Archive
BK/NY – Tuesday, January 26th – Letter Writing To Muhammad Burton
WHAT: Political Prisoner Letter-Writing
WHEN: 7pm, Tuesday, January 26th, 2021
WHERE: YOUR HOME
COST: Free
…And the work continues. We have no illusions that regardless of who is sitting atop the pyramid, those seeking to meaningfully confront the white supremacist power structures that the “usa” is predicated on will continue to be in the cross hairs of the police state and its carceral corollary. The fact that movement elders who did so in previous generations are still being held decades later, many in old age and deteriorating health, shows the spite the system harbors against them.
There are still over a dozen political prisoners held in the United States for their associations with Black Liberation movements. Muhammad Burton is one of them.
Muhammad Burton was accused in 1970 and convicted in 1972 on highly dubious charges, one of the “Philadelphia 5” accused of plotting to kill Philadelphia police officers. Muhammad has been behind bars for 50 years, including 11 years in solitary confinement. He has continued to maintain his innocence throughout the decades.
Please join NYC ABC and Page One Collective in writing to him. Pennsylvania prisons outsource their mail system through a Florida based corporation, Smart Communications. Letters should be addressed to Fred Burton.
Please take the time to write a letter to Muhammad Burton (and share a photo of your completed envelopes with us online):
Smart Communications/PA DOC
Muhammad Burton AF 3896*
SCI Somerset
Post Office Box 33028
St. Petersburg, Florida 33733
United States
*Address envelope to Fred Burton
Illustrated Guide Version 14.9 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 a prisoner to the guide this month–Plowshares activist Stephen Kelly. We are thankful to remove Nina Droz-Franco (halfway house!).
Illustrated Guide Version 14.8 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–anti-racists Gage Halupowski and David Campbell.
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, February 16th – Letter Writing Dinner for Joe-Joe Bowen and Muhammad Burton
WHEN: 7pm sharp, Tuesday, February 16th, 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
No number of killer pigs thrown in prison will stop the rest from continuing to carry out the racist will of the State. One killer pig being found guilty of murder isn’t going to end the harassment Black people face on a daily basis. This doesn’t end the era of the State ripping apart communities and families as a method of destabilization. The tools of the State sure as shit aren’t going to stop the seemingly endless murder of Black people with police-issue bullets. This is no revelation. The struggle against the State and their armed thugs, as well as the defense of Black communities by the communities themselves is steeped in radical history. Joe-Joe Bowen and Muhammad Burton are a part of this history.
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.
Muhammad Burton was also charged and convicted in the murder of the Holmesburg deputy warden. Muhammad is a member of what was known as the Philly 5, the group of black Philadelphians, including Russell Maroon Shoats, charged in the murder of a cop during a retaliatory attack on a Philly police station in 1970.
If you will not be able to join us this upcoming Tuesday, you can still write to Joe-Joe and Muhammad:
*Address envelope to Joseph Bowen.
*Address envelope to Fred Burton.
NYC Anarchist Black Cross 