Archive
BK/NY – Friday, June 5th – #JusticeForGeorgeFloyd Noise Demo
WHAT: Noise Demo
WHEN: 4:00pm, Friday, June 5th 2020
WHERE: Metropolitan Detention Center (MDC, the federal prison in Brooklyn); meeting at the corner of 2nd Avenue and 30th Street, Brooklyn, New York 11232 (D/N/R to 36th Street or R to 25th Street)
COST: Free
In solidarity with the international Justice for George Floyd and in response to the prison cop murder of Jamel Floyd at Brooklyn’s Metropolitan Detention Center, Revolutionary Abolitionist Movement NYC (RAM-NYC) and NYC ABC will be outside MDC making noise in support of those behind the walls. Come #MakeNoise with us in NYC as we join solidarity actions here and around the country.
Since the murder of George Floyd by police in Minneapolis on May 25, a previously unimaginable wave of revolt has swept across the country. People have fought back against the cops, who for so long have slaughtered Black folks in the streets without consequences. As we come close to the brink of revolution that could finally abolish white supremacist police and the institutions that constitute policing, we will be struggling closely alongside our imprisoned comrades, who face enslavement in the prison system.
On June 3, Jamel Floyd, who was imprisoned at Metropolitan Detention Center (MDC), was murdered by guards after staging a rebellion in his cell. NYC ABC stands in solidarity with those fighting for freedom against the system that places them in cages and regularly brutalizes them.
The police and prison system operate hand in glove to murder, enslave, and terrorize Black people. In order to abolish police, we must also abolish prisons!
All power to the rebels, fighting against injustice and for a better world!
Tuesday, April 21st – Letter Writing for Bomani Shakur
WHAT: Political Prisoner Letter-Writing Dinner
WHEN: 7pm sharp, Tuesday, April 21st, 2020
WHERE: YOUR HOME
COST: Free
We are deep enough into this pandemic to see how power is exploiting both it and the folks considered disposable–essential workers (delivery drivers, grocery workers, et al) and prisoners. Prisoners are being infected and dying at a rate far higher than those on the outside. At the federal level, the bureau responsible for their well being (yes, we understand it’s an oxymoron), keeps blaming underlying health conditions instead of taking responsibility and freeing those with high risk factors for infection. To keep the focus on prisoners, NYC ABC continues our support via every-other-week political prisoner letter-writing events. We are also excited to announce that starting with this event, we are organizing collaborative letter-writing nights with Page One Collective. And while the events will be collaboratively organized, due to where we are in history, and the importance of keeping everyone safe, those events will be organized here. That means we are asking you to take on the work of writing letters from home. Please post a photo of your addressed envelope on social media and tag us (with your return address blurred out) and we will share it, building digital community while our analog community stays indoors and washes its hands. This week, we respond to the call for a month of action in support of Bomani Shakur.
Bomani Shakur went to prison in 1989, at the age of 19, sentenced to seventeen years to life for defending himself during a robbery in which he was shot in the legs. At the time, Bomani was, by his own account, selling drugs to survive and it was not until his imprisonment that he became politicized. While in prison, Bomani read authors like Frantz Fanon and Noam Chomsky and developed his politics into those of a revolutionary. In 1993, the prison in which Bomani was being held rose up after the implementation of rules and sanctions by a new warden who was likely looking to incite violence to justify plans to expand the prison’s supermax wing. The uprising lasted eleven days and in the end nine prisoners and a guard were killed. Bomani was among those framed for the killings, probably due to his political organizing prior to the uprising. There is abundant evidence that runs contrary the the state’s contentions. For more information, check out keithlamar.org
Please take the time to write a letter to Bomani (and share a photo of your completed envelope with us online):
Bomani Shakur* #317117
Ohio State Penitentiary
878 Coitsville-Hubbard Road
Youngstown, Ohio 44505
*Address envelopes to Keith LaMar.
Over 100 in the streets for NYC ABC NYE Noise Demo
2019 started strong as we welcomed home water protector Dion Ortiz. Throughout the year, we saw more comrades released (Janet, Janine, and Eddie Africa; Little Feather, Connor Stevens, and Nina Droz Franco). And yet, as more elders age behind the wall, we lost a true warrior, Tom Manning. To close the year, NYC ABC organized a noise demo outside of Manhattan’s Metropolitan Correctional Center (MCC) in order to protest, celebrate, and let folks on the inside know they are not forgotten.
