)
COST: Free

With the COVID related restrictions and guidelines around this country beginning to be lifted or eased, it is as important as ever to recognize those inside prison walls who remain captive by the white supremacist structures that have continued to thrive throughout this pandemic. Between the proliferation of this deadly virus behind bars, the inequity in treatment of the disease to people of color, the unending stream of police killing Black folks, and the attempts to literally erase the already vastly understated mentions of America’s ongoing racist colonial history from school books, this country is having a historic year of maintaining white supremacy. Just this month it was revealed that the remains of the victims of the Philadelphia police bombing of the MOVE family’s house were either sent to be “studied” and gawked at by elite museums and universities or ordered by city officials to be burnt to ash. This latest obscene iteration of this country’s mission to control Black bodies with cruelty and indignity is just one of an immeasurable number. With these injustices fresh in our minds, we turn to political prisoner Dr. Mutulu Shakur, who has actively fought against that bodily control by dedicating his life to the physical, political, and social health and well being of the Black community.

From Dr. Shakur’s support site:

“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.

Mutulu was born on August 8, 1950, in Baltimore, Maryland as Jeral Wayne Williams. At age seven he moved to Jamaica, Queens, New York City with his mother and younger sister. His political and social consciousness began to develop early in his life. His mother suffered not only from being Black and female, but was also blind. These elements constituted Shakur’s first confrontation with the state, while assisting his mother to negotiate through the maze that made up the social service system. Through this experience, Shakur learned that the system did not operate in the interests of Black people and that Black people must control the institutions that affect their lives.

Since the age 16, Dr. Shakur has been a part of the New Afrikan Independence Movement. As a part of this movement, Dr. Shakur has been a target of the illegal Counterintelligence Program carried out by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (COINTELPRO). This was a secret police strategy used in the U.S. starting in the 1960s to destroy and neutralize progressive and revolutionary organizations. It is believed that Dr. Shakur’s resistance to this program led to his arrest and trial.

During the late sixties, Dr. Shakur was politically active and worked with the Revolutionary Action Movement (RAM), a Black Nationalist group that struggled for Black self-determination and socialist change in America. He was a member of the Provisional Government of the Republic of New Afrika, which endorsed the founding of an independent New Afrikan (Black) Republic and the establishment of an independent Black state in the southern U.S. Dr. Shakur also worked very closely with the Black Panther Party, supporting Lumumba and Zayd Shakur.

In 1970, Dr. Shakur was employed by the Lincoln Detox (detoxification) Community (addiction treatment) Program as a political education instructor. His role evolved to include counseling and treatment of withdrawal symptoms with acupuncture. Dr. Shakur became certified and licensed to practice acupuncture in the State of California in 1976. Eventually he became the Program’s Assistant Director and remained associated with the program until 1978.

From 1978 to 1982, Dr. Shakur was the Co-Founder and Co-Director of the Black Acupuncture Advisory Association of North America (BAAANA) and the Harlem Institute of Acupuncture. Where, at Lincoln, Dr. Shakur had managed a detox program recognized as the largest and most effective of its kind by the National Institute of Drug Abuse, National Acupuncture Research Society and the World Academic Society of Acupuncture, at BAAANA he continued his remarkable work and also treated thousands of poor and elderly patients who would otherwise have no access to treatment of this type. Many community leaders, political activists, lawyers and doctors were served by BAAANA and over one hundred medical students were trained in the discipline of acupuncture.

By the late 1970’s Dr. Shakur’s work in acupuncture and drug detoxification was both nationally and internationally known and he was invited to address members of the medical community around the world. Dr. Shakur lectured on his work at many medical conferences, and was invited to the People’s Republic of China. In addition in his work for the Charles Cobb Commission for Racial Justice for the National Council of Churches, he developed their anti-drug program.

Dr. Shakur has five biological children and several grandchildren who he maintains loving relationships with despite his incarceration.  He was an inspiration for many of the positive messages in his late adoptive son, Tupac’s, musical work.”

