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Rally for Yogi: It’s time for Hugo ‘Yogi Bear’ Pinell to come home!
June 13, 2013
I’m delighted to report the rally for Yogi Bear was just wonderful. Headlined “49 Years of Injustice: Release Hugo Pinell,” decrying Yogi’s 49 years in prison, 43 years in solitary confinement and 23 years in the infamous Pelican Bay SHU (Security Housing Unit), the rally was held Sunday, June 9, 4 p.m., at Freedom Archives, 518 Valencia, San Francisco.
Wanda Sabir and the Bay View save lives
June 1, 2013
I’m thankful to Wanda and the Bay View. We all are. I love the world that Wanda takes me to, because it exists outside of the typical realm of negativity that swamps the prison environment. The Bay View is a necessary tool for prisoners, and I urge anybody who has a subscription to get subscriptions for others who may not be able to get it for themselves. Because who knows, you just may be in a position to save a life too.
A tribute to my brotha, Young Malcolm!
May 30, 2013
In the spirit of young freedom fighters like Lil’ Bobby Hutton, Young Malcolm will live forever in the hearts and minds of oppressed people who want to be free, especially those incarcerated in jail cells and in Amerikkkan ghettos. We love you and we will never forget you. We will make sure that the young people of today and tomorrow use your life as an example to keep up the fight that so many have given their lives for over time. Long live Hajj Malcolm Latif Shabazz! May you rest in peace with the other warriors from our movement.
Lucasville Prison Rebellion 20 years later: an interview wit’ political prisoner Imam Saddique Hasan
April 21, 2013
Twenty years ago, there was a prison uprising in Lucasville. A correctional officer and several prisoners who collaborated with the prison administration were murdered. Imam Saddique Hasan and other prisoners who acted as spokespeople for the prisoners were eventually charged with the murders and have been held on Ohio’s death row ever since.
The global campaign to save the life of Lynne Stewart gathers steam: 6,000 and counting!
April 7, 2013
Lynne Stewart devoted over 30 years of her life to helping others as a criminal defense lawyer. She defended the poor, the disadvantaged and those targeted by the police and the state. Now Lynne Stewart needs our urgent help or she may die in prison. Our determination can compel the Bureau of Prisons to file the motion for compassionate release that will free Lynne Stewart.
Rwandan police beat and arrest Victoire Ingabire’s supporters outside Rwanda’s Supreme Court
March 27, 2013
On Monday, March 26, 2013, within and outside the premises of the Supreme Court of Rwanda, Rwandan police assaulted opposition members walking to the appeal hearing of political prisoner Madame Victoire Ingabire Umuhoza, chair of the main opposition coalition, FDU-Inkingi. She was its presidential candidate in August 2010 and has been imprisoned since Oct. 14 of that year.
Kevin ‘Rashid’ Johnson: They waited, wanted and watched for me to die…
March 18, 2013
Even before I began my political journey in 2001, I maintained certain principles – a variety of things I just don’t do. And usually, if ever I deviated from those principles, even in error, I’d end up in a tangle of trouble. February 2013 was an ordeal. I broke some of my rules and things got ugly. What happened is yet another experience that those who blindly trust the system – and those who don’t – need to know about.
Combat the emasculation of M.L. King Jr.
March 7, 2013
It is time to call for and mobilize “People United to Combat Media and Government Emasculation of Martin Luther King Jr.” It must be recognized that by consistently imposing upon the public the image of a person who had a dream and was essentially innocuous, the U.S. government and the country’s commercial media are emasculating a man in death whom they could not weaken or intimidate in life.
Sacramento hearing exposes CDCR’s hidden agenda
March 5, 2013
Beginning with a rally held on the capitol steps, it was an emotional day for many, especially for family members of those suffering in the SHUs and prison survivors. The voices of those in the SHU were powerfully present, both in stories told by family members as well as statements they had sent for the occasion. The hearing provided an opportunity for legislators to hear representatives of CDCR present their new policies and weigh the truth of their claims. At the end there was a scant 20 minutes for public input.