We got there a little after 8:30 and others were there waiting. We greeted old comrades and folks we’d yet to meet and by 9:00pm, a decent crowd had formed. The night was relatively warm by winter standards, but comrades from the Metropolitan Anarchist Coordinating Council (MACC) showed up with tea and hot chocolate to make sure everyone’s vocal cords stayed nice and toasty as we yelled and sang upward, into the steel and cement monolith that is MCC.
There were all manner of noise makers, most folks brought their own. Hell, we even had a makeshift drum corps to keep this noise demo moving.
Photo by NYC RAM
And while folks were there to celebrate and reach through the walls, signs and banners also expressed the brimming rage of the crowd. A crew from The Base showed up with black flags and banners to make sure all inside knew there were anarchists organizing in solidarity with them.
The demo lasted a couple of hours, but not before folks broke out sparklers and fireworks. And not before a fair amount of cops came to observe. They didn’t have riot gear or visible plasitcuffs, so the threat was more in what a bunch of preposterous goons they are than in any potential for arrest.
We’ve been told before, by comrades who were once held in MCC, that the noise demos light up the whole place and get through to the prisoners. If you’re thinking about organizing a noise demo in your town, do it.
Shortly before the crowd started to break up and head out, the following statement was read as a call and response, ensuring that our comrades inside could hear it:
“To many it feels like we live in a time like no other with surveillance and repression at every turn but also resistance, rebellion, and open revolt. This is neither the new golden nor dark age, it is simply another moment in time where we can collectively force conflict with a fucked up system.
Every day there are revolts of varying scale, most of which you never hear about. For those captured in revolt we come together in protest and celebration. Through the din of revelry and rage we tie ourselves to those who suffer systematized white supremacy and war against the working class
Prison is a means of social control to be absolutely destroyed.
Here’s to the total destruction of a prison-based society!
Tonight we bring with us the courage of Bill Dunne, the ferocity of Joe-Joe Bowen, the wisdom of Mutulu Shakur.
We remember in every act of rebellion against the state, our deceased comrades Tom Manning and Robert Seth Hayes your legacies will never be forgotten.
We hold in our hearts comrades soon to be or recently imprisoned—David Campbell, Joseph Dibee, Gage Halupowski, Chelsea Manning.
BK/NY – Friday, September 13th – Emergency Rally At Brooklyn House of Detention
WHAT: Noise Demo
WHEN: 6:00pm, Friday, September 13th, 2019
WHERE: Brooklyn House of Detention, 275 Atlantic Avenue, Brooklyn, New York 11201
COST: Free
New York City Council plans to move the entire Brooklyn jail population to Rikers by January 2020!
Stephen Levin and Speaker Corey Johnson for the last few months, have been secretly moving currently incarcerated people from Brooklyn House of Detention to Rikers Island! This is UNACCEPTABLE! We know Rikers Island is a torture chamber that MUST be shutdown without building new jails to replace it!
Join us at the EMERGENCY RALLY this Friday at 6pm, to DEMAND no one be MOVED to Rikers and for all City Council members VOTE NO on this disastrous jail expansion plan.
We WANT $11 billion dollars for community instead of jails.
At 7pm will be joined by our comrades No New Jails NYC, JLS Prisoners Human Rights, The Revolutionary Abolitionist Movement, Prisoners Human Rights Underground Railroad Movement for #Burnday Noise Demo Against Biden’s Crime Bill. We hope to see you there!
#CloseRikersNow #NoNewJails #burnday #AtticRebellion
BK/NY – Tuesday, August 21st – #NatTurnerDay Noise Demo
WHAT: Noise Demo
WHEN: 7:00-10:00pm, Tuesday, August 21st, 2018
WHERE: Metropolitan Detention Center (MDC, the federal prison in Brooklyn); meeting at the corner of 2nd Avenue and 30th Street, Brooklyn, New York 11232 (D/N/R to 36th Street or R to 25th Street)
COST: Free
In solidarity with the national prison strike, Revolutionary Abolitionist Movement NYC (RAM-NYC) and NYC ABC will be outside MDC making noise in support of those behind the walls. Come kick off the prison strike with us in NYC as we begin solidarity actions here and around the country.