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 join NYC ABC and Page One Collective 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

Illustrated Guide Version 13.1 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. We are thankful to remove Chuck and Delbert Africa (Parole).

BK/NY – Tuesday, January 28 – Letter Writing Dinner for Joe-Joe Bowen

WHAT: Political Prisoner Letter-Writing Dinner
WHEN: 7pm sharp, Tuesday, January 28th, 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

We are just settling into 2020, and have some good news–after 42 years in prison, Delbert Africa is free! That means we need to work extra hard to make sure Chuck Africa, the last remaining MOVE 9 political prisoner, gets parole. This news also has us thinking of another Pennsylvania prisoner–Joe-Joe Bowen. This week NYC ABC will be focusing our every-other-week political prisoner letter-writing dinner on Joe-Joe, aka “The Old Man,” who is no stranger to rebelling against captors as a path towards collective liberation.

A native of Philadelphia, Joe-Joe was a young member of the “30th and Norris” street gang before his incarceration politicized him. Released in 1971, his outside activism was cut short a week following his release when Joe-Joe was confronted by an officer of the notoriously brutal Philadelphia police department. The police officer was killed in the confrontation, and Bowen fled. After his capture and incarceration, Bowen became a Black Liberation Army combatant, defiant to authorities at every turn. In 1973, Joe-Joe assassinated Holmesberg prison’s warden and deputy warden as well as wounded the guard commander in retaliation for intense repression against Muslim prisoners in the facility.  In 1981, Bowen led a six-day standoff with authorities when he and six other captives took 39 hostages at Graterford Prison as a freedom attempt and protest of the prison conditions.

If you will not be able to join us this upcoming Tuesday, you can still write to Joe-Joe:
Smart Communications/PA DOC
Joseph Bowen AM4272
SCI Fayette
Post Office Box 33028
Saint Petersburg, Florida 33733
*Address cards/letters to Joe-Joe.

BK/NY – Tuesday, July 9th – Letter Writing Dinner for Eric King

WHAT: Political Prisoner Letter-Writing Dinner
WHEN: 7pm sharp, Tuesday, July 9th, 2019
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’s rare we get good news in the political prisoner support world, or even the anarchist world, as you all well know. But recently NYC ABC was thrilled to find out that Eddie Africa, one of the MOVE 9 political prisoners, was released on Friday, June 21st after serving an abominable 40 years in prison.  WELCOME HOME EDDIE! You can support the struggle to get parole for the two remaining MOVE 9 prisoners–Chuck and Delbert, via the Abolitionist Law Center. In the meantime, we keep grinding and hosting every-other-week political prisoner letter-writing dinners, and this week is no different.

This week NYC ABC will be writing to anarchist prisoner Eric King, who certainly feeds off of news of fellow political prisoners to keep his fire burning while inside. Eric is a vegan anarchist prisoner serving a 10 year sentence for an attempted firebombing of a government official’s office in Kansas City, Missouri in September 2014. Eric was 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. We encourage folks to send him a card or letter and spread the word about him if not already doing so. More information can be found at supportericking.org.

If for what ever reason you can’t make it out to write Eric in the company of fellow anarchists and vegan food, we hope you’ll still find some time to write to him here:
Eric King # 27090045
USP Atlanta
Post Office Box 150160
Atlanta, Georgia 30315

Illustrated Guide Version 14.4 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. We are thankful to remove MOVE 9 prisoner Eddie Africa (paroled!).

Illustrated Guide Version 14.1 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.

Illustrated Guide Version 13.9 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. Unfortunately, we are adding two prisoners to the guide this month–Green Scare target Joseph Dibee and whistleblower Reality Winner. We are thankful to remove water protector Ellen Sue Gerhart (completion of sentence!) and Mike Africa (Parole!).