Imprisoned human rights attorney Lynne Stewart denied cancer treatment
January 29, 2013
Civil rights attorney and political prisoner Lynne Stewart needs help. She fought breast cancer two years ago, apparently successfully, but now the cancer is spreading. Her condition is treatable. But authorities have denied her request for transfer from her Texas prison to the New York City hospital where she received expert medical attention before.
Political prisoner Khalfani Malik Khaldun puts the Indiana prison system on trial
December 29, 2012
Since Dec. 13, 1994, Indiana political prisoner Khalfani Malik Khaldun has been held in control units, i.e. administrative segregation or isolation. It began when police and prison investigators manufactured a murder charge against him after a guard was stabbed and killed. Brother Khalfani is a Muslim and New Afrikan revolutionary educator who professes a strong sense of radical politics and culture.
Mumia, the long distance revolutionary: an interview wit’ documentary producers Stephen Vittoria and Noelle Hanrahan
September 28, 2012
“Long Distance Revolutionary,” the new documentary about political prisoner and prolific writer Mumia Abu Jamal, will have its international premiere in the Bay Area on Oct. 6 and 8 at the Mill Valley Film Festival. There have been a number of documentaries done about the case of Mumia Abu Jamal, but this one puts his life at the center of the discussion.
Hugo Pinell: Is 42 years in isolation about to end?
May 17, 2012
If we would have been self-transforming for the last 60, 50 years, there would not be millions of new slaves today and we would have the power to be making an impact and difference toward the building of the New World. Our teachers kept saying: “No matter what, we gotta keep pushing and growing. It’s the only way to continue our growth and become free.”
Fly Benzo does not stand alone: Occupy Fly’s hearing!
April 25, 2012
Occupy Fly’s hearing Friday, April 27, 9 a.m., 850 Bryant, SF! Help him now before it is too late. We should not just sit by doing business as usual while his freedom is about to end. We have an opportunity here to make a difference. We must mourn and seek justice for our dead, but we should just as strongly fight for the freedom of our living. We need to own that courtroom. Fly is putting the SFPD on trial. The right to videotape police is on trial here. Everybody video the police, not in the courtroom but in the hallways and outside. Bring your phones, cameras and camcorders and use them.
Congo: What’s Rwanda got to do with it?
December 27, 2011
Rwandan political prisoner Victoire Ingabire is spending her second Christmas in Rwanda’s maximum security prison. Her ongoing trial, on charges of terrorism and genocide ideology, has implications not only for Rwanda, but also for the entire Great Lakes Region of Africa – most of all, for the Democratic Republic of Congo.
1971: Attica prison rebellion
September 8, 2011
Against the background of the mass revolutionary Black power and prisoners’ movements in the U.S., a four day revolt began on Sept. 13, 1971, at the Attica Correctional Facility near Buffalo, N.Y. Its repression killed 39 people. When George Jackson, Black Panther and political prisoner, was murdered at San Quentin by the guards on Aug. 21, 1971, his book “Soledad Brother” was being passed from prisoner to prisoner and tensions were running mounting. A prisoners’ rights movement was growing.
Hunger strike in the supermax: Pelican Bay prisoners protest conditions in solitary confinement
July 2, 2011
As Americans prepare to celebrate Independence Day, inmates in solitary confinement at California’s Pelican Bay State Prison are standing up for their rights in the only way they can – by going on a hunger strike.
Why you should support Black PP/POWs
May 13, 2011
My name is Sundiata Acoli. I’m a former member of the Black Panther Party and the Black Liberation Army who was captured on the New Jersey Turnpike in 1973 and am now a Black Political Prisoner and Prisoner of War who’s been held by the government for the last 37 years.
A legendary Three Strikes prisoner dies
May 13, 2011
The people of the state of California, by and through their draconian Three Strikes and You’re Out law, have achieved another very shameful in-custody death. On April 19, at approximately 1:20 p.m., Jeremiah Sheppard tragically died on a dirt exercise track at the Folsom State Prison.
The People’s Human Rights and Hip Hop Film Festival
February 10, 2011
The People’s Human Rights and Hip Hop Film Festival is a four-day event that will be kicking off on Friday, Feb. 11, at the Twinspace, 2111 Mission St. in San Francisco, that captures the aura of the Bay, politics and young people’s art.