About the National Prison Strike (21 Aug through 9 Sept):
People incarcerated in the United States, suffering some of the worst abuses in the world, are calling for a nationwide prison strike on August 21st. We at the Revolutionary Abolitionist Movement stand with these brave individuals and support their demands for better conditions and revolutionary action as they risk their lives and health, not only for themselves but for the millions incarcerated nationwide.
The impetus for this call arose from the shameful and egregious loss of life recently at Lee Correctional Institution in South Carolina. The problem, prison organizers argue, stems from greed and “…a lack of respect for human life that is embedded in our nation’s penal ideology.” From racist policing practices, harassment of families, and routine methods of torture, we have a system that is one of the most barbaric in the world. While reforms are desirable, we all are aware, that total abolition of this system is necessary.
Since the civil war, the US government has been committed to ensuring the system of slavery continued. Black people remain policed, surveilled, controlled, and held captive. The struggle for black liberation reached unparalleled heights with the Black Panthers, and the state’s response was to make the largest prison population in the world, criminalize the black populace, and destroy the social programs. Slavery in the US was never primarily about free labor, but about controlling, owning and ultimately denying black humanity. The plantations of the past, like Angola plantation in Louisiana, transformed into Louisiana State Penitentiary. The same modes of control on the plantation exist in the prison. The prison system, like the slave system of the past, is not a social phenomenon to debate, but to totally destroy.
The risks people inside are taking to regain their humanity and dignity stands as a model for all abolitionists and revolutionaries. Our actions outside must amplify their voices and match their commitment. We call on all abolitionists and revolutionaries in this country, and those abroad, to stand with the prison strikers’ resistance. This is the struggle of our day. From inside the walls to the streets we will abolish slavery, the prisons, and all the institutions that make such a barbaric world possible.
Running Down the Walls 2018: A Reportback
If you weren’t able to join us, but still want to support this year’s run, donations can be made at paypal.me/nycabc
Running Down the Walls (RDTW) 2018 was a success in building relationships, feeling the solidarity of running as our imprisoned comrades did the same, and raising funds for the ABCF Warchest and the Revolutionary Abolitionist Community Bail Fund which works to bail people out that are incarcerated at Riker’s Island.
We arrived early to claim our spot, hoping to stake our rightful claim to the commons that is (should be) Prospect Park. Unfortunately, due to the food circus we refuse to name that operates its melee disguised as an overpriced food truck parade, we were nudged out of our usual spot and forced to set up across the path. Originally surly with the hall monitor employed by the unnamed food circus who snitched on us, the consensus at the end of the day was that we enjoyed the new location.
The course was the same as last year, one single loop around the park which amounts to just about a 5K distance. Typically we start the run off by playing a recording by Jaan Laaman but because he was moved this year and could no longer send the recording, he instead submitted a handwritten statement that we read aloud along with solidarity statements from Hanif Bey, David Gilbert, and Eric King.
Although it was a bit cooler this year, participants admitted that they were relieved to save some sweat enduring the course. We had printed bib numbers for the participants. The flipside of the bib numbers had information about NYC ABC and guidelines for writing to prisoners, making it both a memento and a useful reminder to write to folks.
We were thrilled to have three former political prisoners join us in biking, running, walking, eating, and hanging. It was lovely to have folx there from various groups that do political prisoner support including NYC Jericho Movement, the Certain Days: Freedom for Political Prisoners Calendar, the Northeast Political Prisoner Coalition, and Eric King Support Crew to name a few. Additionally we were happy to share space with folx from other local organizing groups including NYC Anarchist Book Fair, Black and Pink, Friends of the Island Academy, Rojava Solidarity NYC, The Base, the Revolutionary Abolitionist Movement, Metropolitan Anarchist Coordinating Council, Pop Gym, and Books through Bars, among others.
Most folks had left by 6:00 pm and those who stayed did so to help clean up and transfer everything to the cars. So the event went as scheduled, almost to the minute.
Knowing the history of the run and the imprisoned comrades with whom we ran in solidarity elevated Running Down the Walls 2018 to an even more inspiring level.
And that’s how we get down (the walls).
