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

NYC – 18 Dec – Letter-writing Dinner for Jamil Al-Amin

WHAT: Political Prisoner Letter-Writing Dinner
WHEN: 7pm sharp, Tuesday, December 18th, 2012
WHERE: CAGE – 83A Hester Street New York, New York 10002 (directions below)
COST: Free
It’s supper time again, and we’re back at CAGE for our every-other-week Political Prisoner Letter Writing Dinner. Of course it’s no surprise that in NYC, as with everywhere, cops continue to lie, kill, and steal. When they aren’t plotting ways to kidnap, rape and eat women, they’re arresting socially conscious musicians, claiming they are known members of armed revolutionary formations. It is with this critical eye on police misconduct and deception that we host this week’s dinner.

This Tuesday’s dinner will focus on Imam Jamil Al-Amin, a long time community leader and organizer, falsely imprisoned for supposedly killing a sheriff’s deputy in Georgia.

Ten years ago, Imam Jamil Al-Amin, the former H. Rap Brown, was falsely convicted and sentenced to life in Georgia. When black, white, and brown prisoners, Muslim and non-Muslim Georgia inmates openly acknowledged him as a leader and political prisoner, with public pressure mounting for a new trial and his removal from solitary, Georgia officials transferred him in the dead of night to the man-made supermax hell of Florence, Colorado– a federal prison some say is worse than Bagram or Guantanamo.

If for some insane reason you can’t make it out, but still want to support Jamil Al-Amin, you can write to him at:

Jamil Abdullah Al-Amin #99974-555
USP Florence ADMAX
Post Office Box 8500
Florence, Colorado 81226