BK/NY – Tuesday, July 31st – Letter Writing Dinner for the MOVE 9

WHAT: Political Prisoner Letter-Writing Dinner
WHEN: 7pm sharp, Tuesday, July 31st, 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

It’s uncommon that we are able to relate good news, but this week we can. Robert Seth Hayes has been released on parole, having met all criteria for release according to his sentence and after serving 45 years in prison. Welcome home, Seth! It’s impossible to celebrate Seth’s release without remembering that we have so many comrades still in prison. So NYC ABC will do what we do and host another of our every-other-week political prisoner letter-writing dinners. We are so close to the 40th anniversary of the police attack on the MOVE house that we are focusing this week’s event on the MOVE 9.

The MOVE 9 are a family of strong, serious, deeply committed revolutionaries who have endured decades of violent oppression at the hands of the racist state. They are innocent women and men who have been in prison since August 8, 1978, following a massive police attack on them at their home in the Powelton Village neighborhood of Philadelphia. This was seven years before the government dropped a bomb on MOVE, killing 11 people, including 5 babies. You will notice only six addresses below. That is because the state would rather see our comrades dead than free and allowed both Merle and Phil Africa to die while imprisoned. ¡Presente! Just last month, in June 2018, Debbie Africa was the first MOVE prisoner to be released on parole. Welcome home, Debbie!

If for some reason you can’t make it out on Tuesday, take a minute to write these folks from home (NOTE: Pennsylvania will ONLY accept mail in plain white envelopes):
Janet Hollaway Africa #OO6308
Janine Phillips Africa #OO6309
SCI Cambridge Springs
451 Fullerton Avenue
Cambridge Springs, Pennsylvania 16403-1238

Delbert Orr Africa #AM4985
Charles Sims Africa #AM4975
SCI Dallas
1000 Follies Road
Dallas, Pennsylvania 18612

Michael Davis Africa #AM 4973
SCI Phoenix
Post Office Box 244
Collegeville, Pennsylvania 19426

Edward Goodman Africa #AM4974
SCI Mahanoy
301 Morea Road
Frackville, Pennsylvania 17932

BK/NY – Tuesday, June 19th – Letter Writing Dinner for Eric King

WHAT: Political Prisoner Letter-Writing Dinner
WHEN: 7pm sharp, Tuesday, June 19th, 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

It’s rare we get good news in the political prisoner support world, or even the anarchist world as you all well know. But this week NYC ABC was thrilled to find out that Debbie Africa, one of the MOVE 9 women, was released on Saturday, June 16th after serving an abominable 40 years in prison.  WELCOME HOME DEBBIE! You can support Debbie at patreon.com/move9

Debbie reunited with her son Mike, after 39 years.

This week NYC ABC will be writing to anarchist prisoner Eric King, who certainly feeds off of news of fellow political prisoners to keep his fire burning while inside. Eric is a vegan anarchist prisoner serving a 10 year sentence for an attempted firebombing of a government official’s office in Kansas City, Missouri in September 2014. Eric was 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. The second annual International Day of Solidarity with Eric King is coming up on June 28th so we encourage folks to send him a card or letter and spread the word about him if not already doing so. More information can be found at supportericking.org.

If for what ever reason you can’t make it out to write Jeremy in the company of fellow anarchists and vegan food, we hope you’ll still find some time to write to Eric here:
Eric King # 27090045
FCI Florence
Federal Correctional Institution
Post Office Box 6000
Florence, Colorado 81226

BK/NY – Tuesday, December 22nd – Letter-Writing Dinner For Mumia Abu-Jamal

WHAT: Political Prisoner Letter-Writing Dinner
WHEN: 7pm sharp, Tuesday, December 22nd, 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

Presumably you’ve been able to sidestep the hoverboards and consumer-ready drones that are meant to keep you distracted while racist goons in blue uniforms murder every person of color they can. Whatever the fad, disguised as this year’s must-have shiny object, NYC ABC stays focused on what we know– supporting U.S. held political prisoners and prisoners of war. To that end, we are hosting our every-other-week political prisoner letter-writing dinner. And how better to end the year than by focusing on 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