-NYC ABC
BK/NY – Sunday, June 3rd, 2018 – Running Down the Walls
WHAT: Running Down the Walls – 5k Run/Walk/Jog/Bike
WHEN: 2:00-7:00pm, Sunday, June 3rd, 2018
WHERE: Prospect Park– Lincoln Road/East Lake Drive, east of the Terrace Bridge (see the below map for exact location)
COST: $10 registration (includes food and drinks afterwards)
Every year, prisoners and supporters of political prisoners organize solidarity events with Running Down the Walls. In the last few years, we’ve had runs in Albuquerque (NM), Arcata (CA), Ashland (OR), Bellefonte (PA), Boston (MA), Buffalo (NY), Chico (CA), Denver (CO), Elmore (AL), Inez (KY), Los Angeles (CA), Marion (IL), Minneapolis (MN) New York (NY), USP Navosta (TX), Pelican Bay (CA), Phoenix (AZ), Tucson (AZ), Seattle (WA), and Toronto, Ontario. This year we hope to expand the amount of runs in prisons and other cities, as well as increase the amount of funds raised for community projects. NYC ABC‘s goal with this year’s run is $4,000. You can donate online by going to paypal.me/nycabc
This year’s run will take place on Sunday, June 3rd, 2018 at 2:00 pm in solidarity and conjunction with runs that will take place in cities and prison yards across the country at the same time.
REGISTER AS, OR SPONSOR, A PARTICIPANT
To raise our goal of $4,000, we need your support.
* Promote – print and distribute flyers to friends and local businesses, your doctor’s office, laundromat, food co-op, wealthy benefactor, et cetera.
* Run/walk/bike/roll in the 5k – We need participants who can run/walk/bike/roll the 5k and are able to collect financial pledges to offer as donations to the run. Download the brochure, complete with registration and sponsor form right here.
* Volunteer for the run – We need folks who are willing to staff a registration/literature table, hand out water, bike the route as street medics, and help chalk the route beforehand.
* Donate online at paypal.me
* Donate to the run/sponsor a participant – If you are not able to attend, but want to support this fundraising effort, please mail donations to:
NYC ABC
Post Office Box 110034
Brooklyn, New York 11211
Your donation of $10 or more entitles you to the celebratory picnic after the event.
Each year, we split proceeds between the Anarchist Black Cross Federation’s Warchest Program and a local organization. This year, local funds are going to the Revolutionary Liberation Bail Fund.
The Warchest Program:
The Anarchist Black Cross Federation (ABCF) has initiated a program designed to send monthly checks to those Political Prisoners and Prisoners of War who have been receiving insufficient, little, or no financial support during their imprisonment. The Warchest program was initiated in November 1994. Its purpose is to collect monthly funds from groups and individual supporters, and send that money to Political Prisoners and Prisoners of War (PP/POW) via monthly checks. Over the last two decades, the ABCF warchest has dispensed over $85,000 to political prisoners in the United States. Currently, there are 13 imprisoned comrades who receive a monthly stipend as part of the program; they are:
Veronza Bowers
David Gilbert
Hanif Bey
Jaan Laaman
Jalil Muntaqim
Joseph Bowen
Malik Smith
Oso Blanco
Robert Seth Hayes
Ruchell Magee
Sundiata Acoli
Tom Manning
Xinachtli (FKA Alvaro Luna Hernandez)
For more information, visit: abcf.net/warchest-program
Revolutionary Abolitionist Liberation Fund:
The Revolutionary Abolitionist Liberation Fund is a project of the Revolutionary Abolitionist Movement-NYC (RAM NYC), committed to freeing those in bondage by bailing out people who are incarcerated inside Riker’s Island. RAM is a political movement dedicated to freeing people from bondage and building resistance in the United States. The requirements for the program are simple. RAM requests the defendant’s name, age, bail amount, and the total amount of time they were incarcerated. In turn, they focus on those with bail amounts of $500 to $1000, folks age 25 and younger, and those who have been in the longest.
For more information, visit: ramnyc.org/projects/liberation-fund.html
We will be starting here:
From the Q train, get off at the Prospect Park stop. Walk to Lincoln Road and turn right into the park. We’ll be about 700 feet away.
The event will be one lap around what is known as the Main Loop, and will total five kilometers. For the curious, here’s what it looks like:
If you have any questions, feel free to e-mail us at nycabc at riseup dot net.
See you there!
NYC Anarchist Black Cross 
